JESUS is calling you to announce His gospel of mercy, forgiveness and love.Winning souls for Him by interesting others in our holy Faith should be thebusiness and concern of every Catholic. Christ's words were addressed to allHis followers including you. "Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel toevery creature." (Mark 16:15). And again: "Go, therefore, making disciples ofall nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the HolyGhost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold I amwith you all days even unto the consummation of the world." (Matt. 28:19,20).These words were addressed not only to the Apostles but also to all Hisfollowers. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ promised: "Therefore everyone whoacknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge him before My Father inHeaven" (Matt. 10:32), and "He who reaps, receives a wage and gathers fruitunto life everlasting so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together." (John4:36) People outside of the Catholic Church must be warned that they must adoptthe Catholic Faith in order to be saved. This direct approach does work asproven by many of the saints as St. Francis Xavier ,who won over a million converts to the faith in the Indies. He believed andtaught that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church and Our Lordconfirmed his work by tremendous miracles. Consider the zeal and examples ofsome of the saints and holy persons listed below:

The motivating force that dominated St. John Bosco's(1815-1888) life is found in a phrase that is typically his: to work for the "Salvation ofsouls." "There is nothing more holy in this world than to work for the good ofsouls, for whose salvation Jesus Christ poured out the last drops of HisBlood." In his writings and conferences, he consistently pointed out that: "Manis successful in this world if he saves his soul and is very knowledgeable ifhe knows the science of salvation; but he is a total failure if he loses hissoul and knows nothing if he is ignorant of those things that can assure him ofeternal salvation." From his book Life of St. Dominic Savio , St. JohnBosco had this to say of St. Dominic Savio (teenage saint who died in his 15thyear): "The thought of saving souls for God was never out of his mind."

St. Dominic Savio, (1842-1856) , in a seriousconversation with one of his companions, gave several reasons for his apostoliczeal in "saving souls": 1. My companion's soul has been redeemed by JesusChrist. 2. We are all brothers and so we must love each other's souls. 3. Godurges us to help each other. 4. If I manage to save one soul I also ensure thesalvation of my own. (St. James 5, 19-20)

St. Therese of Lisieux:(1873-1897) "We have onlyshort moments of this life to work for God's glory. The devil knows this andthat is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things. O, let us notwaste our time! Let us save souls! Souls are falling into hell innumerable asthe flakes of snow on a winter day. Jesus weeps! Instead of consoling Him weare brooding over our own sorrows . . . There is only one thing to do duringthe brief day, or rather, night of this life: Love Jesus with all the strengthof your heart and save souls for Him, so that He may be loved! "

St. Anthony Mary Claret: (1808-1870) "Anotherthing that spurs me on to preach ceaselessly is the thought of the multitude ofsouls which fall into the depths of hell, who die in mortal sin, condemnedforever and ever... if you were to see a blind man about to fall into a pit orover a precipice, would you not warn him? Behold, I do the same..." "How oftenI pray with St. Catherine of Siena: O my God, grant me a place by the gates ofHell, that I may stop those who enter there, saying: "Where are you going,unhappy one? Back, go back! Make a good confession. Save your soul. Don't comehere to be lost for all eternity!" St. Anthony resolved never to waste a momentof time, and during his 35 years as a priest, he wrote 144 books and preachedsome 25,000 sermons. On one trip, besides traveling, he preached 205 sermons in48 days and 12 in one day.

Promises of our dear Savior to St. Margaret Mary(1647-1690) for those who work for the salvation of souls: "My divineSavior has given to understand that those who work for the salvation of soulswill have a gift of touching the most hardened hearts, and will labor withmarvelous success, if they themselves are penetrated with a tender devotion toHis Divine Heart."

Padre Pio: (1887-1968) "Time spent in honor ofGod and for the salvation of souls is never badly spent.: Who are the bestprospects for conversion? Listen to St. Vincent Ferrer:(1350-1419) "For whoever will proudly dispute or contradict,will always stand without the door. Christ, the master of humility, manifestsHis truth only to the humble, and hides Himself from the proud."

St. Rose of Lima, (1586-1617) . We read thather confessor offered himself to go to the missions, but he feared because ofthe dangers it would entail. After consulting the saint, he heard these words:"Go Father, and do not fear. Leave all to labor for the conversion of theinfidel, and know that the greatest service that man can offer to God is toconvert souls, for this is a work proper of the Apostolate. What greaterhappiness could there be than to baptize, be it only a little Indian child whowould enter Heaven through the gates of Baptism?"

St. Vincent de Paul: (1576-1660) That St.Vincent was devoured by zeal for the house of God, his entire life testifies,because that life was employed in combating evil and extending the reign ofgood; and in this consists true zeal. Listen to some of his instructions to hiscommunity: "Let us give ourselves to God, gentlemen, to go to carry His holyGospel over the entire earth and into whatever part He may lead us; there, letus maintain our part, and continue our duties until such time as His goodpleasure will withdraw us. Let no difficulties move us, the glory of theeternal Father and the efficacy of the Word and of the passion of His Son areat stake. The salvation of men and our own are so great that they merit to beobtained at any price."

Let us consider the words of St. John Chrysostom,(347-407) , the illustrious Bishop of Constantinople, andDoctor of the Church, whose episcopal achievements are celebrated in theancient liturgy which bears his name. He tells us: "Zeal for the salvation ofsouls is of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our goods to thepoor, or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austeritiescannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable to God thanthis one. To employ one's life in this blessed labor is more pleasing to theDivine Majesty than to suffer martyrdom. Would you not feel happy if you couldspend large sums of money in corporal works of mercy? But know, that he wholabors for the salvation of souls does far more; nay, the zeal of souls is offar greater merit before God . . . than the working of miracles."

Venerable Cardinal John Newman: (1801-1890) "Howcan we answer to ourselves for the souls who have in our times lived and diedin sin; the souls that have been lost and are now waiting for the judgment,seeing that for what we know, we were ordained to influence or reverse theirpresent destiny and have not done it?"

Thereare many good prospects for our Holy Faith who only need to be sought out andinvited to adopt the Catholic Faith. Persistency is the key to success. Someyears ago in a San Diego convert campaign it was determined that it takes about15 calls to bring one person to the true Faith. This search for souls should bea lifetime commitment. Constant experience shows that where Catholics try tobring others to Christ, they themselves are drawn closer to Him. One of themost effective and easiest ways to promote our Holy Faith is through theprinted word.

St. Anthony Mary Claret tells us thatreading of good books has always been considered of utmost importance andutility. He says it is necessary because there is a delirium for reading and ifpeople do not have good books, they will read bad ones. (Ed. note: or watchTV!) If people read good and instructive books at regular and proper times, itwill strengthen and nourish them greatly. But if they read bad books, indecentnewspapers and magazines, heretical booklets and other pernicious literature,these things will corrupt their faith and pervert their morals. St. Anthony, inhis autobiography, give good examples of sinners being converted by readingpious leaflets and holy cards! The Apostolate of Our Lady of the Rosary Libraryendeavors to make available good Catholic books, pious leaflets, instructionalarticles, prayer cards and sacramentals at a reasonable cost. In this day ofgreat apostasy, when millions of Catholics have lost the Faith, let us join inthe battle to promote our holy Faith and to defend it against all its enemies.Let us pray that Our Dear Savior will grant us the grace of a strong andabiding faith, and a great zeal in promoting His honor and glory and thesalvation of souls. You are urged to order a good supply of material that isoffered by this apostolate. One good and easy method to distribute thisspiritual food is to place these articles on vehicles that are parked forChurch services. Let us not be discouraged, intimidated or grow weary in ourefforts.

St. John Francis Regis(1597-1640) was oncecriticized for converting some wayward women because it was thought to be invain. His reply was: "If my endeavors are successful in preventing only onemortal sin, I deem my labor worthwhile." "Life is short, twill soon be past;only those things done for Christ will last."