FOREWORD

Awakening the Laity is the second volume of Fr. Tomás Morales’

pedagogical trilogy, published in 1967, following the conclusion of the
Second Vatican Council. The text was expanded and corrected by the
author in a later edition, published in 1976; a third edition, which
included the magisterium of Pope John Paul II was published in 1984,
as the Holy Year of Redemption was coming to an end. It is one of the
key books for understanding him as an educator of lay people, the fruit
of his experiences of his apostolate in Madrid in the 1950s. In the post-
conciliar ecclesial climate in which the book was penned, Fr. Morales'
goal is to contribute to the mobilization of the laity in the Church.
Church life during the first half of the twentieth century experienced
various tensions. The Catholic movement in Spain was promoted by
various initiatives in the catechetical, educational and social areas. From
the 1920s onwards, in parallel with the creation of Catholic Action and of
the Marian Congregations, other institutions with a specific charism for
the formation of the laity started to appear. Among these was the
National Catholic Association of Propagandists, founded by the Jesuit Ángel
Ayala (1867-1960) in 1909, with the aim of forming young Catholics who
would have a presence and influence in the world.
After the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the 1940s were marked, like
the previous period, by an apostolic drive and increased fervor among
the lay apostolate. Catholic Action underwent an overall, general
reorganization at the parish and diocesan level. These groups, together
with the Marian Congregations and the National Catholic Association of
Propagandists, which included many members of Catholic Action, were the
most active Catholic organizations in Spain at the time.
In the 1950s, in Madrid, people were still experiencing the consequences
of the international isolation imposed on Spain during the rule of
Francisco Franco (1892–1975). These were difficult years of rationing
and shortages. Social security was absent and health care was barely
available. The incipient development of tourism and industry led to a
certain economic recovery and changes in lifestyle. From those years
onwards, the Spanish capital experienced a process of urban expansion,
which would lead to the growing wellbeing of its populace; emigration
of the young rural population increased, with the consequent problem
of finding suitable living conditions for them in the suburbs of Madrid.
The charitable/social welfare organization El Hogar de Empleado (The
Home of the Worker), developed by Fr. Morales, would make a notable
contribution to overcoming those difficulties in a society that was still
experiencing the consequences of war. To this end, he founded a
charitable building company, which constructed thousands of homes for
employees in the suburbs of Madrid, as well as technical and
professional schools, cooperatives and a sanatorium in close proximity
to these residences. Young people would play a key role in the Home of
the Worker.
Most of them had emigrated to Madrid and worked in the tertiary sector,
in businesses, banks and insurance companies. [...]
Even though Awakening the Laity saw the light in the immediate follow-
up to Vatican II, the work appears as an alternative answer to the social
confusion of the time. It was the fruit of a long gestation, and was born
out of Fr. Morales' rich experience in training young people for the
apostolate. It captures the new conciliar view of the laity, and with
prophetic intuition, it opens the way to the future, laying down the
luminous path they must follow. With a broad ecclesial view, he
responded to the signs of the times, by giving full weight to the laity in
the Church as a source of social transformation.
HASTE MAKES WASTE
The most violent temptation that the fledgling priest experiences in his burning desire to save
souls is the rush to convert them. With a new fire in his belly, but without the experience or
deep knowledge of men he needs, he thinks it's possible to achieve a quick and lasting return to
the gospel for the masses that have undergone long years of dechristianization. To achieve this,
or at least appear to, to attract those flocks he yearns for, he begins, without realizing it, to make
dangerous concessions.

He is seeking a balance between two incompatible extremes: God and the world. Without
realizing it, he begins to preach, and perhaps to live, a gospel that is different from that of Jesus
Christ, and that is instead more in accordance with the mentality of his congregation. He fails to
cultivate in them a deep inner life grounded in prayer and penitence. He lets himself be mislead
by the masses, always pleased to be able to offer them a more agreeable gospel. But at the same
time, those masses betray him. As the days go by, those who once crowded around him –
practicing Christianity by half-measures like so many others – vanish, and after a few months
there are none left.

Let us learn from the great masters. Their teachings are valid for all time. Saint Vincent de Paul
gives us the key to apostolic success. True to his motto, “the good which God desires is
accomplished almost by itself, without our even thinking of it”, he describes the beginning and
development of his works as follows:

“None of the above was deliberately undertaken by us, but God himself, who wanted to be
served in such circumstances, brought them imperceptibly into being. If he made use of us, we
had no idea, however, where that was leading. That is why we allow him to act, far from busying
ourselves with the development of these works, any more than we did when they were just
beginning [...]

The company [the Vincentians] began without any plan on our part. It has multiplied by God’s
guidance alone [...] without our having contributed anything save only our obedience. Let us
continue to act in the same way. Such abandonment will please God greatly, and we shall be at
peace.”1

This supersonic speed is swallowing us all up. And it has also infected the apostolate. It has
become fashionable. And fashion is “the great charmer and the great manufacturer of
conformists,” in a word-perfect phrase of Paul VI. The young man foregoes the planned action
that will bear fruit in the long-term in favor of the opportunism of the moment.

This temptation is not exclusively felt by those new to priesthood. It is also faced by the young
man who had previously felt removed from the Church, but now discovers Christ in the privacy
of the Exercises. Carried away by his neophyte fervor, he intends to convert all his friends and
colleagues at once, and gets discouraged when he does not manage this. He no longer feels the
peacefulness and joy of a soul in communion with God. He starts neglecting his duties at work,
or his studies, to devote himself to what he calls the apostolate, forgetting that the best apostolate
is accomplished by being a good example to others. If the priest, who guides young people, is
not a man of character, possessed of a deep interior life, he will allow himself to be swept along by his
pupils, to whom he will transmit his haste, and thus, his fruitless apostolate. He will forget that the spirit
of God is very active, but it is not hasty (Chaminade).2
1 SAINT
VINCENT DE PAUL, Biografía y selección de escritos [Biography and Selected Writings] (BAC, Madrid, 1955) 752. 2 FR.
CHAMINADE, Letters, IV, 436.