10. Second Tuesday of Advent
Meditations no. 10 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
God asks for a full commitment. We should put aside all fear.
We have been called by God to take part in a divine, supernatural mission, far beyond our strength. God has chosen us in order that by the power of Christâs Blood - in which he has drenched us, pressing us like divine seed in his wounded hands - we might cure crippled limbs; enlighten eyes that are blind, giving them a Christian conception of life; open peopleâs ears that they may hear the words of eternal life; and loosen tongues so that, witnessing our good works, they may glorify our Father who is in heaven.
Faced with the grandeur of a mission that is way beyond our capabilities, and well aware of our limitations, at times we might find discouragement creeping into our heart. Is all this work to be done through me? Through me, when I am worth so little? Through me, when I have so many defects and mistakes?
In Scripture we find many people, chosen instruments of God, who shrink before Godâs call on seeing their ineptitude and weakness. When chosen by the Lord as a prophet, Jonah wanted to run away. Isaiah too was terrified on receiving his vocation, and cried out: Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! And Jeremiah, when called by God, tried to find a way out: Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. All of them felt a natural fear when brought face to face with holiness, with divine demands requiring absolute obedience.
We too have been called by God, who asks us to respond generously and fully. Although he gives us his constant grace to do so, this help doesnât eradicate our fear of giving ourselves, or prevent us from feeling temptations to selfishness. But we canât forget that it is God himself who is calling us and asking us to be daring. So let us leave aside all false and useless fears that only tie us up in knots, and learn instead to trust more in Godâs power.
To overcome all obstacles that may arise, our Father encourages us, we must always take divine grace into account, before everything else. We are not engaged in a human enterprise, nor are we doing our own will. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
Hence, when faced with difficulties, we can always pray confidently: Fiat manus tua ut salvet me, quoniam mandata tua elegi. Stretch forth your hand to help me, for I have kept your commands.
We need to answer his call generously, trusting in his almighty power.
Once again Christâs call to personal sanctity rings out. Although fear in the presence of the divine is something instinctive, we must fight against it. Otherwise it may be the beginning of a kind of sadness at the prospect of the sacrifices demanded by holiness. This fear weighs us down; it disheartens and paralyses us.
We sometimes let our fantasy and imagination go berserk and swamp our vision of reality. We dream up a whole host of difficulties and obstacles that dishearten us and cause us pointless suffering. Then our heart seeks excuses for not going ahead. Our mind invents âunreasonable reasonsâ that weaken our commitment to sanctity. We become content with just trying to be moderately good. And some people prefer to belittle themselves, saying - with only apparent humility - that they are incapable, whereas really it is a ploy on their part to avoid their obligation to seek sanctity. They do not want to be given any supernatural gifts that impose serious duties on the receiver. Eventually they can even reach the point of regretting ever having encountered God, lamenting the fact that he has called them, and longing nostalgically for the comforts of a mediocre life.
We are in the Work to become saints and to do Opus Dei. To attain such a high goal, we need to be magnanimous. Our magnanimity rests on the power of God, who calls each of us by name. This virtue helps us to embrace great undertakings with a staunch heart and a humble trust in God.
In the pages of Scripture, our Father reminds us, you have often seen the words: do not fear! Fear not! They are divine words of encouragement. In the Old Testament, as well as the New, both God and angels use them to raise man from his wretchedness and prepare him for a dialogue of light and love, and to a trust in things seemingly impossible or difficult, that surpass a personâs strength. Non est abbreviata manus Domini. The Lordâs infinite power has not diminished.
This is the basis of our certainty. The Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him ⌠He will feed his flock like a shepherd. And then, in St Paulâs words, there awaits us the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Magnanimity, a holy daring for great enterprises, is also needed in our apostolic tasks.
This Advent the Church brings us a divine message: Christ is coming again to meet us. It is time for us to consider the full scope of Godâs call to personal sanctity and his imperative command to do Opus Dei upon earth. Tell the fearful person, if need be, those words of Isaiah: Dicite pusillanimis, confortamini et nolite timere: ecce Deus vester ⌠veniet, et salvabit vos. Say to the fainthearted, take courage and fear not, because our God will always carry us forward.
Godâs almighty power removed the fears of Isaiah, who thought himself unsuited for the mission he had received. Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: âBehold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.â And when Jeremiah sought to hide behind his inexperience and youth, God answered: Do not say, âI am only a youthâ; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.
Godâs power is with us too, and will banish all our fears. Having called us to sanctity and given us a divine mission, he will also give us the grace to fulfil it. God continues to work his mercies and to carry out the history of his mirabilia, his wonderful deeds. And he continues to set his eyes on inadequate instruments, who feel the same holy fear and suffer before the Holy Spiritâs action, which is like a spur of hardened steel. For it is to this extreme that God, as divine Teacher, guides souls that have no teacher: go down, if you want to go up; lose, if you want to win; suffer, if you want to rejoice; die, if you want to live, in the words of the Spanish mystic.
I can assure you, my children, that those souls do not aspire to, they do not desire, the signs of that ordinary extraordinary providence of God. They are deeply aware that they donât deserve them. I tell you again that their reaction is one of fright, of fear. But afterwards, the Lordâs encouragement - ne timeas! Donât be afraid - gives them an unshakeable assurance and enkindles their resolve to be faithful and generous. It enlightens them so that they can fulfil Godâs most lovable will. And it fires them to attempt goals beyond human reach.
As we conclude our prayer, let us make the resolution to offer God our desires to be faithful to our plan of life, and to display magnanimity and holy daring in the apostolic tasks entrusted to us, however difficult they may seem. Our Ladyâs strength will come to the aid of our weakness and will show us that with God nothing will be impossible.