3. First Tuesday of Advent

Meditations no. 3 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Continuous ascetical struggle against the fomes peccati, the tinder of sin. Sorrow combined with hope.

I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin. All people, even the holiest, feel this law; all enter the world with original sin and suffer its consequences. These words of Scripture are addressed to all mankind: Turn back, you sinners, and do right before him; who knows if he will accept you and have mercy on you?

We cannot forget we have within us a source of opposition and resistance to grace. We carry the wounds of original sin, heightened perhaps by our personal sins. My child, your desires for sanctity will be opposed first by laziness, the first front on which you must fight; then by rebelliousness, the refusal to shoulder Christ’s sweet yoke, a mad longing, not for true freedom, but for doing whatever you want to; then by sensuality; and, at all times (and more surreptitiously as the years go by), by pride. Finally there is a whole string of evil inclinations, because our weaknesses never come alone. The central aim of our interior struggle during this penitential period is to purify ourselves of this residue of our faults.

Our past faults give rise to both sorrow and hope, since we know that God, who has already forgiven us, will bring us to a safe harbour. But we should not forget that in the meantime, even the righteous man falls seven times. We still fail in deed or by omission; we are still beset by weakness and wretchedness. All this should lead us to be sorry and to try to make amends. Since you first gave yourself to God, you have come quite a distance. And yet, isn’t it true, our Father asks, that there are still so many things, so many points of pride, so much unawareness of how feeble you really are? There are still corners of your soul that need cleaning. Perhaps you still allow yourself to harbour ideas or thoughts that have no place in the divine path that you have chosen on earth.

Sometimes we are superficial and careless in our examination of conscience, and we don’t get into the recesses of the soul, or see our hidden sins. Nevertheless, those sins are there, and they hurt our Lord; often they are the hidden reason for our going astray. Now that we see them more clearly, let our sorrow be the sorrow that springs from love, not from sadness or discouragement. As today’s Entrance Antiphon reminds us: See, the Lord is coming and with him all his saints. Then there will be endless day.

Jesus comes to our aid. There is a remedy for everything. The important thing is to want to fight, and never get discouraged.

In today’s First Reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the promised Saviour coming to help us: Then shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth … In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.

Our Lord is coming to free us from our sins and to open up the gates of heaven. While we still await his coming, there is no weakness of ours that he cannot put right. Don’t you hear Christ telling you, as he did St Paul, sufficit tibi gratia mea, my grace is sufficient for you? But we have to admit, without making excuses, that we do often give in to comfort and laziness, bent on the easiest, most pleasurable way, any apparent shortcut, even if this involves infidelity to God. At other times we withdraw into ourselves; we forget about others, and become filled with vanity and pride. Let’s not deceive ourselves, our Father warns, for this is the worst of all evils, the root of every false step. The fight against pride has to be a constant battle, to such an extent that someone once said that pride only disappears twenty-four hours after each of us has died.

Why do we not overcome mediocrity? The reason is often to be found in old habits, defects we’ve come to equate with our character or temperament, and, above all, that predominant fault of ours. But these things can be overcome with the all-powerful help of God’s grace which flows from Christ’s Sacrifice. No matter how fruitless our struggle may seem to have been so far, there is no reason for us to lose our confidence in God. Numquid poterit Deus parare mensam in deserto? -can God provide food for me and nourish me in the many evil hours of this life, which is an exile and a desert?

In reply to this question our Father wrote: In the majestic silence of the Roman catacombs, I also seem to hear the manly voices of the early Christians, our predecessors in the old, yet ever new, apostolate of the Work, who give the right answer to their hesitant brothers.

Listen to it. It is the secret of their perseverance amid cruel and continuous external persecutions as well as inner trials permitted and even sent by the Holy Spirit: Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea: quem timebo? The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Dominus protector vitae meae: a quo trepidabo? - the Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

In particular, the awareness of our unworthiness will lead us to place our hope in Christ Jesus, who comes to help us, to redeem us. Filled with trust, let us repeat the prayer from today’s liturgy: God of mercy and consolation, help us in our weakness and free us from sin. Hear our prayers that we may rejoice at the coming of your Son.

Another reason for generous struggle: we are co-redeemers.

Struggle is part and parcel of our lives. You see within yourselves, on the one hand, pride, sensuality, tedium and selfishness; on the other, love, commitment, mercy, humility, sacrifice, joy. You have to choose. You have been called to a life of faith, hope and charity. You cannot seek lesser goals, condemning yourself to a life of mediocre isolation.

But there is another reason why we should take this struggle seriously. The redemption is still being accomplished, even at this moment And you and I are co-redeemers, our Father says. Hope is not destroyed by the presence of evil, which we find, first of all, in ourselves. On the contrary, it makes us want to co-redeem, to identify ourselves with Christ and to share in his redeeming action, in his priesthood and his self-offering, in his Passion and Death, so that all may be saved. As St Paul writes: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church. Knowing that we are co-redeemers is a powerful reason for us to take our ascetical struggle seriously, as we prepare during Advent for the Saviour’s coming.

Christ’s Redemption must be applied to each and every soul. He expects us to cooperate, in the first place by seeking our own sanctity so that his grace may be fully effective in our soul. And since we are members of a great supernatural family, we are also responsible for the holiness of the others in the Work. We have a duty to help them improve, not only out of love for them, but out of justice as well.

Our desire to co-redeem will flow out towards our relatives, friends and colleagues. It extends to every single person, because our concern is for all souls. We wish to see them all happy, both here on earth and for ever in heaven.

It is worth risking our whole life and being willing to suffer, for love, in order to further the things of God and help him redeem the world, that is to say, to co-redeem. With this in mind, our Father suggests, you and I should cry out in praise of God: Laudationem Domini loquetur os meum, et benedicat omnis caro nomen sanctum eius. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name.

Let us turn to Mary, Refuge of sinners, who co-redeems at the foot of the Cross, and ask her to fill us with sorrow for our sins, and with a serious resolution to give ourselves cheerfully, so that we can cooperate in the saving work of Jesus, her Son.