8. Second Sunday of Advent

Meditations no. 8 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The news of the Saviour’s arrival is a call to hope.

There 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.

This prophecy of Isaiah concerning the coming of the Redeemer is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is our hope. The Saviour’s brightness, as he approaches, casts the first rays of light over a dark and arid world. Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is close at hand. Our salvation is announced to us joyfully, like all good news: Behold the Lord will come to save the nations.

We respond to this welcome news by pressing onwards with greater haste, as we fervently pray: Remove the things that hinder us from receiving your Son with joy. We ask, in the words of St Augustine, for the hope that soothes a traveller’s journey. When tired, a traveller carries on in the hope of arriving at the journey’s end. Take away his hope and you take away his strength.

Jesus comes to make us God’s children and to assure us that, if we are faithful, we will join him in the glory of heaven. In my case, our Father wrote, and I wish the same to happen to you, the certainty I derive from feeling - from knowing - that I am a son of God fills me with real hope which, being a supernatural virtue, adapts to our nature when it is infused in us, and so is also a very human virtue. I am happy because I am certain we will attain heaven if we remain faithful to the end; and I rejoice in the bliss that will be ours, quoniam bonus, because my God is good and his mercy infinite.

We are certain that Christ is coming and that the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our King. He will come and make us whole. And so the path becomes easy and manageable. Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his am rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms.

We are confident of reaching God, since Jesus comes to lead us to him. My God, how easy it is to persevere when we know that you are the Good Shepherd, and that we - you and I - are sheep belonging to your flock!

For we know well that the Good Shepherd gives his whole life for each of his sheep.

The supernatural basis of hope: God’s omnipotence and goodness. Vocation.

I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, St Paul writes to the Philippians. If our will is firmly set on Christ, there is absolutely nothing that can uproot the theological virtue of hope, based as it is on a divine promise. Neither our personal weakness, nor our defects, nor even our serious falls, can take it from us. For, as St Thomas says, hope does not put its trust primarily in grace already received but in the divine omnipotence and mercy, by which grace can even come to one who does not yet have it.

Furthermore, our hope is reinforced by our vocation. Our life in the Work bears constant witness to God’s providence and his unshakeable determination to sanctify us. If we are faithful to our vocation, our Father reminds us, if we live to the full the demands of the spirit God gave his Work when inspiring it on the 2nd of October in 1928, and if we respond to the grace of our vocation - I earnestly beg of you with St Paul: ne in vacuum gratiam Dei recipiatis, do not receive in vain so much grace from God - then we will be holy, and we will also be effective divine instruments for sanctifying all souls.

I like to compare you, as I have often done before, to an intravenous injection in the bloodstream of society, shedding God’s light upon the darkness of ignorance. You will bring God’s love to human relationships, and the salt of Jesus Christ that prevents corruption, and the oil of peace that stills the angry waves of hatred in this sad ocean of our world.

Perseverance, the fidelity that keeps us in Opus Dei, together with God’s fatherly care, is a very solid foundation for hope. Just as nothing can deprive us, as Christians, of our unshakeable hope of reaching heaven, so there is nothing powerful enough to rob us of the conviction that, if we are faithful, we will achieve sanctity. For this certainty is founded upon the mercy of God who called us and keeps us by his loving providence.

Qui habitat in adiutorio Altissimi, in protectione Dei caeli commorabitur. (He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, abides in the shadow of the Almighty. ) And where are you and I, our Father asks, if not under the Lord’s protection sheltered within this good Mother, the Work? I want you to be filled with certainty, convinced that if you so desire, since God hears you, loves you and promises you his glory, and since you are protected by an invisible armour - the great shield of the Norms, the spirit, the Customs and the activity of our Work - you can become a soul of great strength, a great means for spreading the Work of God in the world.

Let us overcome any discouragement. Our Lord is coming with his mercy and love.

St Paul writes to the Romans: Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Since we are assured of God’s mercy and love, we can never allow ourselves to become despondent. But, as the Birth of Jesus approaches, we have new reasons for a joyful renewal of our hope and for ridding ourselves of any tendency towards discouragement; especially if discouragement tries to worm its way into our lives because of difficulties in the apostolate or a heightened awareness of our personal frailty.

Humility leads each soul to avoid becoming discouraged when faced with personal faults, our Father tells us. God our Father well knows the clay of which we are made. The clay vessel might crack at times or even break, but if we are humble, it can be repaired with staples that make it more charming; they are also, no doubt, pleasing to God. Our weaknesses, my children, give God a chance to “shine”, to show his almighty power by excusing and forgiving: Mirifica misericordias tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in te. My God, show your infinite mercy by saving those who hope in you.

God has not left us alone; he will not delay in coming to our aid. We should put our trust in his promises. The Lord will come, and will not disappoint us. Wait for him if he seems to delay, for he will surely come. May this hope which we renew today keep us cheerful. Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God. Put on the robe of the righteousness from God; put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting. For God will show you splendour everywhere under heaven. For your name will for ever be called by God, “Peace of righteousness and glory of godliness.”

Let us thank our Lady for the part she has played in bringing this hope into our lives. Our Mother, our Hope! How safe and sure we are when we keep close to you, even when everything around us quakes.