30. Christmas Day - 25 December (I)

Meditations no. 30 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Jesus’ Birth urges us to be holy.

From the very beginning it has been our custom to turn the street into a place of prayer. We pray anywhere and everywhere. We turn to God at work, or on a tram, or on the underground or the bus, or amid the hubbub of the crowd. And whenever we can, we pray next to the tabernacle. We also have a long tradition of praying beside the crib at Christmas time.

I think it would be excellent, my children, to begin with these words from the Book of Wisdom: While gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne. The Redeemer is coming, the long-awaited Redeemer, for whom all the patriarchs and prophets had yearned for so many centuries.

Today the Church puts a wonderful song on the lips of every priest, at the start of the Divine Office: Christus natus est nobis: venite, adoremus. Christ is born to us. Come, let us all adore him together. This is our prayer today, an act of adoration.

We would like to offer it on behalf of all mankind. We are sure that at around this time all over the world, even in places where the Church is being persecuted, there are brothers and sisters of yours who, feeling they are representing the whole of mankind, are telling our Lord: We know you are born today. We come to adore you on behalf of all creation: venite, adoremus. These words are the holy Church’s response to the angelic song which burst forth on that night, breaking the silence of centuries …

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Peace to mankind, to all those of good will, who unite their own will to the most holy will of God. As you know very well, holiness consists of union with God’s will, which we usually discover in the events of each day.

Don’t forget, my children, that holiness brings with it happiness on earth, even in the midst of all kinds of difficulties. Quite a number of your brothers and sisters have had vivid experience of that. For, as I am constantly telling you, if you want to be happy, be holy; if you want to be happier, be holier; if you want to be very happy, be very holy.

Even people who are far from God understand this. Even people who have not received baptism have been moved to tell me: It’s true. I understand that holy people must be happy, because they see beyond all the earth’s wretchedness. They see things - forgive the phrase - “with eyes of eternity”. Let us respond to these invitations of grace today. Let us open our hearts completely to God; and calmly, but with total determination, let us make the resolution of taking full advantage of these days of Christmas to grow in holiness.

We have the same means to holiness that Jesus brought.

A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. Today a great light has come upon the earth. The Church’s liturgy asks us to prepare our hearts for the Lord by taking our struggle for sanctity seriously.

How can we become saints? By being consistent with our vocation as Catholics and, specifically, as Catholics in Opus Dei. We are Christians with a special calling from God which does not take us out of our place, nor uproot us from our surroundings, nor remove us from the world, from our state in life or our work. We have accepted that call “because we wanted to” - which is the most supernatural of reasons - and we have answered: Ecce ego quia vocasti me. Here I am, Lord, because you have called me.

Listen to what Jesus says to Nicodemus: Amen, amen dico tibi, nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei. Unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

My children, baptism makes us fideles -“faithful” - a word which the first followers of Christ applied to themselves (along with that other word, “saints”), and which is still used today. We still speak of “the faithful” in the Church. After baptism come the other sacraments, which are signs instituted by Christ. They are the footprints or tracks left by his divine passage on this earth. They give us sanctifying grace ex opere operato, by their own power, provided there is no resistance on our part. If we already have sanctifying grace, they increase it. Moreover they give us sacramental grace, a divine help appropriate to each sacrament.

Provided, I said, we put no obstacles in the way. Those receiving them must therefore be well disposed if the sacraments are to be truly effective. And how do we dispose ourselves well? I will tell you quite plainly: by deeds, by our personal lives, for holiness is not a community affair. Anyone who says it is, is mistaken. Holiness is a personal encounter of each soul with God, and each soul must do all within its power: which means deeds, personal effort. I will tell you with St James, quoting from his Letter: Sic et fides, si non habeat opera, mortua est in semetipsa. So, faith, if it’s not joined to works, is dead. It’s of no use!

My children, what makes our human life supernatural is our upright way of acting, combined with our faith and God’s grace. Such actions ensure that, in the night of our life, a great fire will break out - a fire giving light and warmth - as a result of our divine filiation, so fulfilling the words of the Psalmist: et nox sicut dies illuminabitur. The night will shine as bright as day, because we are faithful, and have been reborn to the faith.

In the Work, the Norms are a sure path to holiness.

Lord, you gladden us each year with the expectation of our redemption: just as we now joyfully receive your only Son as Redeemer, so may we later greet our Lord Jesus Christ without fear as Judge. The liturgy sets this prayer before us, to remind us that true joy is not to be mistaken for empty feelings of good cheer. The Birth of Christ, who comes to us now as our Redeemer, must result in our own rebirth, which will lead us to set our sights squarely on heaven.

St Leo writes: This is the day our Saviour was born: what a joy for us, my beloved! This is no season for sadness, this, the birthday of Life - the Life which annihilates the fear of death, and engenders joy, promising, as it does, immortality. Nobody is an outsider to this happiness. The same cause for joy is common to all, for as our Lord found nobody free from guilt when he came to bring an end to death and to sin, so he came with redemption for all. Let the saint rejoice, for he hastens to his crown; let the sinner be filled with joy, for pardon is offered him; let the Gentile be emboldened, for he is called to life.

We sense once more the peace Christ brings. But we know that our inner calm and joy depend on how directly we pursue our goal. The desire for sanctity must be the driving force of our life.

Our Father used to ask: And what are the means to attain the holiness specific to Opus Dei? How do we reach our goal? I’d be surprised if anyone here had not taught this to others.

You’ll have told them that the means are the carrying out of our Norms. For this reveals a strong faith, a sure hope, a burning love, and sacrifice. Today I tell you the same thing in different words. We will attain holiness, through faith, through frequently receiving the sacraments, and through our hope and love. All this spiritual dimension of our lives has a series of specific external expressions and interior practices which were already present in the lives of the early Christians. These are the Norms of our plan of life …

In the spiritual life, nothing new has been discovered, nor will it ever be. The means have been, are, and always will be the same: the sacraments, prayer, mortification, a life of piety, fleeing from temptations and from occasions of sin, opening our hearts wide, and letting God’s grace enter deeply, cutting in and burning, cleansing and purifying.

As we look upon the scene at Bethlehem, we recall that many people still shut their hearts to our Lord, and that many still don’t know him, even after so many centuries. Are we pessimistic? No. We should be optimistic, very optimistic, our Father tells us. And we will be, if we simply open the Gospel. In the midst of the vast multitude of the human race, there are many who want to be faithful to the Church; and among this great number we find ourselves, God’s children in Opus Dei, many thousands of brothers and sisters of yours scattered throughout the world.

You may reply that, despite there being so many thousands of us, we are very few compared to the masses who haven’t heard God’s voice, who haven’t seen his light. But look for a moment at what the Gospel teaches. Consider the parable of the sower, the parable of the wheat and tares, or the parables of the mustard seed, and the leaven… Leaven, salt, light! This is what you and I will be, if our love for the Church remains true, if we prove our love with our deeds; and if, when our Lord offers us his helping hand, we make the effort - because we want to, as we have already said - to take hold of that hand which is offered to us from heaven.

Now is the time to make a resolution, in front of the manger where the Infant God lies. We resolve to fulfil the Norms better. They are the sure way for us to attain holiness. Then, in the company of our Lady, we will await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.