72. First Tuesday of Lent
Meditations no. 118 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
The Fatherās love for his children in the Work.
The Apostles asked our Lord to teach them how to pray as St John the Baptist taught his disciples. And Jesus told them: In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heavenā¦
The life of a Christian is filled with the spirit of divine sonship, a share in the Filiation of Jesus Christ. God has wanted to raise us, through baptism, to the immense dignity of being children of God. In the Work, this reality is also reflected in our filiation to the Father. I cannot help raising my soul in thanksgiving to God, from whom proceeds all fatherhood in heaven and on earth, for having given me this spiritual fatherhood which, with his grace, I have taken on in full consciousness of being on earth for this purpose alone. And so I love you with the heart of a father and a mother.
My children, I have engendered you as mothers do, in pain as mothers do, our Founder exclaimed with absolute truthfulness. Something similar can always be said by the Father to his children in Opus Dei. Because the Father, no matter who he is, loves each of you like an only child.
This spiritual fatherhood is far superior to natural fatherhood. It is the fruit of prayer and sacrifice. Such is the fatherhood of our Founder within the Work, as well as that of each of his successors. My children, our Father confided, I love you more than your parents do. I donāt mind saying so because Iām not exaggerating. And I am certain that in the heart of those who succeed me, you will find the same affection. I was about to say more, even though it seems impossible, because they will have this family spirit which fills the whole Work, very deeply engraved on their souls.
Fatherhood is one of the benefits which, because God wanted it, our Father transmitted to his successors until the end of time. We experience it now with the Father: in the way he holds us in his heart; in his concern to give us spiritual nourishment for our souls; and in his fatherly and motherly vigilance in fulfilling his duties as a Good Shepherd, guiding our steps, warning us of dangers, and gathering us in a union of prayers and intentions through his continuous calls to responsibility and holiness.
Prayer for the Father and his intentions shows our spirit of filiation.
Christ our Lord frequently spoke about boats and nets, about the sea and its fish, our Father taught us. But did he not also speak about sheep and flocks? And how tenderly he did so! Look at his delight when describing the Good Shepherd! He shows us how his sheep follow him trustingly, how they love him, how they recognize his voice. They know that they are being well looked after when they gather round him, in the sheep-pen or in the broad pastures.
Well, Opus Dei is also one of Christās flocks, with its Good Shepherd and its sheep. There will always be a Father who can say: Cognosco oves meas et cognoscunt me meae, I know my children and my children know me. In Opus Dei the Good Shepherd will always be whoever is at the head: the Father, no matter who he is.
We fight to do our Norms, apostolate, work, our whole plan of life, with ever-increasing care. Yet if we were to lack charity, in the right order, our efforts would be in vain. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned and have not love, I gain nothing.
Charity that follows the right order leads us to have a great filial love for the Father, as a necessary channel for our union with God, because the spirit of filiation is an essential part of the spirit of Opus Dei. Speaking of his successors, our Founder reminded us: When I die, my children, love the Father very much no matter who he is, even though it may occur to you that he is not holy enough or intelligent enough, or a thousand other things which may cross your mind and which you must reject promptly because you are wrong. Love him very much, my children! Kiss the ground he walks on, and donāt omit that small daily mortification, or the prayer for the head of the Work, said with love. Love him very much, my children, for itās very hard to carry this load!
But we should not be satisfied with the love we have for the Father now. The Apostle St Paul reminds us that when I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; and we might add, I loved like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. In the same way our love for the Father should grow, and gain both in depth and effectiveness. Love for oneās parents is something spontaneous and tender, but to that we should add the depth, responsibility and spirit of sacrifice of older children.
Love is born of knowing people, talking and listening to them; and we shall get to know the Father and relate to him better, when we consider his indications and teachings in our prayer. From that growing affection and self-sacrificing love will come constant prayer of petition for him. Then we will make his desires our own, and his intentions will be the most important things for us. We will always put them ahead of other wishes.
Filial obedience and love for the Father and the Directors, shown in deeds.
We must love the Father and those who govern the Work in his name, in a spirit of sacrifice and self-denial.
In the human body, even the smallest stimulus goes immediately to the head, to the heart. Even if you just prick the little finger of your right hand, the pain goes straight to the nobler parts of the body. Well, our Directors have to be both head and heart. Everything disagreeable reaches them. Poor Directors! They donāt hold positions but burdens. They donāt receive honours: they serve.
And our Founder added: To be in charge of an apostolic undertaking demands readiness to suffer everything, from everybody, with infinite charity.
Our Directors love us. We are each the focus of their concern and their prayer. In the Work, therefore, we must have a fraternal and filial trust in the Directors which excludes all fears and inhibitions. Fear of anything or of anyone, especially of the Directors, is wrong for a child of God. What could we be afraid of? Those who govern have a mission to spread peace, not affliction. If they ever have to judge, they do so after sifting their judgement through prayer and fraternal affection.
Love for freedom, which is an important feature of our spirit, is also manifested in our way of commanding or obeying. In the Work, to govern means to respect personal freedom, without denying it to anybody: if we were to deprive anyone of it we would be engaging in misgovernment, our Father said. Precisely because the members of the Work are ordinarily far from all forms of control, they obey conscientiously and exactly. They are diligent, here and now, in the fulfilment of the apostolic assignments they are given. They foster desires of self-giving, placing themselves at their Directorsā command for the carrying out of spiritual tasks. They are concerned about the joys, sufferings and interests of their brothers and sisters in the Church and the Work, so that everyone may feel understood and loved, as the very spirit of our vocation demands.
In response to the trust and self-denial of the Directors, we should show them a prompt, sensitive and loving obedience. St Thomas says that charity is inseparable from obedience, since friendship is a single mutual will: a complete identification, a close union with whoever is at the head.
Let us ask our Blessed Lady, who united herself perfectly to Godās will, to obtain for us the grace to be always united with the Father and with the Directors.