95. Fourth Thursday of Lent
Meditations no. 141 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Godâs glory alone has to shine out from all we do.
I do not receive glory from men, Jesus says. His whole life on earth was lived in a supernaturally natural way. For thirty years he passes unnoticed as just another workman, without calling attention to himself, and he is known in his village as the son of the carpenter. The same is true of his public life. There is nothing off-key about it, nothing odd or eccentric. And with his eyes set on fulfilling his Fatherâs will, he allowed himself to be mistreated through manâs envy and meanness, right up to his death on the Cross.
He adds in the discourse recorded in todayâs Gospel: But I know that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Fatherâs name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Our Lord warns us clearly: supernatural life is not possible unless we are ready to seek Godâs glory always and in everything.
Our Father once preached: I wish to continue this conversation with our Lord with an observation I made use of years ago, but which is just as relevant today. I had noted down some remarks of St Teresa of Avila: All that passes away and is not pleasing to God, is worth nothing and less than nothing. Now do you understand why a soul loses all sense of peace and serenity when it turns away from its goal, and forgets that it was created by God to be a saint? Strive never to lose this supernatural outlook, not even at times of rest or recreation, which are as important in our daily lives as work itselfâŚ
I was saying just now that though you might achieve spectacular success in society, in public affairs, in your own careers, if you neglect your spiritual life and ignore our Lord, you will end up a complete failure. As far as God is concerned - and in the last analysis that is the only thing that matters - victory only comes to those who strive to behave as genuine Christians. There is no middle way. That is why you find so many people who from a human point of view ought to be ever so happy, yet they go about uneasy and embittered. They appear to be overflowing with happiness, but just scratch beneath the surface of their souls and you will discover a bitterness, more bitter than gall. This will not happen to us, provided we really try, day in, day out, to do Godâs will, to give him glory, and praise him and spread his kingdom to all mankind.
We have to give glory to God. All things were created for this purpose, which contains within itself the specific reason why which each being was made. The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork, says the Psalmist. But we human beings have to give glory to God consciously, by a free decision of our will. We must do so not merely in a general way, but by trying to have the right intention in all our actions, from the most important to the simplest ones: in our daily work, in our social relations, in family life, and in the most commonplace things. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
It is not that God needs the glory we give him: he has the fullness of his glory, a glory that remains for ever. Nevertheless, Christ commands us to ask in prayer that God may also be glorified in our lives. It is right and fitting and holy to glorify God. It is the road to our happiness. It is our very purpose as created beings and as Christians, and in a special way, thanks to our vocation, as children of God in his Work, as Opus Dei.
Humility: all that we have comes from God.
All that we are and all that we may become, whatever is good in us, comes from God. It is a gift of God: something that we have received gratuitously from his superabundant love, because he is so good. What have you that you did not receive? the Apostle asks.
This is true on the natural plane, but still more on the supernatural plane, in the order of grace, where we see clearly that Godâs gifts are given freely, and that we do not deserve them in any way. Apart from me you can do nothing, our Lord tells us. Let us never forget this. And as we experience how Jesus Christ works in us and makes us advance along the path to holiness and abound in apostolic fruits, let us acknowledge the source of all these graces with true humility.
Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat! I can do all things in him who strengthens me! This is our recognition of our own uselessness and Godâs infinite power; of our smallness and the greatness of the Lord we work for; of our ignorance and his Wisdom; of our poverty and need, and the unfathomable riches there are in God, which he gives us so abundantly. And so for us not to give God the glory that we owe him would be sacrilegious theft, and a terrible falsehood.
The essence of idolatry lies in rejecting the fact of our dependence on God and entering into subjection to something he created, as though it were capable of existing without him; transforming a created thing into a god, and giving it the adoration due to God alone.
How often the episode we read of in Scripture is repeated, perhaps in a less spectacular, but equally real, way! The Israelites made a golden calf and adored it saying: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! They had forgotten the warning of the Holy Spirit: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of menâs hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; they have eyes, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; nor is there any breath in their mouths. Like them be those who make them! By adoring the works of their hands, they were adoring themselves.
To do this is false and unjust. It is also the gravest possible mistake, the worst misfortune, leading to utter loneliness and unhappiness. My child, donât ever think about yourself. Donât be so proud as to imagine that you are always the centre of attention. As long as you donât think about yourself, you will do good work. We shouldnât believe that we are the centre of the universe and that everything ought to revolve around us. And the worst thing is that if you fall into this defect, when someone tells you that youâre proud, you wonât believe it. For while the humble person thinks he is proud, the proud person thinks he is humble. That is why our Father wrote: How good it is to know how to put things right with yourself. And how few people learn that art!
In St Paulâs words, we should say with all the force of an unbreakable resolution: On my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.
Let us be docile instruments in Godâs hands.
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. How many failures, great and small, in our personal life and the apostolate could be explained by these words of the Psalm!
We are only instruments; let us never forget it. It is true that God has chosen us with great love and that he has lavished care and affection on us, giving us grace upon grace. It is true that he uses us to do great things. He uses us for his task, for his Work, to accomplish Opus Dei. But he has made us, and it is he who acts in us, and all our effectiveness is his. Let us never attribute to ourselves the successes which belong to him. When the Lord makes use of you to pour his grace into souls remember that you are only the wrapping round the gift, the paper that is torn up and thrown away. Let us be true and just. Let us give all the glory to God. Then we will be effective, and our work will not be in vain.
This deep conviction, based on reason and faith as well as the rectitude of our intentions, has to take shape in a renewed desire to be docile instruments. Let us resolve not to hinder Godâs work, but instead to be docile and pliable in Godâs hands, so that he can make use of us as he wishes. In order to achieve this, let us do all we can to follow the commands and suggestions of our Directors. They are the ordinary channels through which Godâs will is made known to us. Let us fight against whatever is an obstacle to grace and slows down our growth in holiness, making our apostolate ineffective. Let us make sure that our daily work never becomes vain self-seeking, but rather that it is the way we seek Godâs glory and cooperate in spreading his kingdom, which is what we are called to do in Opus Dei. Our activity will thus acquire its proper meaning and be truly effective.
Purity of intention. You will have it always, if, always and in everything, you seek only to please God. Let us contemplate our Ladyâs humility, her humble, hidden life, her docility. Let us ask her to obtain for us the grace to seek only Godâs glory in everything.