124. Easter Saturday

Meditations no. 170 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Being faithful out of a sense of responsibility.

The Easter octave is about to end. The Gospel provides a summary of what happened immediately after our Lord’s Resurrection: Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this, he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

There is a note of complaint in these words of the Holy Spirit: “they did not believe”. Jesus finally appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. It is a reproach which our Lord can make to every one of us because our faith is often weak and hesitant. And the Work needs firm, secure men and women to lean upon. We know that God does not “need” anybody. Nevertheless, he wants us all to be “necessary” in ensuring that this tapestry of holiness and apostolate, which we offer him daily, is something beautiful and flawless. We cannot leave loose threads: we cannot stop being faithful.

By our Lord’s grace and choice, we have already taken on certain obligations which at times may weigh us down, but which we can always fulfil faithfully, because our Lord has given us the inexpressible gift of a special calling. This calling brings a special grace which enables us to respond to it

My children, I would like you to feel the concern to live the spirit of the Work at all times. This will give you peace, serenity and joy. I want you to be happy, and you will be, if you take care of this spirit in your personal life, aware that, every day and at every moment, our Lord wants you to become more Opus Dei.

I would like to remind you of a comparison which I have used several times. Think of those great birds which have the gift of soaring high in majestic flight. Surely they don’t feel the weight of their wings, despite their enormous size and weight If their wings were cut off, or if they could take them off themselves, the birds would weigh less; but they wouldn’t be able to fly any more. Live the spirit of the Work, I beg you, in the conviction that your obligations are not a dead weight, or something negative. They are a constant declaration of genuine Love.

And thanks to the faithful fulfilment of our obligations we will fly very high, because despite our individual insignificance we will all be living God’s life. We will soar up to the sun, like ascending eagles.

Faithfulness is a “yes” we each say to God; and since we all belong to the one Mystical Body, it is also something we offer to others. None of you is an isolated piece. If you stop, you make everyone else stop. And you have no right to destroy one another’s souls! You are responsible - in spite of your passions - for the holiness of the others, for the effectiveness of all. That is why our Father used to say: Be serene! We must never lack a sense of responsibility, realizing we are all links in the same chain. Each of the children of God in his Work must truly say: I don’t want this link which I am to snap; because if I snap, I’ll be betraying God, the Holy Church and my brothers and sisters.

We need to be faithful, for love of Jesus Christ, the Work and souls, with a faithfulness which will also mean our own happiness.

To be faithful, we have to struggle, in the certainty that we have been called by God.

Being faithful to God demands a struggle. And it means close combat, man to man, - the old man against the man of God - in one small thing after another, without giving in.

Final perseverance is the fruit of God’s love, which he grants to those he chooses, and ordinarily it demands an unremitting interior struggle. Nevertheless, some behave, throughout their lives, as though our Lord had only talked of self-giving and upright behaviour to those who did not find it hard - they don’t exist! - or to those who don’t need to fight.

They forget that Jesus said, for all: the Kingdom of heaven is won by violence, by the holy battle of every moment.

Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown, Holy Scripture says. We should not allow anyone to snatch it away from us. We can and should keep hold of our treasure, because our Lord has given us all the means to do so. We have Christ’s word for it: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the Kingdom. We have the security of knowing we have been called by God. The knowledge that we have a vocation - that we have come because our Lord has called us, otherwise our presence in the Work has no human explanation - is the surest guarantee of our faithfulness.

My children, it is God who awaits us! So we must commit ourselves joyfully, lovingly and eagerly, even though it may mean going against the grain sometimes, or even indefinitely. Our commitment may require some effort. But even then, faithfulness is a delightful obligation which we must not shirk, though it may demand our very life, though it may require sacrifice and hardship. God needs our faithfulness.

If we struggle, our Lord will grant us the grace of final perseverance, because he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, Our Father stresses: You know that you will never lack the grace of heaven. God has given you the gift of his call, choosing you from all eternity, and he has whispered in your ears the words, redemi te, et vocavi te nomine tuo: meus es tu! (I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine) which to me are like honey in the comb. You belong to him, to the Lord. If he has given you this grace, he will also give you the help you need to be faithful as his son or daughter in Opus Dei.

And at the end of the straggle, there comes the consolation of knowing that the one who conquers will be entitled, our Lord says, to sit with me on my throne; as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

It is worthwhile persevering and struggling to the end.

He who endures to the end will be saved. What matters is that we persevere in our vocation to the very end. Our Father wrote: That passage of the Second Epistle to Timothy makes me shudder, when the Apostle laments that Demas has fallen in love with the present world and gone to Thessalonica. For a trifle and for fear of persecution, this man, whom St Paul had quoted in other epistles as being among the saints, had betrayed the divine enterprise.

I shudder when I realize how little I am; and it leads me to demand from myself faithfulness to the Lord even in events that might seem to be indifferent -for if they do not help me to be more united to Him, I do not want them.

We know the difficulties, the enemies from outside and the enemies from within. But we also have the weapons to be victorious. Hence, if the interior struggle ever becomes harder, it’s a good opportunity to show that our Love is true. Once a soul has begun to savour its self-giving to some degree, it would be a terrible swindle to give in to defeat. Don’t forget that cry of St Paul’s: Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius? Who will deliver me from this body of death? And hear God’s answer in your heart: Sufficit tibi gratia mea. My grace is sufficient for you!

The love which, with God’s grace, we have given him wholeheartedly in youth, is not something we can take back with the passage of time. Fidelity is the perfection of love. Behind any sign of disenchantment in the life of a soul dedicated to God there is always a point of corruption and impurity. Fidelity, when it is whole and entire, is always joyful and unconditional.

Let me insist: be faithful. This is something deeply embedded in my heart. If you are faithful, our service to souls and to the Holy Church will yield abundant spiritual fruit.

Faithfulness is repaid with faithfulness: what we have to do is fight resolutely. Then it can be said of each of us, in the words of Scripture, that when he was tested, he was found faithful Difficulties certainly exist; but if we make use of the means available, those difficulties can be overcome. Furthermore, there lies a reward for all eternity, something which should attract us and invite us to live and die faithfully.

In response to the faithfulness of our life - how little a life is to offer to God! - we shall hear Jesus say: Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Master.

Sancta Maria, Virgo Fidelis, filios tuos adiuva! Holy Mary, Virgin most faithful, help your children!