149. Fifth Wednesday of Easter

Meditations no. 195 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Work’s apostolate results from the organic, coordinated action of individual members.

What God has planned in bringing the Work into being is so great that it totally exceeds our individual capacities, even though we are just instruments. The good he wants to bring about is so exalted that it has been entrusted to many people, so that we may all accomplish it with one heart and one soul, with the same means and with the same spirit, under a single authority and through a shared fraternity.

The Work is part of the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ. It is an organic and living part, made up, in its turn, of each of us. Think about your Mother the Holy Church and consider how, if one member suffers, the whole body suffers.

Your body needs each one of its members, but each member needs the whole body. What would happen if my hands were to stop doing their duty… or if my heart were to stop beating!

The union of different members to form the whole body requires the subjection of some members to others. And this limitation is a source of effectiveness. Just think what would happen if our body did not have this apparent lack of freedom, our Founder wrote. The head would be in one place and each of the members somewhere else. It’s clear that whatever is alive, though composed of many different parts, is somehow united. Well, the same is true of the Church and the Work. If the hand were set free, or if the head or the feet were set free, they would inevitably be on their way to corruption, to death. They’d rot, because they would have lost the ties that united them to the rest of the body, the ties which gave them life and freedom.

The freedom we don’t wish to have is the freedom of self-destruction, of death. Blessed be this subjection of ours, this yoke, which is the best sign of our freedom and life! Iugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve, for the yoke is gentle and the burden, light.

However perfectly we performed our personal task, it would be useless if it were not done in organic coordination with the action of the others; if it did not form part of our calling to holiness and apostolate. Either our activity is the Work of God, or else it is a human work, supernaturally sterile.

Our personal work is coordinated with that of the others through obedience. Obedience makes us truly effective. The Work’s activity each day is like a great woven fabric that we offer to God. If we all fulfil our work, if we are faithful and dedicated, this great fabric will be beautiful and faultless. But if one thread is left loose here, and another there, and yet another on the other side, instead of a beautiful tapestry, we would end up with a rag torn to shreds.

The importance of obedience.

St Clement of Rome says: Let us fight, brethren, under our Lord’s command. Let us consider a group of soldiers under the command of their leader. How orderly, how obedient, how ready they are to carry out orders! Not all are leaders, nor all captains. But each one in his own place and position carries out whatever the king or the officers command. Neither the officers without the ranks, nor the ranks without the officers could stand alone. All must be united; that is what ensures their effectiveness.

We need to be firmly convinced of the importance of obeying faithfully, considering that those who govern know what is best for the Work. If we carry out what we are told, it will benefit the whole Work. Otherwise, it would slow things up, and impede our brothers or sisters from doing their task for the good of many souls. Unity of outlook and unity in sacrifice give strength to our life. The battlefront must not give way because of you or me. As our Father told us, unity is the secret of our effectiveness and one of the Lord’s greatest blessings for his Work.

Our Directors rely on our personal responsibility. They always give us reasonable things to do. But they do not give them to us ready-made, with all the problems solved. They rely on us, on our capacity for work, our good sense and our freedom. We must especially value obedience in the current environment of disobedience, rebellion and disunity.

Our Founder writes: Freedom is very close to my heart - that is precisely why I so love the Christian virtue of obedience. We should all realize that we are children of God, and should want to fulfil the will of our Father. We should do things as God wants them done, because we feel like it, which is the most supernatural of reasons.

Practising obedience to the full means applying our mind to see how we can best fulfil what we have been told to do. It means identifying ourselves with what has been entrusted to us, to make it our own. Furthermore, it means overcoming any difficulties with fortitude, in the confidence that we are doing God’s will, and with faith that everything will work out well. We do all this regardless of the time and effort involved, right up to the end, until things are completely finished.

Obedience brings unity with the Directors, the Father and God our Lord.

In the Gospel of today’s Mass, our Lord explains to us that our work will only bear fruit if we do it in union with him. He tells us: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Only the Word of God, which is living and effective, can turn our personal failings into richness. And God’s word comes to us through the Directors.

The Directors’ indications and suggestions have to be received with a generous detachment from our own will. Non mea voluntas, sed tua fiat; not my will but yours be done, Lord. Our obedience has to be confident and serene, exact and human at the same time; our obedience should overcome all difficulties, disappointments, and ingratitude; because my children overcome everything with generosity, as they put into it not only outward goodwill, but also all the power of their minds and hearts.

This is the obedience we are taught in the Work: voluntary and intelligent obedience, inspired by the desire to serve, to be useful to our Mother the Work, for the good of souls. That is why we cannot forget that the place where we can be most effective is where our Directors have placed us … This is the will of God. Only in this way, by obeying, will we be united to our Lord. Sine me nihil potestis facere (apart from me you can do nothing). And then there will break forth from your heart that cry of Paul’s: Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat! (I can do all things in him who strengthens me. )

My children, let’s be closely united to the vine, very close to our vine who is Jesus Christ, through unconditional obedience to our Directors.

Let us finish our prayer by making the resolution to obey with more love, more faith, and more hope. Only by doing so will we be truly effective. Because effectiveness comes from the strength of God himself: vir oboediens loquetur victoriam, the obedient person will sing of victory. If with the piety of children we ask the advice of our Lady, Mater Boni Consilii, Mother of Good Counsel, we will receive the same loving and unconditional command: Do whatever he tells you.