182. Second Tuesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 65 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

God’s wonderful generosity toward us.

Christ has worked his first miracle at Cana in Galilee. By changing water into choice wine, he more than makes up for what may have been an oversight on the part of the newly-wed couple. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.

How splendidly God does things! In the words of St Paul, he bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. He is always so generous in distributing those riches, and whatever we ask for, he gives it to us sooner, more and better than we dared to hope. As our Father tells us: Dream, and your dreams will fall short. God’s generosity knows no limits. The Lord is gracious and merciful. He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever.

We have abundant proofs of how generous God is. He has showered his gifts upon us. He has blessed us with a vocation, which yields a hundredfold here on earth, and gives us the assurance of heaven afterwards if we are faithful. He has given us an ideal which satisfies all the aspirations of our soul, and which turns sacrifice into something easy and pleasant. He has entrusted us with a divine undertaking which transforms our life on earth into a wonderful adventure. We are already happy beyond compare, and yet this happiness is no more than a foretaste of the joy awaiting us. And above all, he gives us his infinitely tender Love, his own fatherly Love.

How good our Lord is! He has sought us out and taught us this holy way of being effective, by surrendering our lives in a simple way, loving every person in God, and sowing peace and joy among men. Jesus, how very, very good you are! Iesu, lesu, esto mihi semper Iesus! Jesus, Jesus, always be Jesus to me!

If God has so loved us, how should we respond? What should we do for him? What should be the extent, and the measure, of our love?

The measure of our response: not merely fulfilling, but surpassing ourselves.

We are responding properly to God’s goodness when we serve him, when we accept his will and let him use us as instruments for working all the wonders he wants to perform in the world. Free man, subject yourself to a voluntary servitude, so that Jesus won’t have to say of you what we are told he said of others to St Teresa: “Teresa, I was willing… but men were not.”

All that God has done and continues to do for us has this characteristic of abundance; it is an overflowing of his grace. Think of his Incarnation, or the way he constantly forgives our sins, or his continual presence in the Eucharist… Faced with all this goodness, we are like that servant in the parable, the debtor who could not pay. Ours is a debt that can never be repaid. Whatever we do, even though it might seem very great, is really very little.

Our generosity, even if it were total, would be very little compared to the infinite and loving generosity of the God-Man, who offered himself in sacrifice to save us, giving even the last drop of his blood, the last breath in his body. Therefore we must also try to give ourselves unstintingly, for the love of God, even though there are bound to be difficulties. That is why in carrying out their work, the children of God in his Opus Dei try not merely to fulfil, but to love, which always means surpassing themselves gladly in duty and sacrifice.

The waiters in that house at Cana in Galilee present us with an example of how to give ourselves completely. Fill the jars with water, our Lord told them. And they filled them up to the brim, up to the very top. Let us not limit ourselves to doing the bare minimum. There can be no half-measures in our commitment. For a person who wants to live a life of Love with a capital L, half-measures are feeble, they are miserly, they are mean and calculating. I will give you a piece of advice, our Father writes. When Love knocks at your door, don’t throw up barriers or hold back your heart. Never be afraid of going too far. If we are generous to God, it will lead us to be generous to those around us, putting our heart into all that we do.

We need to give ourselves generously. God looks for our complete self-giving, in response to the love and trust he has shown us. Then we will never impose limits on his generosity. He will never have to give less wine as a result of our having provided less water.

Giving ourselves completely in performing our duties; generously responding to grace.

I have no need of miracles. There are more than enough for me in Scripture. But I do need to see you fulfilling your duty and responding to grace.

Fulfilling our duty and responding to grace: that is how we can give practical effect to our desire to give ourselves generously in the Lord’s service. There are usually two ways in which God reveals his most lovable will to us. One is through the duties of our state in life; the other is through the motions of grace in our soul.

Among the most important duties we all have are those prescribed by the commandments of God and the Church, and the personal commitments which our vocation entails. These are a sure path to sanctity. We cannot just be satisfied with making sure we stay within certain boundaries and avoid wandering off the path. Sanctity means love and commitment; it is not interested in simply doing the minimum necessary. And a vague general desire to be a saint is not enough: we need to take swift steps each day in order to follow Jesus Christ at the pace he sets.

The inspirations of grace are another way in which God reveals his will. These inspirations may arise in our hearts or come through our Directors, but in either case, what we need is a spirit of generosity and docility so that we respond to them as we should. God pours out his grace more and more generously on those who act on his inspirations. But he withdraws from those who habitually close their ears to his voice. We must hold nothing back in responding to his grace; we must give everything. That is the measure of our response; that is how we show God our filial devotion and love.

Our Mother Mary will help us to be generous. Do whatever he tells you. Was it not the persuasive way she said these words, and the look of love in her eyes, that led the servants at Cana to carry out Christ’s command so generously, filling the jars usque ad summum, right up to the brim?