185. Second Friday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 68 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Proselytism. We need vocations. Each vocation is a grace to be won from God.

My children, you should feel a great concern for many new brothers and sisters to come along. Christian families long for God to send them children, because a young family without children is a family without light, a family that is dying out. And we are a young family, even though I have already spent so many years trying to serve God in Opus Dei.

In order to accomplish the Work of God on earth, many souls are needed who will be ready to leave everything and follow Christ. However, to come to Opus Dei a divine calling, a vocation, is needed. Certainly this is a great gift from God, an exceptional grace.

We are not the ones who choose a life of dedication, either for ourselves or for others. It is Christ who calls those he wants. But in order to grant a calling to the Work, our Lord relies on our cooperation as his instruments. He reaches souls through our dealings with them. We are apostles who lead other souls to the divine path of the Work.

Our Father reminds us: God expects you and me -joyously grateful for the vocation which, in his infinite goodness, he has placed in our soul - to be a great army of sowers of peace and joy along the pathways of mankind, so that soon countless souls can join us in exclaiming: Cantate Domino canticum novum; cantate Domino omnis terra. Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth.

God wants to grant countless people the grace of a vocation to Opus Dei. Therefore many vocations should come. And if they don’t, it will be our fault for not doing what has been established, for not doing things in a cheerful, systematic, constant, holy way.

We are eager to do God’s will, and we are convinced that proselytism is the best way of showing charity to souls. I have always told you, our Father says, that each one of us, after entrusting things to our Lord, ought to bring at least two vocations each year, carrying out that divine command, compelle intrare (compel them to come in), which is an invitation, a way of helping them make up their minds, but never coercion, not even in the slightest way.

Since respect for the personal freedom of everyone is a central characteristic of our spirit, the compelle intrare, which needs to form part of your effort to win new apostles, is not like a physical push, but rather an abundance of light and doctrine. It consists of the spiritual stimulus of your prayer and work, which bears witness to the truth of the doctrine you teach. It also includes the numerous sacrifices which you have learned to offer up; and the smile that comes to your lips because you are God’s children -because of your divine filiation, which fills you with a calm and a happiness that others can see and envy, even though at times there are difficulties in your life. Add to all this your human qualities and your charm, and there we have the content of the compelle intrare.

These are the means we should always use, with the assurance that we are fulfilling what our Father so often told us: Whoever does proselytism, wins vocations. Whoever does little proselytism, wins few vocations. Whoever does a lot of proselytism, wins many vocations.

First of all, prayer, filled with faith.

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.

Because the Lord is intent on his Work being accomplished, he is ready to grant us many vocations -but he wants us to ask for them. God has chosen the necessary instruments, the people who will cross our path. What we have to do is to pray for light, so that we can recognize them.

He himself shows us the way. Before choosing the Apostles, he went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. Only after long prayer did he call to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach. We must pray in similar fashion if we want God to send many vocations to the Work. Then it will be clear that the new vocations come not through our own efforts, but from God who in his unbounded goodness has listened to our prayers. And we need to pray with great faith, because what we are asking for is almost a miracle of grace. That is why our Father insists: First prayer; then atonement; in the third place - very much “in the third place” - action.

The first means to employ is constant prayer, which should never be interrupted, and which should be accompanied by constant mortification - our own mortification, and that of the people we ask to help. There is no limit to what prayer can do. We can ask for everything. All we need is faith. Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith, our Lord assures us. How much more willing will he be to fulfil this promise if he sees that our requests are not for personal benefits, but for souls who are ready to serve him! Amen, amen dico vobis: si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis. (Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. If we ask in Jesus’ name, the Father will grant it to us, be sure of it. Prayer has always been Opus Dei’s “secret”, its powerful weapon. On so many occasions we have had, and will have, no other recourse!

Prayer is the bedrock of our peace and our apostolic effectiveness. Propterea dico vobis, omnia quaecumque orantes petitis, credite quia accipietis, et evenient vobis. (I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. ) That is why I insist that you must believe that God will grant us what we ask.

Prayer is the most effective means of winning new apostles. We have always experienced the truth of this. We rely entirely on prayer, especially when it comes to winning new apostles. We must ask God for more vocations: vocations from every sector of society, from every walk of life.

Constant prayer: Mary’s example and intercession.

One of the conditions for good prayer, a prayer full of faith, is perseverance. Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem barren. Prayer is always fruitful.

Our Lord, in his preaching, often recommended us to be constant in our petition. We can recall, for example, the parables of the untimely friend, the widow, and the unjust judge… Constancy reveals the sincerity of our requests and shows how determined we are to obtain what we are asking for. We cannot pause for a moment in asking God to grant our friends the grace of vocation. In one of his sermons St Augustine says: I asked once, twice, three, ten, twenty times and I received nothing. Do not stop, my brother, until you receive it. Do not stop even then, but persevere still.

At Cana in Galilee our Lady teaches us how to pray. She brings a problem to her Son’s attention, saying: They have no wine. Then she calmly and confidently tells the servants: Do whatever he tells you. If Holy Mary, the Mother of the Work, cares enough to remedy the lack of wine at a wedding feast, how could she fail to put in a special word to Jesus on our behalf, when we ask for vocations of apostles who will work for his glory?

Our Mother is the Mediatrix of all graces. All the vocations to the Work have come through her. She will continue to intercede, as she has done up to now, and bring many more souls to Opus Dei. But it is good for us to go on reminding her, crying not only from the heart, but with all our heart, as St Ambrose says; insistently, tenaciously, following her own example.

Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son at Cana. And how she insists, confidently, with perseverance. And how she succeeds. Learn from her.