190. Third Monday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 71 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Everyone in the Work has the same spirit.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. The profound unity of Christ’s Mystical Body, to which we belong through Baptism, is the pattern and model of our unity of vocation in the Work. This unity has three aspects: juridical, spiritual, and moral.

Before departing from this world to go to the Father, Christ prayed ardently for unity: That they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us. The early Christian community fulfilled this desire of the Master perfectly. If the Acts of the Apostles say of the early Christians that credentium erat cor unum et anima una (the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul), I can say the same of my children, our Father writes. For we have a small common denominator - which is not a matter of opinion, but belief - and that is our unity.

Indeed, we are united only by the doctrine of God’s holy Church, by our “divine call”, and by our desire to serve the Church as faithful and grateful children of hers. Therefore you are bound to one another, and each one is bound to the Work as a whole, only in what has to do with the quest for personal holiness, and in the task - which is also exclusively spiritual - of carrying the light of Christ to your friends, your families, and those around you. The very same spirit of Opus Dei sanctifies all of us. Every member of Opus Dei leads the same spiritual life, whether priest or lay person, male or female, single or married. There are no exceptions.

Our Father writes: Very often you ask me, What should we say to those who are married? What should we say to workers? What should we say to new vocations? And I smile and tell you, “My children, we are a healthy family and therefore we have only one cooking pot!” Only families who have someone sick have to prepare special meals. We have only one type of food, only one cooking pot. We have to tell everybody the same thing, because the Work is for souls, and all souls have the same possibility of becoming saints, through the spirit of the Work and its Norms of life.

All the same, it is a fact that my children are engaged in the most diverse activities; and among them there are people from a wide variety of cultures, of all ages and of different states - some single, some married, some widowed, some priests - and it is true that they are not all alike in temperament. And so, those sons and daughters of mine who are responsible for the formation of the other members, act in the same way as a down-to-earth mother who tries to vary her single recipe to the various needs of her different children, and so prepares or flavours the same food in different ways. But the pot is the same for everybody. My children, with the gift of tongues, learn to adapt to the individual circumstances of each one, and give the same spirit to everyone in different doses, according to their needs.

Moral unity, unity of hearts: a practical expression of spiritual unity.

Our unity of spirit should be reflected in our daily life, in the way we live with one another, in the seemingly most insignificant actions. This is what St Paul recommends in his letter to the Ephesians: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If our unity were limited to the simple fact of sharing the same spirit, while not manifesting itself in our daily life and in our dealings with those around us, we would be like parallel lines that never meet. We would come across as indifferent to each other, even though we were all following the same route. Our unity is expressed in unity of aims, unity of apostolate, unity of sacrifice, and unity of hearts, in the charity with which we treat each other, in the smile before the Cross and on the Cross. Be as one in your sentiments and desires!

In the Work, we are also asked for moral unity. We have, in St Paul’s words, the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, and we share one single will and one single desire: that of doing Opus Dei, while being Opus Dei ourselves. We know very well that this moral unity allows for a very diverse numerator. We each have our own personality, our own way of being, our own work and our own free and personal choice in temporal matters.

Unity does not mean having totally identical opinions, nor does it mean uniformity. We avoid uniformity, even in the tiniest material details. Therefore we take care not to create a special internal vocabulary: we speak just like everybody else. To act otherwise, to use the jargon of a closed group, would be clericalism. I can think of only one exception, which is our use of the phrase “to whistle”.

If we look after this spirit dutifully, we will create around us a cordial, pleasant atmosphere which will stir up in the hearts of many people the desire to serve God. All over the world, the members of Opus Dei, through their personal activity, spread the spirit of Opus Dei; and in doing so they attract non-Catholics, in that beloved apostolate ad fidem. For they prefer to work in surroundings furthest from the faith, and they explain the faith in a way that is appealing, simple and convincing. By their example and action they stimulate Catholics, and they foster unity in apostolic work and in the hearts of the people they do apostolate with, helping to heal divisions and end squabbles. Within the Work they strengthen and support the other members through preserving unity in direction and fidelity to our spirit and tradition. They acquire, protect and foster our family spirit, ut sint consummati in unum! (that they may become perfectly one).

This unity, without forcing the members of Opus Dei into the same mould, gives them the same eagerness to think, desire, work, love and feel as Christ does, and to be in harmony with his Church, in the most diverse circumstances. Even where there are heated national and international conflicts going on, we manage to achieve a haven of work and peace, in the atmosphere of our Centres, and in the places where we live or work.

Examining how we take care of our spiritual and moral unity.

Let there be in common a single prayer, St Ignatius of Antioch writes, one petition, one mind, one hope, in love, in the unmixed joy which is Jesus Christ who is the best of all. Juridical, spiritual and moral unity represent a gift which God has wanted to bestow upon his Work. Each of us should offer heartfelt thanks, and show our gratitude through our behaviour.

St Ignatius also tells us that in the harmony of your minds and hearts, praises are sung to Jesus Christ. Make of yourselves a choir, he says, so that with one voice and one mind, taking the key-note of God, you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father. But to achieve this, our Father explains, you need to understand one another, forgive one another, overlook certain things and love each other very much. My children, consummati in unum! (become perfectly one!): this is another great basis for our effectiveness.

We should examine ourselves in God’s presence to see if we feel solidarity with the others in our apostolic endeavours. Do I avoid all forms of insincerity in my relations with the others and with the Directors? Do I strive to improve my spirit of mortification so as to make the life of the others agreeable in every way? Am I willing to give up my own opinions, when they could be a source of friction or tension? Do I fight against excuses and comfort whenever I realise I should make a fraternal correction about something that could harm unity? These are questions we should ask ourselves from time to time, in order to draw conclusions for our daily life. And we should thank God with all our heart for the marvellous gift of unity which he has granted us: Gratias tibi, Deus, gratias tibi! Thank you, God, thank you!

On the tabernacle of the oratory of the General Council, our Father tells us, I have had inscribed the words consummati in Unum! All of us - with Jesus Christ - are one single thing! May we always preserve this marvellous unity of minds, wills and hearts, all of us being moulded according to the image of God. And may our Mother, a wonderfully fruitful channel through whom all graces reach us, obtain for us -along with unity - light, charity, and fortitude.