192. Third Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 73 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our fortitude is founded on that of our Lord.

Our Lord was teaching the people on the shores of Lake Tiberias. On this occasion, so many came to hear him that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

This is the scene presented to us in the Gospel of today’s Mass. Once again we set out to pray - to listen to Jesus and speak to him - following the Gospel narrative. We do so as one of the people among that crowd who are hungering for God’s word.

Listen, Jesus tells them. A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

With this parable, our Lord points out how his grace comes up against various different obstacles in souls, and how there can be difficulties that prevent the divine seed from germinating and bearing abundant fruit. He is telling us that the supernatural good which we are aiming at is difficult to achieve; it requires us to fight, to be determined and strong. It demands fortitude, which is a cardinal virtue and a foundation stone. According to St Thomas, the task of the virtue of fortitude is to remove the hindrance which holds back the will from following reason - reason, that is, enlightened by faith.

If we respond as we are asked, then we will be given all the grace and the strength we need. We will be able to overcome every obstacle and finally reach our goal of holiness. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock; and as St Paul tells us, the Rock was Christ, the foundation of all our strength.

It was God-given strength that drove the Apostles to travel along all the roads of the world, undaunted by dangers and persecutions. They even rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name of Jesus. Their strength stemmed from their absolute trust in God.

With the rock of Christ as our foundation, we acquire strength for the battle. We are certain of victory, because Christ has promised it. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Union with the Father and one another makes us strong.

Another portion of seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixty fold and a hundredfold.

The parable tells us nothing of all the care the sower took to ensure that the good soil might produce an abundant crop. But of course he would have needed to plough the field, and water the shoots, and protect them from all sorts of dangers. The Sower’s work required sacrifice, effort and perseverance.

Let us be strong, tenacious, and constant, so that our lives may yield the fruit Jesus is looking for. We need to keep up the effort in our work, in our Norms, and in our apostolate, day in, day out, come rain or shine, whether or not we are feeling enthusiastic. We need to put our whole heart into it. Our Lord will give us the strength to continue without faltering along the road he himself followed.

Part of this divine strength comes from our being united to the others in the Work. Our mutual charity helps us to overcome the difficulties we encounter. Do you see? our Father asks. One strand of wire entwined with another, many woven tightly together, form that cable strong enough to lift huge weights.

You and your brothers, with wills united to carry out God’s will, can overcome all obstacles. And St Paul says to the Corinthians: we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer.

If we are united to the Father and to one another, there is nothing that can cause us to falter. In your apostolic undertaking, don’t fear the enemies “outside,” however great their power. This is the enemy most to be feared: your lack of “filiation” and your lack of “fraternal spirit”. Disunity, the failure to give one another mutual support, would be the only thing capable of defeating us. Instead, with the help of all the others, our own weakness is turned into strength, and where once we felt weak, now we are able to conquer: terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata; as awesome as an army in battle array; quasi civitas firma, like a fortified city.

Fortitude in beginning and completing the jobs entrusted to us.

All-powerful and ever-living God, help us to fulfil your will so that, invoking the name of your Son, we may abound in good works. We need to ask God for his strength to enable us to fulfil thoroughly the things we are asked to do, and to finish every task entrusted to us. Then we won’t be like those people who, according to St John Chrysostom, are like the seed which fell by the wayside: negligent, lukewarm, aloof. Such negligence and lukewarmness show especially in a failure to persevere in a job we have begun, and in stopping before the last stone is laid.

I suffer, our Father says, if ever I hear that a son of mine, when he has been told to do something, reacts obediently and enthusiastically, but then within three days forgets all about it. There is no love for God in that, at least not the love God expects of his children in Opus Dei.

That sort of shortcoming is not always due to a lack of good will. Sometimes it is because we haven’t yet learned to work according to the spirit of Opus Dei. Our Father has also given us very clear advice on this: Begin what you have to do as though you had all the time you needed. Keep this up until you finish it. And if you don’t finish it, leave it for the next day. But what you have done should be finished perfectly. Half-finished work is nothing more than a caricature of Opus Dei. I don’t think anything left unfinished is worthy of God. Holiness in Opus Dei consists precisely in beginning and finishing one’s work with exactly the same enthusiasm. And if we feel no enthusiasm, then we do it with the same commitment, and in that case it is more meritorious.

We need fortitude, then, if we are not only to begin but also to finish our tasks perfectly. We find the strength we need in one of those paradoxes of the interior life: God counts on our weakness and on that of our brothers. But he also counts on his strength and on ours, which is great when charity unites us.

Our heavenly Mother will teach us to put the finishing touches to the apostolic activities entrusted to us, in spite of any difficulties, great or small. Then grace will yield abundant fruit in souls.