214. Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

Meditations no. 91 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Holiness means charity: an ever-increasing love for God and for all souls for his sake.

On one occasion, when speaking to his disciples, Jesus said: Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them … For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

God wants each of you to try to be holy in your own specific circumstances and position in life: Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra; this is God’s will, your sanctification. A holiness that will often be hidden - without outward show - but one that is striven for every day, a heroic holiness: to co-redeem with Christ, to save souls with him, to put order with him into all human affairs.

God wishes to make use of your personal holiness, which you seek in accordance with the spirit of the Work, so that everyone can learn, in a simple and specific way, what you know very well: that all the faithful, incorporated into Christ by baptism, are called to seek the fullness of Christian life.

God wants us to become holy. By answering his call, we have committed ourselves to a life of love. For love is the essence of holiness, the fulfilling of the law. And according to St Thomas Aquinas, this fulfilment of the law consists chiefly in the observance of the precepts of charity.

God asks us to love him with all our strength, and to love others as Jesus Christ loved them: to the point of forgetting about ourselves and giving our lives for them. Only by love such as this can we become saints and fulfil our mission. There is no other way. As our Father told us: Without charity we can do nothing. With charity, we can do everything. Love: this is the secret of the life of a child of mine in Opus Dei.

Charity must be supernatural, a sharing in God’s infinite love. Because of this it has no limits, and it should keep on growing in us. Again it is St Thomas who says that the one who does not want to love God more than he already does will in no way fulfil the commandment of love. We can never be satisfied that we love enough. If we were to set limits to our charity, it would be a sign that it was already fading away. We would no longer be loving God above all things. The more I love, the more I consider myself a debtor, says St Augustine. Holiness requires us to be constantly striving for new heights as we respond to God’s command to love him as he wishes to be loved. We can never forget that ours is a jealous God, who lays down in no uncertain terms the way we should love him: with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

In God’s eyes, love gives value to everything we do.

What we are asked for is love: love for God, and love for all souls. On these two commandments the law and the prophets depend, on love for God and on love for your neighbour. In fact, these two precepts are the same, since the one implies the other. Love alone gives value to everything we do. Love alone makes our virtuous deeds pleasing to God, and meritorious. And when in that daily struggle of ours, which is ordinarily made up of many little things, there are desires and real efforts to please God, I assure you, my children, that nothing is lost. All that toil, no matter how hidden or insignificant it may appear, has within it the power of God’s own life. Often he may allow us not to see or taste the fruit. Yet in spite of everything we must go on working cheerfully and lovingly, with perseverance and perfection.

Then nothing is lost; everything produces results. The fruit of your dedication will go to other souls, who need your life of service; or it will remain in the souls you are doing apostolate with, but it may only appear later. Remember that God never fails, and that we must not make him fail by not letting him act in and through our lives.

In the history of our Work of God, there have been many heroic, holy acts of service, inspired by a wonderful supernatural sense of daring. And remember: heroism, holiness and daring call for constant spiritual preparation. We will always give others what we have; and in order to give God to them, we must first get to know him and love him, to live his life, and give ourselves.

If love were missing from our lives, we couldn’t sanctify ourselves. All our deeds would be useless and vain, however great they might seem, and however much effort we might have made. God judges the value of the things we do by the love we put into them. Things that appear great from a human point of view may well be minuscule in heaven’s eyes. And things that are insignificant in themselves acquire immense value when there is great love behind them. Most of the things our Mother Mary did were of this sort; they were so simple that they are not even mentioned in the Gospels. We should therefore examine our conscience as to how much love for God and for others we put into our ordinary life, into the little things of each day. The secret that ennobles the humblest, even the most humiliating thing, is Love.

We should hunger to grow continually in charity. Lord, may I have due measure in everything… except in Love.

Family life: an opportunity to practise fraternal charity by means of constant acts of service.

Dearly beloved, concerning love of the brethren you have no need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, so St Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Our desires and our daily efforts to grow in love start with family life. Love for God and love for others in our family of the Work are inseparable; they are one and the same love. Christ, in whom the fullness of divine love dwells, taught us by his own life how to practise that love. It is something we have reflected upon very often. We see how he had time for everyone. He gave up his life for us. He did not come to be served but to serve. And he left us a new commandment: that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples.

By loving those who are at our side, we are also loving God. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen, St John says. God rejects as false any love for himself that is empty of fraternal charity. That is not the kind of love he taught us: This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

Loving others is a sign that there is authentic love for God in our hearts. It is a clear sign that we really do love God, and that as a result we love everything he loves, and in the way that he loves it. If God’s own Love dwells within us, we will reproduce Christ’s life in our own.

Family life offers endless opportunities of practising fraternal charity. It would be very mean of us to aim no higher than simply trying not to annoy, or hurt, or clash with the others. How could we be satisfied with that? Family life is an opportunity for us to show human and supernatural affection. It offers ample scope for practising the virtue of fraternity. Those small services we perform for the others are acts of love; and so are the things we do to help them even when they don’t realize it. So too are our efforts to bring cheerfulness into their lives, and the many other little things the heart discovers when it truly loves. And we try and do all this constantly, and with the utmost sensitivity. What to other eyes could seem mere courtesy and good manners, in our case is also genuine charity, a sure sign of fraternal love.

In concluding this meditation we might resolve to try to be more sensitive towards the others. Sensitivity is a sign of love; and as St Augustine says: If you remain silent, do so for love; if you shout, shout for love; if you correct, do it for love; if you forgive, likewise do it for love.

We pray to Mary, our Mother: Help us to love your Son Jesus, and the others in the Work, just as you love them: wholeheartedly, with supernatural and human love, joyfully, and ready to make any sacrifice for them.