232. Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

Meditations no. 105 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Detaching ourselves from earthly things.

At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “No man can serve two masters … You cannot serve God and mammon.” God has called us to his service and wants us to sanctify ourselves in our everyday work in the middle of the world, as ordinary Christians. And so we need to possess and use material things, money, instruments for our work, and so on, all of which are indispensable for accomplishing our purpose.

But God knows our fallen nature. He knows that all too often our hearts get over-attached to the material things which he himself has created, and which he puts at our disposal in our apostolic work. Experience teaches us this danger; and we see it every day in the world around us. Many people, the Second Vatican Council reminds us, seem to be hypnotized, as it were, by economics, so that almost their entire personal and social life is permeated with a certain materialistic outlook. They somehow imagine that happiness consists of possessing material things; and they are anxious to obtain more and more of them, which can easily lead to envy and hatred.

We need to be on our guard in order to ensure that our hearts do not become divided. This is what would happen if we were to use earthly things in a disorderly way, treating them as ends and not means. We need to be alert, because we tend to get attached even to the small things we use every day in God’s service.

If you want to be your own masters at all times, I advise you to make a very real effort to be detached from everything, and to do so without fear or hesitation. Then, when you go about your various duties, whether personal, family or otherwise, make honest use of upright human means with a view to serving God, his Church, your family, your profession, your country, and the whole of mankind. Remember that what really matters is not whether you have this or lack that, but whether you are living according to the truth taught us by our Christian faith, which tells us that created goods are only a means, nothing more. So, do not be beguiled into imagining that they are in any way definitive: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where there is rust and moth to consume it, and where there are thieves to break in and steal it. Lay-up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where there is no moth or rust to consume it, no thieves to break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is too.

Detachment leads to abandoning ourselves into God’s hands.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

The people to whom Jesus speaks have both a body and a soul. He knows their needs, their ordinary problems, their daily worries; he understands them. But he invites them to raise their hearts to God and to entrust their whole life to the hands of their heavenly Father. And he sets forth some vivid examples: Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they?

In the Work we know very well how true these words of Christ are. In the early years we were short of everything, even the most basic necessities. Attracted by the fire of God, there came to my side workers, clerks, university students… , who had no idea of the straits we were in, because in Opus Dei we have always managed, with God’s help, to work in such a way that our sacrifices and prayers have been both abundant and unnoticed. When I now look back on those times, my heart overflows in humble thanksgiving. What certainty we felt in our souls! We knew that in seeking first God’s kingdom and his justice, we would be given all the rest as well. And I can assure you that not a single apostolic initiative was ever abandoned for lack of material resources. Wherever necessary, our Father God, through his ordinary providence, ensured in one way or another that we got what we required, showing us that he is always a “generous paymaster”

As we listen to these words of our Founder, we should carry out a personal examination of conscience. Is my heart attached to anything on this earth? Do I lose my peace of mind when faced with the normal annoyances of everyday life? Do I get anxious, as if everything depended on me, or do I abandon myself confidently into the arms of my Father God?

If the efforts we make in earning our living do not lead us to God, but rather lead us to fail in charity or lose our presence of God, we need to take urgent remedial measures. For Jesus asks us: Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? The effectiveness of our life does not depend on our merely human efforts but on our union with God. As a resolution from the conversation we are now having with Jesus, it would be good for us to offer him all the work we are going to do today, telling him that we will try to keep him present in our minds and hearts, and that we will rely on his help in all our endeavours.

Detachment and abandonment are based on divine filiation.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

St John Chrysostom writes: He did not say “God knows” but “your Father knows”. And thus he gives us cause for greater hope. For if he is a Father, and such a Father, he cannot abandon his children when he sees them in need. Divine filiation is the basis for the deep peace of soul we have. As the Catechism of the Work says, divine filiation leads the members of the Work to live a life of faith in divine Providence and abandon themselves peacefully and joyfully to God’s will. Our Father taught us to say the aspiration omnia in bonum! frequently, and with childlike trust. Everything works for the good of God’s children.

St John Chrysostom also comments: Apart from what has been said, the Lord gives us yet another reason for confidence: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” When he has set the soul free from anxiety, he then makes mention of heaven. Indeed, he came to do away with the old things, and to call us to a greater country. Therefore he does everything to deliver us from unnecessary things and from our affection for the things of earth … We were not born to eat and drink and dress sumptuously but to please God and win everlasting goods. Just as the things here are secondary in our labours, so also let them be secondary in our prayers.

We do not seek earthly things, but rather God’s glory. And this detachment ensures the fruitfulness of our apostolate. How often we have re-enacted in our own lives that dialogue of Jesus with his disciples: “When I sent you out with no purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” How many of your brothers and sisters I have sent out to start working all over the world with only a picture of the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, and my blessing! And God has never failed us. We can truly say that “our riches are our poverty.”