246. Ninth Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 238 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our Lord sows the seed of grace in us to bear fruit.

In one of his Letters to his disciple Timothy, St Paul states: I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. God … saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago.

Christ has infused supernatural life into our souls. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. By his Passion and Death, our Lord won all the grace necessary to save and sanctify the whole of mankind. He paid the price of our redemption with his own blood, and set us free from sin.

Pope Pius the Twelfth wrote that Christ, after redeeming the world at the lavish cost of His own blood, must still come into complete possession of the souls of men. Hence, in order that the redemption and salvation of each person and of future generations unto the end of time may be effectively accomplished, and be acceptable to God, it is necessary that each person should individually come into vital contact with the sacrifice of the cross, so that the merits, which flow from it, should be imparted to them.

Without the Lord, our Father tells us, you will not be able to take one sure step forward. This conviction that you need his help will lead you to be more united to him, with a strong, enduring confidence, accompanied by joy and peace, even though the road might become hard and steep.

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, all the members must be moulded to his likeness until Christ be formed in them. This is the reason that we are caught up in the mysteries of his life, made like him, sharing his Death and Resurrection, until we shall share his reign. Making our pilgrimage on earth until that time, we follow his footsteps through trouble and persecution. Our association with his sufferings is that of the body with its head: we share his sufferings in order to share his glory.

The purpose of his gift of the Holy Spirit is that we may have ceaseless renewal in him. This Spirit is one and the same in the head and in the members. It is he that gives life, unity and motion to the whole body. As a result, the Fathers have found it possible to compare his work to the function which is fulfilled in the human body by the principle of life, the soul.

Our Lord gives us his own life: he passes on the grace of the Holy Spirit to us in the sacraments, and especially in the Eucharist, in the Holy Mass. As we eat his body which he gave for us, we grow in strength. As we drink his blood which he poured out for us, we are washed clean. In gratitude for such goodness, we make our own the words of the Psalm: The Lord is good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray, he guides the humble in the right path; he teaches his way to the poor.

We need to be purified if this grace is to increase in us.

The growth of Christ’s grace in us requires our conscious, free cooperation. God sows the seed, and we have to prepare the ground, fertilize it and weed it - that is, we have to be purified. The main point of this activity on the natural plane is to get rid of obstacles, to open our souls to God’s action, and to offer ourselves unreservedly to the life-giving action of grace.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For grace to be given us more intensely we need purification and watchfulness; for as St Ambrose says, God’s gifts are not given to those who sleep but those who keep watch.

It is a high goal to which Jesus calls us: we will never attain it until the very end of our life. We can always aim higher, and anyone who doesn’t keep going forward falls back; anyone who doesn’t keep growing, gets smaller. Those who eat me, we read in Ecclesiasticus, will hunger for more; those who drink me will thirst for more…

Let’s not fool ourselves: we will have failings. And when we get old, we will have them just the same; the same evil inclinations as when we were twenty. And the ascetical struggle will be just as necessary, and we’ll have to ask our Lord for humility. It’s a constant struggle. Militia est vita hominis super terram: man’s life on earth is warfare. But peace actually lies in the struggle. Peace is the result of victory!

St Paul writes: Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Interior renewal, purification, is a constant task, because our failings are likewise constant. Our spirit of penance has to grow day by day, and God has given us the means to make it grow. It is in the Sacrament of Penance that you and I clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ and his merits. In Confession we meet Christ’s Cross, we are conformed to his likeness, and we put on what St Paul calls the new nature, the “new man”.

This spirit of purification is also shown in the cheerful way we accept small daily difficulties - and big ones too if they should come - offering them up in the Holy Mass together with the Sacred Host. Lord, as we gather to offer our gifts, confident in your love, make us holy by sharing your life with us, and by this Eucharist, forgive our sins.

Ascetical struggle as a means of interior purification.

We have a task of purification ahead of us; we will always have our failings and will need to try to put them right, and improve a little every day. In the face of all this, there is one consideration that can lend us optimism. The very struggle we undertake, hour after hour, minute after minute, is itself something that takes us closer to God and purifies us. Our life is a very ordinary one, with no strange happenings. Nothing could be more marvellous than grace, Christ’s life within us, and the calling we have received to co-redeem. All this supernatural vitality appears from the outside to be nothing spectacular, but it grows steadily in our soul through our humble, everyday struggle. It leads us constantly to conquer ourselves and forget about ourselves; and thus it guarantees our interior life and our progressive incorporation into Christ.

My children, you know, as I do, that the interior life consists of beginning again every day; you know, as I do, that we have to struggle continually; and you know, as I do, that there are little defeats that sometimes look like big ones because they are failures of love, dedication, spirit, and sacrifice. Don’t let them upset you. And our Father goes on to say: if you lead the life of Opus Dei, the life of God’s children, your defeats will be in small things, marginal things, never in things of any transcendence. It will be a little failure of love, which is put right with a renewed act of love, and heaven itself smiles at this sort of failure provided that we carry right on fighting. Sacramental Confession, the particular and general examinations of conscience, small resolutions, daily effort in our work, and quiet self-giving to other people, are all further means of purification. You may say to me, “Father, I’ve made so many mistakes, I’ve got so many failings!” Yes, I know. But God our Lord, who knows it too, and is counting on it, simply asks us to have the humility to recognize our mistakes and failings, and to fight to put them right and serve him better every day; with more interior life, with constant prayer, and with piety, using the means that Opus Dei offers us.

By making good use of the means the Work offers us, we will come to live a life of faith, hope and love. If our Lord always gives us his grace, what could ever discourage us? Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand, he tells us through the prophet Isaiah. And our Founder reminds us: You will not lack the grace of God. Therefore, if you respond to it, you will be sure to win.

Victory depends on you. Your strength and drive -together with that grace - are reason enough for you to have the optimism of one who knows victory is assured.

In our ordinary struggle we find joy, because we find God is helping us. And we will be amazed at how effective that struggle is - out of all proportion to our efforts - both in our personal holiness and in the apostolate.

The Most Sweet Heart of Mary, who never abandons her children, has looked after every step Opus Dei has ever taken in the world. It is she who has smoothed the path and overcome the obstacles along it; she has always prepared a safe road for us. She will do the same in the daily struggle waged by each of her children in Opus Dei: Cor Mariae Dulcissimum, iter para tutum! Cor Mariae Dulcissimum, iter serva tutum! Most Sweet Heart of Mary, prepare a safe way! Most Sweet Heart of Mary, keep our way safe!