258. Tenth Saturday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 248 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
The knowledge of our worthlessness neither surprises nor saddens us.
In Opus Dei, my daughters and sons, we have all got to be thoroughly mature, each with our own characteristics, which the Work not only respects, but fosters and defends. But in our spiritual life we have all got to be like small children: simple and transparent. Which is why I like to say so often that Iâm only just seven years old. I advise you not to go beyond that age either, because an eight- or nine-year-old has already learnt to tell serious lies.
Our Father said this on his seventieth birthday, underlining yet again how important it is to be very sincere. We get the same advice from the Gospel in todayâs Mass, where we read our Lordâs words: Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God; or by the earth, for it is his footstool ⌠Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply âYesâ or âNoâ; anything more than this comes from evil.
Well, speaking from my seven yearsâ experience, our Founder continued, I want to remind you of something youâve often heard me say. This Father of yours feels capable of falling into all the same errors and all the same horrors as the very worst people fall into. And if you have any self-knowledge at all, you will know that the same is true of yourselves. So if ever you should have the misfortune to stumble, and even to stumble seriously, which Iâm sure wonât happen, donât be surprised. Put it right, talk about it straight away I If youâre sincere, our Lord will fill you with his grace, and youâll return to the struggle with greater strength, greater joy, and greater love.
âThen, Father, do you want us to fall or go wrong?â No, my children. How could I possibly want such a thing! But if you ever do fall flat out of human weakness, donât get discouraged. The reaction of pride at that point would be to think, âIâm no good.â Of course youâre some good! Youâre worth all the Blood of Christ: Empti enim estis pretio magno - you were bought at a great price. Go straight to the Sacrament of Penance, speak sincerely to your brother, and begin again! God is counting on you to do his Work!
Donât let it sadden you if, perhaps at the very best times in your life, you feel tempted to commit the ugliest sins imaginable. You might even mistake this temptation for consent, but it isnât. Turn to our Lordâs mercy, relying on his Mother and ours to intercede, and everything will turn out all right. And then burst out laughing: Godâs treating me like a saint! It has not the slightest importance; youâve got to realize that the old creature we all have inside can rise up at any moment Be happy and keep up your usual struggle! Now that no one wants to talk about battles or war any more, the only thing we can do is recall the words of Sacred Scripture: Militia est vita hominis super terram, manâs life on earth is warfare. My daughters and sons, your Father has a lot of experience of human weaknesses, because of being a priest and because of his age and his knowledge of himself. If you listen to his advice, then your battles will normally be just skirmishes, fought on things that are not too important, a long way from the main walls of the fortress.
From time to time you may meet with greater violence, greater strength from pride and the things that pull you downwards. The maddest thing you could possibly do then would be to keep quiet. While I declared not my sin, says one of the Psalms, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. And the opposite is true too: everything turns out well if you talk, if you set out your difficulties, mistakes and failings, in the personal, intimate, fraternal chat we have in the Work, and in Confession. Speak clearly beforehand, my dearest children! Just as soon as you notice the first symptom, however slight, even though it may not seem at all important Speak clearly, and realize that otherwise all you are doing is getting entangled in false shame and childish complications, when you ought to be behaving with the courage of true soldiers. Iâm not only talking about the weaknesses of the flesh, though I include them, in their proper place, fifth or sixth in line. Iâm talking first and foremost about pride, which is our greatest enemy because it turns us completely upside down.
You shouldnât be astonished if you do something stupid at some stage. Show your wound and let them treat it, even though it hurts. If you do, you will regain your health and carry on forward, and your life will turn into something of enormous benefit for souls.
Sincerity brings happiness to the soul.
The Work is a Mother who leaves her children absolutely free; and as a result we feel the need to be loyal. If there is anyone who hasnât yet done so, I advise them to open their heart now and get rid of whatever it may be - the âtoadâ we have all had inside, perhaps from before we came to Opus Dei. I advise all my children to do this: throw out that ugly fat toad. And then you will see such peace, such tranquillity, such real happiness! For the rest of your life, our Lord will give you much more grace to be loyal to your vocation, to the Church, and to the Pope, whom we love so much, no matter who he is.
By contrast, anyone who tried to hide one of their failings, big or small, would become a focal point of infection for themselves and for the souls around them. Failings which we hide form a dirty puddle - as do good things if we donât talk about them. Even clean water turns foul if it has no outlet. Open your heart clearly and briefly, without getting complicated about it.
The only people who are unhappy are those who are not sincere. Donât let the dumb devil take control; he will sometimes use something ridiculous to try and destroy our peace. My children, I insist, if ever you have the misfortune to offend God, listen to your Fatherâs advice, because he only wants you to be holy and faithful. Go straight to Confession and to the talk with one of your brothers or sisters. They will understand you, and help you, and love you even more than before. Get rid of the toad, and everything will turn out all right.
Everything will turn out all right for many reasons. In the first place, because sincere people are more humble. Next, because God our Lord rewards their humility with his grace. Then because the brother or sister who has listened to you knows that you are in need and feels obliged to pray for you. Do you really think that the people who hear your chat are people who canât understand? They are made of exactly the same clay as you! Who is surprised when glass gets broken, or a piece of pottery needs staples to put it together again? Be sincere. That is what will make me most grateful of all to my children, because then everything always gets sorted out. But if you feel misunderstood, if you feel like a victim, you are in serious danger of spiritual pride.
The spirit of the Work leads necessarily to simplicity, and the souls who come to the warmth of our apostolate are led along this path. From the moment you came to the Work all that they have done is treat you like an artichoke - pulling off the tough outer leaves one by one to lay bare the heart.
Everyone has a tendency to be a little bit complicated, and so even though you have many talents, you do sometimes make a real mountain out of a molehill and then let it crush you. Just try to acquire a talent for speaking out, and your brothers and sisters will help you to see that what is upsetting you is something tiny, or else that it has its roots in pride.
Donât forget either that although what you say may appear subjectively true to you, if it doesnât measure up to the real truth you are just deceiving yourself and other people. You can get things wrong out of pride, as I said before, because pride is a vice that blinds, and then you canât see, but you think you can. But people who deceive themselves and others are equally wrong. Letâs call a spade a spade. Let what you say be simply âYesâ or âNoâ; anything more than this comes from evil. âI just thoughtâ, âI only meantâ, and âThe thing is thatâ, are the names of three horrible devils I never want to hear on your lips. Donât make excuses for yourselves; youâve got Godâs mercy and the understanding of your brothers and sisters, and thatâs enough for you!
Opening our heart simply in the fraternal chat.
There is no spiritual illness, however serious or shameful it may seem, that our Lord canât cure if we go to the Sacrament of Penance contritely and open our heart in the fraternal chat in all simplicity. To encourage us to have this kind of sincerity, we can think of the words of the Psalm: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
Say things without any ambiguity. If any child of mine colours their errors, twists the facts and wraps things up in verbiage, they are on the wrong path. My daughters and sons, recognize this for a fact: when we have committed some error we tend to disguise our own bad actions with justifications of every kind: artistic, intellectual, scientific, and even spiritual. And we end up by saying that the Ten Commandments seem, or actually are, out of date.
In the whole of these past forty-three years, our Father said in April 1972, whenever a child of mine has been lost, it has always been because of their own insincerity or because they thought the Ten Commandments were obsolete. And donât let anyone come to me with any other reasons, because they are just not true.
Donât ever try to make out that bad behaviour of any kind is compatible with the holiness the Work asks of you. Develop your criteria properly, and donât forget that if you are more sincere day by day, your conscience will be growing progressively more sensitive. There will be things that you thought were all right before, but not anymore, because you can feel God calling you and asking you for more care, and giving you the grace you need to respond as he wishes âŚ
Iâm going to finish up, my daughters and sons, by bringing to your minds the text of Holy Scripture that tastes so honey-sweet to us. Elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut essemus sancti et immaculati in conspectu eius. God chose each of us out, so that we might be saints in his presence. And he did that before the creation of the world, from all eternity: that is our Father Godâs wonderful providence.
If you respond fully, if you struggle, you will lead happy lives here on earth too. Undoubtedly there will be times of darkness, times of suffering, but neither should you exaggerate: they are over as soon as we open up our hearts. Tell me, isnât it true that as soon as you talk about the thing that was troubling you or the thing you were ashamed of, you are filled with calm, serenity and joy?
Whatâs more, if we do that we find that we are never alone. Vae solis! Woe to those who are alone, says Holy Scripture. We are never alone under any circumstances. Everywhere on earth our brothers and sisters welcome us lovingly, listen to us and understand us. Our Lord and his blessed Mother are always beside us, and in our soul in grace the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple: God with us.