264. Eleventh Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 252 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Acting with our eyes on God, not on other people.

Beware of practising your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Our Lord is not saying we should hide our virtues. Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? What he wants is that, when we do good, it is not our own glory we are seeking but God’s.

“If only they could see the good things I do.” But don’t you realize that you are carrying them around like trinkets in a basket for people to see how fine they are?

Furthermore, you must not forget the second part of Jesus’ command: “that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

People in Opus Dei should work to the point of exhaustion every day, putting all their strength into their work as a service to others, and finishing off whatever task they undertake. They should be conscious all the while that “we are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.” We should therefore be really determined not to seek praise from other people, and not to aim for any glory for ourselves, either individually or as a group. Our Father made it absolutely clear that the glory of the Work of God is to live without any glory from men.

Whatever work we do, whether personal or corporate, we have our eyes on God and not on men. No earthly considerations, such as what people think, or what they might say, can condition our zeal for service. We have to work in God’s sight, without seeking applause: Glory be to God alone, to the Father and to the Son, with the Holy Spirit, both now and for ever. If we are convinced of this need to give God all the glory, we won’t worry about whether our behaviour may strike some people as surprising. Instead, we will tell our Lord, sincerely and with deeds, that all we want is to glorify him; that we want to live our lives in the knowledge that we will be forgotten on earth. We won’t expect any thanks from other people, but will persevere to the end. So we can say by our behaviour: Laboramus operantes manibus nostris; maledicimur et benedicimus tamquam purgamenta huius mundi facti sumus, omnium peripsema usque adhuc. We labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.

If we seek God’s glory alone in all that we do, our Lord will make himself known in our deeds, which will give forth the Christi bonus odor, the good fragrance of Christ, which attracts people and brings them closer to God. Pull self-love out by the roots and plant in its place love for Jesus Christ. That is the secret of effectiveness and happiness.

We need to correct our intentions frequently.

Heaven and earth, animals and plants all sing to the glory of their Creator. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours. But man is not always capable of appreciating this hymn of praise to God. Original sin has clouded our eyes, and we have lost sight of the true meaning of God’s creation: we tend to make it into an instrument for our own glory, instead of directing it all to God our Lord. When you give alms sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men … And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men.

Love for our own excellence leads us to seek ourselves in everything: in our work, in social relations, in family life, and even in our holiest actions. Accordingly, as St Gregory the Great advises, we need to examine our intentions very carefully in all that we do, and not seek our own interests, if we want to serve God.

The Old Testament tells us that a man’s glory comes from honouring his father. Our only ambition should be to see God honoured, glorified and praised. That is the goal towards which our professional standing, our relationships, our thoughts and projects, must all be directed.

Let us put aside vainglory, says St John Chrysostom, and love God’s glory alone. This is how we can attain the true glory of this world and come to rejoice in the possession of eternal riches, through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Let us think about the words of Scripture: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practise steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on the earth.

We need to examine our own conduct. Have I sought a right intention, anxious only for the glory of God in everything? We should realize first of all that our natural tendency is to think well of ourselves. Then we need the humility to recognize that our motivation is not in fact always entirely supernatural. We need true humility, to recognize that what comes naturally is selfishness, and all self-denial means a conscious effort Only on this basis, plus Christian mortification and constant prayer, will we be able to make any progress along the path our Lord has marked out for us. We will then be seeking the kingdom of God and his justice, and putting all our efforts into this task, which in our case means practising the virtues proper to the Work. Only then will we be able to say: My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

Apostolic effectiveness comes from God.

Don’t ever want to be thanked for what you do. Don’t look for earthly rewards. Always work for love of Jesus Christ. Otherwise how could we possibly persevere in our self-giving? Someone once asked: What if people joined the Work for what they could get out of it? And our Father answered: I’d just like to see them try! The first thing we’d do is take everything off them, down to the shirt off their backs. They would have to obey, work like a donkey, and be chaste; they’d have to mortify themselves and at the same time be overflowing with cheerfulness. Do you think they could possibly persevere? We know from our own experience that our life in the Work would not make sense unless our motivation and goal were supernatural.

But our examination needs to probe still deeper. We ask ourselves in the Circle whether we are seeking only the glory of God. We have to root out any undue self-satisfaction; we have to be constantly untangling our intentions. Let’s not deceive ourselves: purifying our intentions is a lifelong task.

Our life of piety itself can suffer from warped intentions. Sometimes our desire for perfection is a cover for vanity and self-esteem. When that happens we are not loving God in himself as Supreme Good and cause of all goodness. Our apostolate then loses all its greatness, and with it all its effectiveness, and turns into an instrument to serve our own pride. We’re here to do Christ’s apostolate, our Father reminds us, and never our own. To do Christ’s apostolate, to be truly Opus Dei, we have to straighten out our intentions time and again.

We can know whether our intentions are pure if we are struggling effectively to fulfil the Norms; if we are doing apostolate; if we work intensely, paying attention to little things; and if we do all these things in just the same way when no one can see us and the results of our efforts are going to remain hidden. It would be sheer self-deception to think our intentions were pure, if this uprightness were not reflected in the way we acted.

Let us turn to our Lady. We must give all the glory to God. This is what he wants: gloriam meam alteri non dabo, my glory I give to no other. This is why we want Christ to reign, since per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri Omnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti omnis honor et gloria; through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, almighty Father.

And a requirement of his glory and his reign is that everyone should go with Peter to Jesus through Mary.