287. Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

Meditations no. 586 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The human family of Jesus, rooted in Israel through his Mother, is the model for all families, especially Christian homes.

Is NOT this the carpenter, the son of Mary, brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?, the inhabitants of Nazareth wondered in amazement when Jesus preached in their synagogue. The Lord was really rooted in a family and in a people, which was his homeland; he was related to some and was known to all. St. Augustine, paraphrasing some of Jesus’ expressions, puts on his lips these words: “You know where I am from and you do not know where I am from. Where I am from you know: Jesus of Nazareth, whose parents you also know. In this matter only the virgin birth was hidden, of which, however, the husband was a witness (…). With the exception of this virgin birth, they knew of Jesus everything that is proper to man: his physiognomy, his country, his family, and where he was born.”

Christ’s countrymen did not know that - by divine, prodigious and direct intervention - his conception was virginal. His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, had no other children. The typical expression “brothers of Jesus”, which the Gospel uses on several occasions, only indicates a close relationship - cousins, uncles, etc. - according to the customs of the time. The Lord therefore had a true family. This was arranged by divine Providence, as a consequence of the reality of the Incarnation and also in order to assume family ties and thus redeem and sanctify them. God wanted his Son to live by his humanity in a family, that of Mary and Joseph, as part of his salvific plan.

From his birth in Bethlehem, the human family of Jesus manifested itself as a sign of salvation. In communicating to the shepherds the good news of the birth of the Messiah, the angel announced to them a great joy, which will be so for all the people. And as a sign of this unprecedented newness, he said to them: this will be a sign to you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. How could a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and reclining in a manger be a reliable proof of the veracity of the angel’s announcement? All the mothers wrapped their newborn children in swaddling clothes, and the angel did not mention any exceptional or striking aspect in the Child of Bethlehem, except that they would find him lying down, not in a cradle, but in a manger. However, when they arrive in Bethlehem, the shepherds find Mary, Joseph and the child reclining in the manger, and they believe the angel’s messianic announcement. Certainly, they must have possessed a special gift of faith, to be able to see beyond mere human appearances. But their reaction must also have been motivated by the affection, harmony, peace, joy, docility to God’s will that reigned in the Holy Family.

The family of Bethlehem is the sign that the Lord has truly come to earth, with flesh like ours. The birth of Jesus means, as Scripture says, the inauguration of the fullness of time (cf. Gal 4:4), the moment chosen by God to manifest his love for men in its entirety, giving us his own Son. This divine will is fulfilled in the midst of the most normal and ordinary circumstances: a woman giving birth, a family, a house. The divine Omnipotence, the splendor of God, passes through the human, they are united to the human. Since then, Christians have known that, with the grace of the Lord, we can and must sanctify all the clean realities of our lives.

Since the event in Bethlehem, all families have been called to be a sign of God’s presence in the world. They will fulfil this function if, as our Father explained, they are bright and joyful homes, like the earthly home of Jesus; homes in which the harmony that reigns between parents is transmitted to the children, to the entire family and to the environments that accompany it. Thus, in every authentically Christian family the mystery of the Church, chosen by God and sent as the guide of the world, is reproduced in some way.

The Church - and, within the Church, the Work - is God’s family on earth. Unity and concord must reign in it.

THE FAMILY, as a communion of persons, is distinguished from other human institutions by a particular unity, by the interpenetration of hearts and intentions. Unity among human beings is so important that God has willed the Church to be “a sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race”. It is not a simple characteristic, but something that belongs to the very essence of the Church, as is shown by the various names it receives in Sacred Scripture: “the house of God (cf. 1 Tim 3:15), in which his family dwells; the dwelling place of God in the Spirit (cf. Eph 2:19-22), the tent of God among men (cf. Rev. 21:3) and above all a holy temple, which the Holy Fathers celebrate as represented in the temples of stone”.

A Father of the Church comments that, “from the very beginning of apostolic preaching, this most important norm was observed: the multitude of believers were of one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32). Such, in fact, must be the People of God: all brothers and sisters under one Father, all forming one thing in the same Spirit, all concurring with one accord in the same house of prayer, all members of the same body”.

On the human plane, and even more so on the supernatural level, maintaining unity requires inner struggle. It must be conquered anew every day, committed to a concrete effort to overcome the impulses that tend to division. In this sense, the greatest enemy of unity is pride, since it disproportionately increases the inevitable friction between different characters, giving rise to selfishness. And, closely linked to pride, laziness, which cools love and leads us to isolate ourselves and withdraw into a world made to the measure of our comfort. In addition, the devil does not cease in his attempts to divide men, as indicated by the Greek etymology of his own name. For this reason, we cannot be surprised that he always attacks on the same points, because he knows that grace comes to us through unity with God and with those who represent him.

One way of concretizing the effort necessary to always maintain this unity is docility. This virtue refers, above all, to a quality of heart that allows us to perceive the needs of others and to place ourselves at their service. Docility of heart leads us to identify our interests with the good of others, to accept with diligence and care the suggestions, dispositions and advice that we receive in this supernatural family of Opus Dei. In this way, our docility will be intelligent and responsible, as our call asks of us.

When Solomon inherited the throne from his father David, God appeared to him in a dream and encouraged him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon answered, “Give your servant a docile heart to judge your people and to know how to discern between good and evil.” The young king asked for a heart that was kind and obedient to the divine commandments and to the needs of his people. This request pleased the Lord very much, and he rewarded him with wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and all kinds of good things.

The Lord takes into his hands the life of a pious and faithful son of his and confers on him a divine fruitfulness and efficacy that is humanly inexplicable. That is why our Father advised: I ask you never to be an obstacle to God’s action. Be ready to respond to the divine calls, which bring into our lives the urgency of always giving ourselves and of giving us more. If there is Love, I tell you this from my own experience, human means arrive, and difficulties are always overcome. Works are never fruitless, if we truly seek God alone.

Sometimes, docility is difficult. So it may be a good time to remember what St. Josemaría wrote: They send you something that you think is sterile and difficult. “Do it.” “And you will see that it is easy and fruitful.”

Value of obedience and docility. Purity of heart.

THE REASON for being and the essence of a docile heart is love. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

To be docile and obedient, one must strive to listen to the voice of God and the calls of others. Obedience derives from a Latin word that means to listen attentively, and indicates the attitude of one who listens to a request. Docility comes from teaching, and means the ability to be instructed. For both attitudes it is necessary to have a clean heart. By the term “heart” we designate not only the emotions - which are certainly an important part of the human being - but the affective background of the soul that is prior to concrete individual acts. St. Thomas speaks of a disposition or preparation prior to the infusion of charity. Good disposition is also the work of the Holy Spirit.

The heart is the nucleus of the person where one decides on good and evil. It is the field that welcomes or rejects the divine seed with a free act that disposes towards the ultimate end. Only a clean heart can see God. Only a heart cleansed by Love can be docile. On our part, an active attitude of purification and a positive search for docility is required, like Christ, who became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Love is the form of all virtues, including docility and obedience. Love does not instrumentalize our powers and energies. In ancient times, masters disposed of their slaves as instruments to carry out their will. Love or charity, on the contrary, vivifies our powers and other virtues from within, like its form. Thus, docility informed by love does not instrumentalize us, but moves us from within, vivifies us. When we bend our will to the legitimate indication of an authority or to an interior movement of grace, we do not kneel before the oppressive force of an irresistible power, but we kneel before the infinite Love that is God. Deus caritas est. We do not lose our dignity by obeying, because we surrender to the Love that is God, and thus we realize our most intimate personality and manifest our greatest dignity.

Only a merciful heart is gentle and benevolent, for mercy leads us to make the good and evil of others our own. Mercy goes far beyond mere compassion, because it impels us to commit ourselves personally to remove the evil or increase the good of the other, especially his eternal happiness. This is what we contemplate in the life of Christ. “When Jesus speaks in his parables of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, of the woman who seeks the drachma, of the father who goes out to meet the prodigal son and embraces him, it is not just mere words, but is the explanation of his being and action. In his death on the cross this (…) giving himself to give new life to man and to save him is realized: this is love in its most radical form.”

Benedict XVI writes that looking at Christ’s pierced side helps us to understand that Deus Caritas est. “It is there, on the Cross, that this truth can be understood… And from that gaze the Christian finds the orientation of his life and his love.” Thus, little by little, we identify ourselves with Christ, who did good to all. But he also had to suffer the bitterness of rejection and misunderstanding in his own country: he could not perform any miracles there; he only healed some sick people by laying his hands on them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

We want to believe in Jesus and to support his plans, even in moments of darkness or when we do not understand. The Lord wants the instruments to do everything possible to be well disposed: you must see to it that this good disposition of yours is never lacking. And in this way all good things will multiply around you, intelligences and habits will be filled with light and salt.

To be docile, let us ask for help from Mary, who called herself the Handmaid of the Lord. With her docility she made the Redemption possible.