316. Seventeenth Monday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 292 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
The Work is like leaven in society.
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened. The Work began its existence like leaven in human society. Here is what our Father wrote about it at the time: the growth is as yet barely visible above ground: it is underneath, growing on the inside; the time will come for it to rise upwards.
Only a short time has passed since then, and in many parts of the world the first flowering of its supernatural fruit is already evident. But our apostolic zeal knows no bounds: we want to bring the light of Christ to all souls, and spread his kingdom of peace and truth everywhere. The task would seem impossible if it were not for the divine power which turns us into leaven and produces its effect throughout the dough. That is how you are to change the world, says St John Chrysostom.
I like speaking in parables, our Father wrote, and more than once, following our Lordâs example, I have compared this mission of ours to the action of leaven working away in a mass of dough, until it is all turned into wholesome bread. When I was a child, during the summer holidays, I used to love watching bread being made. At the time I wasnât trying to draw any supernatural conclusions from it: my interest lay in the fact that the women who made it used to give me a bird made out of dough. It still gives me pleasure to recall the whole ceremony. There was a real ritual involved in preparing the leaven well: a small lump of leavened dough, kept from the previous batch, was added to water and sifted flour; it was then mixed and kneaded and covered with a cloth and, protected in that way, it was allowed to stand until it had risen as much as it would. It was then cut into portions and placed in the oven, and eventually out came marvellous, spongy bread. Because the leaven had been properly prepared, it allowed itself to be dispersed - to disappear - in the dough, giving it quality and goodness.
Our hearts should be filled with joy as we contemplate the leaven that transforms the doughs.
We have every reason to be ambitious in our apostolic enthusiasm: the power of the leaven is not just a human one, it is the very power of God himself. Christ our Lord, our Father preached, has always used the leaven of a small number of people, even though he desires ut omnes homines salvi fiant (that all may be saved): his wish is for the salvation, not of a minority, but of all mankind. Look at the leaven of Bethlehem⌠Look at the leaven of Tabor - follow me with your imagination and your memory - and of Nazareth and of the Upper Room. Look at the leaven of Calvary. And then? Then comes Pentecost, the gift of tongues, the mass conversions.
We must all retain the vigour and strength of that first leaven.
My children, the Work has gone ahead through prayer and mortification. It began without any human resources. There was only youth, joy, determination, and the certainty of doing Godâs will, plus a great deal of prayer and penance.
The heroic fidelity of our Father and of his older sons in the early years of the Work ensured the power of the leaven at that stage. It is now up to us to harness that same vitality and maintain the same spirit, the same eagerness, and pass it on to those who come after us. In these early years, our Father wrote in 1940, I am filled with deep gratitude to God. And at the same time, my children, I think of how much ground remains to be covered until the Catholic and universal seed which the Work has come to scatter is sown in all nations, in the whole world, in all spheres of human activity.
That is why I continue to rely on your prayer, on your mortification, on your daily work and on your cheerfulness, while at the same time renewing my trust in the Lord: universi, qui sustinent te, non confundentur: no one who trusts in God will be put to shame.
Through our unwavering search for holiness we ensure the effectiveness of our mission and the growth of the works of apostolate. The Work needs this fidelity of ours. The standard we have to aim at is that of our older brothers, who learned it from our Founderâs own example. Shortly after the Silver Jubilee of the Work in 1953 our Father said to us: At the present moment, when God has willed to scatter his seed so divinely and in such a short space of time in so many countries, it is the Sowerâs wish that the great expansion of the sowing should not diminish its intensity in any way. To ensure this, letâs not place obstacles in the path of grace. We must be convinced that in order to be leaven we have to be saints. We should ask our Lord for pardon for our evil ways, and really implore his help; and we should make the clear and specific resolution to remedy our past faults, if we are to prepare ourselves with humility of heart to be the leaven our Lord wants. As in Bethlehem, as on Calvary: few people, in comparison to the multitude, but filled with love for the Cross of Jesus.
Those clarion calls from our Father should move us deeply and effectively to resolve that our good spirit never slackens, while at the same time instilling in our souls a deep sense of responsibility. You have a clear and supernatural mission to ensure that this vitality is not lost: with your supernatural attitude to life, with the constant example of your work, with your friendly charity, with your mortification, with your devotion to the Blessed Virgin, with your cheerfulness.
Being leaven in society: self-giving, naturalness and apostolic vitality.
Leaven causes the dough to rise when it is added to the flour, or rather, when it is mixed in with it, which is why the woman not only added leaven, she hid it in the dough. That is how you must behave, St John Chrysostom explains, when you are mixed in with the crowd and made one with it ⌠just like the leaven which is hidden, and yet does not disappear, but rather spreads its wholesomeness little by little throughout the dough.
To be leaven, our Father says, there is one necessary condition: to pass unnoticed. Leaven does not produce any effect if it is not buried in the dough, if it is not mixed in and made one with it. I will never tire of repeating to you, my children, that you shouldnât be in any way different from the rest of mankind. Our wish should be to remain where we already are, and to be what we are: ordinary Christians, people who live normal, simple lives.
Our Father always taught us that in order to prove that one is a Christian there is no need to wear badges and medals, because Christianity is expressed quite naturally by knowing the faith and striving to put it into practice, by trying to live an upright life, by taking delight in the things of God, and by being ready to practise the virtue of charity.
In our case, not to behave like that would be to forget the very essence of our divine call, because we would then no longer be ordinary people: we would have become separated from the dough, and ceased to be leaven. There is only one thing that should distinguish us: the fact of not being different.
Just as leaven is hidden and indistinguishable from the dough, transforming it from the inside, so each of us is just one more among our equals - and yet we are an active ingredient that causes a reaction and raises the spiritual temperature of the environment we move in. Zeal to win vocations. Set fire to everything around you! And ignite distant things as well, through prayer, sacrifice and the smiling fulfilment of your duty. Through Godâs love, everything is near at hand and ready to catch fire, becoming light, warmth, charity.
We mustnât ever lose the interior power which moves us to apostolate, and which springs from love for Christ. We need to be a leaven which gives grace, which gives flavour, which gives volume, so that, afterwards, this bread of Christ can nourish all peoples.
Like the woman who took the leaven and mixed it with three measures of flour, our Lady has intervened to obtain for us from God the vocation to be leaven in the dough. We should frequently have recourse to her intercession, to help us keep this aspect of our spirit always robust and alive.