318. Seventeenth Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 294 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

In our lives we see wonderfully fulfilled the parables of the hidden treasure and the precious pearl.

Our divine call is something very precious. There comes to my mind, our Father wrote, the parable which St Matthew describes in the thirteenth chapter of his Gospel: the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Our situation too, when we accept it lovingly and learn to appreciate it as something divine, is a precious stone of infinite value.

This is the scene put before us by today’s Gospel. We too, like the man in the parable, have discovered a treasure which has changed the whole course of our existence: the call from God to Opus Dei. When we received it and said yes to our Lord we left aside everything we possessed, regardless of whether it was little or much, which is all the same anyway, to acquire, like the merchant in the parable, the precious pearl of our vocation. From that moment on our life has become a marvellous love-story and adventure-story which satisfies all the longings of the human heart and fills us with happiness.

This call is a hidden treasure which is not found by everybody. It is found only by those whom God truly chooses: everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required. When you experience this divine grace, don’t forget the parable of the hidden treasure: quem qui invenit homo, abscondit, et prae gaudio illius vadit, et vendit universa quae habet, et emit agrum illum (which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field). It is so human and so supernatural to conceal the favours of God.

Our whole existence is based on this fact and derives from it its flavour and meaning. We are grounded on firm rock. We can each take our Lord’s words as addressed to ourselves individually, redemi te et vocavi te nomine tuo: meus es tu (I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine); for God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness: non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem. And we have to thank God for this unmerited prize of our vocation, the most precious jewel he could have given us.

Thanks to this gift our whole existence is gradually transformed. St Cyril of Jerusalem asks: If fire penetrating right into the body of the iron makes the whole mass red hot, and if what was cold begins to emit sparks, and what was opaque becomes luminous, why are you surprised at the transformation wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit? But we have to ensure that this fire remains alive every day. We have adopted an outlook on life which we must maintain eagerly and joyfully, full of hope, until the very moment of death, and we cannot allow habit or routine to cool the fervour with which we embraced the divine call.

Our Lord expects us to be faithful. He trusts us. This is the meaning of our fidelity. It means making ourselves worthy of the call we have received, so that when we enter his presence we can say: Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more. Our personal dignity, the very purpose of our being, is at stake here, because the Lord chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and happy both in this world and in the next. And only he who endures to the end will be saved.

Fidelity to the vocation God has given us.

You know that you will never lack the grace of heaven. God has given you the gift of his calling, choosing you from all eternity, and has made these words resound in your ears: redemi te, et vocavi te nomine tuo: meus es tu (I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine). To me they taste like honey from the comb. You belong to him, to the Lord. If he has given you this grace, he will also give you the help you need to be faithful as his child in Opus Dei.

In this calling, this divine investiture, we find the strength to overcome all difficulties. We should have a sort of supernatural instinct to put our vocation before any obstacles we may encounter and defend it against all temptations. Our fidelity has to be so firm that it enables us to overcome all difficulties, in the certainty that we have been chosen by God. No matter what happens, we keep going. Vocation is something one never questions, just like one never questions the fact of being the child of one’s own mother.

Our Father often commented on the text from St John’s Gospel: You did not choose me, but I chose you. In a note written by don Álvaro to one of our Founder’s Instructions we read: Very often as we went around Spain to spread the seed of the Work in various places, travelling in an old wreck of a car which used to break down every few miles, the Father used to give us the morning or evening meditation on this particular text of St John. He used it to strengthen our faith and confidence in the supernatural effectiveness of the divine call to the Work. He spoke in a powerful and graphic manner: for example, when he said et posui vos, he used to comment: the Lord has set us in place, he has set you, my son, firmly fixed like a bolt fitted with a nut and a locknut: you are in the Work because God has called you, and if you are faithful to the impulses of grace you will remain firm for ever, and you will produce good fruit, fruit that will last, for the glory of God.

God cannot let us down. All that is needed is for us to respond. In Opus Dei, fidelity is absolutely essential. It confirms our mission of being co-redeemers with Christ. We also have to appreciate that it is a virtue in the natural order too. There are people who are not good Catholics, who lead immoral lives, who may be downright scoundrels, but who will not allow anybody to criticize their mother; rather, they will defend her, tooth and nail. There are others who are loyal to their country or to their company, without being paragons of virtue in other respects.

I would like us to raise this natural virtue of fidelity to the supernatural plane and make it the basis for perseverance in serving the Church, souls, the Work and our vocation. That is why I ask you, my daughters and sons, never to forget the noble virtue of loyalty, which is the basis for fidelity, and for us fidelity means felicity, happiness.

If we fulfil the Norms we will be faithful.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life, the Lord tells us in the Book of Revelation. And to be faithful we have to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called. God has given us our vocation, and he will preserve it. All that we had to contribute was the good disposition which allowed the divine seed to take root. Let us learn to pray, to seek the presence of God, to put our plan of life into practice. Fidelity in all this is what ensures our perseverance in the Work. And how shall I keep “our spirit”? By fulfilling the specific Norms your Director gave you and explained to you and taught you to love: fulfil them and you will be an apostle.

Every living being has an instinct for self-preservation, a power that enables it to overcome great obstacles and protect itself. We too should instinctively protect what is essential for our life in the Work. Recourse to the Norms should therefore be like a supernatural instinct for us, a source of nourishment we can never do without: and to have an appetite for it is a sign of life and health. Nothing should cause us to abandon the fulfilment of our Norms of interior life, which are sustenance for our contemplative souls.

We must always fulfil the plan of life lovingly, but especially when we find ourselves weak and it seems as if the building of our self-surrender is threatening to collapse: the solution then is to rely on the Norms. If you fulfil them you are guaranteed to persevere, because they are like the fatherly hand of God, holding on tightly to yours, so that, even though you may stumble, you will never go astray.

All the Norms are important. They form a single unity and are all perfectly continuous and harmoniously linked together. Each of them is essential and has its own part to play in contributing to the perfection of the whole. How should one respond to the divine call? First, with devotion. Be truly devout! Never omit doing the Norms lovingly, whether in fair weather or foul, whether we are sick or healthy, whether there are reasons for joy or for sorrow.

And, my son, my daughter, how shall you, how shall I, attain that sanctification, that holiness God asks of us? He was the one who gave me the specific means for us to become saints in Opus Dei, and the Church has approved these means: they are our Norms of life. Their only purpose is to make us saints, with the devotion of children and the learning of theologians.

We feel greatly in need of our Lady’s protection. A feeble child takes refuge in its mother’s arms. Though we are strong adults and have been sent forth along all the ways of the earth, in spite of our strength - which we should never lack - we have to see ourselves like little children, weak and in need of everything. And then, with those glances of affection, those Marian Norms and Customs that are at the heart of our spirit, we have to throw ourselves into the arms of our heavenly Mother.