321. Seventeenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 297 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Fortitude in our struggle to be saints.

We read in the Gospel of today’s Mass that Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison. John the Baptist had severely reproved Herod for his evil deeds. In doing so John was being consistent with his mission as Precursor, which demanded, in the first place, that he should be strict on himself. His uncompromising preaching, in fulfilment of God’s Will, was always backed up by the example of his rigorous life.

Fortitude is a cardinal virtue which we all need. The kingdom of heaven, our Lord tells us, has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. And we, called to serve God in Opus Dei, have a particular need of it: we have set holiness as our goal in life, and to be a saint is not a comfortable undertaking: God’s Will must be fulfilled day by day and minute by minute.

We need the virtue of fortitude if we are to undertake difficult tasks, to make sacrifices or to avoid becoming attached to anything which might fetter the soul. It enables us to make our own St Paul’s words: we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

A son or daughter of God in his Work needs to practise this virtue constantly in order to respond perseveringly to the divine call, being able, as our Father put it, to stake everything on a single card, the card of the love of God. The person with fortitude is one who perseveres in doing what his conscience tells him he ought to do. He does not measure the value of a task exclusively by the benefit he receives from it, but rather by the service he renders to others. The strong man will at times suffer, but he stands firm; he may be driven to tears, but he will brush them aside. When difficulties come thick and fast, he does not bend before them.

In the first place, we have to be resolute in fulfilling our duties in an exemplary fashion. We can do this provided we are constantly renewing our love for God, and this then shows itself in the way we care for our daily apostolic tasks. As Clement of Alexandria states: Nothing can separate the valiant soul from the love of God, nor does such a soul ever need to search for peace of mind, because it is convinced that everything is for the good; it is never irritated or moved to anger, because it always loves God and attends to him alone.

The virtue of patience, for overcoming our defects or our bad temper, and the virtue of serenity, to help us stay calm under pressure, will help us achieve continuous presence of God. We cannot behave like children or like mad people. We have to be … strong, true sons and daughters of God, people who don’t get over-excited at work or in professional situations. Continuous presence of God will give us the ability to attach importance to every little detail.

Fortitude in helping our brothers and sisters to be saints.

John the Baptist realized full well the risk he was running by censuring Herod’s misconduct. For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; because John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her”. But the Baptist did not hesitate to do what was required: his overriding concern was the good of Herod’s soul, and he acted accordingly.

We too have to act decisively whenever the welfare of the Work or of a brother or sister is at stake. I understand perfectly well, our Father wrote, that you also suffer when you fulfil the obligations of fortitude. There is a great deal of comfort-seeking hidden in the attitudes of those who don’t realize - or who prefer not to realize - that under the pretext of avoiding suffering for others, they are in fact running away from suffering themselves. They save themselves some unpleasantness, they don’t take a stand, but neither do they sanctify themselves or help others, either spiritually or otherwise.

Behind that false outward serenity, which never gets ruffled or upset, there is an intolerable lack of responsibility; there is negligence and betrayal. We have no alternative but to practise the admonition, irascimini et nolite peccare (be angry but do not sin), since it is an expression of genuine affection which isn’t just a form of words, but is love in deed and in truth: non diligamus verbo neque lingua, sed opere et veritate (let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth).

We also need to be courageous when it comes to giving one another fraternal correction. How well do you practise charity, our Father asks, without silliness, without getting complicated about it? How do you receive fraternal correction? Do you practise it courageously, nobly, with supernatural spirit?

It doesn’t matter if the person who needs our charity has been in the Work for a long time, or seems to be better than us, or is a Director. We make the correction as tactfully and appropriately as we can, describing things as they are, face to face, to help one another become saints. In the Work any form of criticism or mischievous talk would be unthinkable; we never speak badly of people behind their backs. What has to be said is said, courageously, charitably and humbly, directly to the person concerned. The Directors in particular should have this fortitude, our Father continued. I have always said that the Director should have the heart of a mother but the strength of a father.

My children, if you act like that your brothers or sisters will always react well If you are always attentive to the needs of their formation - which may even cause you to lose sleep on their account, as is often the case with the head of a family - then they will become strong and hardy, they won’t develop any victim complex, and they will become tempered like a sword of Toledo steel which can be bent without breaking. They will abandon themselves in God’s hands with a fiat (let it be done) on their lips, and the Lord will carry out his work suaviter et fortiter (gently and firmly)in their souls.

Fortitude to defend the faith and lead all to God.

Fortitude is also necessary in the apostolate. Ours is no small task. We have received the world as our inheritance, and we work in it as in something that belongs to us, without complexes of any kind. Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s. We are not overwhelmed at the thought of all the souls awaiting us. We are ready to go anywhere, wherever there is a soul to be saved. All the oceans are ours. Where the fishing is harder it is also more necessary. We cannot let ourselves be held back by our surroundings. By the example of our lives as children of God and the naturalness of our self-giving we totally transform the environment; and if it has become pagan we Christianize it. My sons and daughters should have no fear, our Father said, of the particular professional and social environment they live in. They are not alone. God our Lord provides them with the means to be faithful and to bring souls to him.

Fortitude is also needed in the work of proselytism to overcome any kind of obstacles and bring to the Work the souls who are ready to serve God. We have to open out like a fan… like a hand. We should each have a group of souls hanging from every finger, some of them easy and some of them difficult… and then, draw them along! Every single one of us should be, not one, but ten. Many souls await us, and we can count on God’s power to level mountains and flatten obstacles. It is a matter of launching out intrepidly and fearlessly, and getting involved in the lives of others, just as was done with us. In my case, said our Father, our Lord did not ask me for permission to intervene in my life.

Finally, we need to be strong in proclaiming the truth and defending the faith. We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. As St Paul says, you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. We need to be strong and unflinching, if we are not to raise the white flag of unfaithful and cowardly surrender, or if we are not to hold our own good name and this earthly life in greater esteem than eternal life and the honour done to God. We need to be strong in speaking out, because verbum Dei non est alligatum - the word of God is not fettered.

We are reminded of this in Scripture, when the prophet Jeremiah, after being unjustly imprisoned, courageously carried on his mission: “The Lord sent me to you,” he told his captors, “to speak all these words in your ears.” Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

My daughters and sons, our Father wrote, placed as we are by God’s Will in the middle of the world, full citizens of both human society and the society of the Church, you have at this present moment of the Church an important mission to fulfil. And you will succeed in performing it to the extent that your faith is sturdy and sinks its roots deep in your hearts.

Our Blessed Lady, who fulfilled so unshakeably her role as co-Redemptrix at the foot of the Cross, will teach us how to be faithful and exercise the cardinal virtue of fortitude in the duties of every moment. This will ensure that we will also be faithful in times of difficulty.