329. Eighteenth Friday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 303 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Our vocation leads us to love the Cross.
We are making our way along a divine path, and we must follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, carrying our own cross, the holy Cross! God our Lord expects us to be generous in our efforts, and to consider ourselves most fortunate to be able to sacrifice ourselves to make the Work come to pass. Since the day we first experienced the divine call deep within our soul, we felt the need to bring to life those words of our Lord which St Matthew records in the Gospel of todayâs Mass: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
When we decided to follow Christ closely, we did so in the clear knowledge that we were entering upon a way that always leads to victory, but that just as surely passes through sacrifice. Our life acquired a new and fuller meaning when we meditated on these words of our Founder: we should be able to stretch out our arms lovingly on the Cross. We should love Christ on the Cross serenely. And we should carry it to the world so that there will be many friends of the Cross.
It is unusual for anyone to be given the grace of martyrdom. But there is another quieter form of heroism, which only God sees, and which our vocation prepares us for. The love we put into the little things of every day turns the ordinariness of our struggle into acts of heroic virtue. I donât like to see souls who live in a fantasy world, said our Father, hunting lions in the corridors of their home, while they abandon the effort to acquire Christian perfection in everyday life. Their imagination falls prey to foolish desires of spectacularly heroic deeds, which they donât, and never will have, the opportunity to carry out.
In the fulfilment of our daily duty, in difficulties, in mortification voluntarily offered to God, we are identified with Christ, and we help him in making the Cross triumph amidst all human activities: we become co-redeemers.
Do everything for the love of God and embrace your daily cross joyfully. This is something I have repeated thousands of times because I believe that these ideas should be engraved on every Christian heart. When we advance beyond the stage of simply tolerating difficulties or sufferings (whether physical or moral) and, instead, love them and offer them to God in reparation for our sins and the sins of all mankind, then, I assure you, they do not distress us.
It is no longer just any cross we are carrying. We discover that it is the Cross of Christ, and with it the consolation of knowing that our Redeemer has taken it upon himself to bear its weight. We cooperate as Simon of Cyrene did, who, when he was returning from work on his farm intending to take a well-earned rest, was forced to lend his shoulders to help Jesus. ââ For a soul in love it is no misfortune to become voluntarily Christâs Simon of Cyrene and, in this way, to give such close company to his suffering Humanity, reduced to a state of rags and tatters. For if we do this we can be certain of our closeness to God, who blesses us by choosing us for this task.
Small mortifications purify humility.
You donât conquer yourself, you arenât mortified, because you are proud. Mortification has to be the clear expression of humility, of seeing just how small we are before God. And so our Father reminds us: You lead a life of penance? Donât forget that pride is compatible with penance⌠-Furthermore: your sorrow, after youâve fallen, after your failures in generosity, is it true sorrow or petty annoyance at seeing yourself so small and weak? -How far you are from Jesus, if you are not humble⌠even though your disciplines may be producing fresh roses daily!
True mortification is rooted in humility. It is not ostentatious, either externally or internally; it doesnât dream about titanic struggles with fierce enemies; it doesnât rebel against the failure of a single day or a moment; it doesnât get discouraged; it doesnât become ashamed; it doesnât give too much importance to its little victories⌠Our spirit of penance consists mainly of gathering the humble little flowers we find along the way every day - acts of love and contrition, small mortifications - and making a posy of them at the end of the day: a beautiful bunch of flowers to offer to God.
We have to look for mortification in small everyday things, in work that is intense, constant and methodical. Little things that wonât harm your health but will keep your love of God alight. Mortification at mealtimes. Heroic minutes throughout the day. Punctuality. Tidiness. Guarding our eyes on the street, in a natural way. And dozens more like them, dozens of opportunities for penance. And one particularly good one - interior mortification: so that our conversations donât always revolve around ourselves, so that, in order to make life agreeable for others, weâre always ready to greet anything unpleasant with a smile. Love, my children! Self-sacrificing love!
The Cross can only be understood properly in the context of love. When you see a poor wooden Cross, alone, uncared for, and of no value⌠and without its Crucified, donât forget that that Cross is your Cross: the Cross of each day, the hidden Cross, without splendour or consolation⌠, which is awaiting the Crucified it lacks: and that Crucified must be you. It is an unspectacular cross, one which people often fail to see; and it is a humble cross, so ordinary that it cannot become a reason for pride.
Faithfulness to small daily mortifications.
My dear children, I want to lead you along this wonderful way, to a life of love and of supernatural adventure, along the way that our Lord has led me: a life of happiness, with sorrow, with self-denial, with dedication, with self-forgetfulnessâŚ
Si quis vult post me venire: if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. We have all heard these words; that is why we are here. And we have also heard these other words: You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. The purpose of this divine calling is very concrete: to immerse yourself in all the crossroads of this world, you yourself being deeply immersed in God. To be salt, to be leaven, to be the light of the world. Yes, my children, you in God, to give light, to give flavour, to give growth, to be the leaven.
Holiness does not consist of doing ever more difficult things, but doing them with more love every time. True heroism is found in ordinary things, daily events, done again and again, perseveringly, in Godâs sight and with unshakeable dedication. This sacrifice is very precious apostolically: it always bears fruit: if you sow Love with sacrifice, you will also reap Love, because you make yourself eternal in the hearts of countless numbers of people who are close to you⌠and your apostolate will become eternal in their apostolate.
Our spirit of sacrifice is seen in the various small mortifications which we should normally specify on a personal list. Among the customary mortifications, the first are those we call passive, the ones we donât look for and which come to us unbidden. The difficulties of daily living are always relative, because everything that happens to us is foreseen by God and is a clear proof of his fatherly love and his concern for our sanctification. So we accept them cheerfully, seeing in them the hand of God and always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. We try to pay particular attention to the ones whose purpose is to make life pleasant for those around us: this is indeed a good sign that we are not seeking ourselves.
Fidelity to small mortifications is an indispensable aspect of the holiness we seek in the Work. We have to die little by little, through continual mortification in a thousand different ways. It shouldnât frighten us, because it has to be as natural as our heartbeat. I donât notice my heart beating just now, but it is working, it is beating, and woe to me, the day it stops!
I say the same to you. In spiritual terms the life of the heart, the pulse, is the effort we make to mortify ourselves all the time, and to maintain a loving conversation with our Lord, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, with St Joseph, and with the Holy Guardian Angels.