348. Twentieth Saturday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 318 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Giving all glory to God. Working with the right intention.
Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, âThe scribes and the Pharisees sit on Mosesâ seat; so practise and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do ⌠They do all their deeds to be seen by men.
Our Lord severely reprimands the scribes and Pharisees. And the lesson is clear: we have to make sure that everything we do is done for the glory of God and not ourselves. But who can praise God all day?, St Augustine asks. If you like, he continues, I will give you a method of praising God all day. Whatever you do, do it well, and you will have glorified God. When you sing a hymn you are praising God; for what are your tongue and your mind doing but praising God? Have you ceased singing in order to rest? Well, avoid getting drunk and you will have praised God. Are you working in the fields? Donât provoke quarrels, and you will have praised God. With the innocence of your works prepare yourself for praising God all day long.
That describes the Christian ascetical struggle well. And we in particular try to integrate all our activities and tasks into a deep unity of life which leads us to purify all our actions, and work with a right intention. Let me remind you once more, my daughters and sons: work to please God, without seeking any human glory. Some people regard work as a means of gaining honours, or of acquiring power or wealth to satisfy their ambition, or as a source of pride in their own achievements.
As children of God in Opus Dei, we never regard our daily work as something related to selfishness, vanity or pride. All we see is the possibility of serving everyone for the love of God. For that reason, our Father continues, a good measure of an upright intention in your work can be found precisely in how well you make use of the social relations or friendships it provides in order to bring those souls closer to God; and, where circumstances allow, even getting to the point of confronting people with the problem of their vocation. Your work, and the good professional standing which results from it, should be your fishermanâs hook. And who could be described as a fisherman if he doesnât go fishing?
The danger of vainglory.
We do not live for the world, nor for our honour, but for Godâs honour, for Godâs glory, for Godâs service. That is what moves us! We have given ourselves entirely to God, and, along with our life, we have also surrendered to him our honour, our right to be praised or thanked. Deo omnis gloria. -All glory to God. -This is a categorical confession of our nothingness. He, Jesus, is everything. We, without Him, are worth nothing: nothing.
Our vainglory would be just that: vain glory; it would be a sacrilegious robbery: the âIâ should not appear anywhere. We need to be vigilant, because we tend to seek the praise of other people and, as St John Chrysostom says, with that attitude in your soul, with your love of vainglory, even if you went out to live in barren lands, you would be barren of all virtue. Vanity can also creep into the interior life and rob us of the merit of good works. Where the moth does not destroy, nor the thief enter, vainglory scatters and lays waste. This is the moth of our treasures, the thief of our riches in heaven, which robs us of those inviolable goods. And our Father reminded us emphatically: Rectify, rectify. -What a poor show if your victory were to be made worthless by your having acted from human motives!
Take care, do not let yourself be captured by the ardour of vainglory, St Jerome advises us. âHow can you believe,â says Jesus, âwho receive glory from one another?â Do you see? This evil is so great, that he who has it cannot believe. On the contrary, let us say: âYou are my glory,â and âlet him who boasts, boast of the LordâŚâ When you give alms, let God alone see it. When you fast, let your face be happy. Let your clothing be neither over-neat, nor dirty. Try not to attract attention, so that passers-by do not stop to point you out ⌠You should appear to be neither overly pious in aspect, nor more humble than you are, lest, in fleeing from glory, you go in search of it.
If we see that there are good things in our life, we should thank God for it. We are simply instruments in his hands. Humility like this will enable us to act with the rectitude of the army commander spoken of in Sacred Scripture: he had laid siege to a town for a long time, and was on the point of taking it, when he called upon King David to come and capture it, lest I take the city, and it be called by my name. Let us beware of the pride which continually stalks us to rob us of the fruit of our works. Non nobis. Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. All the glory for you, Lord.
Collective humility in the service of God and souls.
We are united only by the doctrine of Godâs holy Church, by our âdivine callâ, and by our desire to serve the Church as her faithful and grateful children. This supernatural ambition of ours is completely opposed to any human ambition or personal advantage. We do not work to make a name for ourselves, but to disappear and, with our sacrifice, to place Christ at the summit of all human activities. For this reason, we do not go to the apostolate to receive applause, but to stand up for the Church, when being Catholic is difficult; and to go unnoticed, when being called Catholic is fashionable. In fact, in many environments, to be genuine Catholics, even without calling ourselves Catholics, is sufficient reason to be subjected to all sorts of insults and abuse. That is why I have told you sometimes that for us it is abhorrent to live off being Catholics. We are prepared to live, if necessary, in spite of being Catholics. And it would be even more repugnant to us to live off calling ourselves Catholics.
It is an essential characteristic of our spirit that our humility is also collective. Let us seek nothing but the glory of God, our Father emphasizes. Our life of silent and hidden self-giving should be a constant act of humility. Humility is the foundation for our whole life, the means and pre-requisite for our effectiveness. And he adds: Let us make God the goal of all our works, which we have to do non quasi hominibus placentes, sed Deo qui probat corda nostra: not to please men, but God who tests our hearts.
We will act in this way if we always cultivate a great ambition to serve, as our Father asked us. This ambition has some very clear and definite signs, which we could also call our ruling passions, our follies. The first is that of wanting to be last in everything and first in love. Let us tell our Lord in our personal meditation: Jesus, may I love you more than everyone! I know I am the least of your servants. I know I am full of failings. You have had to forgive me so many offences, so much neglect! But you have said that the one who is forgiven little, loves little⌠.
With that kind of divine madness, with that consuming zeal: zelus domus tuae comedit me (zeal for your house consumes me), what mere human ambition could we fall prey to on our journey through life? Nobody who adheres to the spirit of the Work can ever want to be in the limelight, or to climb the social ladder, or to acquire positions, honours or acknowledgements, unless it be in spite of themselves and in order to serve God.
For if we were to act from human ambition, to satisfy our own self-love (and there will always be some who falsely claim that that is what we have done), then we would have forsaken the aim of serving God: nemo potest duobus dominis servire, because nobody can serve two masters: Jesus Christ and our own vanity.
Let us make the resolution now of frequently rectifying the intention with which we act, and of taking care of little things in the fulfilment of our plan of life, as a means of improving our supernatural outlook at work.