410. Twenty-seventh Friday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 366 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Work is an unorganized organization, firmly united.

You know very well, my children, that our apostolic work doesn’t have a specialized purpose. It includes every specialization, because it is rooted in the diversity of specializations of life itself. For it exalts and raises to the supernatural order all the services people offer one another in the heart of society, and turns them into an authentic work for souls. Therefore, in the Work, all present-day society is to be found, as is that of every age. Intellectuals and businessmen, professionals and craftsmen, entrepreneurs and labourers; people in diplomacy, commerce, farming, finance, the humanities; journalists, people in the theatre, cinema and the circus, sportsmen. Young and old, healthy and sick. It is an unorganized organization, wonderful like life itself; a true and authentic specialization of the apostolate, because every honest and noble human vocation becomes apostolic, divine.

Our Father called the Work a wonderful “unorganized organization”, because while we are united by a very small common denominator - the Catholic faith and fidelity to our spirit and Norms - in everything else we are totally free. Our Father wrote: We are not a closed institution where everyone seems to be obliged to think the same way, to act like a herd. Rather, we are a specific divine organization, with the apparent disorganization of all living organisms. This is especially suited to secular institutions, where everyone’s personality is fostered.

If personal freedom is important in the Work, so too is unity in the few areas that make up our “common denominator”. During the ceremonies of the consecration of the oratory of Pentecost in Villa Tevere, our Founder said: our Mother, Opus Dei, is in full development, spreading all over the world, with a marvellous poverty. And for Jesus we have prepared this tabernacle, the finest we were able to have made. And on it we have had engraved those words of his, consummati in unum (perfectly one), so that all our hearts may form a single heart, as in the past, and now and for ever. So that those words from Scripture may become a reality among us: Multitudinis autem credentium erat cor unum et anima una (the company of the faithful were of one heart and soul).

Unity is what makes our apostolate, and our life, effective. Therefore, our Father continued, above those double doors, I’ve had inscribed the system, the method, the only way to ensure our life abounds in supernatural fruit: omnes perseverantes unanimiter in oratione (all persevering unanimously in prayer).

Unity with the Father means unity with the Work.

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. Unity makes us effective; it ensures that, as free beings, we complement rather than hinder one another’s efforts. And by divine will, the foundation for our unity, the cornerstone of the entire Work, the root of its apostolic fruitfulness, is the Prelate of Opus Dei. Unity for us means being united to the Father, to his intentions and desires.

The Father is our head, placed by God at the helm of the Work to safeguard her course and path. He is our Founder’s blessed shadow on earth, his instrument to continue governing Opus Dei from heaven.

To be united to the Father means praying and offering mortifications for him, keeping his intentions always in mind. Our Founder wrote: You are under an obligation to pray and sacrifice yourself for the person and intentions of whoever is “in charge” of your apostolic undertaking. -If you are remiss in fulfilling this duty, you make me think that you lack enthusiasm for your way. The whole of our life should be prayer, insistent prayer, closely united to whatever the Father has in his heart, to his intentions, as our Founder always told us: Pray especially for the things I have in my heart and mind now. I ask you, my children, that at this present time, when I approach the altar to offer the bread and wine, you join me in asking our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, who presides over us, to expedite these matters. We can use as the theme for our prayer today a phrase that we often repeat: Lord, I ask you for whatever the Father is asking you for.

Our plan of life each day includes a mortification for the Father. Do we offer it generously, not haggling over what costs us most dearly? Do we offer it gladly, aware that by our small victory over ourselves we are really helping the Father carry the large burden God has placed on his shoulders? Together with prayer and mortification, unity with the Father means that we do things as we know the Father would like them done, as we would do them if the Father himself gave us the job.

By being united to the Father, we will also be united to the Work, living branches loaded with fruit. If you don’t pass through my mind, our Father said, if you don’t pass through my heart, you have mistaken the way, you don’t have Christ. Our Founder spoke these words many years ago now, but they will always be true, first as regards himself; and also applied to the Father, whoever he may be down the ages.

Unity with our immediate Directors.

We must zealously watch over our unity, our Father stressed, because it’s a great good for the Work. Personally, I’m not proud that you’re united to me. Consider rather the wonderful reality, all over the world, of so many people living the same spirit of service to God, the Church, and all souls. And realize that we owe it all to God, and should thank him for it.

Our union with the Father cannot be merely a matter of feelings, however keenly felt. It must be shown in specific deeds. We try to follow faithfully the central, regional and local Directors’ indications, praying about them and putting them into practice. We leave our personal problems aside, in order to concern ourselves first of all with the apostolic interests of the whole Work.

We are united to the Father when we are very faithful to the Directors. They represent the Father, and in a way, they lend him their voice for him to tell us what he wants of us, their ears for him to listen to us, their heart for him to love and always understand us. Our greatest ambition should be to refine more and more our docile, trusting affection for those who represent the Father, put their indications into practice, and go gladly to the chat and the other means of formation. For whoever hears your chat, it is the Father himself who hears it.

We want to be always united in this way to the Father and the Directors, not only because it is good for us, but also because it is something God wants: the Work is a family. Our Father told us: For a person never to feel alone is truly a marvel. But I can also tell God: ne respicias peccata mea, don’t look at my sins, since I’m a poor man, sed fidem filiorum meorum. Lord, look on the faith of my children. I see my shadows and your lights, and I’m at peace: they’re my credentials. Jesus showed his disciples his wounded hands and side. I show him the faith, love and fidelity of my children. So don’t let me down, for these are my only credentials before God.

Let us resolve to be more united to our Directors, those of our Centre, those of our Region and the central Directors: to the Father, in short. Time will pass, our Founder said, one fourteenth of February, and perhaps, on such a day as this, it will be you who will have to give a Circle or prepare a meditation for a group of your younger brothers or sisters. Then, my child, you’ll feel as never before how good God has been to bring you here at the very beginnings.

Let us ask Jesus to infuse a great love for unity into our minds and hearts. And when you ask God for this, advised our Father, have recourse to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Opus Dei.