426. Twenty-ninth Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 378 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

St Michael work supports all of the apostolate.

Who then, our Lord asked Peter, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? And Christ himself responds: Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.

Opus Dei is a family with supernatural bonds, in which these words of Christ are fulfilled. All her members are called to serve their brothers and sisters and all souls. But this applies especially to Numeraries and Associates. Our Father wrote: The St Michael work is the foundation, the strength that sustains our whole family, the strength which inspires many other people to lead Christian lives: the young people we strive to draw close to Opus Dei, our close or distant relatives, our peers, work colleagues and friends.

Often, when we consider the great responsibility resting on our shoulders, my child, the same thought that sometimes occurs to me, may also occur to you: is all this marvellous work to be done through me?

Through me, when I am worth so little? We then have to open the Gospel at the ninth chapter of St John and see how Jesus cured the man born blind: he used mud made from the dust of the earth and saliva. This is the salve that restores sight to blind eyes!

And this is what you and I are, what all the Numeraries and Associates are. While always aware of our own weakness and little worth, but with God’s grace and our own good will, we become salve to give light and strength to others, and also to ourselves.

We are very grateful that God in his great love has deigned to make use of us for this marvellous work. And we want to thank him by making very good use of the formation we receive to help us carry it out. Gladly do we employ all our initiative, talent and strength in order to ensure that this supernatural salve, the strength of Christ, will not be rendered sterile or useless by the mud of our weakness, which he wants to use for the good of souls.

We have to let ourselves be transformed, so that the spirit of the Work gives shape to every corner of our life. Only then will we be able to transmit our good spirit generously to others. As our Founder taught us, we know that formation is received particularly from the environment we all create between us in a house, a Centre or a work of apostolate, and also the one we create in our workplace and in our public life as citizens. So we must never lose the supernatural outlook we’ll always need in our life. We are nothing: even worse, we are mud. Nevertheless, we are the salve that can cure such sensitive organs as eyes. If we want, God will add the increase of his grace and we’ll work wonders, contributing to the formation of others.

We need formation continuously.

Our formation, by its very nature, is never finished. A person takes shape little by little, and never does so fully, never attains all the human perfection he is capable of. In some particular area, he may even become the best, in relation to everyone else, and perhaps unsurpassable in that specific natural activity. But as a Christian, his growth knows no limits. Therefore, we can never conclude: “Now at last I am formed!” Because even if we live to be eighty, our Founder said, we should always receive more formation, to improve the formation we already have.

We need to hear the same ideas over and over again, in order to assimilate them better and incorporate them more deeply into our lives. Every corner of our heart has to be secured for God. Therefore, in the Circles, the chat, the annual courses… we keep being reminded about the same topics. Nor do we find this repetition tiresome, for we know how much we need it. Our humility wins new lights from God for us, and we constantly discover new facets in what we thought were well-known topics.

In a note to one of our Founder’s Instructions we are told: when our Father himself gave the St Raphael Circles, during the review of what he had spoken about the previous time he always stressed the same basic points of our spirit. With a smile, he would beg pardon, but said he wanted them to understand that the Father had to act that way, and that they should remember the psychology of advertising. If one hears the same thing over and over again, or reads the same message day after day, then when the time comes and one needs something, he remembers the product he has frequently heard or read about and acts upon what he had been encouraged to do as a reader or listener. This is the spiritual pedagogy that the Father uses, and which we should also use, always with the gift of tongues.

Our Father advised: My children, often meditate on the same topics. Don’t consider things just once, but keep going over them until you discover a new Mediterranean. “Why didn’t I see this so clearly before?” Because sometimes we are like rocks that let the water pass over them without absorbing a drop … So we need to return again and again to the same ideas, in order to let the blessings from God soak into our heart.

All the aspects of the spirit of the Work are closely interrelated. When we understand more deeply or dedicate ourselves more generously in one area of our vocation, we understand and improve in all the others as well. Our Father said: The spirit of the Work isn’t a single strand; it’s an interwoven fabric of all the virtues united by charity. When there’s one ripe fruit on a tree, then on the same tree - if it’s been properly pruned - there will be many others which are turning ripe as well.

Making good use of all the means of formation the Work offers.

The Work provides each of her children with all the means needed to reach holiness. Continually and with immense love, she watches over our formation and good spirit; the Directors have no other mission. Her only concern is that God’s image should be engraved ever more deeply on our souls. Faced with the love of such a good Mother, our response has to be complete. Like the Numeraries and Associates, we must be the salve and strength I spoke to you about before. Hence we have the obligation and duty to acquire the necessary preparation. All this preparation, all our family’s organization, is to help us attain sanctity, which is the aim of the entire Work and of each of my children.

Ours is an arduous enterprise. Therefore, we have to let ourselves be led by the hand of God and our Mother the Work. Far from considering ourselves sufficiently formed, we always want to learn to love more and better, to follow our Lord more closely. Thus the members of the Work attend the Circles, recollections, courses of formation, semesters and so forth, just as keenly as the first time (and to do so is a very good expression of humility); and they always make assiduous use of everything the Work provides for their formation.

For these spiritual and apostolic means to be effective, we need to use them according to the spirit of the Work. It isn’t enough to know them. We have to learn to practise them, exactly as God has wanted. Do you see how much we need formation, our Father asked, and a specific, doctrinal, practical preparation, not just a theoretical one? We’ve often said it: in order to be useful, serve. For what else do we do except serve? We serve God! This service entails the determined and loving repetition of many similar acts; it requires training. So, naturally, the Work gives us the training we need to serve God: human and spiritual formation, both theoretical and practical, which includes doctrinal-religious, apostolic and professional training, all based on the Church’s clear and sure teaching.

The Brief Circle, the chat, Confession, the day of recollection, the retreat… we need all the formative means that the Work, as a good Mother, provides. Thus we come to understand ever better the spirit God wants for us. Our outlook becomes more supernatural, and we gladly accept correction and willingly improve.

In the Work, as in every good family, we are all concerned for one another. Each person is an incentive, a help and a support for all the others. By our good example, affection and prayer, through fraternal correction and constant attentiveness to those around us, we are the instruments God wants for the formation of others. Don’t forget, my son, my daughter, our Father stressed, that you are contributing to the formation of your brothers and sisters, and all souls, all the time: when working and when relaxing; when you look happy or when you look concerned; when you pray as a child of God in the middle of the street, and the peace in your soul shows through on the outside; and when people can see you’ve been crying, and you smile.

If we turn to their intercession, St Michael the Archangel and St Peter the Apostle will make our work of formation effective. And our Blessed Lady, Spes nostra, Sedes Sapientiae, will intercede continually so that we become more Opus Dei each day.