436. Thirtieth Thursday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 386 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Human virtues, the basis of supernatural ones.

There is a certain type of secularist outlook that one comes across, and also another approach which one might call “pietistic”, both of which share the view that Christians somehow are not fully and entirely human. According to the former, the demands of the Gospel are such as to stifle our human qualities; whereas for the latter, human nature is so fallen that it threatens and endangers the purity of the faith. The result, either way, is the same. They both fail to grasp the full significance of Christ’s Incarnation, they do not see that “the Word was made flesh”, became man, “and dwelt amongst us”.

My experience as a man, as a Christian and as a priest, teaches me just the opposite. There is no human heart, no matter how deeply immersed in sin, which does not conceal, like embers among the ashes, a flicker of nobility. Whenever I have sounded out such hearts, talking to them individually with the words of Christ, they have always responded.

In this world of ours there are many people who neglect God. It may be that they have not had an opportunity to listen to his words, or that they have forgotten them. Yet their human dispositions are honest, loyal, compassionate and sincere. I would go so far as to say that anyone possessing such qualities is ready to be generous with God, because human virtues constitute the foundation for the supernatural virtues. The human virtues are thus essential for following Christ and truly reaching holiness. Therefore, a very important part of the spirit of Opus Dei is the development of the human virtues in the lives and characters of my daughters and sons. Our mother the Work wants us to be friends of freedom and personal responsibility; to be sincere, loyal, generous, self-sacrificing, optimistic, tenacious, determined, rightly-intentioned and capable of working hard. To such a degree are these qualities required in the Work that the selection of vocations must take into account the human virtues of the candidates. Special attention, in some cases, must be given to a good appearance and a correct way of dressing and behaving.

A big part of Opus Dei’s message is the need to cultivate human virtues. For these good habits, when solidly acquired, contribute to the bonus odor Christi that gently attracts souls towards God. St John Chrysostom writes: If we are mild, humble, compassionate, clean of heart and peace-loving; if when injured we don’t return injury for injury but rejoice, we will attract those who see us, no less than we would by miracles … We will lead those who sit in darkness unto the life of heaven.

By striving to grow in all these virtues, we don’t seek to achieve any worldly goals. We want only to serve God better. Our Father wrote: These human virtues, when supernaturalised… enable us to practise the theological virtues and to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit with greater docility. And they make the members of Opus Dei sowers of peace and joy wherever they live and work.

We need both human and supernatural maturity.

We read St Paul’s advice to the Ephesians: Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace … And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. For this most beautiful war of love, which our apostolic dedication leads us to, we need a complete set of armour: each and every one of the human and supernatural virtues, brought to sufficient development. You have to behave like adults, our Father insisted. This adulthood, mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, depends largely on the degree of our human maturity. All of us in the Work need this, even the youngest. Otherwise it would be difficult for us to reach the supernatural maturity our sanctification requires.

Human maturity, the Second Vatican Council teaches, will be chiefly attested to by a certain stability of character, the ability to make carefully weighed decisions, and a sound judgement of events and people. In the first place, maturity of judgement. People who are humanly mature judge themselves realistically and objectively. They recognize their limitations and know what they want as well as what they can in fact do. And so they are self-confident and balanced, and can always act consistently and responsibly.

Very different is the attitude of immature people. Such people have not attained full human development and deceive themselves by hiding their timidity beneath arrogance or false humility. They live in a state of insecurity and avoid openness and commitment. Above all, immature people fear themselves: You persist in being worldly, frivolous and scatter-brained because you are a coward. What is it but cowardice not to want to face up to yourself?

In their relations with others, mature people can always find the right place. This is how God wants us to be: prudent, thoughtful and measured in all we do; ready to learn and diligently carry out whatever we are asked; prompt to avoid danger, with a balanced spirit of initiative; ready to judge - if it’s our duty to - when we possess all the necessary information; and quick to flee from excessive concern for temporal things.

By contrast, people who are not yet mature are uneasy in their relations with others. They are either weak and condescending, or they take refuge in an authoritarian and barren rigidity. A clear sign of … immaturity, our Father wrote, is the desire to reform everything and do so immediately. Such people think that all their predecessors and their Major Directors were fools. Immature people are stubborn and petulant, incapable of listening to others or rectifying their mistakes. Our Father warned us against this danger: You must have the sense of proportion, the calm, the fortitude and the sense of responsibility that many acquire only after years have passed.

Acquiring and increasing in this maturity.

You need to be faithful, strong and docile. You need human virtues, a big heart, loyalty. In short, we need to be mature. The chief obstacle to this maturity lies in the disunity and disharmony of our nature due to original sin and personal sins. For sin, the Second Vatican Council teaches, brought man to a lower state, forcing him away from the completeness that is his to attain. To redirect the forces disrupted by original sin, to acquire and consolidate the human virtues, we need to embark upon a laborious campaign of formation. For no virtue is acquired without effort.

We attain much of this human formation in our professional work, often before entering the Work. There we acquire a sense of responsibility, human maturity and a whole array of human virtues. This formation continues to be perfected in the members of the Work principally by means of fraternal correction and their own efforts. Moreover, since coming to the Work, we are no longer alone in our efforts. Our Directors and brothers or sisters help us. But our personal cooperation is indispensable.

In our efforts to acquire rapidly the maturity we need, we also rely on the powerful help of a life of piety. By fulfilling the Norms, our Father wrote, my children will learn to practise the virtues which belong to their dedication. And along with these virtues, they will acquire a whole range of spiritual values which seem small but in fact are great: shining precious stones that we must gather along the way and place at the foot of God’s throne: simplicity, cheerfulness, peace, small mortifications, the faithful fulfilment of our duty…

We have to be mature people, as the spirit of the Work requires. But, in some specific case, you may say to me, “Father, I’m very young.” And I’ll answer that a youthful appearance doesn’t matter when it is supplemented by time spent dedicated to God, by spiritual formation, by cultural formation in religious matters, by formation in secular subjects; and above all, by the virtues we strive to practise because of our dedication to God. Then each of us will be able to say in the words of the Psalm: super senes intellexi, quia mandata tua quaesivi (I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts); I understand things better than the aged for, my God, all I seek is to I keep your precepts.

A tender, filial love for our Mother Mary will help us acquire the human maturity we need to yield fruits of sanctity and apostolate.