538. May 17, Beatification of Our Father (I)

Meditations no. 626 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

With the beatification of our Father, the Church solemnly manifested sanctification in work and in ordinary life.

TODAY IS the anniversary of the beatification of our Founder, which Pope John Paul II celebrated in St. Peter’s Square on May 17, 1992. A family feast that is a particularly appropriate occasion to relive the feelings of gratitude to God and intense joy that overwhelmed the entire Work - and, with us, thousands of people throughout the world - on that memorable day.

In his homily at the Mass, the Holy Father emphasized how our Founder tirelessly preached, “with supernatural intuition … the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to sanctify themselves in the reality of daily life; for this reason, work is also a means of personal sanctification and apostolate when lived in union with Jesus Christ, since the Son of God, in becoming incarnate, has united himself in a certain way to the whole reality of man and to the whole of creation (cf. Dominum et vivificantem, 50). In a society in which the unbridled desire to possess material things makes them an idol and a reason for distancing themselves from God, the new Blessed reminds us that these same realities, creatures of God and of human ingenuity, if used rightly for the glory of the Creator and at the service of our brothers and sisters, can be a way for men and women to encounter Christ. All things on earth,” he taught, “even the earthly and temporal activities of men, must be brought to God.”

With these words, the message that has been the core of our Father’s teachings since the foundation of Opus Dei was solemnly proclaimed. The Church made this clear by choosing, as the first reading of the Mass of St. Josemaría, the account of Genesis where it is said that, after forming Adam from the clay of the earth, the Lord God took man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work and keep him.

Work is a stupendous reality, which is imposed on us as an inexorable law to which we are all, in one way or another, subject, even if some claim to exempt themselves. Learn it well: this obligation did not arise as a sequel to original sin, nor is it reduced to a discovery of modern times. It is a necessary means that God entrusts to us here on earth, extending our days and making us sharers in his creative power, so that we may earn our livelihood and simultaneously reap fruits for eternal life (Jn 4:36): man is born to work, as birds are born to fly (Job 5:7) (…).

Now you will understand even better that if any of you did not love work, the work that corresponds to it!, if he did not feel authentically committed to one of the noble earthly occupations in order to sanctify it, if he lacked a professional vocation, he would never be able to penetrate the supernatural core of the doctrine that this priest expounds, precisely because he would lack an indispensable condition: that of being a worker.

The Lord wanted the supernatural value of work and of human realities to be proclaimed at a time when many people allow themselves to be blinded by materialism.

NEVER before has work-intellectual and manual-enjoyed such appreciation in civil society. “Man has always striven by his work and his ingenuity,” the Second Vatican Council teaches, “to perfect his life; but in our day, thanks to science and technology, he has succeeded in expanding and continues to expand the field of his dominion over almost all of nature. … In the face of this gigantic effort, which already affects the whole human race, many questions arise among men. What is the meaning and value of this activity? What is the use to be made of all these things? To what end should the efforts of individuals and collectivities tend?”

By divine will, our Founder had given an answer to these questions, showing the sanctifying value of professional work, carried out with human perfection and with rectitude of intention, in close union with Jesus Christ. In addition to teaching it with his word, he indicated a concrete way to put this ideal into practice, through the contemplative spirit that we learn and practice in Opus Dei. As John Paul II explained at the beatification ceremony, “the timeliness and transcendence of his spiritual message, deeply rooted in the Gospel, are evident, as is also shown by the fruitfulness with which God has blessed the life and work of Josemaría Escrivá.”

In the first letter he wrote after being elected as successor of our Founder, Don Alvaro developed this concept at length. “With the spiritual message of our Father,” he said, “all the waters of this soil - all the professions, all the environments, all the honest social situations - have been stirred up by the Angels of God, like the waters of that Probatic pool recalled in the Gospel (cf. Jn 5:2ff.), and have acquired medicinal force. Hence the need for our proselytism, the obligation to encourage others, who are not able to do for themselves, and who are within our reach - relatives, friends, companions - to throw themselves fearlessly into the waters that heal.

“If the earth abounds in bitter springs, soured by the sowers of hatred, do not forget that, in the spirit of the Work, even from the most arid and unsuspected stones medicinal torrents have flowed. Human work well finished has become eye salves, to discover God in all the circumstances of life, in all things. And it has happened precisely in our time, when materialism strives to turn work into a clay that blinds men and prevents them from looking to God.

“Go forward, then, my son, go forward. I ask you, in the name of our Father, to be willing to heal yourself and those around you, with those waters that leap to eternal life (Jn 4:14) and that spring up and remain - never stagnant - within the reach of creatures, offered by God’s mercy. I assure you that meditation on these words and the continuous echo of the fourth, definitive and unforgettable bell of our Founder, will lead you along paths of greater holiness and greater proselytizing vibration.

“Think about what you and I are doing now, in the midst of this world where we are by divine vocation. Allow me, son, to approach your heart with a question: do you really feel the urgency to speak of God with living faith to your colleagues, your friends, your relatives, and to tirelessly seek new friends to whom you can attach the divine fire that the Lord has placed within you, or have you been content, as if it were something irremediable, for the devil to conquer a legion of souls? The Lord has summoned us, with these divine chimes, so that we may fight. Your servant! Every morning must have, at all times, a renewed charge of love, of decision, of struggle.”

Human work attains its full sanctifying value in close union with the Cross of Jesus.

IN THE present state of the world, human labor-even redeemed and sanctified by Christ-also has a penal character: the effort it costs is part of the punishment that fell upon mankind because of original sin. Cursed be the earth for your sake,” God said to Adam. “Thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life. … Thou shalt eat bread in the sweat of thy brow, until thou shalt return unto the earth, for out of it thou wast brought forth, for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.

However, in the light of faith, even the suffering and fatigue inherent in any work can become a path that leads to God. Jesus Christ taught us this during his years of work in Nazareth, with the fatigues of his preaching in public life and, above all, with the sufferings of his passion and death on the Cross. There, Our Lord transformed the curse into a blessing, as St. Paul affirms: Christ rescued us from the curse of the Law, becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree”, so that Abraham’s blessing might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

At the Mass for the beatification of our Father, John Paul II expressly referred to the need to unite oneself to Christ on the Cross in order to attain holiness. “It is necessary to go through many tribulations in order to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). To the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus, Jesus says:”Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer this and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:26) (…). For many generations down the centuries, the disciples of Christ, crucified and risen, have embraced the same path that the Lord had shown them.”

Referring to our Founder, the Roman Pontiff assured: “His great love for Christ, for whom he is fascinated, leads him to consecrate himself forever to him and to participate in the mystery of his passion and resurrection. At the same time, his filial love for the Virgin Mary inclines him to imitate her virtues.” His life, the Holy Father continued, “was based on knowing that he was a son of God in Christ by faith. This faith nourished his love for the Lord, his evangelizing zeal, his constant joy, even in the great trials and difficulties he had to overcome.”

To achieve this goal, we must conduct ourselves moved by Love, never as one who bears the weight of a punishment or a curse: whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Col 3:17). And so we will finish our work with perfection, filling the time, because we will be instruments in love with God, who perceive all the responsibility and all the trust that the Lord places on their shoulders, despite their own weakness. In each of your activities, because you have the strength of God, you must behave as one who is moved exclusively by Love (…).

Do not doubt this: in the course of the years, particularly costly situations will arise - perhaps sooner than we think - which will require a great spirit of sacrifice and greater self-forgetfulness. Foster the virtue of hope and boldly make the Apostle’s cry your own: truly, I am convinced that the sufferings of the present life are not to be compared with that future glory that is to be manifested in us (Rom 8:18); meditate with assurance and peace: what will be the infinite Love of God poured out on this poor creature! The time has come, in the midst of your ordinary occupations, to exercise faith, to awaken hope, to revive love; that is, to activate the three theological virtues, which impel us to banish immediately, without dissimulation, without concealment, without beating around the bush, the misunderstandings in our professional conduct and in our interior life.

On this anniversary, let us turn to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, asking her to obtain for us the grace to live our Christian vocation to the fullest in Opus Dei, so that one day we too, like our Father, may enjoy heavenly glory. “Through the Son of Man, this glory extends to all that is visible and invisible: ‘May all your creatures give thanks to you, Lord, may your faithful bless you; may they proclaim the glory of your reign’ (Ps 144:10-11).”