546. June 22, St Thomas More (II)

Meditations no. 477 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Our vocation to the Work re-enforces our solidarity with fellow citizens.

St Thomas More’s personality has one particular facet that especially merits our attention: the way he lived his Christian vocation in the midst of society as an ordinary citizen. Our Father once commented: Had Opus Dei existed then, he would have been a supernumerary. He loved the Church, the Pope, his country, his wife - both the first one and the second -and his children, greatly. He had a universal spirit.

We are citizens the same as everyone else, who strive to live their Christian vocation to its ultimate consequences with a deep sense of responsibility. The fact that we are members of society has not been altered by our vocation to the Work. On the contrary, our solidarity with other citizens has been reinforced by the Christian demands of our faith. By our calling these demands are more keenly felt; the common good is for our benefit, too.

Nothing distinguishes my children from their fellow citizens. On the other hand, apart from the faith they share, they have nothing in common with the members of religious congregations. I love the religious, and I venerate and admire their apostolates, their cloisters, their separation from the world - their contemptus mundi, which are other signs of the holiness in the Church. But the Lord has not given me a religious vocation, and for me to desire it would not be in order. No authority on earth can force me to be a religious, just as no authority can make me marry. I am a secular priest: a priest of Jesus Christ who is passionately in love with the world.

These are the men and women who have followed Jesus Christ in the company of this poor sinner: a small percentage of priests, who have previously exercised a secular profession or trade; a large number of secular priests from many dioceses throughout the world, who in this way confirm their obedience to their respective bishops, their love for their diocesan work and the effectiveness of it. Their arms are always wide open, in the form of a cross, to make room in their hearts for all souls; and like myself, they live in the hustle and bustle of the workaday world which they love. And finally, a great multitude made up of men and women of different nations, and tongues, and races, who earn their living with their work. Most of them are married, many others single; they share with their fellow citizens in the important task of making temporal society more human and more just. And they work, as I have said, shoulder to shoulder with their fellow men, experiencing with them successes and failures in the noble struggle of daily endeavour, as they strive to fulfil their duties and to exercise their social and civic rights. And all this with naturalness, like any other conscientious Christian, without considering themselves special. Blended into the mass of their companions, they try at the same time to detect the flashes of divine splendour which shine through the commonest everyday realities.

We aim to instil Christian values into civil legislation and social institutions.

While Thomas More occupied the post of Lord Chancellor of England and throughout his whole life, he was fully subject to the laws of his country. He respected them in conscience, demonstrating an exemplary and heroic loyalty.

This too is a norm of conduct demanded of us by the spirit of the Work. You are obliged to give good example, my children, in every field and as citizens too. You must make an effort in fulfilling your duties and in exercising your rights. As Catholic citizens we observe civil laws with great respect and esteem. When developing apostolic activities, we always try to work within the limits of these laws.

It is a pity that some Catholics become intimidated by the laws of their own country, an attitude which leads them to behave like second-rate citizens. They conform to discriminatory legislation in areas as fundamental as the family and education. Sometimes they lack the daring to enter public life and if they do intervene, it is without disclosing their Catholic beliefs.

St Thomas More’s public life eloquently tells us what the attitude of a Catholic should be: he tries to instil Christian values into laws and social institutions. Faced with the requirements of a monarch who was attempting to use his power against the indissolubility of matrimony, Thomas More remained faithful to his Christian conscience. He did not on that account abandon his duties as a citizen; neither did he exempt himself from the respect and obedience owing to the legitimate laws of authority. By his writings and good deeds, he continued defending the doctrine being undermined, even after he was removed from office.

Working in unison with your fellow countrymen, you can improve the environment so that things are not imposed on people without allowing them legitimate expression… you will be able to direct legislation at the national level, above all in key issues: marriage laws, education, public morality, property rights, etc.

How can legislation be Christian if respect for the family is based on the right to obtain divorce? Where is the logic in societies which pride themselves on their religious pluralism and yet they do not allow for that pluralism in the public schools? Every student should have the right to receive a religious education in conformity with his faith.

Don’t you realise that private property, within the limits demanded by common sense, is an instrument of man’s freedom? Private property is one of the basic foundations for the development of the human person and the family. Countries that do not respect these rights are neither Catholic nor humane. Do you see the panorama before you? It is in these matters and in others of prime importance that you must put up a good fight!

We fulfil our civic duties and demand our corresponding rights.

Opus Dei asks its members to fulfil all the social, political and economic duties they have as citizens, and to exercise all their rights with a Christian spirit.

This attitude of not abandoning the fulfilment of any obligation or the exercise of any right is necessary for the good of society, and so as not to cause any harm to third parties through neglecting one’s rights or duties.

Our Father writes: Concerning the exercise of citizens’ rights, we find a living example in the recurring attitude of St Paul, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. His is a manly firmness, which the timid could perceive as arrogance. Really, it is upright honesty with no nonsense… the Apostle displays his condition as a Roman citizen when necessary and he demands, without any false humility, that he be treated as such: But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now cast us out secretly? No! let them come themselves and take us out’ (Acts 16: 37).

With this integrity he spoke to the jailer of Philippi; the conversation is wonderful. And it is naturally attractive that Paul, on the point of being scourged, holds his own with the tribune in Jerusalem: But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, ‘Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?’ When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, ‘What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.’ So the tribune came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ The tribune answered, ‘I bought this citizenship for a large sum.’ Paul said, ‘But I was a born a citizen.’ (Acts 22: 25-28; cf. Ibid. 22: 11). My daughters and sons, commentaries are not needed: take example from this passage.

We have to be conscious of our citizenship and responsive to all our obligations: pay our taxes; fulfil mandatory military service or social service; to vote and exercise other duties specified by law… On the other side of the coin, we must demand our rights without allowing our freedom to be diminished even minimally as regards our activities in professional and civil life. How much our Lord expects from your constant, eager and enthusiastic work! And even though frequently you will not feel eager or enthusiastic, you will try to Christianise all your earthly activities; you will place Christ at the summit of all human activity!

We finish our prayer invoking the Most Blessed Virgin and St Thomas More, asking them to obtain the fortitude we need to live our citizenship well, always. My daughters and sons, our founder used to assure us, if you maintain this good spirit, what the Acts of the Apostles says about Jesus’ Apostles will be applicable to yourselves, nowadays: Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles (Acts 5: 12). Yours will unspectacular miracles, but rest assured, they will be true miracles.