590. September 29, St Michael, St Gabriel, & St Raphael, Archangels (II)

Meditations no. 519 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The variety of members of the Work, all sharing the same vocation, is a sign of God’s love.

The love of God our Lord for all men is boundless; it transcends all human reckoning. And Opus Dei is a sign of that infinite love. The Work, our Father said, has opened up the divine pathways of the earth to all men and women, because it has made it clear that every upright task can be an occasion for an encounter with God, and thus become a divine work. I can assure you that through the St Gabriel work our Lord is calling a multitude of men and women to a vocation in service of the Church and all souls in every corner of the world.

In celebrating the feast of the three Archangels, we want to consider the variety and beauty of our supernatural family. I’m not saying it for the sake of saying it, our founder insisted, when I tell you that the Work is a divine and human family that God has blessed abundantly with many children, just as he does natural families. Some of the brothers and sisters are tall, others are short, some have brown hair, others blond… And then there are the relatives: some are close, while others are more distant; and also the family friends.

My children, exactly the same happens in the Work: the Numeraries, Associates and Supernumeraries, the Associates and Supernumeraries of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross all form one family, with the same, identical vocation. In addition, alongside us are those relatives whom we love so much: the Cooperators, some with ideas very different than our own, or who don’t have faith. And then there are so many friends and colleagues who share in our family in some way… Isn’t this wonderful? Doesn’t it lead you to pray? Don’t you want to give thanks to God for this marvellous unity and variety: such a strong resemblance combined with very different personalities; such a close union yet very different ways of living. Consider slowly how good God is.

Our Lord has shown a special love towards the Work. He has wanted her to be open to receive the multitudes, just as He received them during his passage on earth. Our founder wrote: Notice how the Gospels show us the people around our

Lord divided, as it were, into ever-larger concentric circles. First, we see the huge crowds of people; then, closer to Jesus, the large group of disciples, turba discipulorum eius (Lk 6: 17); and closer still, right next to Him, the small group of the Twelve.

See, my children, how we put into practice what the Gospel tells us. The souls that our Lord draws to his Work have different temperaments and find themselves in quite different circumstances, but in each case they receive a special vocation from God. The reason for the different types of members in Opus Dei is to ensure that each one is in his right place, in accord with his personal situation. All are called to holiness; all have the same vocation of total dedication in Opus Dei. But each one’s circumstances determine different degrees of availability for apostolic tasks and formation.

By the work of St Gabriel, our Lord has wanted to show that marriage is a divine path on earth.

Our Lord has wanted the universal call to holiness to resound with renewed strength in the ears of all Christians. By means of Opus Dei, he has once again made it clear that all states and upright situations in life are apt for seeking and finding God. And for those who are called to marriage, their path as well is truly a divine vocation.

Our Father wrote: Since most of my Supernumerary children are married, their conjugal love and duties form part of their divine vocation. Opus Dei has been responsible for marriage being considered a divine path, a vocation. I have spent over thirty years trying to convince people of the vocational meaning of marriage, while teaching-not just on my own authority, it has been defined by the Church-that virginity and also perfect chastity are superior to marriage. We have raised the profile of marriage so that it can be considered a vocation. How frequently I have seen a couple’s eyes light up when, thinking that their noble and clean love was incompatible with dedication to God, they heard me say that “marriage is a divine path on earth!”

We are not afraid of human love, of our parents’ holy love, which God made use of to give us life. I bless this love with both hands. I don’t allow any of my children to fail to have a great love for the holy sacrament of matrimony. Therefore we aren’t afraid to sing songs about clean, human love, which are ballads of divine love as well. Those of us who have renounced earthly love for the sake of Love are not bachelors: our hearts are steeped in love.

Addressing my daughters and sons who have been called by God to form a home, I ask you to love one another. Always have the eager love you had when you were first engaged. It would be a poor concept of marriage, which is an ideal and a vocation, to think that the joy is over when the difficulties and hard times that life brings begin.

Then is when love is strengthened, when it becomes stronger than death: forti est ut mors dilectio (Song 8: 6). Suffering and setbacks can never extinguish true love. For sacrifice shared with generosity unites you even more: aquae multae not potuerunt extinguere caritatem (Song 8: 7). Difficulties, whether physical or moral, can never extinguish your affection for one another.

Ordinarily, your marriage will be very fruitful. And if God doesn’t grant you children, you will dedicate your energies more intensely to the apostolic work, which will bring you a splendid spiritual fruitfulness. Our Lord usually crowns Christian families with children, I’ve told you many times. Always receive them with joy and thanksgiving, because they are God’s gift and blessing and a proof of his confidence in you.

The Supernumeraries sanctify themselves in their own place of work and in their own family.

The vocation to Opus Dei as a Supernumerary is open to all kinds of people: men and women, young and old, healthy and sick, all can travel along this path and carry out personal apostolate and the collective apostolate indicated to them. The only thing required, after being called by God, is an eagerness to bring Christ’s leaven to those around them in their ordinary life.

Our Father wrote: Your effectiveness, my children, will be a consequence of your personal sanctity, which will be shown by your responsible deeds that aren’t hidden in anonymity. Christ Jesus, the Good Sower, squeezes us in his wounded hand like the grain of wheat, he drenches us in his blood, he purifies us, cleanses us, inebriates us! And then he scatters us generously the world over, one by one, as befits his children in Opus Dei Wheat is not sown by the sackful, but rather grain by grain.

Like the other members of the Work, the Supernumeraries seek sanctity and carry out apostolate in their everyday circumstances, including the family that God usually calls them to form. This is the Supernumeraries’ primary apostolic task. As our founder stressed: Your first apostolate is in your home. The formation that Opus Dei gives you leads you to appreciate the beauty of a family, the supernatural work that forming a home entails, the occasions for sanctity that lie hidden in your conjugal duties. Although aware of the greatness of your vocation to marriage-and it is truly a vocation!-you harbour a special veneration and deep affection for perfect chastity, which you know is superior to marriage (cf Mt 19: 11; 1 Cor7: 25-40; Council of Trent, 24, 10). Therefore you are truly happy when, by God’s grace, one of your children sets out on this path. This isn’t a sacrifice, but rather a special choice made by God’s goodness, a reason for holy pride, a joyful service to all men and women out of love for Jesus Christ.

The Supernumeraries can carry out an immensely fruitful apostolate in their families and in society. Our founder wrote: In carrying out this personal apostolate, you should try to bring the persons you are dealing with to the collective means of spiritual and doctrinal formation organised by the Work-days of recollection, conferences, circles, etc. -and to spiritual direction with our priests. These are very effective, indeed necessary, means to solidify the work each one of you carries out with these souls, taking advantage of your work, your position in the world, and your family situation. You have to make use of everything, because everything is a means of apostolate.

We entrust this marvellous apostolic work to St Gabriel, who announced to Mary her vocation as the Mother of God. And we ask her Son: Make our prayers rise to you, by the hands of the angels, as a fragrant incense.