592. October 2, Founding of Opus Dei (I)
Meditations no. 521 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Thanksgiving on the anniversary of the founding of Opus Dei.
Today is a new anniversary of the founding of Opus Dei. Our prayer overflows with thanksgiving to our Lord and the Blessed Virgin for this great gift to the Church and all mankind. We wish to manifest today the same sentiments our founder cherished in his soul on another October second. His words then are the channel now for our conversation with God.
Let us go to the first point of our meditation. Lord, many years have gone by since you began to show yourself to my soul. I was fifteen or sixteen when I felt those first impulses of your love and knew that you were seeking me. And after putting up so many obstacles, out of comfort and cowardice-I have said it many times and have asked my childrenâs pardon-after all that, the work burst into the world on the second of October, 1928.
I alone know how we began, with absolutely no human means. All I had were my twenty-six years of age, the grace of God and a good sense of humour. But once more the parable of the small seed has been fulfilled. We must be very grateful to our Lord. Time has passed and our Lord has confirmed us in the faith and granted us even more than what we foresaw. We see this marvellous reality all over the world, like an army drawn up in battle array, for peace, for good, for joy and for the glory of God. And seeing this divine apostolate of men and women, laymen and priests, in such different settings, with a marvellous expansion that will necessarily encounter small points of affliction because we are always beginning, we must bow our heads lovingly and go to God and thank him. And we will also go to our heavenly Mother who has been present from the start, accompanying the path of the Work.
We must always smile. We must smile in the midst of harsh circumstances, telling God, gratias tibi, Deus, gratias tibi! Take advantage of these moments in your prayer to look at the world and to see how things are going. We have to live charity, and urge forward the apostolic works, and form people. As I was saying, have a quick look at all the regions in the world. Pay special attention to the region where you ought especially to have your heart. Pause and make acts of thanksgiving, and move the holy guardian angels into action by your prayer.
Our Fatherâs fortitude and fidelity in carrying out the Work God entrusted to him.
Remembering the beginnings of the Work, our Father wrote: I didnât want to found anything. I have always been against new foundations. This doesnât mean that Iâve ever thought of putting obstacles to the work of the Holy Spirit. Nor do I mean to imply disrespect for anyone, since I love all the ancient foundations, as well as the more recent ones; they all seem contemporary to me. Our Work, the Work of God, has come to bring about a rebirth of a new but old spirituality for contemplative souls in the midst of all temporal work, sanctifying all ordinary human tasks. We are called to love the world that flees from its Creator, placing Christ at the peak of all the earthly activities in which men are engaged.
God plays with souls as a father does with his little children, ludens coram eo omni tempore, ludens in orbe terrarum (Prov 8: 30), always at play, playing on the face of the earth. Seeing my initial resistance, as well as my enthusiastic but weak work, he allowed me to have the apparent humility of imagining, without any basis, that there might already be some institution like what God had asked of me. It was unreasonable cowardice, the cowardice of comfort. Yet at the same time, my sons, it was a confirmation that I didnât want to found anything.
Today we give special thanks for our founderâs fortitude and fidelity in carrying out, from the very first moment, the mission he received from God. âFather did the Work really begin on the second of October, 1928?â Yes, my child, it did begin on the second of October, 1928. Ever since then I havenât had a momentâs peace. And I began to work, reluctantly, because I didnât want to get involved in founding anything. But I began to work and to act, laying the foundations.
I began to work, and it wasnât easy. Souls escaped like eels in water. Besides, there was the most brutal lack of understanding, because the teaching that is accepted today throughout the world was not accepted then. And if anyone affirms the contrary, he doesnât know the truth.
As I said before, I was twenty-six, and I had the grace of God and good humour, and nothing else. But just as we men write with a pen, God writes with a table leg, so that it can be seen that he is the one writing. That is what is so incredible, so wonderful. The entire theological and ascetical doctrine, as well as the entire juridical doctrine, had to be created. I found myself faced with a gap of centuries. There was nothing. To human eyes the Work seemed like madness. That is why some people said that I was crazy and a heretic, and many other things.
God arranged things that I couldnât even count on a penny, so that it could also be seen in this way that He was the one acting. Think how I caused those who lived around me to suffer! It is only fitting that I dedicate here a remembrance to my parents. They bore so much humiliation with such great joy, with such love! It was necessary to crush me, as they grind wheat to prepare the flour to make bread. That is why our Lord allowed those I loved most to suffer. Thank you, Lord! For this batch of marvellous bread is already spreading the good aroma of Christ (2 Cor 2: 15) throughout the whole world. Thank you for so many thousands of souls who are glorifying God throughout the whole world. For they all belong to you.
Renewing our determination to become saints.
We come to the third point of our meditation. And here I wonât be the one who proposes certain considerations. You are the ones who have to face up to yourselves. For God has chosen us for the same purpose. He has given birth to this universal marvel in both you and me. It is the moment for each of you to look inside himself to see whether or not he is the instrument God wants. This is a very personal, intimate task between God and each one of you.
Be convinced, my children, that the only path is the path of sanctity. In the midst of our wretchedness, of which I have so much, we ask God for forgiveness with our whole heart. And in spite of that wretchedness, you are contemplative souls. That is how I see it. I donât look just at your defects. For we constantly fight against that dead weight and seek out God our Lord and his Blessed Mother by striving to live the norms that I have taught you. We feel the need to go to God and to holy Mary, our Mother, and speak to them constantly. Isnât that the characteristic of contemplative souls?
When I woke up this morning I thought that you would want me to say a few words. I think I must have blushed out of shame. Then I let my heart go out to God and saw that there is still so much to be done. I also thought about you, and I was convinced that I was not giving the Work all that I should, although God certainly does. That is why we have come here this morning to renew our thanksgiving. I am sure that our first thought today has also been one of thanksgiving.
God is certainly faithfully. But what about us? You ought to answer that question personally, my children. How does each of us see himself in his own life? I am not asking whether you see yourself as better or worse, since at times what we think is the case is not objective. God lets us think that we are going backward. Then we grasp his hand more firmly and we are filled with peace and joy. Therefore I insist that I am not asking you whether you are better or worse. I ask whether you are doing Godâs will, whether you want to struggle, while imploring Godâs help and never using a human means without simultaneously employing supernatural means.
See whether you strive to expand your heart. Consider whether you are capable of beseeching God-often we are unable, or, if we do ask, we donât ask in a way that will be answered-consider whether you capable of asking him, in a way that will be answered, that you be the last and your brothers the first, that you be the light that is consumed and the salt that is spent. This is what we have to ask for: that we know how to give ourselves a hard time so that the others be happy. That is the great secret of our life. And there lies the effectiveness of our apostolate.
My children, I donât want to say any more. Help me to be filled with gratitude and acknowledgment to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And to the Mother of God and our Mother, who has granted us her motherly smile whenever we needed it. When I had premonitions that God wanted something, and I didnât know what it was, I shouted and sang, as best I could, words that you have surely savoured in your heart if you have not said them aloud: Ignem veni mittere in terram et quid volo nisi ut accendatur? (Lk 12: 49). I have come to bring fire to the earth and what would I but that it be kindled? And the reply, Ecce ego quia vocasti me! (1 Sam 3: 8). Here I am, for you have called me. Shall we all repeat it now to our God?
Lord, we are worth so little, but we love you very much and want to love you much more because we are your children. We take into account all your power and all our own wretchedness. Recognizing our misery we will run to the arms of our Mother like small children, to the lap of the Mother of God who is our mother, and to the Heart of Jesus Christ. We will receive all the strength, all the power, all the daring, all the generosity and love that God our Lord has stored up for his faithful children. And we will feel secure, we will be effective and cheerful. And with that divine strength, we will carry out the holy will of God, with the help of holy Mary.