604. November 3, St Severinus, Martyr

Meditations no. 531 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

In Opus Dei there is “one cooking-pot”, one spirit for all the members.

In Opus Dei, we are consummati in unum (Jn 17: 23). We have a small common denominator, which is the teaching of the Church, with the spirit that characterizes the Work and our specific way of doing apostolate in the middle of the world, seeking our own sanctity and that of everyone around us. There is also a very broad numerator, a shoreless sea in keeping with each time and place, in which differing opinions are and always will be a proof of good spirit, as a clear sign that in Opus Dei there are neither tyrants nor slaves.

Today we celebrate the Mass of St Severinus, the martyr whose relics are kept in the oratory of St Joseph in Villa Tevere. The whole Work is closely united on this feast as we meditate upon the unity that is so essential for our lives.

In the first place, we are united by the spirit that God has willed to give us. We have all received the same vocation to sanctity and apostolate. Our Father summed it up, Each of us achieves the consecratio mundi by a personal dedication to our Lord’s service, and for his sake, to the service of all souls without exception, in the practice of his own profession or job in the middle of the world that we love, each in his own state in life. This is a common vocation which has very precise spiritual traits. Our Father writes, In raising up the Work, God has given us an asceticism, a fully secular spirit and specific means of sanctification which are not an adaptation of the methods of religious orders. Rather, they fit our specific situation in the middle of the world, and they give Opus Dei its own spiritual characteristics.

To help us understand this spiritual unity better, our Father wrote: My children, in the Work we are a healthy family. For we all aspire to the sanctity that pertains to the Christian vocation, by being faithful to the common vocation to Opus Dei that we have all received, laymen as well as priests. A healthy family needs only “one cooking-pot”; no one needs a special diet When someone in a family is sick, there have to be different meals. We have the same food for the spiritual life of all of the members of the Work: the same spirit, “one sole cooking-pot”. Opus Dei asks all its members, whether they are priests or not, to have a truly priestly soul. Therefore it feeds them the same ascetical and apostolic spirit.

This identity of spirit, which rises above any national, social or cultural differences, is one of the pillars that supports the Work’s unity. In every circumstance and state, the norms and customs in our plan of life nourish our hunger for sanctity. They enable us all to form a living, healthy body that grows continuously.

The legal unity of the Work.

The spiritual unity of Opus Dei is visibly confirmed by a characteristic mark: its juridical unity. This has been reinforced even more by the fact that it has been set up as a personal Prelature-our founder’s special intention for which he prayed right from the beginning of the Work. Like other ecclesiastical, juridical and hierarchical structures of a secular nature, the Prelature of Opus Dei is formed by a portion of the People of God, in which the great variety of the members of the Mystical Body of Christ are represented. The ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful are found intimately united in the Prelature, reflecting the Church’s structure. These depend upon and complement one another, so that everyone-sharing the same vocation and governance- may carry out the aim of the Work.

The Bull Ut Sit, by which the Holy Father John Paul II established the Work as a personal Prelature, explicitly states that God raised up Opus Dei as an apostolic organisation which is made up of priests and of laity, both men and women, and which is at the same time organic and undivided. Today is a good occasion to give thanks to God for having made the Work so beautiful, and for the strength he granted our founder to defend the essential features of Opus Dei at difficult moments in her history. I wanted to secure our juridical unity out of love for Jesus, love for my Mother the Roman Church, love for my beautiful Mother the Work, love for my salvation, and love for my children in Opus Dei. There in the Cortile Vecchio I had inscribed a reminder for you in marble that your brothers will read for centuries. Opus Dei, firm, compact and secure, grew in strength and spread. Firm! Compact! Secure!

This unity is not diminished by the separation between the men and women in their apostolic tasks and formation, which is also the specific will of God. Our Father said that the two Sections of the Work are like two little donkeys pulling the cart in the same direction. They pull together, combining their efforts in the same direction, united in spirit, and with only one head. And he added in another document: You all know the refinement with which this separation has always been lived, and have given thanks to God for it, as have I. I have told you graphically on many occasions that it is as if we lived five hundred, a thousand, five thousand miles apart, without thereby losing our unity of spirit.

The conclusion is clear: We have to strive to be as refined as possible to always maintain this reality, which our Father handed down to us by his word and example. This way of acting… has proved so effective from the beginning and has reaped so many benefits for the service of the Church and for souls.

Moral unity is a union of hearts and intentions.

Consummati in unum. These words of our Lord reflect a unity of hearts, feelings and desires. Our Father had them engraved on the tabernacle of the oratory of the General Council so that they be a constant prayer … rising up to heaven from the central tabernacle of the Work.

Our identical vocation and spirit binds us together with supernatural ties stronger than blood. It produces a fraternal affection that makes us strong in the midst of our personal weakness. Thus we live in caritate non ficta, with sincere charity (2 Cor 6: 6). And eamdem caritatem habentes unanimes, idipsum sentientes; nihil per contemptionem neque per inanem gloriam, sed in humilitate superiores sibi invicem arbitrages, non quae sua sunt singuli considerantes, sed ea quae aliorum (Phil 2: 2-4). Sharing in the same charity, the same spirit, the same sentiments, doing nothing out of contentiousness or vainglory; but in humility let each one regard others as his superiors, each looking not to his own interests but to those of others. Implete gaudium meum (Phil 2: 2). Fill up my joy, our Father asks of us, and act in such a way that no son of mine, no one in the Work, can ever feel the cruelty of indifference.

Family life constantly provides an opportunity for practising and strengthening unity. That is why we should take care of all of its aspects, realising it is the means by which we can become more identified with the spirit of the Work and live a refined charity toward our brothers. Love one another unreservedly, without silly things, without familiarities, without forming cliques. Do so in such a way that no one notices that we like certain persons more than others. It’s natural that we find it easier to like some more than others. Don’t be startled at this. It’s nothing bad. Nevertheless, we must avoid letting it show outwardly, which is not hypocrisy. It is charity and the perfection of love. We are loving the Work when we raise our human affection to the supernatural plane and, as watchful sentinels, strive to remedy whatever might harm the walled city of the Work.

When we are well armed with the weapons of an authentic fraternal affection, shown in many specific details, nothing can separate us from our brothers. For you and for me, and for all of us who make up this large family of Opus Dei, being spread out does not mean separation. We are always united. We never say, ‘Goodbye’ nor, ‘See you later.’ For in Opus Dei there is a real, marvellous unity. Being spread out means being more united. In every corner of the world, you will each be an instrument of unity and cohesiveness, in a unity of minds, hearts and wills.

We thank holy Mary, Queen of Opus Dei, for our blessed spiritual, legal and moral unity, which makes us a living body, with a single heartbeat and a single soul, within the Mystical Body of Christ.