637. The Father's asking for admission to the Work
Meditations no. 489 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Being loyal and faithful to our vocation.
We are once again commemorating the date Don Ălvaro asked for admission into the Work. For each of us, recalling the day we received our vocation is always a special occasion for giving thanks to God. Therefore todayâs celebration prompts us to give thanks with all our soul for the divine calling of one who was both Father and Good Shepherd for us all.
The firm and sure foundation of our vocation to the Work is Godâs faithfulness. This is what grounds our unshakable hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, almighty God, whose purposes are unchangeable, and who has called us to serve him in Opus Dei.
But being faithful to our vocation also requires our response, the free and loving effort to make Godâs gifts bear fruit. In this endeavour, we find great help in the example of our brothers: those in the first years of the Work, who besides having faith in God had a lot of faith in our founder, and those who, ever since, have spent year after year doing the Work of God loyally and joyfully, helping it grow everywhere.
Where faithfulness is concerned, it is hard to distinguish between important and minor matters, since he who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. Lack of loyalty can only be measured in relation to the confidence God has placed in his creature, and in our case this is much greater than we can imagine. God is asking us for a loving faithfulness. We try to fulfil all the duties our vocation involves out of love, and, in a special way, that of serving souls and the Church, always striving to keep very close to God.
My daughters and sons, our Father said, never lose sight of the fact that our Lord counts on you as co-redeemers. Be truly faithful; donât belittle your calling. Remember that we are never alone. Our Lord wants to live within us, and through each one of us, to reach many other souls, the persons we know and all those we have yet to meet On your fidelity depends the fidelity of many other persons. From my own experience I can assure you that nothing is lost; the seed that we sow will always, with Godâs grace, bear fruit.
We all want to be faithful, down to the last detail of our lives. I am certain of the sincerity of this desire in all my daughters and sons, because none of us can forget that God has addressed each of us personally: ego redemi te, et vocavi te nomine tuo, meus es tu! But are we Godâs to that extent? Entirely?
Today, in our Lordâs presence, we can consider whether our loyalty is absolute: in big and little things, in important and seemingly unimportant matters, in moments of enthusiasm and when we feel cold and indifferent, in all circumstances.
We must be saxum, a solid rock the Father can depend on.
Sacred Scripture frequently uses the image of a rock to speak of supernatural fortitude, which finds its infinite fullness in God. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge. says the Book of Samuel. The man who puts his trust in the Lord, firmly anchored in Godâs strength, can say: he set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
This strength of character, a divine gift requiring correspondence to grace, was what our founder discerned from the very beginning in the one who would eventually succeed him at the head of the Work. As early as 1939, he began calling him saxum, rock, alluding to the special fortitude this son of his always displayed. Saxum! How bright I see the path, a long one, that lies before you! Bright and full, like a field ripe for the harvest Blessed fruitfulness that of the apostle, more beautiful than anything else on earth!
The fortitude that our Father found in Don Ălvaro is also apparent, through Godâs grace, in those who succeed him as head of the Work. They will always find their strength in God, and in the intercession of our founder, being completely identified with his spirit. And the Father must find this fortitude in each one of us, since our vocation gives us the graces needed to be a support and help for the Father.
With our call, God grants us the necessary graces to live up to the demands of our way, to be loyal. Although it is true that the virtues need time to grow under the gentle promptings of grace, we cannot allow any delay in striving to attain maturity in our dedication in the Work. All of us, without exception, have to try from the very beginning to be of age, adults in the Work, because we know very well that, as our Father said, Opus Dei is for adults who know how to behave as children before God.
Spiritual maturity is not just, or even mainly, a question of years, but rather of dedication, of struggling to be holy, and thus being able to say with the Psalmist: I understand more than the aged, for I keep thy precepts. From the very beginning in the Work we have relied on all the means to attain spiritual maturity, and we have felt the responsibility to correspond to the great confidence God has shown in us by calling us to his Opus Dei.
Through our Fatherâs intercession, we ask our Lord and the most holy Virgin that we may be grown-up sons and daughters on whom the Father can depend. May we all be mature in our vocation to the point that the whole meaning for our existence is to carry out Opus Dei on earth, being ourselves Opus Dei.
We will be loyal if we are conscientious in looking after our life of piety and we struggle.
On this anniversary, besides praying more intensely, we want to offer the Father the gift of a more refined faithfulness to our vocation. We know that this is the greatest joy we can give him. As St John the Apostle said: No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth.
Growing in the truth of our divine vocation: this summarizes what the Father expects from each of his children. Therefore, we have to renew often (today is a good time to do so) the specific resolution to avoid what is for many souls the path to perdition: abandoning prayer, giving up being contemplatives. Live in Godâs presence, our Father told us, as best you can. By dint of sheer effort, if God grants us no other way. We will have done everything that was in our power, and He will not turn a deaf ear.
Donât be in a hurry in your life of piety. I have told you many times that when one sincerely wants to do the Will of God, prayer and work cannot be separated. But I would like to insist that you have to be refined in fulfilling the norms. Donât be in a rush when dealing with God. Be refined. Put great love and care into your acts of piety. It should hurt you to see unscrupulous persons uprooting so many manifestations of Christian life.
The loyalty God is asking of us includes looking after the details in our life of piety. They might seem small, but they are clear signs that we love him with all our heart, that we donât want to refuse him anything. Donât be discouraged when you discover your defects. Let us always try to be loyal in everything. Then we will struggle, and if at some point we stumble, we will return to the battle with more contrition, with greater love.
We will never fully realize how important our loyalty is. Therefore, if you ever find yourself growing tired along the way, speak out, so that you can be helped. You will never find yourself alone. And besides, you will see that even those times of trial serve to purify you and to make you a more suitable instrument. Besides, by bearing difficulties well we support all the apostolate.
In the final analysis, the important thing is to persevere. In cold and in heat, in youth, in adulthood and in old age, it is always the right time to be faithful in our struggle, convinced that God is relying on us. In addition, we each have the duty to help the others persevere. To uphold the others, to lead them closer to God, in first place we have to give good example. We have to practice charity-how often a smile is enough!-and then give doctrine.
God is in need of nothing, and yet he wants to need our loyalty. Thus you must pray for everyoneâs perseverance, your own as well. Be convinced that if we donât follow our Lord faithfully, we are gambling with our eternal happiness, and our earthly happiness as well.
With God the Father who never abandons us, with the Holy Spirit who urges us on, with the example of Christ who gave himself up to death, we will go to the furthest corner of the world to serve Him. And as always, we will do so under the protection of holy Mary, our Mother, who is Virgo fidelis.