639. Election of the Father (II)

Meditations no. 639 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Today we feel especially united to the Father.

I will sing of your mercies forever, O Lord, and I will announce your faithfulness from generation to generation. Today is a feast day in the Work, because another year has gone by since the Lord gave us a new Father, as the heir and representative of our dear founder on earth.

Our Father once said: Our Lord frequently spoke about boats and nets, about the sea and its fish… But, did he not also speak about sheep and flocks? And he did so with such tenderness! Look at his delight when describing the Good Shepherd! He shows us that his sheep follow him trustingly, that they love him, that they recognize his voice. They know that they are well taken care of when they crowd around him, whether in the sheep pen or in the spacious pasture.

Well Opus Dei is also one of Christ’s flocks, with its Good Shepherd and its sheep. There will always be a Father who can say: cognosco oves meas et cognoscunt me meae (John 10: 14), I know my children and my children know me. In Opus Dei the Good Shepherd will always be whoever is at the head: the Father, whoever he may be.

On this feast we thank God for the love which he showed the Church and the world by founding the Work. We also thank the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, who has been sheltering us with her cloak from the very beginning. And we give thanks as well to our Father for the paternal way in which he cares for and protects the Work from heaven.

With the help of divine grace, our Father was like the wise man who built his house on rock The rain fell and the storms raged against that house, but it did not fall, because it was built on rock. In the case of our Father, the solid foundation was an unshakable faith and a burning love for Jesus Christ which, with God’s help lives on in all of his successors. I will pass on, our Father said in 1960. I have been directing the Work for thirty-two years. One day, my place will be taken by one of your brothers, to whom you must show even more reverence than you show me. Kiss the ground on which he walks and love him with great human and supernatural affection. If you do not, it means you no longer have our spirit.

My children, do not squander the treasure which God has given me. Never forget what I am about to say. As I have told you so many times before, in my life I have known many Popes, dozens of cardinals, friends of mine, and hundreds of bishops… , but there is only one founder of Opus Dei, and that is me; I do not deserve it, but that is the way God has wanted it. In spite of this, however, you must love my successor with all your heart and with even more filial affection than you show me. Be very united to him, pray for him, mortify yourselves for him and obey him.

Thus, the first resolution we can make on this anniversary is to be very united to the Father and to his intentions. Through our generous prayer and mortification he should feel the warmth of our love for him and our heartfelt, filial gratitude to him.

When our Father left us to go to heaven, the stage of continuity and fidelity began in the Work - a stage which must never be interrupted.

In Opus Dei’s Statutes, which have been enacted by the Holy See, our founder uses one of Christ’s parables to draw an image of the Good Shepherd which his successors are to embody: sit ergo omnibus Praelaturae fidelibus magister atque Pater, qui omnes in visceribus Christi vere diligat, omnes effusa caritate erudiat atque foveat, pro omnibus impendatur et superimpendatur libenter. He is to be a teacher and a Father to all the faithful of the Prelature; he is to love them all truly, with the very heart of Christ; he is to teach and protect them all with true affection and charity; and he must relentlessly sacrifice himself and generously give himself to all of them.

Many years ago our founder said: when I die, someone will take my place. You must love him more than you love me, with more human affection as well. If not, something is wrong. I ask you to do this, for the love of Jesus Christ. His wish has become such a splendid reality that the entire Work is moved to thanksgiving because of it. We all have personal experience of how our heart has been able to expand in order to love the Father whom we now have on earth, with a loving affection which is truly filial. This is a grace which our founder has obtained for us from heaven, and which he will continue to obtain for his daughters and sons forever.

This is something supernatural which necessarily proceeds from the very nature of our spirit. God has wanted the Work to be a real family with both supernatural and human bonds. And it is so easy to love the Father! We are direct witnesses of his complete self-denial and dedication and of his constant vigilance so that none of his children lack anything they need to improve and consolidate their interior life and apostolic spirit. By his constant example and his close union to our founder, he leads us along the right way so that we continue to do Opus Dei on earth, in this definitive stage of continuity and fidelity which began when our Father left us for Heaven. My children, the first manifestation of love and thanksgiving for the legacy which our holy founder has left us is loyalty, faithfulness to his spirit. We should have clear in our minds that the only thing our Father is asking of us is to maintain that spirit intact, in all its purity, and to pass it on in its entirety, without changing anything. And in order to do this we have to live that spirit, putting it into practice every day of our lives.

Our responsibility to safeguard the spirit of the Work.

Our Father often explained to us that our apostolate is like a chain in which each one of us is a link. Thus everyone should feel responsible for being strong, since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. That is why I like speaking about chains and links so much, because we are all united to each other like links in a wonderful chain.

I taught the first members of the Work to pray continuously; and they taught those who came after. Thus was born this chain of doctrine and piety about which we spoke before, and which you must pass on to those who come after you. It would be a terrible thing if one of you or I were to break this supernatural chain. Try to be links which are as strong as steel and which shine like gold in God’s presence.

We have made a commitment never to allow nor tolerate, in ourselves or in the other members of the Prelature, anything which could tarnish the spirit of the Work. The anniversary of the Father’s election is an excellent occasion for us to renew that commitment before God. Let us meditate once again on the words the Father spoke just a few days after he was elected as our founder’s successor: in this solemn and unique moment I ardently ask God to continue granting us his mercy forever. I ask him to fill us with his grace so that, in spite of our past and present shortcomings, we be able to remain faithful and loyal in all circumstances, even unto death, if that were the case. I am sure that it will never happen that someone try to undermine the spirit which our Father left us or try to lead the Work in a direction other than the one which God showed our founder. Yet, if this ever does come to pass, I ask our Lord to frustrate that person’s efforts and prevent him from committing that crime and from causing damage to the Church and to souls.

Recall that severe admonition from Sacred Scripture: ‘Maledictus, qui facit opus Domini fraudulenter’ (Jer 48: 10). I hope you understand me. We pour forth all our understanding our affection and our prayers on a member of the Work who has the misfortune not to be faithful to his vocation. We try to help him continue and at least do all we can so that he save his soul. But if, in addition to being unfaithful, he were to try to subvert the Work of God, try to undermine its spirit and lead it in the wrong direction, then may that person draw down a divine curse upon his head.

This stage of the Work’s history will never end, because we will always have to pass on the baton to our brothers who follow us. And we must do so with a dedication which must be constantly renewed. Our dedication will be effective if we remain united to our Father who is now in heaven. ‘Benedictio patris firmat domos filiorum’ (Sir 3: 9), the blessing which our Father gives us ensures a solid foundation for this home, which is the Work. Previously, our founder was physically present among us with his word, his affection, his smile, his strength and his unforgettable gaze. He is still directing and guiding us; but now he does it from heaven and with even more effectiveness.

The graces which our Father obtains for us from God are like a shower of roses. We must not shut them out of our heart. Let us make specific resolutions and renew them every day! Let’s be faithful. Let’s try to prepare ourselves to receive these graces so that they will be fruitful. Let’s love God Our Lord above everything with all our heart.

We ask the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, for this, for she is also our Queen and Protectress.