The Power of Divine Intervention

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My Lord, and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.   

As we center our attention on Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, our topic of conversation is not the usual topic of Eucharist, friendship, sanctification work – but it is on divine intervention, and divine intervention expressed in Opus Dei. And why this topic? In all the centers of Opus Dei throughout the world, members, and the cooperators, and everybody in touch with Opus Dei celebrated a divine intervention that occurred at a certain date, certain year, certain time, in a certain room on October 2, 1928. 

All right. This Sunday is the feast or the anniversary of the canonization of St. Josemaria. And I'd say any canonization is an expression of divine intervention. What struck me deeply was the sea of people at that canonization. I lived in Rome. And I never saw such a large crowd, nothing close to it. And let's pray about it because it does impact on you and me. Whether we're part of Opus Dei, whether this is the first time here, I'll try to, for you rookies, who've not been here before, I’ll give you a little bit of a background.   

We have to go back to Our Lord's last words. And it seems like a secret, it’s not talked about too much. It's one of the best kept secrets, but it's Our Lord's very last words. And if there's anything that is the will of Jesus, it is that we get this Good News – that’s what Gospel means, it means “Good News” – we get this Good News to everybody. Because we believe that meaning in human life, that happiness, fulfillment, hope, personal betterment, joy, come from Him.  

We believe that. And he reveals that “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” Perfectly? No, that's the afterlife where we're totally fulfilled, totally joyous. But it's supposed to begin here. And the ultimate freedom is to be connected with Him and to follow Him. That's the ultimate freedom. We believe that. And since we believe that Jesus says, and I always like to quote St. Mark. St. Mark's gospel enjoys a certain accuracy because it was record of what Peter said in homilies in Rome – least tradition says that.  

And Jesus is quoted as saying, preach the Gospel to every creature. And it kind of drives home the will of God: “I want everybody to be a recipient of this Good News.” And throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has broken down that mandate. For example, an orphanage to give Christian education, an orphanage, and take care of these little children whose moms and dads are dead, or they've been abandoned by them, or missionary work in areas of the world that have never heard the Gospel. 

Okay, that's another derivation of that divine commission to preach the Gospel to all nations. Or vocational schools for young men who want to be workers. And so, you give them a Catholic education and you also train them. High school for women. Seminary, trade, there's always- there's a derivation of that divine commission. And just to give a little bit of background: when Josemaria Escriva was a teenager, in the dead of winter, in this small city or big town called Logroño, after a severe snowstorm, in frigid weather, he noticed footprints in the snow.   

Not tote prints or boot prints, but you know, real toe prints. And it was no mystery. It was footprints that led to a monastery, a Carmelite monastery. And somehow those footprints just changed his life, and if weren't for those footprints, you and I wouldn't be here either. Give me a chance to explain. So, we're here because of footprints. 

All right. So, he sees those footprints. And maybe in modern parlance, you'd say he was slayed by the Spirit. Because right then in there, the teenage Josemaria, who wanted to be an architect and wanted to be a husband and a father of a family and had no ambition to leave Logroño, he saw those footprints, and he told Our Lord, “I'm going to give my entire life to you right now! Because you want something of me!” He realized those footprints were penitential footprints.   

And he said, “I didn't plan this, but I'm going to be a priest just to be more available to whatever you want, Lord.” And so immediately he told his mother and father, and his dad was behind- he supported him, but he started to cry a little bit because he had different plans. And then for about ten, a little bit more than ten years, the young Josemaria would spend all afternoon in prayer, all night in prayer. 

He'd go to the shrine at Saragossa where his seminary was and spent a lot of time in front of the statue of Mary called Our Lady of the Pillar. Tradition had it- has it that she appeared to St. James the Apostle when he was trying to convert the Spaniards. It was so hard and discouraging that she had to appear to him and say, “Come on, Jimmy, you know, you can do it. I'll help you. You know, it's a tough crowd, but you’ll do okay.” And so, he did that. And he became a priest.   

And he still said, “Well, you know, the calling is not complete yet. God wants something of me! And so, when he was making a retreat, and he was meditating and going to- through his journals, he was enveloped – I don't think “enveloped” is the right word – he was infused with a preternatural vision. A light. And what- what was the contents of this light? He saw Jesus Christ in the world in a very new way. 

And in this light, this light contained a message: “I want to make my home in every workplace,” this is Christ now communicating with him, “I want to make my home in every family. I want to make my home in every social situation. I want to be present any time you see beads of white in those big buildings you see in the- along the Chicago skyline. I want those little lights to represent My Presence. I want to be in the heart of the world.” That's what he saw.   

And it spooked him. He got super spooked. Maybe I'm not using the right word, but at least that- that's what I picked up. And he fell to his knees. And he admitted that he was pretty shaken up by this, this light. And within this message he heard that- or he sensed or perceived, whatever the right word is, that Christ wants the world to be renewed. Christianized. And re-Christianized by the man and the woman in the middle of the world, not in the rectory. Not in the parish, per se.

Yes, of course, the parish priests are indispensable. That's your power source. That's where you get the Sacraments. But the work has to be done in the trenches of the workplace, of the dormitory, of the party, of the sports field, of the hangout place. The bar, as long as it's a wholesome bar. And the heavy lifting of this work of evangelization is on the shoulders of the woman and the man who is in the classroom and the farm.   

Painting nails, giving haircuts, running a city, whatever they do. Organizing a team, being an event planner, being a physician, whatever- whatever it is. And collecting garbage, whatever it is. That's the person who's going to renew the world. It's not done yet. The best is- it took them over ten years to get this. So, you know, there's more to it. It was sort of a conditional prophecy. 

He said, “there's only one way to follow Jesus. And it's not just showing up for Mass.” I mean, that's a tall order, most people don't go. It's not, “Okay, well, I say my night prayers, I have a little routine.” I mean, don't give that- don't give that up. It’s they’re called to be great saints. That the person in the neighborhood, the person in the workplace, the homemaker, the mom, the teacher, whatever profession you prefer, is called to be a great saint.   

And the only way to live the Gospel is to be totally centered on Christ. And there's a little bit of an “if” in this light, this illumination. If they do this, the world will be renewed. It's not a question of how tough it is out there. Our Holy Father says, “Do not get snagged on the difficulty.” Are there difficulties? Absolutely. Humanly speaking, it's impossible to Christianize the world, humanly speaking, because Christian principles, whether it's moral law or actual teachings of Jesus, are antithetical to the fashions, the customs, the culture, the mores of today's society.  

In fact, I'm not going to gild the lily, I don't want to leave you depressed, but it's so bad out there that the moral law, the objective moral law that was in fashion centuries before Jesus Christ is seen as hostile, is seen as harmful. We're not going to- I mean, you're well aware of it. But now destruction of human life is a right, is a reproductive right. It's a woman's right. To name a number of difficulties that prevail today.   

And what Jesus is telling us, because when he cut those first ones loose, it was like that in the ancient world. And he says, “Don't look at the difficulties. Look at yourself. Follow me, and you will overcome everything. Have faith, I have overcome the world,” I'm quoting him, “have peace, I have overcome the world,” depends on the translation. Another one says, “Take courage. I have overcome the world.”  He says, “In this in this life, you will have tribulation, but have courage. I have overcome the world.” What does that mean? I overcome the world. Through my saints, or those who want to be saint- you can't be a saint until you check out. So, I don't mean to hurt feelings. But none of us here is a saint. So, I don't mean to disappoint anybody.   

Now, I want to piggyback a little bit on the Prelate of Opus Dei’s visit to the United States or to Chicago. And in the men's get- the men's get-togethers are a little bit more serious than the women's get-togethers. Women's get-together, it was more fun, there was more singing and levity, and you know. And there's so much energy and emotion that the walls were vibrating. 

Not as much with the men. And they start to ask him some tough questions. “Can we really evangelize in the 21st century, given the difficulties out there?” And, you know, guys were saying, “Listen, the workplace is tough. And it's, you know, hard to witness the faith because of so much hostility against it.” And then problems with the Church itself were raised in these get-togethers. And the Prelate, the Father, we call him the Father as well, said, “Realistic optimism.” He said, “We have to be very optimistic. I'm very- I'm well aware of the difficulties. But we have to be optimistic.”  

Now, what does that mean? Well, things will change, things will get better. I don't know if they’re going to get better. But we don't focus on whether things are going to get better. I'm going to focus on how connected I am with Christ. And that's what he said, that's the realistic optimism, how this victory of Our Lord, I'm paraphrasing him now, is contingent on how united you are, he was saying, to Our Lord, because Our Lord is this victory that has overcome the world. Our Lord has this last word. 

In this event, October 2, 1928. I mean, he saw, and we didn't get down to detail because part of the spirit of Opus Dei is not to gravitate towards the preternatural. He said, “You know, you got to find Christ in the ordinary.” So, he didn't really embellish on that event, but it's a big event, initially made him afraid. And- matter of fact, he did research. 

He said, “Maybe I can join another organization that is similar to this illumination I've received. I don't want to be a founder of anything. You got tons of foundations, you know, and I'm just,” uh, you know, he didn't say it that way. But if you're an American, “I'm just a kid with- and poor, you know, and not much going for me.” That's what he said. “I'm just 26 years old, with a good sense of humor. That's all I got.”   

And uh, now that I'm older, I'd say yeah, you're a kid. That's pretty ambitious to look at the entire world. I mean, he thought he was going to do something in Spain. But this included the whole world. He said, “I have no money, I have no influence. Where do I start? What do I do? Maybe I could join something.” So he was kind of doing some research and found nothing that squared. And what made him a little afraid is- because the scope of this illumination was every country in the world. 

This- what was unique about this is that it was a reiteration of something that happened 2,000 years ago, where Our Lord is telling him, preach the Gospel to the entire world and bring the laity out of their hibernation. Make them aware that they have to lay down their lives for Christ. The days of showing up for Mass and performing some devotions are over if we're going to change the world. And this is serious business, this is, you know, this is not- this is not a nice thing because he started Opus Dei…   

Now, I got to qualify this a little bit, you know, it's not the American version. But he started up some of his activities, were, was at a bar. Okay, that's where he- so, I guess that's kind of indicative that you want to bring Christ in the middle world. But bars in Italy, in Spain, are a little different than bars in Chicago and, and the rest of the country, there, you go to a bar to have hot chocolate, you know? 

Here you go to a bar, and you have something a little stronger. Or, you know, maybe a little glass of wine, or a little cup of little cordial, little something. But usually, it's a cup of coffee and hot chocolate and that kind of stuff, or a glass of wine.  And so, he said, you know, “Bear in mind, my son or my daughter, that you're not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.” 

If I was meeting with a priest over a hot chocolate, I'd say that is a nice thing. He's kind of a nice guy. And he's telling me to stay on the stay- straight and narrow. And he'll invite me to go to Confession, maybe, but, you know, nice guy.  He said, “Listen, I know I’m meeting you in a bar. And I know you’re just four or five men. But this light has indicated that we're supposed to try to change the world.” And so, you needed a lot of faith for that. 

So, in his own prayer, and this is what he said to these- these first people in touch with him, “Bear in mind, my son, you're not,” or daughter, “you're not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing. That's a lot, but it's still little. You are the apostle, carrying out an imperative command of Jesus Christ.” And once in a while speak about the Gospel. 

In other words, I've got to speak about the Gospel by my witness of joy, my witness of charity, my ability to make friends and to reach out to people. And the power source of this is my prayer life. My prayer life is not just a devotion for its own sake. My prayer life has a very holy ulterior motive. And that ulterior motive is to be this, what Jesus says in the gospel of St. Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the salt of the Earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”   

So, Jesus is saying that you have a role to play in being salt. And what does salt do? Salt is not better than steak. But it has a nice effect on it. All right. Salt is not better than marinara sauce. But it brings out the flavor, you know that. And so that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to bring up our presence and the salt, the tang, or whatever word you want to use, that ability to bring out flavor is the presence of Christ in us. 

And then he says, “You are the light of the world,” which means, “You are Me!” A city set on a hill cannot be hid. He said, “Don't hide this, announce me.” And light is, especially now- the apostles couldn't use this example because electricity wouldn't be invented for 19 centuries, but we could use it. If these lights go on, it's because it's connected to power sources. They're not the source of light. I'm not the source of light. I'm light of the world with a small “L.” I have to participate in His light through prayer, Eucharistic piety, and penance. And so, the interior life is key for this.   

And I want to bring up October 6, because, yeah, canonization is always an extraordinary event. You know, I'm very privileged to have witnessed the canonization, and a beatification, but what really struck me is that in this place of the canonization in Rome, sixty years before the canonization, his successor had meetings with Vatican officials to get Opus Dei approved, this light of October 2, 1928. And they told him, “You're too avant garde.” Or “You're too liberal. You're too ahead of your time. You've come 100 years too soon.”  

In other words, no. No approval. And you know, if the Church doesn't approve an institution, the game's over, you know, it’s that simple. And Josemaria Escriva couldn't come to Rome for these meetings because he was deathly ill. He had such a severe case of diabetes and the doctor said, “You may not survive.” So, he was always with a headache as it affected his eyesight, circulatory, all that.   

And so, they told him that. And then he went to a Shrine of Our Lady in Barcelona, where he was going to take a ship to Rome anyway, against his doctor's orders, and he said, “You know, listen, we've given up everything. Lord,” you know, “intervene!” He told Our Lady that. And so, my point is, 60 years later, every roof at this canonization, and it's not about numbers, I'm not- that's not the point. You know, there's a feather in our cap. Okay. There's not exactly- this is not an Opus Dei trophy.   

The point is that on October 2, 1928, when he saw nothing, and in the 40s, when he's trying to get Opus Dei approved, they told him, “Hey, you come too early. 100 years too soon.” In 2002, every roof of every building was packed with people, every window had four or five heads sticking out. Every balcony- I thought some of the balconies were going to collapse. 

You had bishops and cardinals, 500 of them, in St. Peter’s square. You had the Holy Father there as the main celebrant, and then you had crowds of people, the Italians were away in the back because they allowed the foreigners to have better seats. So, they were at the shore of the Tiber River, the Italians, because they’re way in the back. The crowd extended from the facade of St. Peter's Church to the Tiber River. It was packed with people. 

And people from every continent, were there, every race, every nationality. And so, it was very moving, because he was told he came 60 years too soon, it was very moving because it was a symbol of what he saw on October 2, 1928. What he saw on October 2, 1928, became at least a symbolic reality with those- that sea of people from all over the world there to witness that canonization. And during the Mass, you could hear a pin drop, which was published in the newspaper, you hear the pin drop.   

“So, what do I do? What’s my role here?” Well, first, I would say a lot of faith that with a- with a humble superiority complex – humble though – you are the solution. Notice that I'm- Are you off the hook? I'm not off the hook, but I get to preach to nice people like you, you know, and I hang around sacristies and confessional boxes, and, etc. But I'm not in the trenches, like you are. You are the Church, for your colleagues and your friends and your family members. 

So more than say you got to be on top of your game in terms of performance, you and I have to be on top of our game in terms of love. This is- this is big time. If we accept that calling, “Will you be centered on me?” Because then you'll become a light of the world. You're in the world a lot in a different way than I am. You're more in the world than I am. And so, hence the importance of the interior life so you and I, in different ways, are true lights, real salt.   

And when you read The Way, read it with a little bit of an historic perspective. This Way, this book, was written during a- I know I've mentioned this before, a virulent persecution of the Church. I mean, things were disastrous when he was writing this. And why do I bring this up? Because you'd almost think he was writing it in modern times when you know, you see, there’s more motives of credibility, there was no motives of credibility, the Church- it was a disaster there!  

They polished off 7,000 priests and religious in a relatively small country. The equivalent of three and a half Archdiocese of Chicago. That's when he wrote The Way, during the Civil War there. And he says this, under the height, title of Faith, “Stir up the fire of your faith. Christ is not a figure of the past. He is not a memory lost in history. He lives as St. Paul says, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, now and forever.’”   

Okay, one more point. “God is always the same. It is men and women of faith that are needed: then there will be a renewal of the wonders we read of in Holy Scripture. The hand of God; the Lord, His power, has not grown weak.” Mary, we turn our attention to you. Win for us through your prayer of intercession that faith is sanctity. Faith is holiness. Faith is being centered on your Son the way you were. Help us believe that if I'm intimately united to your Son, I will be a light of the world.   

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations you've communicated to me in this meditation I ask your help in putting them into effect. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.