Contemplata Aliis Tradere

The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all, can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the heaven been given to man by which it is fitting for him to be saved. She likewise holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history. The Church also maintains that beneath all changes there are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. Hence under the light of Christ, the image of the unseen God, the firstborn of every creature, the council wishes to speak to all men in order to shed light on the mystery of man and to cooperate in finding the solution to the outstanding problems of our time.

Love of God is in fact more meritorious than love of our neighbour.” (STh II-II, q.181,a.2) It is love which leads us, says St. Augustine, so seek the holy repose of divine contemplation. (City of God, Book. XIX, Section. 19) “And if one of the signs of charity is the external labour that we impose on ourselves for Christ’s sake, a far more expressive sign is to put aside all that pertains to the present life and to find our happiness in giving ourselves up exclusively to the contemplation of God.” (STh II-II, q.182,a.2,ad.1) “The more closely a man unites his own or another’s soul to God, the more acceptable is his sacrifice to God.” (STh II-II, q.182,a.2,ad.3)

Consider the surface of a lake, above which the sun is shining. If the surface of the lake is peaceful and tranquil, the sun will be reflected in this lake; and the more peaceful the lake, the more perfectly will it be reflected. If, on the contrary, the surface of the lake is agitated, undulating, then the image of the sun cannot be reflected in it.

It is a little bit like this with regard to our soul in relationship to God. The more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself in us, the more His grace acts through us. On the other hand, if our soul is agitated and troubled, the grace of God is able to act only with much greater difficulty. All the good that we can do is a reflection of the Essential Good, which is God. The more our soul is peaceful, balanced and surrendered, the more this Good communicates itself to us and to others through us.

Among the virtues which leave the deepest impression on the human spirit, which in the clearest of ways influence the life and activity of men, is the Christian, theological virtue of hope. If you take the same man and see him living in the fresh air of hope or lying under the weight of despair, what you see is a giant or a pygmy. […] In our relationships and contact with others we are every day witnesses - and it causes us surprise and pain - of these amazing changes; for perhaps our own century more than any other suffers from a shortage of this virtue.

A plan is something that requires effort at the start but makes the rest of life less arduous.

Those well-timed words, whispered into the ear of your wavering friend; the helpful conversation that you managed to start at the right moment; the ready professional advice that improves his university work; the discreet indiscretion by which you open up unexpected horizons for his zeal. This all forms part of the “apostolate of friendship”.

The smallest tasks can take on infinite value when we offer them to God, when we carry them out as works of God. Holy ambtion strives for greatness even in little things, but it is content with the earthly results that God wills or permits.

The Mass gives profound meaning to all our work when we place our work (by an interior act of prayer) on the altar of sacrifice.

The active life, to which is attached the exercise of the moral virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, and the outward works of charity, prepares for the contemplative life, in so far as it regulates the passions that disturb contemplation, and in so far as it makes us grow in the love of God and of our neighbour.

Without worship, work becomes disordered. Worship, like work, is a basic human need. Both must be cultivated in proper proportion. The danger, of course, is in over-compensation. In resting from hard work, workaholics often want to do nothing. But leisure - lived in the spirit of prayer and contemplation - is most certainly not doing nothing. It’s an activity. It’s a pursuit. It’s doing something.

Work must lead to worship. Work must flow from worship. And work must be permeated by worship.

Faithfulness means that we’ll always try to do our best. But it doesn’t guarantee we’ll get a pay raise, or be promoted, or win the election. We might still get docked, or downsized, or injured on the job. Still, the theology of work is a more powerful motivator than any mere work ethic: it makes the audacious claim that the work we do can get us to heaven - and redeem many other souls too - not because it’s our work but because it’s God’s work, opus Dei.

We must not forget that God calls all interior souls to drink from the fountain of living water, where they will find life in abundance, even beyond their desires, “that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.” According to the saints, the soul which, for the love of God, labours to strip itself of all that is not God, is soon penetrated with light and so united to God that it becomes like him and enters into the possession of all His goods.