Q&A 46
Q. What does it take to join Opus Dei?
A. Essentially a vocation or calling from God.
God has a plan for how every single man, woman and child is to make it to heaven. This plan, call or vocation spells out for that individual how they are to grow in virtue and in holiness. To join Opus Dei (aka "the Work") one needs to find out from God whether that is indeed one's call.
Q. But how can you be 100% sure that is what God wants for you?
A. You can't.
Was your dad 100% sure that your mum was the one for him? How did he know if he didn't wait 4 more days he wouldn't meet some other pretty young lady who would be THE one? In all honesty he didn't know. None of us is ever 100% sure simply because we don't know 100% of any-thing and much less of any-one - even ourselves.
For this reason there is always space for doubt that necessitates a jump, a leap of faith, a gamble, a certain kind of recklessness. And this is precisely what makes all real-life love stories so enchanting: that jump, that putting all your eggs in one basket, burning all other bridges, laying down all your cards "for better or for worse, for richer of for poorer, in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health till death do us part".
This is also why fidelity to a spouse, loyalty in a friendship, faithfulness to a cause and patriotism to your motherland are among the most humanly admirable and heroic virtues. They scent of that 100%
An American journalist once benignly confronted Mother Teresa and the futility of her mission considering the conditions she worked in. Her response? "God asked me to be faithful, not to be successful."
29thNovember 2015