The topic begs the question; how do we transform the world?
It is my humble opinion that the answer is through love and through work well done.
Transformation through Love:–
What is Love?
We take our answer from 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 7 and can therefore deduce that any time we are patient and kind; anytime we are not jealous or boastful; anytime we are not arrogant or rude; anytime we do not insist on our own way; anytime we are not irritable or resentful and do not rejoice at wrong but rejoice in right; anytime we bear all things; believe all things; hope all things and endure all things; we are well on the way towards world transformation.
People are aware that the opposite of love is hate and consciously struggle not to hate and tend more towards indifference, forgetting that indifference is one of the major sins against love (Charity). The story in the Bible about Lazarus and the rich man tells of how the rich man ended up in Hell because he was indifferent to the plight of his neighbour, Lazarus. If today were judgement day, would we fair differently, considering that indifference has become deeply deep-rooted and that is why we hear the saying; every man for himself, God for us all.
Where does one begin to love?
Saint Josemaria says that we begin to love in our own personal sphere of influence like in the family, in the work place, school and in our play or social environment. We are reminded in the book Conversations with Monsignor Escriva, point number 113, that being a Christian does not mean remaining exclusively spiritual and aloof from the rest of the world without touching the world. We are called and encouraged to participate. He says that our ordinary contact with God takes place where our fellow men, our yearnings, our work and our affections are. There we have our daily encounter with Christ. It is in the midst of the most material things of the Earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind.
Taking the example of the roles of the disciples of Jesus Christ in His betrayal, we see Judas, one man out of twelve, actively plotting and planning and “achieving” his goal of betraying his master, while the “good” eleven remained so passive, they were unable to “watch and pray” for even an hour with their Lord. This example can be seen playing out in our world today, were the activity and plotting of the bad few causes so much havoc that the good but passive majority become stunned and confused when calamitous results begin to manifest. And so we see them praying, fasting and attending endless novenas, trying to reverse what could have been prevented in the first place.
Conversations with Monsignor Escriva, point number 116 further says: “a man who knows that the world and not the Church is the place where he finds Christ, loves that world. He owes that world a duty to become properly formed, intellectually and professionally so that he can participate and contribute as much as he is able. He makes up his own mind with complete freedom about the problems of the environment in which he moves and then makes his own decisions and being the decisions of a Christian, they result from personal reflection in which he endeavours in all humility to grasp the Will of God in both the unimportant and the important events of his life”.
In transforming the world, the family should be our first apostolate, since charity begins at home. One cannot expect to do effective apostolate in the world without first trying to make things right at the home front. That would be akin to throwing stones while living in a glass house and this could result in untold damage. [So we are called as individuals, women, men and professionals, to begin to transform the world by loving our families well. We love our family in the little things like ensuring that prayers are said regularly or every day, that the home is a bright and cheerful place, meals are balanced and served hot, laundry is done, homework is done, as well as providing a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or a lovingly scolding tongue, as the need may be.
A classic example of the chaos that indifference can cause is what is happening in the present day Nigeria. The average Nigerians’ tendency to swallow injustice with the “na dem sabi, wetin be my own?” attitude, has contributed to the situation the country is in today. People have lost faith in the system, enlightened and educated citizens refuse to participate in politics and the vacuum created has been filled by mostly people who have turned the affairs of nation building into a business where positions are reserved even for the generation yet unborn and this has done no good rather, it has helped to perpetuate the crisis in the country. Meanwhile, people that could make a difference do not have their personal voters cards (PVC) and would not even be bothered to take the trouble to come out and vote, if they did. If we do not do our little to try to change things, who will? The time has come when we need to start encouraging our youths to become card carrying members of political parties once they attain the age of eighteen. They will therefore stand the chance to learn the ropes of politics and begin to transform the present corrupted fabric of the Nigerian society by practicing the virtues and formation received hitherto.
Transformation through Work:
In our personal and professional circumstances we as Christians should try to follow the example set by Jesus the worker, having The Craftsman of Nazareth as our main model (Mt 13:54-58). We should do all honest work with the greatest perfection possible. Everyone is called to be holy. Every person’s life contains a past and a future, both joy and suffering, good and bad decisions, dreams and doubts even regrets and all these experiences have repercussions on one’s family and society. Each of us, in our own particular circumstances, is called to sanctify our work, sanctify ourselves in our work, and sanctify others through our work.
Conversations with Monsignor Escriva, Point number 73 says “having a desire to work for the common good is not enough. The way to make this desire effective is to submit ourselves for formation so we can help form competent men and women who can also transmit to others the maturity which they themselves have achieved,” and the transmission of formation therefore goes on and never stops.
We therefore need a “strategy” to achieve this goal of world transformation and it is simply to commit individually to become the salt and the light of the earth. In The Way, 330, Saint Josemaria reminds us to carry out this mission of sanctifying our work, family and society by preparing ourselves well. The point says: “If you are to be salt and light, you need knowledge, ability.” We can only sow effectively by strengthening our own spiritual, psychological and professional lives and Opus Dei makes a commitment to give us the Christian formation needed to do so. Irrespective of the kind of work we do as long as it is honest work, its dignity must be based on love and it “must be an offering worthy of our Creator, since work should be a manifestation of love, directed towards love” (Christ is passing by 48, Friends of God, 55).
What does sanctifying my own work, the work I have before me, consist of?
The response to the question, “What does sanctifying my work involve?” will vary for a professional athlete, supermarket stocker, lawyer, business manager, cook, farmer, teacher, sit at home mom and truck driver. Likewise those who are retired, unemployed, or chronically ill will have to reflect on their own personal situation.
Besides the specific characteristics of each one’s job, prudence plays a key role in making right decisions here. Someone nearing retirement can choose to undertake the last stretch of their working life either lazily or eagerly. A pregnant married woman may need to confront the challenges of an environment that is often distrustful or disapproving of maternity leave. An economist or lawyer may find themselves in situations that go against what their conscience tells them is just. To make ends meet, a married couple may need to consider whether one of them should move to support the family from abroad. At other times, the question confronted will be whether to reduce one’s working hours in order to care for dependent parents, young children, or sick family members.
Legal, occupational, economic, educational, social, and political conditions in each country and especially the formation received by the individual, shape many of the issues that come up in professional life, and not forgetting the fact that prudence helps to assess them and seek the appropriate means to make a correct decision.
Thus formation embraces every aspect of our life, from when the faithful take their first steps in the Work and lasts until the very moment of their death. Formation includes the human, professional, spiritual, apostolic and doctrinal aspects of life that harmoniously interfuse with one another, helping us live a strong unity of life characteristic of the spirit of Opus Dei, and which is insistently recommended by the Church to all the faithful.
Turning to the example of Saint Joseph, a hard-working father, “the crisis of our time, which is economic, social, cultural and spiritual, can serve as a subpoena for all of us to rediscover the value, the importance and necessity of work.
Our goal should be to live a holy life in the midst of secular reality lived without fuss, with simplicity and with truthfulness.
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