Our Lord wishes us to help him in the task of saving people.
Sacred Scripture relates God's compassion for the inhabitants of the great city of Nineveh. God wanted to forgive them if they repented. In order to move them to penance, he made use of a chosen man, a prophet. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So, Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
Ever since Jesus redeemed us by his blood and established a new order on earth, all of us have been called to cooperate in the salvation of all, in union with Christ. And for those of us who have received a calling to Opus Dei, this mission is not just a good task, or even an urgent one. It is an imperative command of Christ.
“Is it possible that Christ has been working on earth for so many years -twenty centuries- and the world is still like this? How is it possible that even now there are still people who do not know Christ? It is our fault. We have been called to co-redeem, and sometimes we do not do God's will. In opposition to God's will to redeem the world, there is Satan - who does exist, together with his evil spirits -and also our own evil passions and our freedom, with which we have the terrible capacity to choose death instead of Life." St. Josemaría
“But Christ has not failed. His word and his life continue to enrich the world. Christ's work, which his Father entrusted to him, is being carried out.
“Even now, Christ, who hung on the Cross with his arms open wide, in the gesture of an Eternal Priest, wants to rely on us, who are nothing, so as to bring the fruits of his Redemption to other people."
Thus, the Cross is the path to apostolic effectiveness. If we are to co-redeem with Christ, moved by charity, we must first be with him on the Cross. St. Josemaría assured us: “I believe that this is why on the 14th of February 1943, the Lord chose to place the Cross in our hearts, chose to crown his Work with the Cross, and chose that we should bear this symbol: the Cross set in the very heart of the world."
Today, together with St. Josemaría, let us reaffirm this conviction in ourselves: “You should realize that God wants you to be glad and that, if you do all you can, you will be happy, very, very happy, although you will never be a moment without the Cross. But that Cross is no longer a gallows. It is the throne from which Christ reigns. And at his side is his Mother, our Mother too. The Blessed Virgin will obtain for you the strength that you need to walk decisively in the footsteps of her Son."
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