Contemplatives in the midst of the world

Contemplative souls in the middle of the world: that is what my children in Opus Dei are. That is what we must always be, to assure our perseverance and fidelity to the vocation we have received. Then, at every instant of our day, we will be able to say sincerely: Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus (1 Sam 3:9); speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

Wherever we happen to be – in the hubbub of the street and in the middle of all human occupations, in the factory, at the university, on the farm, in the office or at home – we shall find ourselves engaged in simple filial contemplation, in an uninterrupted conversation with God.

Constant dialogue with God

This is because everything – people, things, tasks – offers us both an opportunity and a theme for continual conversation with God; just as other souls, with different vocations, find contemplation easier after leaving the world, opting for the contemptus mundi and the silence of the cell or the desert. My children, God asks of us only interior silence, the quieting of the selfish voice of the old man, not the silencing of the world. The world cannot, and should not, be silent for us.