March 28, 1925: Priest of Jesus Christ

In the fifth week of Lent, on the Saturday before Passion Sunday, March 28, 1925, Bishop Miguel de los Santos Diaz Gómara, Bishop of Tagora, conferred priestly ordination on Josemaria Escriva in the Church of the Royal Seminary of San Carlos, Saragossa. Tags: Priesthood, Sacraments, Holy Mass, calling

Opus Dei founder’s devotion to the Holy Cross

Salvador Bernal

The founder of Opus Dei always had great devotion to the crucifix, and he expressed this, among other places in n. 302 of his book The Way. Tags: Cross, Jesus Christ

He inherited his passion for freedom from his French ancestors

François Gondrand

The founder of Opus Dei, who had a great big heart, felt very special love for France. He told me he was a quarter French because he had a French grandfather.
Then he said he’d probably inherited his passion for freedom from his French ancestors.
I knew that Paris was one of the two cities he had wanted Opus Dei to spread to, back in 1935. Tags: History, Freedom, books

The Founder of Opus Dei in Ars

St Josemaria always had recourse to the intercession of the Curé of Ars, who is the patron of secular clergy, with great faith. His first journey to the town of Ars, to see the place where St John Marie Vianney worked as a priest and to pray at his tomb, was in 1953. Tags: Priesthood, trips

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

1830. The political panorama in France, and above all people’s attitudes, had changed a lot since the French Revolution of 1789. Amidst all the upheavals, our Lady made her voice heard. Tags: Holy Rosary, Our Lady, Devotion, Sanctuary of Our Lady

Along the roads of Europe

At the beginning of April 1970, St Josemaria, founder of Opus Dei, said he wanted to visit two shrines of our Lady like a twelfth-century pilgrim: with the same love, the same simplicity and the same joy. He was going there to pray for the world, the Church, the Pope, and Opus Dei. Tags: Piety, Our Lady, trips, In Love with the Church, UK

I saw three hundred, three hundred thousand, thirty million, three thousand million…

Andrés Vázquez de Prada

At the beginning of 1933 St Josemaria gave the first of what would afterwards be called "St Raphael circles". The St Raphael circles or classes are the axis of all the other Christian formational activities for young people on the human, spiritual, and religious-doctrinal levels. They include a preparatory course and a professional course. Tags: Spiritual guidance, Doctrine, Formation, History, Youth, Catechesis

Show that you’re a Mother!

Early in the morning on May 15, 1970, St Josemaria arrived in Mexico. "I’ve come to see Our Lady of Guadalupe – and, by the way, to see you too," he told his children in Opus Dei there. The next day, he went to the Basilica and began his novena. Tags: Our Lady, trips

St Josemaria Escriva and Ireland

In 1916 the young Josemaría Escrivá avidly followed the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland. “I was then about fifteen and I eagerly read everything in the newspapers about the events of the First World War. Most of all, though, I prayed a lot for Ireland. I wasn't against England; I was for religious freedom.” Tags: Freedom, trips, Ireland

February 16, 1932: “Deeds are love – not sweet words”

Andres Vazquez de Prada

This divine locution gave rise to n. 933 in The Way: "There is a story of a soul who, on saying to our Lord in prayer, ‘Jesus, I love you,’ heard this reply from heaven: ‘Love means deeds, not sweet words.’ "Think if you also could deserve this gentle reproach". Tags: Generosity, Javier Echevarria, Ascetical struggle