"Hide and disappear": the Biblical basis

St Josemaria cultivated the attitude of hiding and disappearing till it became second nature to him. He saw that Opus Dei is “God’s” and needed to be accepted as such by the people he spoke to about it. Where did he learn this way of [...]
Tags: The Way, Gospel, Humility, Jesus Christ

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Christopher Columbus and Escriva

Josemaria and his first followers remind me of the conquistadors. They were young; they were enthusiastic, fresh, tireless, and enamored of spiritual adventure. Eager for a voyage of discovery, they gathered around a leader they called simply "the Father". There would be dangers in the [...]
Tags: Jesus Christ, Early Christians, Holiness, Josemaria Escriva

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Eucharist: Sanctity and Salvation

As regards personal sanctification, Saint Josemaría did not hesitate to state that the Eucharist is “the centre and root of the spiritual life”, as the Second Vatican Council would later repeat. In his lifetime, Saint Josemaría encouraged hundreds of thousands of men and women to [...]
Tags: Eucharist, Jesus Christ, Sacraments

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Holy Mass, Center and Root of Christian Life

“I have always taught you, my beloved daughters and sons, that the root and the center of your spiritual life is the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar.” 1 Saint Josemaría Escrivá’s words and writings constantly pointed to the Eucharist as the center and root [...]
Tags: Eucharist, Jesus Christ, Presence of God, Priesthood, Blessed Trinity

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The Way of the Cross is not a sad devotion

“The Way of the Cross is not a sad devotion. Msgr. Escrivá taught many times that Christian joy has its roots in the shape of a cross. If the Passion of Christ is a way of pain, it is also a path of hope leading [...]
Tags: Cross, Javier Echevarria, Jesus Christ, The Way of the Cross

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The Incarnational Vision of Saint Josemaría

Material reality, the visible world around us, is not only created by God but also ordered to God. The One who is Truth and Beauty and Goodness Itself is the end of all things. They exist to reveal and to glorify him. I. Sacramental View [...]
Tags: Gospel, Jesus Christ, Marriage, Work

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He asked me to let him stay there alone for a little while

The Augustinian Father José Llamas Simón met Saint Josemaría in 1944, when the founder of Opus Dei was preaching a spiritual retreat to the Community of the Royal Monastery of Saint Lawrence in El Escorial, Madrid. In the testimony he wrote for the Cause of [...]
Tags: Eucharist, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Retreat

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God's instrument for the Work

The life of the founder of Opus Dei was the most eloquent application of his message. The lesson of every saint becomes explicit in the coherence between his life, his preaching and his writings. Saint Josemaría spoke of "the mute eloquence" of works: "Love [...]
Tags: The Way, Citizenship, Contemplation, Faith, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Sacraments, Supernatural outlook, Vocation

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St Josemaria’s book The Way of the Cross – Foreword

“Enter into the wounds of Christ Crucified.” When Monsignor Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer proposed this way, to those who asked him for advice on how to deepen their interior life, he was doing no more than pass on his own experience, pointing out the short [...]
Tags: Alvaro del Portillo, Contemplation, Jesus Christ, The Way of the Cross

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Words from the New Testament, meditated on by the Founder of Opus Dei

The first issue of Studia et Documenta, the journal of the Istituto Storico San Josemaria Escriva in Rome, contains a study by Professor Francisco Varo of eight small pages written by St Josemaría, headed “Words from the New Testament meditated on frequently – June 1933”. This [...]
Tags: Gospel, Jesus Christ, Prayer