Opus Dei

Tucked away in the heart of Cebu City (Philippines), amid low-income urban communities, something extraordinary unfolds in an unassuming building: the Banilad Center for Professional Development. These are three stories from 2024-25 graduates who worked through the challenges of life towards a promising professional future.

Eduardo’s knowledge and his clinical and diagnostic skills made him one of the leading physicians of his generation in Spain, but his outstanding characteristic was the personal interest he took in each of his patients, to whom he generously dedicated all the time they needed.

I wish to relate a favor granted by Isidoro. On Wednesday 4th at around 10.00 pm, a friend, Chinwe, calls me and says she is at the airport waiting for the driver I had sent to collect her.

In his 13 August general audience, Pope Leo XIV continued his catechetical cycle on Jesus Christ, our hope, speaking about Judas' betrayal at the Last Supper.

Many people who have found Christ and the Church thanks to a friend describe the help they received as authentic spiritual accompaniment.

The consecration of Opus Dei to the Most Sweet Heart of Mary took place on 15 August 1951. St. Josemaría carried it out in the Shrine of Loreto, where the Holy House is venerated, speaking spontaneously during Mass. Later, he composed a written formula and asked that it be renewed each year on 15 August. Months earlier, he had invited the members of Opus Dei to pray the aspiration, “Cor Mariæ dulcissimum, iter para tutum!” (Most sweet Heart of Mary, prepare for us a safe way!).

The Church has, over the centuries, held service to the poor as one of her core missions. Wherever and however, she finds them, the Church, through word and work, seeks to love the poor and assist them out of their material, intellectual or spiritual poverty. (CCC, nos. 2444 & 2448) And this is a fire she has sought to kindle in each of her children through space and time.

This practice is a profound expression of faith and love for Christ in the Eucharist. Amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life, it offers us an opportunity to encounter God personally, to rest in his presence, and to find comfort and guidance for our daily lives in Him.

In this episode of “Fragments of History,” we explore the life of Aurora Nieto Funcia. She was a strong woman, a teacher and mother of three, widowed at the age of 28. In 1945, she discovered her vocation in Opus Dei as a path of dedication and encounter with God. She is considered the first supernumerary, and her story illuminates what it means to seek holiness in ordinary life.

On the feast of St. Josemaría Escrivá, June 26, more than 700 faithful gathered at St. Louise de Marillac Parish in Covina, California, for the enthronement Mass of a statue of Mary, Mother of Fairest Love.