Opus Dei

"A Christian can never turn a blind eye to a neighbour's needs. ...Not only should we be acutely conscious personally of our neighbour's material needs, but we als try to get others to be equally concerned, so that they don't act selfishly and turn their backs on sorrow, loneliness and misfortune." (Don Alvaro del Portillo, 9th January 1993)

Mark first encountered Opus Dei in the 1990s but hesitated to say yes to God for decades, convinced he wasn’t ready. A retreat finally helped him realise that God does not call the perfect but helps the called to grow in holiness. Today, as a husband, father, and portfolio manager, he finds joy in prayer, strength in his work, and more presence with his family and those around him.

On the Jubilee of Consolation (15 September), Chizoba shares how she and her family learned to see God’s care for them when they lost their home to fire shortly after migrating to Canada.

Gustavo was going to be a notary, but thanks in part to his vocation to Opus Dei, he discovered that his true calling was in the world of communications. He has worked with brands such as Warner Music, L’Oréal, Vocento, and Bankinter, and with artists and public figures including Alejandro Sanz, Chambao, Miguel Bosé… and Pope Benedict XVI. He was the one who convinced the Vatican to open a Twitter account, and he says the happiest day of his life was when @pontifex sent out his first tweet.

Laura is 31 and lives in Valencia, Spain. She learned to pray when she was very young, and that shaped the rhythm and substance of her decisions. For her, responding to her vocation as a numerary was the beginning of a path she now walks in her work an administrator in Opus Dei, a role in which she combines her passion for creativity, communication, and care.

Flor is from Guatemala and she's tried to help those in need throughout her life. At 82, she still collaborates with Junkabal, a training and development centre for women that has come a long way to become what it is today: an opportunity for many families to thrive.

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.

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.

Christine from Cebu shares how years of prayer and a series of providential events led her to marry Evrard, a London-based Congolese supernumerary of Opus Dei. For them, marriage is not just a personal calling: it’s a shared mission.