Opus Dei

What does a 17-year-old who died over sixty years ago have to teach us about how to live? Montse Grases’ story reveals how the joy and peace born of faith can grow even deeper in times of trial.

A Dominican doctor recounts the unexpected obstacles that kept her from a Catholic wedding after her move to Spain, and how a chance encounter with Opus Dei helped her through years of longing to fully live her faith.

This Brazilian lawyer asked to be healed of cancer and received far more than that. We share this favour received on the occasion of the anniversary of Blessed Álvaro del Portillo’s request for admission to Opus Dei.

At 54, Fernando cares for his father, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, while working for the Post Office, after years working as a chauffeur for high society. Between kilometres of cycling, the pages of his books and his daily rounds, Fernando has come to realise that the most urgent and valuable delivery a person can make will never fit into any envelope: it’s time spent caring for others.

Tomás and Paquita, two of the first supernumeraries of Opus Dei, have taken another step forward in their cause for beatification. On July 6, the documentation on their lives and virtues was submitted to the Church and will now be studied by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

This instalment explores the proper autonomy of temporal realities and the Christian value of secularity. Saint Josemaría’s teaching helps us understand that work, civil life, and professional commitments have laws of their own, and that the Christian is called to sanctify them from within, with freedom and personal responsibility.

José Luis González Gullón outlines the historical background to St Josemaría’s arrival in Italy in June 1946. The founder of Opus Dei had two very specific objectives on his agenda. The first was to obtain the “Decretum laudis” (decree of praise) from the Holy See, which would facilitate the spread of Opus Dei throughout the world. The second was to find a place in which to establish the Work’s headquarters.

From singing songs “of human love in a divine way” to praising God in the liturgy, here are some ways our everyday relationship with music can take shape.

Hugo is a supernumerary living in Denmark where there are no centres of Opus Dei. Originally from Brazil, we ask him here about his adopted country.

My name is Juana Lidia Quispe Maita. I am from the community of Copachilaia. From my community, you can see Lake Titicaca, which is 4000 metres above sea level, and I am an assistant numerary of Opus Dei. I am here for a while looking after my mother, who is alone. I accompany her, take care of her, and help her with whatever she needs. And from time to time I go to the city.

John K., who accompanied Matt Anthony, Matt Schoenecker, and Val Creus and on their final hiking trip, offers reflections on the lives of the three men on the anniversary of their untimely deaths.

How can a blind man teach us to see? Jesus chooses a man whom society has cast aside to teach us to rediscover beauty in simple things and, through it, to reach the Heart of Christ.