Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, prelate of Opus Dei, is on a pastoral trip through Central America that began in Guatemala City from 4-9 August. He is now in Honduras (San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa) until 12 August, when he will continue to the final leg of the journey in El Salvador.
You can also follow the trip on our Instagram account.
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Monday 11 August, meeting with families in San Pedro Sula
The Father thanked them for the warmth with which he was welcomed to the city. He spoke to them affectionately, using St. Josemaría’s expression “martyrdom of the ordinary” to speak about holiness in everyday life: alongside the extraordinary deeds that God asks of some people, he asks the majority of us simply to live well, through work done with love, patience in the face of small setbacks, and daily care for our families.
“That ordinary life is not unimportant: it is of great value because of the love we put into it,” he said, adding that whoever thinks more of others than of himself ends up being not only more effective, but happier.
Daisy is a doctor and mother of three children; she and her husband are both members of Opus Dei. She shared how, not long ago, she experienced the loss of a baby before birth, whom they named Fátima. With that experience as a backdrop, she asked how to learn to have the same infinite patience she’s felt from God with others and with herself. The Father invited her to seek Christ in others, quoting a phrase of St. Josemaría: “Charity, more than in giving, consists in understanding.” “Every person is worth all the blood of Christ,” he told her, even when someone is disagreeable or thinks differently.
Marco and his wife Lori support initiatives for children from vulnerable areas of the city, and shared a concern that many people face sooner or later: how do you keep persevering when results are slow to come? The Father replied that, when faced with challenges, wanting something is not enough: you need to be in love. “Fall in love, and you will not leave Him!” he said, evoking the advice that St. Josemaría gave to people who feared they might not persevere in their task.
Juan Pablo, accompanied by his wife Camille, wanted to know how to help young people living in complex contexts — social media, artificial intelligence, social and political change — that make it difficult for them to find their purpose in life. The Father suggested they seek strength not in themselves but in God, in prayer, and in their work, which becomes prayer when it is offered to God with love. That, he said, is the key to the unity of life. Family, work and faith should not travel along separate paths, because God is always present in everything.
Victoria shared, with laughter and some nervousness, that she is getting married in five days. She asked the Father for advice on placing God at the centre of her home and the family life she is about to begin. The Prelate recommended trying to “seek the happiness of the other: you seeking his and he seeking yours.”
Rocío del Pilar spoke of a year marked by difficult decisions and moments of loneliness, and asked how to recognise God when He seems to be silent. The Prelate recalled the Gospel passage in which Jesus stays behind in the Temple and his parents search for Him anxiously for three days without finding Him: not even the Virgin Mary fully understood what was happening, and yet she kept all these things in her heart. We too can learn to trust without needing to understand everything, certain that God has never abandoned us, even when it may seem so.
A young woman, Shekinah, shared the story of her family’s conversion: it all began when she started attending the Jaribú club at the age of 13. Thanks to the formation she received there, a year ago she was able to receive Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. Through this experience, her parents and siblings also drew closer to the faith and were baptised. Her parents are now preparing to marry in Church on the coming 15 August.
Shekinah mentioned that she is learning to play the violin. She performed a piece that the Father greatly enjoyed, because it was the melody he had been listening to on the day he asked to be admitted to the Work.
Dina brought the gathering to a close by sharing her story: she grew up in a village in Honduras, in a family of twelve siblings, with no electricity at home. On many nights she studied by candlelight. Despite these hardships, she went on to train as a teacher in several Central American countries and now lives in Panama.
“The place where we are born does not determine how far we can go,” she said, before asking how to keep the desire to keep learning and to serve others better alive. The Father told her that it is always possible to grow, even when a job reaches a material limit. The human quality with which it is carried out — the mind, the will, and ultimately the love one puts into it — can never stop growing.
To close, some young women from the Jaribú club enlivened the gathering with a traditional Honduran dance of Garifuna origin, to the rhythm of the song Wéndeti Nagaira, which means “how beautiful is my land,” dressed in colourful traditional costumes.
On Tuesday, the Father will meet with two groups of young people in Tegucigalpa.