A family celebration
Anye is from Daimiel, a town in the province of Ciudad Real. She currently lives in Valencia, and on November 30, 2024, she celebrated a milestone: fifty years since she requested admission to Opus Dei as an assistant numerary.
In the video, she recounts the celebration and the surprise she experienced. She had planned to travel to Madrid (where God called her and where she discovered her vocation) for a simple gathering with her family. But many people from her youth came to join her: friends, relatives who live far away, and others who simply wanted to be with her that day.
Beyond the party and the surprises, Anye’s testimony is calm reflection on the passage of time. Every person has their own story, and each vocation is lived in an entirely unique way.
Anye has lived – and continues to live – her vocation in Opus Dei without giving up her natural personality, which is outgoing, sociable, cheerful, hardworking, and observant. She has embraced life’s adventures with confidence, supported by what captivated her when she first arrived in Madrid: the spirit of family she found in the Work.
She first met Opus Dei while staying in one of its residences. She quickly realized that God was calling her to be part of that family, with a very specific mission: to cultivate and preserve the family spirit she had felt from day one.
My vocation as an assistant numerary
Anye explains that an assistant numerary’s vocation goes beyond material care, organization, and professional work. While their responsibilities include managing food services, accommodation, maintenance, and the sustainability of Opus Dei centers, their mission extends much further.
Their mission means conveying a human and supernatural affection that blends the tangible and the invisible in everything they do; a love that helps each person discover that they are unique, irreplaceable, and valued for who they are, not for what they do or own. As the Prelate reminds us, “By your work you care for and serve our life in the Work, making each person the focus and priority of your task” ( Fernando Ocáriz, Letter 28-X-2020, no. 15).
Anye recalls a phrase that deeply impressed her: “Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice,” not in reference to a life in hiding, but as an expression of care for the little things that make living together rich, done freely, out of selfless love, reflecting God’s love for each of his children.
If we were to visualize it, it might be like the warmth radiating from a hearth: a discreet presence that creates an environment where others find light, comfort, and strength for their own tasks. That warmth inspires each person to care for their family, their center, and their surroundings, extending the effects of this human and supernatural affection.
As St. Josemaría said, assistant numeraries “have the home in their hands” in order to give it to others (Letter 36, no. 33). Jesus can be said to allude to this necessary presence, in a sense, in the Gospel: “Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel or under the bed? Is it not meant to be placed on the lampstand? Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed…” (Mk 4:21-22).
Caring hands that make God’s love tangible
If we want too understand how the spirit of family that Anye discovered and embodies was nurtured, it helps to step back in time. When St. Josemaría first saw Opus Dei, he understood that God was asking for something great, though he did not yet know how to accomplish it. How could he show that God calls all Christians to holiness, and not just priests or religious? How could he infuse the Church and society with the spirit of the early Christians? The first step was his own daily life, lived faithfully and coherently.
Over the years, the Holy Spirit inspired the traits that characterize the spirit of Opus Dei: divine filiation (knowing oneself to be a beloved child of God), apostolic zeal, selfless service to others, and work well done, offered out of love.
Among these traits, one of the most distinctive is Opus Dei’s family spirit. From the first residences and academies in Madrid, St. Josemaría wanted Opus Dei centers to be true homes. Inspired by his mother and sister’s examples, he understood that one of the hallmarks of Opus Dei would be the human and supernatural family-like bonds among its members.
Like many women and men over the years, within or outside of the Work, St. Josemaría saw something described in the Gospel in his own life: “Someone told Him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.’ But He replied, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it’” (Lk 8:20-21).
He saw that the bond between members of Opus Dei is stronger than a genetic tie, because it has a supernatural dimension. But for this family environment to be real and concrete, he needs hands to combine the material and the spiritual, expressing a heart that cares for each person and, therefore, for the details that make God’s love tangible. The first of these hands were those of his mother and sister, followed by countless assistant numeraries who, like Anye, bring the words of the Gospel to life every day: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).
Anye allowed herself to be won over by God in that home for students in Madrid. Fifty years later, she continues to live and transmit that spirit with the same joy, whether at work or walking along the beach with an ice cream in hand. “What I love most,” she says, “is creating a home wherever I am.”