Opus Dei brought a lot to my life. New horizons, and a sense of what life really is, work, relationships with other people. For example, well, I had the opportunity to live in Europe for 13 years in three different countries, to meet a lot of people with very different ways of thinking, ways of life that are very different from mine.
I am a person who brings tenderness to others. I like to look at people, understanding without judging and seeing everything valuable that each person has. I know I have a lot to contribute by listening, through my openness, my acceptance of what is different too. And I come from a family that is well, very diverse, although my family is very small. My dad is Muslim, my brother is an evangelical and so you also learn to respect everyone. All this has to do with my vocation, because the essence of the assistant numerary vocation is creating a home, but not just where you live or where you work, but wherever I go with anyone whoever.
My work in Opus Dei is to create that… that welcome, so the person feels loved, valued, listened to. That does not depend on whether you are in a centre: you carry that with you, you have it, and it’s a gift God gave you. Materiality is caring, material care, but not caring for the material for its own sake but because it is for people. Over the years I also realised that in the work of looking after a house, which we call “administration,” there’s a lot at stake: many organisational skills, foresight, order, also having an entrepreneurial mindset when it comes to carrying out the work, planning timing, weighing costs.
I understand my work as leaving a humanising mark: that is, you really make your environment more humane wherever you arrive, wherever you live, with whomever, the people you interact with but in reality you are humanising the whole world in this way, even if it’s just a little bit. In our society today, whether or not you believe in God, what you need is to feel that you are a person, that you are worth something. People who are sick, people who are older: what is the scope of care for those people who perhaps seem like they can’t “produce.” Every person is important and has value in themselves which does not depend on what they can produce or what they have, but what they are.
I always felt very free in the Work; I always found an open field in which to do the things I like to do. I love going on walks, going out, exploring the streets, singing. Now I’m part of a choir.
I met the Work through a member, a girl who is no longer in Opus Dei. I am very grateful to her and I always pray for her because I know she was the instrument. For me, Opus Dei is my family, the family I chose. I always felt very free in the Work; I always found an open field in which to do the things I like to do. I love going on walks, I like to go out a lot, I like being out exploring the streets, singing. Now I’m part of a choir. I like to do yoga. Well, I love swimming and I do it whenever I can. Friendship is important to me. When I went to live in Italy WhatsApp did not exist. So I kept contacting many of my friends, and they contacted me, by letter and email (although it seems very old-fashioned now).
Here in Buenos Aires, since I studied here, I have many friends from school and we keep in touch as if no time has passed. Sometimes we say so; it's like we were never apart, even though there was a lot of distance, but I don't know, I think that when there is affection, interest, distance is not an obstacle. Your own choice of life makes you meet even more people and so more people have a place in your heart.