In his letter dated November 1st, Bishop Javier Echevarría asks the faithful of Opus Dei to express their gratitude to God for this anniversary through Mary’s intercession.

"Almost at the end of the month, on November 28th," the Prelate writes, "we will have the joy of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the pontifical act by which John Paul II erected Opus Dei as a personal Prelature…You will have heard by now that, with the desire to honor our Lady, whom ‘we find smiling on all the crossroads of our path’ (St. Josemaría, Notes taken in a meditation, October 11, 1964), in commemoration of the establishment of the Prelature and as a preparation for the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Work, we will live in Opus Dei a Marian year, which will last from the upcoming November 28th until the same date in 2008."

Citing words of his predecessor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the Prelate suggests: "We will go to the protection of ‘the Lady of the sweet name, Mary,’ as our Father wrote in Holy Rosary. We will love our Lady more, and be more attentive to her. We will entrust each day, to the one who is the Daughter, Mother and Spouse of God, and our Mother, the homage of our self-giving, to present it before the Blessed Trinity as a heartfelt sign of thanksgiving."

"Let us imitate such a good example," continues Bishop Echevarría, "with the eagerness to turn each of our days into Marian days, through the love we show our Mother."