María Ángeles saw how something intangible inspired the people she was working with in the administration: “I realised that they devoted their lives, their best energies, to creating a family atmosphere. Their work helped people feel at home, and that was exactly what I had experienced in my own family.”
This awakened in her a desire to practise her faith: “I was becoming happier, more at ease. I started practising because I wasn’t really living my faith. I didn’t even know I was supposed to go to Mass on Sundays.”
We always need people who are close to us, who meet our need to love and to feel loved.
“In the 30 years I’ve been in Opus Dei, I’ve learned to be coherent in living a Christian life,” she says. What does that mean in practice? “It has taught me to live for others, which is really about trying to find happiness. Always thinking about how I can bring joy, how I can create a family atmosphere when I’m with my nieces and nephews, when I’m with my family, at work, or wherever I am.”
Although some of her relatives didn’t understand her decision to join Opus Dei at first, she felt free to follow her own path. As she explains, “When I look back a little, I think I have a fulfilled life. I do exactly what I want to do: my work fulfils me, and above all, my life is... How can I put it? It’s thoughtful and oriented towards others.”
María Ángeles highlights the importance of maternity in today’s society, especially amid technological advances like artificial intelligence. She believes that while technology can offer solutions, humanity and care for others remain essential: “We will always need people who are close to us, who meet our need to love and to feel loved.” Her vocation allows her to live this mission of caring and loving, not in search of material success, but of a deeper, more interior purpose that gives life meaning.
Although balancing work, formation, apostolate and personal life is a challenge, she aspires to be “a light for others, to have this love of God and to be able to pass it on to others.”