Gathering with St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer in Brafa

A remastered and summarised video of a gathering with Saint Josemaría Escrivá in Brafa (Barcelona) in November 1972.

The inauguration of the sports school's newly-completed facilities in 1972 was a special event, with Saint Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, spending several days there when he visited Barcelona as part of an apostolic journey around the Iberian Peninsula.

The school's aim was to offer human and Christian formation through sport, and the spirit of Opus Dei was its inspiration from the very beginning.

The founder of Opus Dei met with thousands of people from all walks of life in Brafa, and many of those people remember how he used the example a pole-vaulter seeking deep concentration before jumping. Images of the Olympic Games in Munich were still fresh in their minds, and the founder of Opus Dei played the role of God's juggler, as he liked to call himself, drawing on analogies from sport to help his listeners understand his spiritual message.

St.Josemaría's successors at the head of Opus Dei, Blessed Álvaro del Portillo and Bishop Javier Echevarría, also made reference to a "sporting spirit" in the ascetical struggle on subsequent visits to the school.


More about Brafa: Escuela Deportiva Brafa (PDF)