1. How is a person in Opus Dei different from any Christian seeking holiness in the world?
2. So what does the vocation to Opus Dei involve?
3. When you choose a specific path, are you limiting yourself to a single way of life?
4. Does becoming holier mean you have to be more perfect every day?
5. Alright… What’s a supernumerary?
7. Don’t celibate people get lonely?
8. Tell me more about associates.
1. How is a person in Opus Dei different from any Christian seeking holiness in the world?
The short answer: People in Opus Dei are the same as any other Christian, with the same fundamental identity (children of God), mission (being apostles) and goal (Heaven!). The difference is in the how: they’ve received an invitation from God to live and share the Gospel by sanctifying their lives, families, friendships, careers, and hobbies on a specific path. That path is the charism of Opus Dei.
All baptised Christians share the same call to holiness and to spreading Christ’s message in their personal circumstances. That’s true whether they are married or single, have made a commitment to celibacy, are priests or seminarians, or religious brothers or sisters. What Opus Dei does is highlight the call to holiness in the middle of the world. It is one more path within the Church to get to Heaven.
Members of Opus Dei commit to living their faith by travelling this path and to sharing the message of Opus Dei as part of their life mission. So being part of Opus Dei isn’t just joining something; it’s a permanent grace that embraces the person’s whole life, or – to use another image – light that illuminates the soul and strength that moves the heart.1
2. So what does the vocation to Opus Dei involve?
The short answer: Everyone in Opus Dei has the same means (pious practices, especially the sacraments, and spiritual and doctrinal formation), apostolic mission, and spirit (divine filiation, work, and friendship, all centred on the Eucharist).2
Holiness in the middle of the world means having a unique personal relationship with God in everyday life. That’s why members of Opus Dei dedicate some time to talking to God every day (through their norms of piety), frequently receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession, and commit to receiving deep spiritual and doctrinal formation. This helps them to live their faith authentically and to bring Christ wherever they go, so they can be apostles everywhere, from at home with family to work with colleagues or out with friends.
Everyone in Opus Dei has the same vocation. They’re called to be children of God who passionately love the world. They try to sanctify all their activities, doing them as well as they can (in both the human and supernatural senses), in God’s company. They strive to face any situation they find themselves in with the trust and simplicity of a child who knows that s/he is seen and loved by God the Father. They are apostles who seek to transform the world from within by serving society, working with excellence, loving others, and becoming better friends.
The greatest encounter with God and the best way to identify with Jesus is through the Holy Mass, and so, for people in Opus Dei, the day revolves around the Eucharist. It’s the centre and root of their Christian life. Mass is like oxygen, nourishing the soul and giving strength, energy, and life.
3. When you choose a specific path, are you limiting yourself to a single way of life?
The short answer: Yes, you limit yourself when you make a vocational (or any other!) choice, but you’re acting out of love, and love grows and brings freedom.
Choosing anything means prioritising and letting go of other options; when you open a door and walk through it, you’re closing others. This applies to vocation and any other decision in life, from deciding which friends to go out with this weekend to selecting a career to choosing to lean into a romantic relationship. When you choose one person, you forgo all others, but you do it because that person is the best for you, the one who makes you happy and with whom you want to share your life.
You’re limiting yourself out of love. But you’re not setting limits on your way of seeing life. A vocation is a call from God to follow a path to Heaven, and it doesn’t mean fitting into a mould or living in a bubble. You need to be able to move if you want to travel along the path! So you continue to be yourself, with your own unique personality. There are as many ways to be in Opus Dei as there are people. And, most importantly, love never shrinks: it liberates and expands.
4. Does becoming holier mean you have to be more perfect every day?
The short answer: Being holy isn’t about “perfection” or doing everything flawlessly every day. Holiness means becoming more like a person: Jesus. It means getting to know Him better so that you can think, feel, love, and act like Him. Holiness is loving with the love with which Jesus loved us; it means identifying with Him all the time, in big things and small.
Holiness is the most human way of living. We look at God made man, and through Him, at others. Being close to God and striving to live in his presence will inevitably make us better (not perfect) because of our struggle and his influence on us.
Humans are imperfect and we are always going to live with our weaknesses. Saints aren’t people who never fall, but the ones who always (always, always!) get back up. “This is our destiny on earth,” St. Josemaria wrote in his personal notes, “to fight for love until the last moment.”3 The only saints are the ones in Heaven. Here, we train to become them.
Holiness is you in Premium, always growing and open to improvement, not according to your expectations, but God’s dreams for you. It’s not about earning points or checking virtues off a list, but letting God’s grace shape you in humility and trust.
You can’t attain holiness through force. Human freedom and divine grace “dance” together. You have your weakness… and God’s greatness. Holiness is knowing you are loved even when you don’t feel you deserve it. It’s feeling weak, and trusting in his strength. Holiness means returning time and again to God’s arms in Confession, even if you know you’ll stumble again.
God’s smiles at our efforts, and He doesn’t measure the outcome. He wants us to become his friends, to respond to the Holy Spirit so that Christ is formed in us and we can love others with his love.
So, to summarise: holiness isn’t being perfect, it’s belonging to God. Are you interested?
5. Alright… What’s a supernumerary?
The short answer: “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15).
First of all, “super” isn’t a status marker (or a sign of special powers… sorry). A supernumerary is someone called by God to live out their Christian vocation – the one received at Baptism – authentically, with conviction, according to Opus Dei’s specific charism. They are Christians called to be Christ in their everyday life, in their family, work, and social environment.
Supernumeraries embody and live out Opus Dei primarily through their family and within diverse family situations (single or married; with many, few, or no children; separated or widowed…). Their love and dedication within their family is a path to holiness and happiness, and those who have received the sacrament of marriage walk the path to Heaven hand-in-hand with their spouse (and children). They strive to radiate the Gospel message amid life’s challenges and struggles and the chaos typical of family life. They want to bring light and joy to their own surroundings and to other families.
The supernumerary vocation encompasses the person’s whole life. Every aspect of their lives and relationships become encounters with God and opportunities to be salt and light for others. Like the first Christians, supernumeraries reflect Christ’s love in their daily life through their work and with their friends and family.
They see Opus Dei at once as a family and a mission. They are Opus Dei, and every moment of their lives is meant to be God’s work. So they live a spirit of self-giving everywhere, and naturally they dedicate all the time they can to receiving formation and advancing the apostolic activities of Opus Dei.
The supernumerary vocation is God’s invitation to actively contribute to addressing the challenges of our time, humanising society and family life with a Christian spirit. They’re like an “intravenous injection into the bloodstream of society” (see the article linked above for more!). As we said in question 1, being a supernumerary isn’t about joining a group: it’s a divine calling to live out the Church’s mission in the world through the vocation to Opus Dei.
The long answer: For more, read part VII (“the vocation to the Work as a supernumerary”) of the Prelate’s 28-X-2020 letter on vocation and “Supernumeraries: In the Bloodstream of Society.”
6. What’s celibacy all about?
The short answer: “No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
God chooses some people to live solely for Him and, through Him, for others. In Opus Dei, numeraries and associates embody this total availability and commitment in the world: they live apostolic and lay celibacy, being apostles in daily life.
God invites them to love directly from his heart in a special way; they have a unique connection with Jesus Christ and they live his way of life and mission on earth. They give their body, soul, life, and heart to the Love of loves, and through that “yes” to Love in the fullest sense, they “lay down their life for their friends.” They’re apostles of Love.
Celibacy is a seed that God plants in the heart with the power to give life to others and transform the environment in which it grows. Its root is God. We can’t call them the “singles” of the Church because they’ve found Love, and they live to love. They receive divine life in order to share it with others. They have a spiritual, not physical, parenthood. At one and the same time, their heart is exclusively for God and expansively open to all.
Celibacy means giving everything with a free, available heart. It’s making God’s closeness tangible for others, embodying God’s love in one’s own life.
In St. Josemaria’s words, “It is a pure gift of God which moves one to surrender body and soul to our Lord, to offer him an undivided heart, without the mediation of earthly love.”4
The long answer: For more, read part VI (“an the apostolic celibacy of the numeraries and associates”) of the Prelate’s 28-X-2020 letter on vocation and “God Yearns for Your Heart,” the first article in a series on apostolic celibacy.
7. Don’t celibate people get lonely?
The short answer: “Whoever leaves home or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29).
All of us are lonely sometimes, even when we’re surrounded by friends and family. We all face the feeling of loneliness because our heart longs for complete companionship and communion: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You” (St. Augustine, Confessions).
It’s natural to miss an intimate, exclusive relationship. We’re made for encounter, not isolation; we’re made to share and seek communion with others. Celibate people (in Opus Dei, that’s the associates and numeraries) aren’t lonelier or less fulfilled because they don’t have partners. Actually, God fills them especially with his love, making their hearts available to welcome everyone they meet. Their heart isn’t reserved for their partner, just one person: it belongs to God and the world, and it’s capable of great growth. Associates and numeraries find an incredible family in Opus Dei, one that goes beyond natural ties, united by bonds stronger than those of blood.
A celibate person gives up one person and receives the hundredfold Jesus promises. They choose the kingdom of God and forgo the physical and exclusive company of human love and the possibility of forming a natural family, and God promises them his love and an abundance of relationships, filling their heart.
Celibacy means a living connection with the Source of Life; God touches their soul. This contact isn’t physical, but it’s absolutely real. (“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”5) God pours out his love on them: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23). Their body becomes a dwelling place for God, a temple of the Holy Spirit.
God promises his presence to all of us: “And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt 28:20). He’s with us through his presence within (the grace of the Holy Spirit), in the Eucharist, the Word, and in charity. No Christian should ever feel alone, because God is always close to us, if we let Him in.
8. Tell me more about associates.
The short answer: “I will gather them from all the countries… and I will bring them back to this place and let them dwell safely… I will give them one heart and one way… I will rejoice in doing them good and I will plant them in this land with all my heart and soul” (Jer 32:37-41). “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21).
Being an associate is a path of apostolic celibacy in Opus Dei. Associates are Christians chosen by God to dedicate themselves entirely, from within their professional environment and family. They are tasked with reflecting the essence of Opus Dei through their lives, sanctifying their life, work, home, family, friendships, and social circles, bringing Christ into the great social fabric of the world, into every profession and corner. They are the yeast within the dough.
Wherever they are, they make God’s love present. They bring life to wherever they are rooted, sowing and cultivating a rich diversity of relationships. They are the friends you can always lean on, like a tree providing shade and shelter. Their friendship stands the test of time, and they are there whenever needed, reaching far and deep.
Associates form the connecting threads of their family (both their immediate natural family and their supernatural family of Opus Dei). They are people who, amidst diverse circumstances, uphold the formative and apostolic needs of Opus Dei. They are a binding link, a lasting root, and a pillar of support.
The long answer: For more, read part IV (“the vocation to the Work as an associate”) of the Prelate’s 28-X-2020 letter on vocation and “Associates: Deep Roots and High Branches.”
9. And numeraries?
The short answer: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). “Do you love me? Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:17).
Numeraries are called to lay celibacy in Opus Dei in a distinctive way. They too dedicate themselves fully to God in the world, through their work, friendships, hobbies, etc. They have a special mission to sustain, strengthen, and give life to Opus Dei’s supernatural family, and for this reason, they often live together. Living in a centre (with Jesus is at the centre) allows them to welcome and support everyone who visits, sending them forth to be light in the world. They are the driving force that helps others in Opus Dei to pursue holiness according to their vocation. They are like the guardians of the family, looking after everyone and being available to all.
Opus Dei is a large family with supernatural bonds, and some people are called by God to take special care of the family home. Numeraries dedicate themselves to giving formation to others to continue fostering Opus Dei’s charism. They put everything (prayer, affection, knowledge, talents, finances, space, time…) at the service of Opus Dei’s family and apostolic needs.
Numeraries pay special attention to the formation of members, maintaining the family atmosphere in the centres (especially the assistant numeraries), and organising the apostolic work. With their support, they form a home for apostles, nurturing the family and inspiring their brothers and sisters with the desire for holiness and the Christian transformation of the world. They’re a light that guides, a fire that ignites, and a home that welcomes. Being a numerary means making everyone feel at home.
The long answer: For more, read parts II and III (“the vocation to the Work as a numerary and assistant numerary”) of the Prelate’s 28-X-2020 letter on vocation, “Numeraries: Apostles Who Give Life,” and “Assistant Numeraries: A Home That Reaches the Whole World.”
1 Or, in the Prelate of Opus Dei’s words: “It is a grace that embraces our whole life and that shows itself as light and as strength: light, so that we can see the way, see what God wants of us; and strength, so as to be able to respond to the call, to say yes and to go forward on the path” (Letter on vocation, 28-X-2020).
2 You guessed it… This is from the Prelate’s letter on vocation too (no. 3-6). Here’s the link again.
3 Written in 1971. Read it in context in the last chapter of our biography of the founder of Opus Dei.
4 From his homily “Passionately Loving the World,” no. 122.
5 The first half of the sentence is, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,” and it’s from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince.
