Opus Dei

A university lecturer asks St Josemaria about the role of priests in today's world. This was in the setting of a gathering in Brazil, June 1, 1974, when St Josemaria was in the fiftieth year of his own priesthood.

Priests incardinated in the Prelature of Opus Dei: a mission of service dedicated to fostering the holiness and apostolate of the other members of the Work and of those who participate in the activities of Opus Dei.

The founder of Opus Dei was ordained a priest in the chapel of his diocesan seminary. Two days later, he celebrated his first Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, at the feet of the beloved Madonna he had prayed to so often.

Saint Josemaria was ordained a priest on 28 March 1925. Here is the homily he gave on 13 April 1973, on the dignity and meaning of the priesthood.

St Josemaria's first trip to Latin America was in May 1970. Guadalupe is not only a shrine visited by nearly thirty million people every year; it embodies the faith of the whole country in union with their ‘Virgen Morena’, the brown-skinned Virgin.

You go to Mass in the morning, having prepared for it from the time of the Angelus the day before.

During his catechesis in Spain in 1972, St Josemaria spoke of the importance of the Holy Mass and the ministerial priesthood.

I am a seminarian in third year theology, in the seventh year of priestly formation. The basic idea about the seminary revolves round prayer life, intense study and hard work. For a long time as a seminarian I used to wonder how to reconcile Prayer life (life of holiness) and intense study.

“I have always taught you, my beloved daughters and sons, that the root and the center of your spiritual life is the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar.” Saint Josemaría Escrivá’s words and writings constantly pointed to the Eucharist as the center and root of Christian life.

Saint Josemaria reflects on what it means to be a priest: "I like priests to be just priests, and not to get mixed up in other things. To limit themselves to their spiritual mission, which is no small task."