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As a sixty year old person who had never been honest about his drinking nor his drunkenness, I wanted to change but hardly believed it possible. One day I felt called upon to pray to Josemaria for sobriety – even though I had little or no understanding of what the word meant. Before a week had passed, I was sure the prayer had been answered and so it was through a series of steps that began with a retreat that weekend. By the grace of God fifteen years later, I am a sober person who has not drunk since that day. Sincerely yours,
E. M., U S A
December 28, 2005

A job before the end of the year would be even better
I still can’t believe what happened to me. I was desperate because I couldn’t get a job. Early in December, I was asked to go for an interview in Lima (I live in Piura) and I decided to make the trip. After two interviews I decided to go back to Piura, because I wasn’t called for the next stage in the selection process. During the journey home, I decided to begin a novena to Saint Josemaría right then. I was really sure that he would help me, because some years ago I obtained a miracle for my sister through his intercession. What I said to him now was that if he got me the job before the end of the year... it would be even better. I knew it was impossible, because it was already December, and the selection process usually takes a long time.
When I was saying the prayer for the seventh time, a cousin of mine telephoned. He told me he was setting up a telecommunications business and he needed someone totally reliable to run the business. He’d been inviting people to send in their resumés, he saw mine, and decided to look no further: the job was mine. While I was away in Lima my Dad had seen the advert in the paper, and had sent in my documents.
I’ve now been working for my cousin for two weeks and I’ve just had a call from the job I applied for in Lima. They are asking me for a fairly stiff medical examination, and if I get through it I’ve got the post.
Two weeks ago I had no chance of a job, and today I’ve got two good jobs to choose from. I owe it all to Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
K. B., Peru
December 27, 2005

A Roman taxi-driver
I am a Roman taxi-driver, and in the 1980s I attended the ELIS technical college in Rome. A few days ago, by chance, I found that one of my passengers was the present director of ELIS, who told me that they are currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of its foundation... For me the whole thing is a miracle! – for many, many reasons, which I will tell about at a later date.
Thank you for being there!
Enzo, Italy
December 15, 2005

In a hurry
At the end of a spiritual retreat in Bavaria, I had to give two people a lift to the station to catch an early train. It had been snowing for several days and I knew I would have to clear the snow away, but what I hadn’t realised was how cold it was. When I tried to open the car door, I found it was frozen shut. We tried pouring hot water down it, but it didn’t work, and time was slipping by: we had to set off or we would miss the train. I thought: “Father, it’s got to work right now or it’s no good. Do something so that these two people from Switzerland can catch their train.”
(...) At that very moment I saw the caretaker in his car. I called him and asked if he could help. He loaded the suitcases into his car, the two travellers got in, and off they went. A little later the hot water had done its work and our car door opened.
Angelika S., Germany

God delays, but never fails
I met the work of Opus Dei in 2004, when a cousin gave us the Novena to Saint Josemaría. I was very interested in sanctification through work and our ordinary, daily tasks. We can all travel the path to holiness through the little, day-to-day things, and it’s wonderful to realise that because we often imagine that the path to holiness lies through great deeds, and we don’t feel called to it.
When I was given the Novena I was just starting my second year at University and I needed a job. There’s a saying that God delays, but never fails, and it’s so true! Today, after a great deal of effort, I am working, thanks to God and to Saint Josemaría’s intercession. I got a good job where I have opportunities for growth and which is compatible with my studies, something which I thought would be impossible. Every day I see God’s blessings on me, every day I’m learning more, and that makes me really happy and grateful.
Renata, Brazil
December 9, 2005

Chance or causality?
On January 9, ten years ago, some burglars broke into our house, at a time when (thank God) none of the family were at home. Before telling the story, I should perhaps clarify that I had lost my father a few months before, and that when he was dying he spoke three words: my mother’s name, Maria-Auxiliadora, and Opus Dei. By chance there were two priests who looked after him: a Salesian, and a priest of Opus Dei. Going back to the day when our house was burgled, they left a heap of things on our bed all jumbled together in disorder: papers, clothes and other items, and clearly to be seen, just by chance, was a prayer-card of our Father and a drawing my two daughters had done (…)
The years went by, and deep inside me (and it was the same for my husband) I felt from time to time that I would love to have a son. We never had any kind of problem; the baby simply didn’t come. I wasn’t obsessed with the idea, far from it. Nor did we ever go for medical examinations, because there was no need. But, impulsively as always, I prayed to Blessed Josemaría, as he then was, for a healthy boy. And it happened. I had him when I was 41, and everything was fine. Of course, I made a little promise: one of his names would be Josemaría.
As well as that, I can’t fail to relate that “by chance” I am returning to the Sacraments and going to Mass. And I forgot to say that I did a spiritual retreat, and it was just exactly what I needed.
What’s more, quite suddenly, it just happened that I began to feel a great concern to spread my faith to others. After all, it’s always possible to begin again. I think that I also have a greater calling to service – I find it hard, but less so than before. I thank God our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary (I was born on one of her feasts, October 7), my Guardian Angel, whom I just discovered, and Saint Josemaría. I also thank my deceased father’s soul, because he is always there for me. THANK YOU! CONGRATULATIONS! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! And please include me in your prayers, so that I don’t lose heart.
M. S., Argentina
December 3, 2005

Help to “refill my pockets”
I work in the public sector. Ever since a new manager arrived I had a series of problems which I shan’t describe in detail, but if it hadn’t been for the spiritual strength of the Work bequeathed by Saint Josemaría, I would have given way some time ago and probably fallen ill. After a number of money difficulties caused by all this, and after reading some testimonies about Don Alvaro del Portillo on this website, I prayed to him to help me “refill my pockets”, and out of the blue I got two requests to teach some courses, which eased the end-of-year burden for me.
I thank Saint Josemaría for the strength and hope that he gives us, and I thank Don Alvaro for the respite I received, and I hope that in this month of Mary, through her and their intercession, these temporary problems will disappear and I’ll be able to testify to the love and mercy of the Lord.
Alejandro, Chile
November 30, 2005

I haven’t lacked work
I am a civil engineer working on contracts for town councils, and although in my line jobs don’t just drop into your lap, for the last five years, thank God, I haven’t lacked work. When I was just about to finish one job I said that marvelous prayer of Saint Josemaría, and almost instantly I received two projects or technical contracts. I thank God for having given us such a simple, straightforward saint, who has opened up the way to live our daily lives as a father, husband, brother and son. Thank you!
Eduardo Vega, Peru
November 25, 2005

He threatened to quit the group
I am studying for a doctorate. A few weeks ago there was a problem with my supervisor, who threatened to quit the group, leaving all his research students in the lurch, because of misunderstandings with the doctoral students in the group at a meeting on a Friday (all the doctoral students hold a meeting every Friday to define their research strategies). When I realised that he wanted to quit the group, I immediately started to pray to Saint Josemaria. I spent the whole wekend praying, and on Monday things were a little calmer; my supervisor had not yet spoken to anyone to say he was quitting. However, he called a meeting with everyone for the following Wednesday. So I continued to pray to Saint Josemaría. Not only did the meeting not take place, but by the end of that week he was much more positive and coming up with plenty of new ideas.
I am really grateful to Saint Josemaría, because if things had gone differently my doctorate would have been disrupted and held up, and I would have had to start on a completely different line of research.
P. V., Portugal
November 15, 2005

A deep abiding love for the Eucharist
I feel through the intercession of St Josemaria Escriva. That I was given a deep abiding love for the Eucharist through his prayers for me. I am now in RCIA in no small part I think to the help of St. Escriva and the Holy Spirit.
A. K., United States
November 10, 2005

I prayed for this every night
I’ve been waiting a long time for what has finally happened to my father: he had been hoping for it for years, and they kept refusing, and every single night I prayed to Saint Josemaría Escriva to help me make my father’s life less hard, and that what he’d been expecting for so long would come soon. Until he got the news of the decision that he was to receive his retirement pension. From that day on I thank Josemaría constantly for the happiness and peace of mind my father has today.
I am grateful for every minute of life that God sends us, and I pray for my father to be happy, because he truly deserves to be.
Thank you, Saint Josemaria Escriva!
S.M.B., Peru
November 6, 2005

Today I am a lawyer
Hi, I would like to tell a favour which Saint Josemaría obtained for me, giving me faith to keep going along my path.
I studied for three years to be admitted as a lawyer by the Brazilian College of Lawyers, but I couldn’t manage to pass the examination, so I couldn’t start to practise as a lawyer. I was getting desperate and even thought of giving up. That was when I saw the light, and someone gave me the prayer to Saint Josemaría. I began praying it all the time, and I started studying again and put my best efforts into it, and today I have succeeded in passing the examination and I am a lawyer. I thank the Father every day for obtaining this grace for me. Thank you,
Rodrigo, Brazil
November 6, 2005

My prayers were answered that day
I was getting ready to attempt my driving test for the 4th time and was really not very hopeful of passing. I hadn’t prepared as well as I could have and on the morning of my test I came across the prayer of St. Josemaria Escriva. I said the prayer straight away and again just before doing my test. To my amazement the test went extremely well and I passed. I truly believe that my prayers were answered that day.
G. F., England
November 4, 2005

All 53 checks reappeared
In the local branch of the NGO I work for, an envelope containing 53 checks, for a total of 3180 euros, had disappeared. That sort of thing is very bad for any organization that operates on donations from individuals, and our organization has a reputation for honesty and transparency.
The person who lost them had a terrible time, but had nowhere left to search. The checks were made out to our organization, and were in payment for private lessons.
After a month we still had no clue as to their whereabouts, and we decided to report it as a theft to the police so as to have everything in order. This step was going to cause a lot of trouble: enquiries, searches, bad publicity and suspicions.
After voting, like everyone else, for this step in the management committee, I began thinking that Saint Josemaria might see it differently. I persuaded the president not to go to the police straight away. We could simply report the loss to get the certificate of the report, and then write to the 53 people who had issued the checks asking them each to stop their check and send us a replacement. Would they all do it? What sort of impression would that give? And what a huge task! I started praying to Saint Josemaria for the checks to reappear, and I said so to the person who had lost them.
I spoke to the president and the members of the office, and we decided against reporting it as a theft. Meanwhile the president, who had been to the blessing of a statue of Saint Josemaria Escriva in a church in our city, told me that he was going to a wedding in that same church, and I took advantage of the opportunity to suggest to him that he could pray to Saint Josemaria too.
When he came back from the wedding he said that he had prayed to Saint Josemaria Escriva. I assured him, “I met him myself, and he grants me everything that he asks for... but if you have appealed to him to, then there’s absolutely no doubt about it. The checks will reappear.”
But I had the unpleasant job of writing to the people who had issued the checks. The days were going by. The president asked me for a draft copy of the minutes... and I still couldn’t bring myself to write those letters. It would seem like a lack of faith in Saint Josemaria. I didn’t write them.
Five days after the president’s prayer, he called me. “The checks have reappeared! And the most incredible thing of all is the way they came! A miracle! An envelope arrived in this morning’s post: from M to J, as the person who lost them told us, but with a label with our address on, added by someone else.”
I explained to him how, when I was going to write to the people who had issued the checks, I remembered about some Peruvian Indians who prayed to Saint Josemaria that it would rain, and went out to the fields with umbrellas... and it rained. My umbrella was not writing those letters. I think that Saint Josemaria saw that we had proceeded in the best possible way: trusting each other, serenely facing up to drastic measures, protecting our good name... and he had put himself on our side. The president couldn’t get over his amazement.
M. R., France
October 31, 2005

The lost shoulder-bag
Hi. I’m writing to tell you about a special favor from Saint Josemaría. Last Friday, October 28, we had a call from my daughter, who’s living in New York. Her husband, a scientist, was going to a congress in Argentina, and she went to see him off at the airport. She called me to ask for help and a lot of prayers from us in Lima, because my son-in-law Antonio had lost his shoulder-bag containing his documents and the laptop with his conference presentation and all his work. As soon as I heard this I invoked our dear Father and asked him to do the impossible: for them to find the lost bag in time. I asked him to get help from our Lady and Saint Joseph as well as Don Alvaro, to find the bag before they had to board the airplane. As well as praying the prayer-card many times over, I offered up fasting and mortifications. I felt certain that my prayer would be heard and answered, and so I told Saint Josemaría that I was going to write an account of the FAVOR, and that’s what I’m doing now. After two hours of ceaseless searching, they found the lost shoulder-bag, which had been in an airport bus and had been all over the place, passed on by other passengers. Thank-you, dear Saint Josemaría, for this favor. Now we are praying to him for a job for this same son-in-law, because he wants to get a job in Spain and we are sure that our Father and Don Alvaro will help him. We promise to write a testimony of that favor too which we hope to obtain through their intercession.
Maria del Pilar Torres, Lima, Peru
October 31, 2005

Guardian Angels
Through Saint Josemaría’s teachings I’ve learned to talk to the Guardian Angels all the time. Especially when I’m driving, I ask them to help me drive well, find a parking-space nearby, arrive on time after long journeys, etc.
The day before yesterday I forgot to lock the car because I got distracted trying to adjust the rear view mirror, and when I was praying to my Guardian Angel, and had already walked 20 steps away from the car – in a rather dangerous area – I turned round like I was being pulled on a string, went back to the car and locked it.
Thank you Saint Josemaría for teaching me to talk with the Guardian Angels, and may they and you keep on caring for my children, my husband and me.
Rocío, Spain
October 27, 2005

From Tunisia
A letter from Tunisia where a Mass was celebrated for the feast of Saint Josemaría on June 26, 2005.
Dear friends,
The Lord hears our prayers. The Mass we organized on June 26 was a success. Saint Josemaría was the Saint of the day in our church on that June 26.
In the Mass, in his homily and the Bidding Prayers, Father Moises Koumakpai told us about “this new Saint of the Catholic Church”, highlighting the main features of his spirit i.e. spreading the universal call to holiness to all the baptized. Father Koumakpai also asked us to pray for Opus Dei and all its faithful.
After Mass the congregation was invited to look at an exhibition, and people were giving out pictures of Saint Josemaría and leaflets about the Work and its founder. The parishioners were delighted with the exhibition and what it taught them about the Opus Dei prelature.
Many thanks for all your encouragement and prayers.
United in prayer,
M. G., Tunis

Gratitude
This is just to express my gratitude for Saint Josemaría. I am a Co-operator and I would like to do better what I do for Opus Dei. I am never alone; in spite of the many small setbacks I have encountered, I always found help and support from my friends in Opus Dei in Palermo and Rome. That’s what I want to say.
Vincenzo Scalia, Italy
October 26, 2005

What I want is to change my life
Before I set off for Rome for Saint Josemaría’s canonization, someone asked me, “Have you thought of what to ask Saint Josemaría for in Rome?” I hadn’t actually thought of anything. The firm I worked for at that time was a multinational consultancy service, with a corporate culture that was very strong and very competitive. I was at a crossroads professionally speaking: I either had to get promotion to a really high level, or I would be relegated and heading for exit in the short to medium term. What’s more, our sales were low, and the pressure was on.
To begin with I thought of asking Saint Josemaría to help me get my promotion, which would give me an assured position plus economic stability. But I knew that if I stayed with that firm I would never be able to spend the time I should with my family and friends – at that stage I was spending less and less time with them. So I thought of praying to find another job, but as my salary was above the market average, I felt that in a different firm I wouldn’t be able to earn enough to give our children the security and education we wanted for them. So I asked Saint Josemaría: “You’ll see what’s best. But what I want is to change my life.”
My wife, who was expecting our eighth child, and I went to Rome, where we lived through some unforgettable days. When we got back I went straight to South Africa on a project for my firm. The weeks went by very quickly and I got back to Spain at the end of November. The project had gone very well, and I came home happy with the way my career was going. But the very first day back at the office in Madrid I was given one month’s notice to leave the firm. My first thought was: “Well, it looks like Saint Josemaría got moving, because he really has started to change my life.”
After two or three weeks’ negotiations with my old firm I obtained a sizeable redundancy payment. At the same time I was looking for a new job. After several applications and interviews, just before the last interview in the selection process for what was to be my new firm, I had a coffee, and when I went to pay I found a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría. On the back I read something I’d often read before, but just then it took on a vivid meaning for me: “Heaven and earth seem to merge, my sons and daughters, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives.”
Then I prayed to him very intensely: “We have to finish the round, this is the last interview to settle the change in my life.” The interview was successful, and a month later I was at work with the new firm. Since then my life has had a much better work-family balance. What’s more, my pay is higher than in my last job.
I really did change my life.
J. J. R., Spain
October 25, 2005

A very special petition
I want to testify having been heard by Saint Josemaría Escrivá in a very special petition, which was undoubtedly a miracle worked by him.
Many thanks.
Susana Hill de Ortega, Mexico
October 23, 2005

I found a prayer-card on the ground
I don’t know anything about Opus Dei. I am a non-practising Catholic, I found a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría on the ground and something told me to pick it up, so I put it in my bag and from that day onwards everything changed. Now I pray to him and he grants me everything I ask for, you can’t imagine how much he’s helped me. Something inside me has changed, I’m trying to be better every day and to help other people, and he repays me, I know. Please print my testimony.
A. L., Spain
October 22, 2005

Now they’re expecting two
My sister had an illness called endometriosis, which meant it would be very difficult for her to have children. After undergoing many operations and treatments she and her husband decided to have a child through assisted conception. After several attempts, they had a daughter. They wanted to have more children so as not to leave my niece as an only child, so they continued using this method, but without success: my sister had many miscarriages.
One time when we were talking together I explained to her that the methods they were using are not accepted by the Church, because they are an attack on the dignity of the person. However, she was under pressure from her husband’s family, who would not hear of their adopting a child, and she continued to undergo IVF treatment.
One day I told her that I was going to pray for her very hard to the founder of Opus Dei for her to have another baby, a brother or sister for my niece, because I knew that Saint Josemaría had interceded before God for women with the same illness as her, and God had granted miracles.
I began to pray to Saint Josemaría to obtain the miracle for her and not let me down. My husband and I are both in Opus Dei, we have six children and a lot of money problems. My sister and her husband, however, only have one daughter and a very good business which gives them a much higher standard of living than ours.
After I’d been praying for her for three months, God granted them the miracle and now they’re expecting TWINS!! !!!!!!!!!!!! without having used any artificial method. Her doctor can’t believe it, he said it was impossible for her to conceive even one child, because of the condition of her fallopian tubes, and now she’s expecting two. God doesn’t let himself be outdone in generosity. My sister and brother-in-law are so happy and now I only have to pray for their conversion.
I am also still praying to Saint Josemaría for my husband to find a job, because he’s been unemployed since January this year and we are in serious difficulties. But I know that everything is for the best, and we can get a lot of benefit out of this situation for our family’s spiritual life.
Truly God is very good.
D. L., Mexico
October 19, 2005

Thank you
I would like to thank first of all Almighty God for giving us Saint Josemaria Escriva in these turbulent times. My special thanks goes to Saint Josemaria for inspiring and protecting me. He is truly a great intercessor before God. May he always be our spiritual guide.
D. M., Malta
October 19, 2005

It has made us more united
I first heard about Saint Josemaría through my husband, who was lucky enough to see him and hear him speak during his journey to Latin America before he died. My husband gave me a copy of The Way and as soon as I read it I realized how admirable he was. Twenty years have gone by, and just now I have been imploring him to help me look after my husband and myself, as we are in great difficulties. Everything has started to work out, one thing at a time, just when every door seemed shut to us. And most important of all, it has made us still more united in holiness in our marriage, which is what we have always aimed for. Thank you, Saint Josemaría.
J. G. R., Chile
October 17, 2005

An order
About two years ago I handed in my notice because I was suffering from diabetes. From then on we’ve lived in quite a lot of hardship, following Saint Josemaría’s counsels. I never met him, but my Guardian Angel helped me to meet a very special person who told me about him and his diabetes.
It was a difficult period, as I was starting up a new small business and embarking on a new life at the same time.
Things worked out “miraculously”, but I was thinking of shutting down the business.
The most surprising thing was that I prayed to Saint Josemaría for a trip I was making to Madrid to see a possible client. This trip might make it possible for our business not just to keep going but to do so in a much better position. I managed to get a loan for an air-ticket, and during the flight I prayed to him with the prayer-card in my bag.
The client, surprisingly, listened to me with great attention (in business terms he was an elephant and I was a flea). He told me that my request looked difficult, but that he would see what he could do. As a matter of fact he left me feeling rather discouraged. Anyway, while I was waiting for my return flight at Madrid airport I passed a chapel. I went in to thank God for everything, and to my great surprise I saw a picture of Saint Josemaría in the chapel, smiling with that characteristic look of his. Then I was really moved and thanked him.
Three months have gone by, and yesterday I got a telephone call placing the order which will enable our firm to stay in the market and function normally. I thank God for the retirement he sent me soon after my illness began – and I also thank him for my illness.
Pilar, Spain
October 14, 2005

I found a prayer-card in an Opus Dei center
I happened to go to do a job in an Opus Dei center and I found a prayer-card of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer; I put it in my bag, and I’ve been praying it ever since. Every time I’ve asked him for help, I’ve received it. A series of unbelievable things has happened to me, but believe me, I’m a young mother with children and I never thought that sort of thing could happen to me. There have been major changes in my personal life and in my work, and I don’t think it’s just by chance: there is something there. Someone is protecting and helping my family. I believe more firmly every day, and I feel so happy.
B. B., Spain
October 14, 2005


My friends still tell me that it is a miracle
I was studying in New Zealand on a student’s visa. I am from India and I and my family have sacrificed a lot to get this education. I always wanted to work and stay in New Zealand. But as my studies were coming to an end and with immigration policies it looked that I couldn’t stay in this country any more. The place where I work part time, the manager is Roman Catholic. One day he gave me Saint Josemaria’s prayer leaflet and said to pray to him. I prayed to him one night, and the next day early morning I heard from my friend that a new immigration policy is coming into effect that is going to give students who finish their studies a 6-month work permit. I was so happy and knew my prayers were answered - and so fast too ... within 12 hours!
Then time passed and I got my 6-month work permit and I was desperately looking for a job relevant to my studies – a business diploma – so that my work permit could be extended to 2 years. Nothing was coming, so I decided to submit my application for a 2-year work permit with the part time job I was already doing, where they were ready to offer me a full time job. The problem was that I wasn’t sure this job offer would help me, as it is a retail salesman’s job and I had done a diploma in business. Then again I prayed to Saint Josemaria and within 1 week I got my 2-year work permit and so much of the tension in my life was relieved just like that, overnight. A lot of my friends still tell me that it is a miracle that I got the 2-year work permit with this job offer. I know it’s just that my prayers are answered. Even the immigration consultant told me that I was very lucky that I got 2-year work permit with this job offer. I only know what miracle happened after praying to this saint.
Now I have put in my application for residency and I have prayed to him and I am sure that even this time the result will be positive. I can only say thank you and believe in him more.
A.P., New Zealand
October 6, 2005

A Spiritual Retreat
Last week something happened which seemed incredible to me. I needed to do a spiritual retreat, and I couldn’t see how I could fit it in, because the following week the university term was starting, and I wouldn’t be able to take a single day off. On September 27 a friend telephoned me to say there was a retreat I could go to from September 29 to October 2. I’m sure it was Saint Josemaría who interceded for me so that I could go, because I really wanted to do a retreat, and that weekend was just about the only possible time.
It was the best retreat I’ve ever done: it began on an important day (September 29, the Archangels) and ended on another: October 2, the founding of Opus Dei.
Thank you Saint Josemaría!
M. A., Spain
October 8, 2005

October 7, 2002
My story really is a miracle through Saint Josemaría’s intercession. When I was having my second daughter, Juanita, I was diagnosed with eclampsia, but my and my daughter’s lives were saved when I gave birth. She was born on October 7 2002 and just the day before, Saint Josemaría had been raised to the altars. Normally very few women survive eclampsia. My thanks to Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, because he interceded before God to give us a chance of life.
October 8, 2005

My father’s prayers
My uncle was diagnosed as having cancer of the oesophagus, and in a few months he became seriously ill and we knew it was irreversible. When I saw that he had very little time left to live, I asked a priest to help him prepare to go to Heaven. Two days before my uncle died, during a period when he was conscious, he agreed to receive the priest in the hospital and he was given the last Sacraments. On December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, my uncle went to Heaven.
Months later my father, who was very fond of his brother-in-law and has a great devotion to Saint Josemaría, told me that ever since my uncle got ill, he had been praying for him to come back to God.
P. A. A., Spain
October 7, 2005

“If you believe in God…”
Gema was crossing the road at a zebra-crossing in Oviedo, when she was hit by a car which failed to see her. She underwent an emergency operation, as her spinal cord was damaged. The doctors did everything they could, but they told her family that Gema would be left completely paralysed and requiring assistance to breath. Her father asked if there was any chance that she might recover; one of the doctors answered, “If you believe in God…”
A few days later Gema began to move her legs and her arms. The doctors couldn’t believe it. It was clearly a miracle.
A few months later my father told me that Gema’s miracle was due to Saint Josemaría’s intercession, because as soon as he heard about the accident he had prayed to him with great devotion. My father says that during the operation both Saint Josemaría and his “assistant” Don Alvaro del Portillo were there.
Gema has recovered completely and is leading a normal life.
P. A. A., Spain
October 7, 2005

A wink from Saint Josemaría
I was out shopping with Lucas, my one and a half year old son and, in a moment’s carelessness, I had my bag stolen. I asked Saint Josemaría to help me get my papers and documents back. A couple of hours later a woman telephoned me at home saying that they had found my bag with various things in it, including my papers and documents. My husband went round to collect it that same evening, and as well as my belongings, there was a little model donkey which my husband said wasn’t mine. The man replied, “It was in the bag – your wife must have bought it to put in the crib.”
When I saw the donkey I knew it was a wink from Saint Josemaría (because he loved donkeys). Before going shopping I’d been to a centre of Opus Dei with Lucas, and I’d seen him playing with the donkey, but I hadn’t seen him putting it in my bag, as he must have done. Neither do I know why he did it.
P. A. A., Spain
October 7, 2005

A thanksgiving letter to Saint Josemaría
Dear St Josemaria
I am writing this thanksgiving letter to you for your kind intercession for me to have a beautiful wedding celebration on 1st October 2005 at Church of St Francis Xavier. The Mass was celebrated by Fr Albert Ng.
On 6 Jan 2004, I wrote you a thanksgiving letter in your website to thank you for guiding us back together on 26 June 2003, your feastday. We were apart for 4 1/2 years before that. On 1 Jan 2005, John and I were engaged. Today being the eve of the anniversary of your canonization, it is most apt that I write to thank you for all you've done for me. Thank you for guiding us through this one year of wedding preparation and house renovation. Indeed, ‘everything works well for those who put their trust in God'. Our marriage preparation couple was very supportive and encouraged us to attend weekday Mass as spiritual preparation for our wedding. We set aside every Wednesday to attend Mass together. This has helped us tremendously to weather the many difficulties we encountered. Fr Albert also taught us to pray that may nothing prevent us from answering God's call to the vocation of marriage. Please continue to intercede for us to have a blessed and happy marriage. Guide us with wisdom to start a new life together. May the Lord bless us with the gift of a child soon.
Enclosed is a token for the works of the apostolate of Opus Dei.
Your loving child
Y. T., Singapore
October 5, 2005

October 6, 2002 is a day that is present in every moment of my life
The favour that I received was in Rome on October 6, 2002. At that time I was 24 and a student. I prayed that I could attend Saint Josemaría’s canonization from a point where I would not get distracted. I had decided to place all my intentions there: professional, the family I wanted to form, etc. Everything.
Obviously I didn’t tell anyone about my intention. Anyway, a friend of mine who lives in Rome telephoned me in September to say that he’d got me a ticket in Sector 4. Everyone who was at the canonization knows what a big crowd it was, and what a ticket like that meant. I was delighted: someone up there had heard my prayer. I began to say prayers of thanksgiving. But the best was yet to come.
When I got to Rome from Milan on October 5 I went to my friend’s place. Next morning we went to the canonization together. My friend drove us to St Peter’s and round to the back. We went through a checkpoint and, to my surprise, I found that we were in the Vatican. I asked him what we were doing there. He didn’t answer, and I said nothing more, but waited.
Without telling me, my friend had got us tickets near the rows of officials, between the choir and the Holy Father. When I realized this I got goose-bumps.
I followed the whole ceremony just about from “inside”, because I was behind the Holy Father.
I have no doubt that Saint Josemaría saw fit to intercede for me to obtain the grace I had prayed for.
That day, in every detail, is present in every moment of my life. From then on I haven’t stopped giving thanks and believing more strongly than ever.
Federico Leone, Italy
September 7, 2005

From Cuba
I want to share with you my inner joy about Opus Dei and its founder. It is not possible for the Work to be present in Cuba for many reasons, but I am sure that when we are least expecting it, Saint Josemaría will enable it to come to my country. We need to know and relate to Jesus Christ continually, and the spiritual help offered by the Work in this respect is very great. As for me, I am saying the prayer to ask for this grace to be granted to my land.
L. E., Cuba
September 22, 2005

Thank you
For many years I have been reading The Way, Furrow and the biographies of Saint Josemaría nearly every day, and I keep discovering new things that help me in my daily life as a Christian. I am a co-operator and I am very grateful to Opus Dei for the formation I have received.
F. M., Spain
September 18, 2005

A Master’s Degree at University
I would like to describe my testimony quite briefly. For many years I had wanted to take a master’s degree in Spain, and I chose the University of Navarre. When I learnt that Saint Josemaría was the founder of the university, I prayed to him for this favor.
Now back in Peru, I can say that Saint Josemaría worked the miracle of enabling me to take a Master’s degree at his university, thanks to an Alban Program grant. In addition, he made it possible for me to visit him in Rome (in the church of Our Lady of Peace) thanks to the UNIV 2005 trip. I am eternally grateful for all the blessings received during my stay in Pamplona.
Julianna Paola Ramirez Lozano, Perú
September 12, 2005

In the Seminary
Ever since I heard about the life and work of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, I have not stopped praying to God for my vocation to the priesthood. Right now I am at the seminary, doing the fourth semester of theology, and I commend myself to God every day through Saint Josemaría’s intercession. I have discovered the true love that I feel for the Church and the great commitment of being a holy priest to make Christ known to this world which is so much in need of God. Thanks to Saint Josemaría’s witness, all the days of my life are focused on being: firstly a priest, secondly a priest, and thirdly, always a priest; and my family has discovered the great value of being a family through my vocation and my dedication to God.
Oscar Javier Chicuazuque Gil, Colombia
September 9, 2005

He is always with me
I am a person who has frequent recourse to the intercession of Saint Josemaría Escrivá. For me he is like an angel who is always with me. He helps me to correct my mistakes and see life differently.
I am grateful for the good times and the bad times I've lived through. I learn a lot from the bad ones. Thank you, Lord, thank you "my angel" (as I always call you).
Peru
September 5, 2005

For our daughter’s health
We noticed that our four-month-old baby daughter had lost her appetite and that her urine had a strong smell. She didn’t have a temperature, but we decided to take her to the health center in case she had some infection. They did a preliminary test and the results were positive, so they sent us to the hospital, where she had another test, which was also positive. The doctor told us that our baby might have an infection or a kidney problem, and that they would do some final tests the next day. My wife and I were feeling desperate.
That night I couldn’t sleep, and I decided to pray a novena to Saint Josemaría, with great faith and determination, for our daughter’s health. The next morning they did the tests, and after a three-hour wait the pediatrician told us that the result was negative, and that we could go home.
Manuel Ramos Gomez, Spain
August 29, 2005

A special grace
Hello, Please, I would like this message to be published like this to put more "pressure" on saint Josemaria so that he grants me a long-desired spiritual favour.
When I see the lot of favours accorded by saint Josemaria to those who pray him, I am "jealous". I try sincerely to live a good Christian life and have a certain apostolic reach, receiving daily the holy communion, often going to confession and fulfilling daily a certain plan including prayer, rosary and other norms. I would like to obtain from him a special grace for my spiritual life. (…) As my life is close to important changes I profoundly desire that the Heaven please grant me this favour, this grace I ask for.
(…) So I ask him with you as witness to help me significantly in this part of my life, to heal me totally and put me on good and strong basis for the future. And to give me all other graces needed therefore. I am confident of the mighty intercession of saint Josemaria and really ask him to strongly help me and hear me. Amen.
Germany
August 25, 2005

Ask trustingly
I am a 20-year-old girl and I am getting to know Opus Dei little by little. I can state that Saint Josemaría is a very intelligent person and that he deeply loves the Church.
We should ask God for a lot of things, with faith and love.
God does not abandon those who put their trust in him.
Olga Raquel Tenreiro Teixeira, Portugal
August 25, 2005

Two suitcases full of clothes
Someone once gave me a picture of Saint Josemaría and I prayed to him for someone to give me some clothes, because I didn’t have enough and I’d only recently arrived in Spain. Just two days later the lady I worked for gave me two suitcases full of clothes, and all of them fitted me. I thank God for granting me this favour through Saint Josemaría.
M.R., Peru
August 16, 2005

An operation
I work as administrator of a housing estate. One of the employees went into hospital for dialysis. While he was there he suffered a serious cardiac complication. He is not a believer, but when I went to visit him in hospital I offered to put a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría under his pillow, and he accepted it. I prayed for him and asked my brother, who is a priest in Opus Dei, to offer Mass for him, which he did the following day.
To everyone’s great delight he had a successful catheterisation twenty-four hours later (although the doctors had warned that it could be very difficult), and began the dialysis. Today he is still convalescing, but is leading the same life as he did before any of the complications occurred. Blessed be God our Lord who helped this person through Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
Julián, Spain
August 16, 2005

A real miracle
My mother suffered an aneurismal rupture. I prayed every day for her recovery. Thanks to God and Saint Josemaría, my mother has recovered her health, with no ill-effects. It is a real miracle.
Marthe D., France
August 3, 2005

I was able to work without any problem
I want to write about the favour which Saint Josemaría did for me. I am diabetic and I have to inject insulin. Yesterday morning I saw that my glycemia was high and that I needed to inject two units of insulin quickly. When I had done the injection I realized my mistake: I had given myself a dose three times bigger than I should have. I asked God through Saint Josemaría to make sure that the high dose did not complicate my work. Anyway I took a supply of sugar-lumps, just in case I had a hypoglycemic episode. I took my glucose meter with me (to measure the glucose levels in my blood) and at the correct time I took the dose I would need for the rest of the day.
At no point in the morning or the afternoon did I notice any alteration. I ate as normal, though I did keep the lumps of sugar handy in case I needed to neutralise a sudden drop in sugar. Yesterday Saint Josemaría really was the guarantor of my activity: I was able to work without any problems, thanks to God and to him.
Oscar Gomez Cantero, Spain
July 29, 2005

The baptismal certificate
I am writing this favour out of gratitude to Saint Josemaría. I work as a teacher in Tajamar, a corporate work of Opus Dei in Vallecas, Madrid, Spain. During the year I have been helping several of the pupils prepare to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Two months before the day of their Confirmation, which was to be on Friday June 3, I asked them to get their baptismal certificates from the churches where they had been baptized. Roger was born in Bolivia, and he asked a family member to get it for him. All the other pupils were coming in with their baptismal certificates, but Roger’s didn’t appear. It should be said that during those weeks Bolivia was going through a time of worrying social disturbances. Roger is by nature a very peaceful boy, but he was getting progressively more alarmed as the days went by and the blessed certificate didn’t show up. The day before the Confirmation we had our final preparatory talk. I spoke to them about Saint Josemaría’s love for Tajamar and the times he’d been there, and how he used to cross and re-cross the Vallejas district on foot in the 1930s. The upshot of it was that we all agreed to pray hard to his intercession for the missing baptismal certificate to arrive. On the very day of the Confirmation, Roger arrived first thing in the morning and smiling from ear to ear, to hand in his baptismal certificate.
Roberto Gonzalez, Spain
July 19, 2005

Favour from St Josemaría
A friend of mine who is an estate agent was having trouble closing a deal – the tenant had paid a deposit for a flat but the landlord was refusing to provide the furniture he required.
The problem had been festering for a while and the deadline was the Saturday I visited her. She was really worried because there was a possibility the tenant would demand his deposit back and the landlord would refuse to do so. She could foresee that she might be out of pocket to satisfy the tenant.
She had been praying to St Josemaría and when I came by, she relied on me to help her. I realised the situation was both serious and urgent and I also felt responsible for St Josemaría to live up to her trust in his intercession as I had introduced her to devotion to him.
So I prayed intensely to St Josemaría to grant her a successful outcome to her seemingly unsolvable problem. Judging from the conversations I was overhearing between my friend and the tenant and the landlord, I really felt there was no way for tenant and landlord to come to any agreement unless there was a miracle.
I left her in the middle of this because of other commitments.
The next week, I found out from her that she had been able to persuade the landlord to rent the furniture that the tenant required and so the matter was resolved. Like me, she has no doubt the result was due to the powerful intercession of St Josemaría.
Suzanne Ooi, Singapore
July 18, 2005

Meeting a friend
I am from Argentina, but I live in Rome. A friend from my country was arriving in Rome on June 26. He is an aeroplane pilot and was only going to stay in the city for three days, while I was due to leave Rome the day after he arrived. Because of complications with our jobs, we had not been able to arrange a time to meet; I didn’t know exactly what time he was landing, and I wasn’t at home. As I really wanted to meet him, when I got home I prayed to Saint Josemaría for that intention. A few minutes later the telephone rang, and we had everything sorted out. I should add that I have an “unfair” advantage, because I live next door to the Church of Saint Josemaría and it was his feast-day.
S. C., Italy
July 19, 2005

Air-conditioning in Rome in summer
This isn’t one favour but two, which happened within two weeks of each other. I’d already decided to write down the first one, but then the second one, of the same kind, overtook me. It all has to do with the air-conditioning in my house. July in Rome is notoriously hot, and at the beginning of the month the air-conditioning suddenly broke down. As I live next door to the Church of Saint Josemaría, I found it quite natural to pray to him for help with this problem. I said, “Father, you know it’s impossible to work with this heat.” And the problem was solved the next day, when the air-conditioning started up at its usual time. Two weeks later the air-conditioning stopped working just in one part of the house. I told Saint Josemaría that it wasn’t right for us to be having these problems right next door to “his” house. Again we had to wait until the next day – this was eight o’clock at night – and then the air-conditioning started up at the normal time, working in every part of the house.
S. C., Italy
July 19, 2005

She fell one and a half metres
Our baby daughter, ten and a half months old, escaped from our watchful care and went on hands and knees towards the stairs. She fell down the stairs and through the balustrade, falling one and a half metres to land on the tiled floor.
When we saw her lying there on the ground we feared the worst.
While waiting for the emergency services we held her in our arms (she was crying) and said the prayer to Saint Josemaría several times over, asking him to protect her and touching her with a prayer-card that has a relic in it. When the emergency services arrived she had almost stopped crying and everything seemed normal. She was taken to hospital to be seen by a doctor, to make sure that she hadn’t suffered any damage to her skull. The doctor who examined her stated that the clinical report was perfectly normal, and he did not even think it necessary to keep her in hospital for the night under observation. Today, three days after her fall, our daughter has nothing except a slight bruise on her cheek. To us it is quite clear that Saint Josemaría heard our prayers.
Bénédicte, France
July 11, 2005

My little miracle
I am forty years old. When I was a student of eighteen I had a history teacher who belonged to Opus Dei. We made friends and shared our interest in sports and most of all, we talked. The following year this teacher was transferred to another city and, rather through my fault, we lost touch, but he left me with two things that I have kept hold of all these years. The first is the memory of him, his inner strength and his happiness, which has often made me stop and think and has helped me on many different occasions. But what basically has left the greatest mark and influenced me all this time was that he gave me a copy of Saint Josemaría’s book The Way. To be honest, my life has been rather irregular and I’ve had plenty of problems, but every time I went through a really bad patch I got hold of The Way and somehow it gave me strength and new courage. Right now I’m trying to recover my interior life and I think I am beginning to sort out which is the right path for me. This is my testimony and my little miracle. Thank you, Saint Josemaría.
Francesc Rueda, Spain
July 14, 2005

A temporary job the next day
I was recently unemployed and having little or no luck in finding gainful employment.
I began praying the prayer to St. Josemaría Escriva. A day later, I was approached by my pastor. He needed someone to do some secretarial work for him temporarily, and so he hired me.
I am grateful to St. Josemaría for his intercession and I will continue praying to him that I find permanent employment.
Robert, USA
July 3, 2005

They didn’t find anything
On June 24 I was going to have an operation to remove a malignant tumour. Tests showed that it was about 6cm in size. It caused me a lot of pain and I felt very depressed, because I had had other operations before; all the indications were that it was a cancerous tumour, and I was to start chemotherapy on July 4.
We were praying to Saint Josemaria because we were worried that we couldn’t afford the chemotherapy sessions, 24 in all at a cost of around 30 thousand pesos a month. We prayed a lot. During those weeks before the operation I was working with a lot of love on restoring a statue of Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus for my local church. I worked at it day and night because I knew that afterwards I wouldn’t be able to complete it in time. I handed it over to the church the day before the operation, and I prayed for great strength to get through the coming ordeal with courage and strength. I am 38, I have two children and a marvellous husband, and he has always given me a lot of support. On June 24 they took me to the operating theatre… many prayers… THEY DIDN’T FIND ANYTHING. It had disappeared… there was no tumour, no sign of anything malignant. MIRACLE – the doctors couldn’t explain how, after all the tests, they didn’t find anything.
R. C., Mexico
June 27, 2005

I ask him for many things
I have had great devotion to Saint Josemaría ever since I was young, though I don’t belong to Opus Dei. I pray to Saint Josemaría to help me persevere in my faith and work, and the same for my husband and children. And to help them to study and get good, honest jobs to support themselves. I pray for my country, which is in need of reconciliation. Thank you, my friends, for your work on this website to let the world know about the faith and way of holiness “expressed” by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. Yours truly, Rosario.
R. S., Argentina
June 27, 2005

Two taxis
On June 24 a priest of the Work died. My mother wanted to pay her respects at the mortuary in the afternoon of June 25, but we didn’t know how to get there. We thought we would take a taxi, but we saw that a lady with two children and some heavy bags was trying to get a taxi at the same spot. So I decided to start praying to Saint Josemaría, asking him please for two taxis, and to be quick and not let us down, because the next day was his feast-day. I hadn’t finished saying the prayer when I saw two taxis drawing up.
Spain
June 25, 2005

I’ll never be separated from The Way again
Ever since I first saw The Way I wanted to get a copy, until one fine day I bought one, although I was extremely sorry about the price because it was an original Spanish edition, and I needed the money for food. On the way home I found a banknote of the exact value that I had paid for my copy of The Way. I’ll never be separated from its daily reflections again. What’s more, Saint Josemaría undoubtedly granted me one of his favours, by giving me the chance to get it for free… Jorge.
J. B. F., Argentina
June 23, 2005

The first miracle
These days leading to St. Josemaria’s feastday reminds me of the first miracle he granted me.
I was invited to join Rural Service Project organized by a Center of Opus Dei. It would be over a week long and there was absolutely no way for me to have communication with my family while I would be there. I was already in college that time,but my mother is kind of strict, and since this would be my first trip away from home with a group of friends for more than a weekend, I knew my chances of going were almost nil. I also had to ask her for the money for the trip, which we definitely did not have at that time.
I prayed to St. Josemaria. My mother got the money early from a tenant’s rent, gave part of it to me, and gave me permission. Since then, I haven’t stopped trusting that St. Josemaria can grant any favor!
J.A. Philippines
June 18, 2005

A week after
I prayed tha I get my driver’s license and all my official document in order when I moved to the United States. I got my driver’s license a week after.
Thank you so much
G.B.G, USA
June 18, 2005

She has completely recovered
Someone in church gave me a prayer-card of Saint Josemaria. I said it in my room every night for three months, praying through his intercession for the cure of my wife, who had a very severe stroke. She has totally recovered. Praised be our great God who has given us such a great Saint.
A. A. J., Spain
16 June 2005

A Christian engagement
Dear Sirs, I am enormously grateful for the grace of having found an extraordinary fiancee, undoubtedly through the intercession of Saint Josemaria Escriva. My name is Jose Antonio and I am 27. More than two years ago, around the time of Saint Josemaria’s canonization, I prayed to him to mediate for me before our Lord and our Lady, to find a girl who was right for me, a girl with whom I could form a Christian family after a Christian engagement, which seems so difficult these days. Finally I’ve found her. She is an exceptional person and she helps me a lot, and I try to help her. Now I am praying to God through Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer’s mediation, to sustain our love (a love “in” Christ), make it grow greater day by day, and help us to overcome difficulties and stay together always. The least I can do to show my gratitude is to tell you about this grace I received through his mediation and ask you to publish it. Fraternally, Jose Antonio.
J. A. J. R., Spain
13 June 2005

The gate was still open
Last March 17, 2005 I was travelling from Manila to Los Angeles with my daughter Vina. On our 40 minutes stop-over to Hong Kong, right at the exit gate I read a message requesting me to proceed to the airport lobby. The handwriting is very familiar to me. It was my good friend Peggy’s handwriting.
Though I knew I don’t have much time to see her, we rushed to the immigration counter and walked thru the hallway to see her. We ran into each other arms. I know we were both in tears as we tightly hugged each other. We were eagerly planning to meet a week before on our way to Manila from LA where I had a whole day to spend with her. But her schedule didn’t permit us to do so. It was a big surprise to see her that day!
Imagine how short the 40 minutes stop over was for two friends sharing a deep friendship for many years and haven’t seen each other for about ten years. Minutes quickly passed and Peggy insisted that we should board the plane already. That was the time that I realized that my plane is leaving in five minutes. The Cathay counter clerk called the airplane crew but they said they couldn’t promise that they will wait for us.
I was so tensed and Peggy was worried, too. But, confidently she told me to go quickly, and insisting that we will make it! I said a prayer while my daughter and I had to run all the way to the immigration counter and to the boarding gate. Yes, the gate is still open and there was one more fellow passenger after us and the gate closed after that.
As I sat in the plane, I said my thanksgiving prayer. I knew all along that my friend Peggy prayed hard for us not to miss that flight. I knew that she prayed for the intercession of Saint Escrivá. I am sure of that because my friend Peggy is an active Opus Dei. And all I can say was thank you Saint Escrivá for the intercession and answered prayer!
Severina S. Parayaoan, Bermuda
11 de junio de 2005

Something really astonishing happened here
I prayed to Saint Josemaria for my father, because he had severe pancreatitis and the doctors told us that there was nothing that could be done because there was massive damage; and at 74 years of age, his state was extremely serious. I called on many of my friends to support me in my prayer, always accepting God’s will, but begging him that my father would be able to go to Confession and receive the anointing of the sick. All of this happened, and I still have the joy of having him with me a little longer, because today he is back at home. The doctor told me: “I don’t believe in miracles, but something really astonishing happened here.” Thanks to Saint Josemaria, my father will receive Communion today, since he has now started to take solid food. Thank you.
E. S. O., Peru
8 June 2005

Last Sunday
Saint Josemaria grants me many favours, because I ask him for lots of things every day. For example, last Sunday he granted me the following.
A friend and I had tickets for an opera. I suggested to another friend to come with us, but when she got to the box-office there were no more tickets left. I was afraid that this might happen and had already prayed two prayer-cards to Saint Josemaria in advance, asking him persistently that my friend would be able to get in and that we’d enjoy the opera. My friend waited a little while to see if anyone had a spare ticket, and in fact she found someone who had a spare one. This person didn’t even want to accept payment for it to begin with, but my friend insisted on paying for the ticket.
What’s more, we enjoyed the opera very much indeed.
Mara Emilia Cebrian Hernandez, Spain
31 May 2005

Our first child
The evening of November 16, 1986 was particularly peaceful. That day my wife had to go into hospital for the birth of our first child. Given our difficult financial situation the birth was to take place in a hospital that had only minimal facilities. The baby began to be born at 8.20 in the evening, and, unfortunately for us, the night staff came on duty at the hospital at 9 p.m.
At 9.10 p.m. the baby had still not been born. A good doctor, seeing the situation, encouraged my wife and the assistants to make a final effort, before they had to use forceps. The medical staff were definitely pessimistic, and were sure that the baby had cerebral palsy.
My wife, recalling Josemaría Escrivá's immense zeal, asked him to intercede for her, and God's mercy flooded into the place.
My son is now a healthy young man, a good son to us and a fine student. Moreover, he shows an certain inclination towards the religious life. Please pray that if it is God's will my son can find his path in consecrated life.
Luis Avalos, Mexico
May 11, 2005

Don't leave us alone now!
My little daughter was playing on her bicycle with her brothers and a friend. They gave her a fright and she fell off and banged her head. She didn't lose consciousness, but she said she felt dizzy, and looked very unwell. We didn't know where the blow had been, because when we asked her where it hurt she pointed to the whole of her head. The nearest medical centre was a mobile clinic. As I carried her to the car she was sick, and she was sick repeatedly as my husband drove us to the clinic. I shouted out, "Father, don't leave us alone now!" The nearest hospital was 100 km away. When we got to the clinic we could see the lump on her head. She began to get calmer. They took us to hospital in an ambulance, and there they examined her and found nothing wrong, so they sent us home. Next day the lump had disappeared and she had nothing but a slight headache.
M.R., Spain
May 6, 2005

A permanent job
My sister Liliana didn’t have a job and her family were very badly off. I did the novena to Saint Josemaría and placed her in God’s hands. I prayed for her life, her home and her job. Thanks to Saint Josemaría’s intercession, my sister now has a permanent job. We thank God for the intercession of the Saints.
Oscar Javier Chicuazuque Gil, Colombia
May 5, 2005

Finally I quit drugs
When I was 18 my father gave me the prayer to the Servant of God Josemaría Escrivá, and that was how I started to learn about him. Later on I found the book The Way, and that and the Gospel were the books that changed my life, because for years I was addicted to drugs and alcohol. In 2003 I went to confession on Ash Wednesday and God heard my prayer, and finally I quit drugs.
That’s how my life was, and every day when I say my rosary, at the end of each mystery I pray the prayer to Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer and the one to Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo. Now I have the job of visiting terminal cancer sufferers, and I take them the prayer to Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo and I beg God that through our Father’s intercession, Don Alvaro may be canonized.
V.H.R.C., Mexico
May 4, 2005

I met Saint Josemaría at the airport
Dear Sirs, I am 55 years old, married to a Supernumerary, and I met Saint Josemaría at Aurora Airport, Guatemala, in 1974. I was born in Castilla, Spain, and I first met the spirit of Opus Dei in 1957 when I took part as a child in the TV programme of Father Jesús Urteaga, and he gave me a spaceman’s helmet…
Later on I received a lot of information from an aunt, Concha Aycinena, from Guatemala. Every time I went to see her she would read me things from The Way, and she told me about the retreats in Altavista. I went every year for many years.
In 1973 I met my wife, Maria Eugenia. She had been a Supernumerary since she was 17, and she has supported me through every crisis in my life.
In the 1980s I was able to attend the formational activities offered for Cooperators in the Centro Balanyá, and there I was privileged to meet Dr. Ernesto Cofiño, whose process of beatification has now been started. I also received spiritual direction from priests of Opus Dei. We are familiar with all the films, get-togethers, triduums, books of Saint Josemaria.
Today my wife and I run more than one website. We are committed Catholics, with all our ups and downs, with our eyes on heaven and our feet on the ground, in spite of all difficulties, illnesses, whatever. Sanctifying our ordinary work, sanctifying others, and not missing any opportunities of talking about God and defending the Church and the Pope.
I owe all of this to the good basic education I received at schools run by Piarists at Donoso Cortes, Madrid, and by Jesuits at the Liceo Javier, and at the Ignatian Rafael Landivar University.
I hope all of this will be of some use for spreading the apostolate of Opus Dei around the world.
I.F.J. Sagone Aycinena, Guatemala
April 29, 2005

I already knew he was a man of God
I first read a Newsletter about the Founder of Opus Dei sixteen years ago, through a friend. I liked it and read all the testimonies, and learnt about the Work and its ideals. But that was the only contact I had with the Work, because I didn’t know anyone in Opus Dei – my friend couldn’t even remember how he had come by the Newsletter. I decided to study for a University degree as a mature student. On the day of my entrance examination I took with me a photograph of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, because looking at it gave me strength when I was stressed, since it was twenty years since I had last studied. I know it was through his intercession that I passed the exam, and with his help I will complete my studies, so when he was canonized I was overjoyed, because I already knew he was a man of God. Thank you, Father Josemaría! The fact that I’ve got where I am right now, and whatever I achieve in the future, is all through his intercession.
Leda Emilia, Mexico
April 28, 2005

Nothing bad happened
Just over two years ago a friend and I were driving over a level crossing late at night when we were stopped by six heavily-armed men, who made us get into another vehicle, and threatened and insulted us. All the time, both of us separately were thinking about Saint Josemaría, because that same afternoon we had been looking for some books about him to buy. I was terrified, but I thought about the “footprints in the snow” and felt calmer. After less than ten minutes they let us go, and nothing bad happened to us. They even let us have our car back.
Vanessa Ron
April 26, 2005

It was solved in 20 days
As I Catholic I always knew that the light of our Father God would shine on my path. At one stage in my life, problems were increasing by the day. A friend guided me towards Opus Dei and at that point Saint Josemaría (Blessed Josemaría as he then was) began to straighten out my path, together with our much-lamented John Paul II. I put my problem about my job in their hands, and they solved it in 20 days. Dear brothers and sisters, have Faith, have great Faith, because Josemaría is always attentive to our needs and can intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.
United in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Affectionately, Walter.
Walter Alejandro Flores Saraiva, Argentina
April 22, 2005

He always intercedes for us in Heaven
I heard about Opus Dei and the works of its Founder when I was 14. I needed a good mark in my history exam, and I asked God that I would get it, through the intercession of Saint Josemaría (who had not been canonized at that point) and I did.
Later on I took my degree in engineering and got a job, also after praying and petitioning Jesus through Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
Today I live at peace and with great joy because I know that Saint Josemaría is always interceding for us in Heaven.
I would like to receive information on the necessary procedure for becoming one of the faithful of the Prelature, if I am worthy, so that I can take Saint Josemaría’s teachings to the people around me.
May God bless you all, and fill you with graces, and may you always follow the mission of Saint Josemaría, taking the light of Christ everywhere.
Rodrigo Oliveira da Silva, Brazil
April 16, 2005

A taxi-driver gave me a prayer-card
One day I was on my way home from work when a taxi-driver gave me a prayer-card of Josemaría Escrivá. My nephew Leonardo had bronchial pneumonia and we were told that as he had fallen and struck his head, he might develop meningitis. He is only seven months old, and I prayed for there to be no complications in his illness. In the hospital they decided that the blow had not caused any harm, and sent him home, and he is already recovering from the pneumonia. He still needs treatment, but I thank God, and the one who obtained the miracle, that he is already better.
Maria de la Luz
April 10, 2005


I saw a film of Saint Josemaría
“Grow stronger in the face of obstacles. God’s grace will not fail you…” (The Way, 12). I’m a clinical psychologist at the Catholic University of Argentina. I first got a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría in 1977, when Opus Dei was expanding in Argentina. I picked up some magazines in my student hall of residence by chance. Without knowing anything about him, I prayed the prayer-card and learnt The Way by heart while I was studying for my Psychology degree. I prayed to him that I would get my degree. I not only found myself overcoming all sorts of obstacles – I was studying in San Juan, while my family lived in Buenos Aires – but I was given a specialist post at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. Now I’m doing a correspondence course for a teaching degree in Administration, with the Aeronautical University Institute, and still overcoming obstacles – I developed a very large fibro-myoma and underwent a high-risk operation, which was successful. In every circumstance of my life over the last 18 years (I’m now 43), Saint Josemaría has always been there for me. That’s my first testimony. I have never doubted Saint Josemaría’s effectiveness.
And I’d never seen him on film. As part of the news coverage of the death of our beloved Pope John Paul II there was a film of him on television. I just couldn’t believe it: SAINT JOSEMARIA!!
So I looked up this website to write to you, and now you are my virtual companions. This marks the end of a long journey for me – or the beginning. Thanks!!!!
Lili, Argentina
April 11, 2005

He looked after my wallet
Saint Josemaría did me a favour today. I went to the market to buy some clothes with my family. We chose what we wanted, and when we went to pay, I found that my wallet wasn’t in my bag. First I thought it had been stolen, which was very probable, since there were a lot of people and everyone was pushing and shoving. Then I thought perhaps I’d dropped it when I got out of the car, and if so I probably wouldn’t find it again. Immediately, I started praying to Saint Josemaría and yes, he had been looking after it the whole time, and there it was, between my car and the next one, waiting for us to go back for it. I always have a little medal of the Father in my wallet. Thank you, Saint Josemaría!!!!!!!!!
Marisa Antonucci, Argentina
April 10, 2005

He helps me in big things and little ones
On December 8 2004 I was diagnosed with myomas (fibroids) in the uterus, which seriously worried me, and the doctor looking after me said from the start that I would have to have an operation to remove the uterus and, if necessary, the ovaries too. I would never be able to have children. Two months went by, and at the beginning of February I had severe pains that lasted the whole day, so I went back to the doctor. He told my mother that they would have to operate, but the cost of the operation was very high and we had no money. So I decided to go to the state hospital where they did some basic checks (ultrasound scan and other studies) on February 8. The ultrasound scan showed four myomas. When I gave the results to the doctor at the hospital, he just booked me to have more scans on May 11.
My mother and I were really worried and decided to consult a different doctor. I’d been praying to our Lord for this intention ever since December. And I prayed through the intercession of Saint Josemaría, who has granted other favours to me and my family. On March 4 I had one last ultrasound scan and this time our Lord had touched me: there were no myomas. The previous four scans had all come up with the same result: uterine myomatosis.
The doctor came over and asked what the scan had found. The person who had done the scan told him they’d shown that there was nothing. They asked me to go outside, and a few minutes later they gave me the results. I went out to where my sister Ana was waiting for me and the only thing I could say was “I don’t have the myomas any more.” She was dumbstruck. Looking at the results of the ultrasound scan, it was true, the myomas has disappeared. I attribute this to the intercession of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, who I love so much and who gives me so much help in big things and small ones.
Maria Teresa Fuentes Salinas, Mexico
April 9, 2005

Victim of a professional con-man
I have my own small business which I have built up with a lot of hard work over many years. A few months ago I fell victim to a professional con-man who got hold of almost all my money, and it was impossible to recover it. I thought I’d lost everything and was facing economic ruin. I prayed to Saint Josemaría. He heard my prayer and I recovered it all quite unexpectedly in just a few days.
Federico Bravo, Spain
April 8, 2005

Our Pope, shepherd and father
I hope that this Easter may be a time of resurrection for all human beings. May this Easter be a sign of rebirth for all that we tend to forget in the course of our lives: love, peace, hope, generosity, gratitude, self-giving to our neighbour…
We have the misfortune to lose our Pope, shepherd and father; but above and beyond all, we have to see him as a great son of God who fulfilled his mission.
I have to admit that, when I saw Pope John Paul II, I could sense the aspect of him that was more than human: gift of self, cooperation, dialogue, but without losing his weakness, his sufferings and moments of sadness.
I pray that at this time when the eyes of the world are on this new stage in the Church’s life, we may all be agents of peace, messengers of hope and transmitters of love.
May our Lady, Mother of God, intercede for the Pope in Heaven.
May the Holy Spirit pour out his gifts on our Cardinals who will be choosing a new man as our spiritual father.
May God always receive us with open arms. Amen
Tiago Cardoso da Silva, Brazil
April 5, 2005

In difficult situations
About fifteen years ago a friend of mine, who is in Opus Dei, gave me a leaflet with the prayer to Saint Josemaria Escriva. During all these years, whenever I find myself in difficult and seemingly hopeless situations, I use the prayer. As well as the consolation I experience after praying, my petitions have always been granted by Saint Josemaria, who has given me many graces over the years.
Mauro Augusto Gomes, Brazil
April 7, 2005

I’ve changed so much
Every day that passes, Saint Josemaria helps me. It seems light-years ago since I first learnt about his message. I’ve changed – I’ve changed so much! Good gives rise to good. Saint Josemaria has taught me to live my working life with my eyes on our Lord, with affection for my brothers and sisters – all of them; and the years of despairing stress, the dissatisfaction, the sense of emptiness, belong to the past. I had the solution to all my problems right in front of my eyes and I couldn’t see it: the solution was Christ. Saint Josemaria gave me a hand and made me “see”.
Maria, Italy
April 3, 2005

I started my medical studies
I come from a very modest background, and lived in the heart of the country. I started my medical studies at a University in the capital city in 2002. Once, looking at the internet, I had found this web-page, and that was what motivated me to seek in prayer the encouragement I needed to carry on trying to get a place on the course, since there were 2500 applicants for only 200 places. Thanks to these prayers I got a place, and someone telephoned me from Entremares, a hall of residence for students which is run by Opus Dei. Up till then I never realised that the Work existed in Panama – in fact at first I thought it was a joke. But I went there and spent two marvelous years of my life there. I was lucky enough to go to our Founder’s Canonization. Now I still often visit Entremares. So that is what I wanted to say about the prayer on the Internet and contact with the residence. I never talked about it until now because when I went the first time for my interview I didn’t want to surprise the director with it, but I am deeply conscious of the fact that it was thanks to Saint Josemaria’s intercession that I got into University and the course I love so much.
Carlos, Panama
April 2, 2005

He didn’t leave go of the prayer-card for a minute
A year ago, on March 24, my husband had a stroke. The diagnosis was terrible, showing that the area of the brain controlling speech had been damaged. A friend of mine gave me a prayer-card of Monsignor Escrivá which had touched his tomb. Fernando, my husband, didn’t leave go of the prayer-card for a minute, and our children were all praying to Saint Josemaria. A year after the stroke, or even sooner, Fernando had recovered 100 per cent, restored to what he was before. The doctors say it can’t be called a miracle, but for us and the people who were looking after him, it is one. Next week he’s going to have a magnetic resonance scan to measure the current state of the damaged area and we are praying to Saint Josemaria that it will all be alright.
Magdalena Walker Mena, Chile
April 1, 2005

Always saying yes to our Lord
I want to write my testimony here, my immense gratitude to Saint Josemaria. Thanks to him, today there are thousands and thousands of people in the world who are endlessly concerned for those around them, and trying to do every tiny detail of their lives well, helping you to smile, to be at ease, to come closer to your Father God and love him more and more. I’m 17 and I’ve just had a wonderful Holy Week in Torreciudad. With so many priests at the service of the faithful and the great family atmosphere there, I have come closer to God and enjoyed some unforgettable days. And if Saint Josemaria hadn’t said yes to God’s call, none of that would have happened, none of it would exist. So we owe him a lot, and I pray to him to help us be as open as he was to the touch of grace, always saying yes to our Lord. May he help us to fulfil our mission in life. Thank you, Saint Josemaria.
Matt, Spain
March 31, 2005

My time at University
I met Opus Dei during my time at University and took part in some very beautiful gatherings of young people, and I still remember some extraordinary homilies that made a deep impression on me. For a time I “left” Saint Josemaria, because I moved to another city, got a job and started a family. In 1994 I was diagnosed with a growth that suggested cancer of the uterus and I felt desperate. By chance – or not – when I was going through some old things of mine I found the prayer to Saint Josemaria again, and I prayed to him to intercede for my health. During the three months of treatment which were to decide my future, I prayed to him with great faith, and the growth disappeared. From then on I have said the prayer every day, praying especially for the health of my family and the sick people I know, and other favours too. I sent in an account of the help I had received at the time, and I hope it was added to the thousands which contributed to Monsignor Escriva’s canonization. Over the past two or three years I have had several illnesses, some of them serious. I always entrusted my health to Saint Josemaria, and I am totally convinced that I came through them all thanks to his mediation. I can also say that I asked him for light to overcome difficult situations, and he sent it to me. Today I’ve just come through some medical checks that I was very worried about, and everything was fine, so I feel the need to give my testimony again. I have no doubt about his intervention, and I am resolved to go on saying the prayer to him every day of my life.
N. F., Argentina
March 31, 2005

Radio Horizonte
I am writing to you from Radio Horizonte, www.radiohorizonte.org, a Catholic radio which transmits exclusively online and works 24/7 to propagate the Gospel. I wanted to tell you that on 4 September 2004 we went to Torreciudad to consecrate this new station to Our Lady of Torreciudad; and that our daily schedule includes The Way, Saint Josemaría’s first book. Our programme “The Way” is broadcast live every day from 12.15 to 12.30 and from 6.15 to 6.30. “The Way” has a direct, non-confrontational, conversational tone, and listeners encounter the demanding truths of religion in a climate of trust and friendship. We hope that our work is doing a lot of good on the spiritual plane to all our vistors and listeners.
Martha and Paco Arreola, Spain

A good boyfriend
Last year a friend of mine gave me a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría. We both began to do a novena asking Saint Josemaría to help us find a good boyfriend, Catholic, single, hard-working and clean-living. Both of us have a lot of devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I met my present boyfriend on 12 December – her feast-day. So I’m sure that it was our Lady and Saint Josemaría who sent him to me. What began as a novena is now my daily prayer. I’m sure that Saint Josemaría and our beloved Lady of Guadalupe will send a boyfriend for my friend too.
EVL, Mexico
24 March 2005

My father was in coma
In 2002 my father suffered a cerebral aneurism, which resulted in a stroke. He was in a very serious condition, and was taken to the Hospital Paulistano. The doctors prepared my family to expect the worst, but we didn’t lose faith. I asked a priest from the Itaim Cultural Centre to come and visit him in the intensive care unit. When my father was in coma, Father Carlos prayed through Saint Josemaría’s intercession that our petition would be heard and that the sick man would live. From the following day all the news was good and he made a full recovery. By the end of the month he was out of hospital, and three months later he went back to work. I don’t know if it can be said to be a miracle, but I firmly believe that if we ask with faith through Saint Josemaría’s intercession, it seems that we are heard immediately.

A difficult family situation
In my family we have known about Saint Josemaría for many years, and I in particular had prayed to him on different occasions. However, now a very difficult situation arose in our family. By chance (these things are never really chance…) I found a prayer-card in my desk and decided to do a novena now in Lent, and miraculously the situation we were going through cleared up – it was really amazing. I promised to send my testimony and to give more prayer-cards to people in need of spiritual support.
Thank you, Saint Josemaría! He is working many miracles right now, especially in ordinary life.
L.A., Mexico
20 March 2005

Spanish classes
Saint Josemaría has interceded for me in absolutely everything I’ve asked him for. The last time he did so was when I asked him to enable me to continue giving Spanish classes to a group who had hired me a couple of times. I did a novena to Saint Josemaría so that I could go on with the classes, and asked him to send me more hours of work and more students. The next time I saw the group there was a new student with them, and they told me they wanted to continue studying with me and increase the class hours.
A devotee of Saint Josemaría,
Maria Luisa Silva Torres, Enschede, Netherlands
19 March 2005

Our second child
Last November (2004), our second child was born. Everything was going well until the actual moment of giving birth, when there were serious complications. The doctor did everything he could, but he was powerless to change the situation. I am a doctor myself, and, aware of the complications and the risk of death, I prayed as though standing at the foot of the Cross, and begged Saint Josemaría for his intercession.
Little by little the situation started to improve and in a few hours everything had returned to normal. Thank you, Saint Josemaría, for helping my family to go forward intact, and bear witness from ordinary life.
J.G.O., Colombia
13 March 2005

My chosen career
Recently I was feeling profoundly disheartened because I couldn’t find any opening to continue to develop my chosen career.
A short while ago I decided to pray to God for this intention through the prayer to Saint Josemaría. Almost immediately I received a job offer of teaching in the same faculty where I had studied myself. I have continued ever since to thank him for the favour he granted me and to pray for his continuous guidance in my working life.
J.P., Argentina
13 March 2005

The impossible happened
Hi! I first heard about Saint Josemaría when I was spending time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during my lunch hour one day. When I got up to go, a lady and her daughter were sitting on a bench in the church. She was from Argentina and living in Brazil, and she gave me a leaflet with the prayer, and said that she had seen me praying with so much devotion that she got the idea of giving me the leaflet. She said that when her twin daughters were born, one of them was very weak and her life was in danger. She found this prayer and begged Saint Josemaría to help her daughter. The baby got better, thank God. Well, whether or not it is a coincidence, I am the mother of twins too. At that time I had to take an exam for a master’s degree, for which I had already taken three English tests without success. That day, with the Saint in my hand, I knew I could commend my needs to him, and I decided I would take the Spanish test, even though I’d been preparing for the English one. Thank God, the impossible happened and I passed the test. Thank you! I wanted to share this grace, and others which are still to come.
Cristiane Pessoa, Brazil
8 March 2005

Nine days later
At the end of September 2004 I had an operation for a ruptured tendon in my shoulder. Although I followed the treatment and rehabilitation as directed, I did not recover the movement of my arm, and my shoulder continued to be painful. In January the doctor told me that if I did not recover at least partial arm movement within two weeks, they would have to operate again. The idea of having another operation got me down, so I decided to begin a novena to Saint Josemaría asking him to cure me, and if not, to help me accept God’s will. Nine days later I no longer had any pain, and I quickly began to make a full recovery. I want to express my thanks for this favour, in which I clearly see Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
Aurora Bellas, Spain
1 March 2005

I asked him to guide this young man
I had just arrived at a hostel with my two-year-old baby, who was going to have some treatment in hospital. I went to give him a wash, and when I got back to the room I found that my bag was missing, containing some cosmetics and my watch. I immediately reported the loss to the person in charge, who told me that it could have been the young man who did the cleaning, who had just left. Then I want with my baby to the city centre where there is a church and a big picture of Saint Josemaría, and I started to pray that I’d get my things back, but even more, I asked him to guide this young man not to commit any more thefts, because like that he’d never get a job. Then I prayed for something else and if I am granted it I will write again.
When I got back to the hostel, the lady in charge told me, much to my surprise, that in such a big city they’d managed to find the young man, and he had given back my make-up things, but the watch wasn’t there. I didn’t get upset, but went up to the room and got an even greater surprise, on finding the watch on the bed, where I had searched so thoroughly for it before. Saint Josemaría does listen to us, so pray to him a lot for everything. This happened February 21, 2005.
M. A. A.

The path of my vocation
I thank God for Saint Josemaría Escrivá’s writings, because they have sustained me and motivated me along the path of my vocation to the Ministerial Priesthood. And also, in the serious problems in my family, we have felt filled with the presence of God and have learned to believe more in the Church as the body of Christ.
O. J. C., Colombia
22 February 2005

Friends prayed for me to Saint Josemaría
I was taken by ambulance to hospital with a suspected hernia, which was very painful. I was examined by 3 doctors on Tuesday night, and they said I would have to have an operation next morning. Friends prayed for me to St Josemaria at the meeting I should have attended on Tuesday night. In the morning, when the consultant came and examined me, I told him I had no more pain, so he said: "You can go home."
Patrick Black, England
18 February 2003

I was all adrift
Although my parents had been trying for a long time to bring home to me the importance of faith in Saint Josemaría Escrivá’s intercession, I was slow to catch on. Then one day it clicked. I have read and re-read The Way. I have prayed intensely to Saint Josemaría and our Lady, and from that point on I’ve felt really strong, because I’m conscious that I’m never alone: my work and my professional life are constantly filled with God’s help. Thanks to the prayer and the kindly gaze of Saint Josemaría, who looks after me like a good father, I know that I shall never lack anything. And just as he taught us, our Lady runs to meet the child who is weakest, sickest and most adrift. Because that’s the one that most needs her loving embrace and her help.
A.P., Italy
15 February 2005

We signed the sale contract
Favour received from Saint Josemaría.
I needed to sell my apartment to reduce the mortgage on the new one I’d just bought. A buyer came forward by changed his mind a few days later. We were very short of money. One night my wife and I began to pray the prayer to Saint Josemaría. The next day a woman who had seen the “For Sale” sign in the window came up to see the apartment because she thought it might do for her son. Last Friday we signed the sale contract. We are convinced that this was a favour from Saint Josemaría.
R.C.P., Spain
14 February 2005

She was just minutes from death
My five-year old daughter, Rachel Ashley, was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome caused by bacterial tracheitis on December 21, 2004. The emergency department physicians weren't able to diagnose her for approximately six hours while she became progressively worse. I'm a cooperator of Opus Dei and I truly could not even pray the last half hour before her diagnosis was made because I was terrified that through prayer I would realize that it was God's will for her to return to him. I asked St. Josemaría and Our Blessed Lady to please pray for me because I couldn't find it in myself at this most difficult time.

Within minutes of my prayers an Intensive Care Unit doctor came into the room and recognized her condition to be toxic shock. Steps were taken there and then to stabilize her once they knew what was wrong. It was still touch and go for the next 12 hours. We were told to prepare for her liver and kidneys to shut down and for her to go on a ventilator. With the help of many friends, Rachel was being prayed for by an entire school, Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh, whose spiritual director is an Opus Dei priest. She was also put on many, many prayer chains. In particular the people of Opus Dei from Grandvue, in Pittsburgh, were praying for her to St. Josemaría Escrivá.

Rachel made it through the night without any organ failure, and the next morning the doctors were thrilled to report to me that every organ was "100 percent fine." I later found out that one of the people of the Work, a friend of mine, in particular was praying to St. Josemaría that Rachel come out "100 percent" fine with no complications. That is exactly what happened. At least three different doctors said that it was "miraculous" that she not only recovered so quickly, but that she had absolutely no lasting effects.

It being so close to Christmas, I prayed to St. Josemaría, using the prayer card, that if possible could she make it home for Christmas. She was supposed to be in the hospital for at least a week or more. Well, she made it home on Christmas Eve at 4:00 p.m. She is happy, healthy, and I'm sure she doesn't understand yet what a miracle took place, but someday she will. I know without a doubt that it was St. Josemaría interceding for my child that brought her from being just minutes from death, to where she is now. I don't even have the words to express my gratitude.
TERRI URBASH, USA

I thank Saint Josemaría
One day a friend gave me a prayer-card of Saint Josemaría Escrivá. From that time on I began to ask him for little graces which were granted straight away. My special request was for my daughter, who couldn’t find a job. Days after I finished the novena, that grace was given to me. From then on I always do the novena, and I thank Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
Silvia Gomez, Argentina
February 4, 2005

He was a man of God
When I read Andres Vazquez de Prada’s book The Founder of Opus Dei about Saint Josemaría, I was captivated by the way he lived in the world without being corrupted by it, because he was a man of God. Now I take him as my model of holiness. I am trying to reach holiness in my life, which I know is difficult, but at such times I think of him and our Lady, because they managed to overcome all limitations.
Tiago Cardoso da Silva, Brazil
February 4, 2005

Far from home
I’m from Paraguay but I’ve lived for some time in Brazil, where I married and have a baby. I had enormous devotion to Saint Josemaría, but this devotion increased still more after a serious health problem. I fell downstairs and fractured the base of the femur in my leg, and then a bone tumour was discovered. At that point I had a 3-month-old baby and no health insurance. It was very hard for my husband and me to tackle this problem, because on top of everything we were far from our families. But from the very first moment I entrusted myself to Saint Josemaría, and that same week, through his work, my husband managed to get me sent to an excellent hospital, completely free. The tumour turned out to be benign, and a pin was put in the bone. My baby, thank God, did not suffer any harm from my absence, as my mother-in-law looked after him wonderfully. I’m still convalescing, but I feel sure that without Saint Josemaría’s intercession I might not be telling this story today. I believe that God always sends us trials, but never leaves us without the strength we need to be able to face up to them.
Alice Aranda Peres, Piracicaba, Sao Paulo
January 28, 2005

Deadlocked
Two days ago I took a very difficult examination to gain the professional qualification of Project Manager. I studied very hard for a year to prepare for it. However, in the days leading up to the exam, what seemed to be a solid rock of knowledge turned into a sea of insecurity, confusion and doubts inside me. I was deadlocked. I think that God sent me that trial to get rid of any trace of pride and complacency. Without hesitating, I prayed intensely to Saint Josemaría’s intercession and asked for the help of the prayers of friends and family. Once I was faced with the exam, the answers just came to me, one by one, as each question came up. The results were excellent, but I give all the credit to God and to Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
H. R., Venezuela
January 27, 2005

We each serve a purpose
Through the Internet I have been able to make contact every week with the life, teachings, writings and testimonies of Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
I knew very little about him, and very few of the people I know had heard of him either. But that’s how divine grace and God’s Providence work out.
I myself am truly amazed at what the Holy Spirit does: he gives me the strength, words and discernment to talk about this Saint. I have found this in different places: in public and private offices, health institutions, family gatherings, on the bus, on the beach, at the university. In other words I can’t stop talking about him and giving people prayer-cards.
Right now I am savouring and meditating on The Way. It is so strong, so practical, so full of wisdom that it strikes me anew every day. I always have it with me so as not to waste a single moment.
Number 484 says: ‘All are useful; we each serve a purpose. As in material things: would anyone dare assert that the carpenter’s saw is less useful than the surgeon’s scalpel? Your duty is to be an instrument.’
Number 479 says: ‘Forward! Without fear!’
I. G., Panama
January 27, 2005

Their whole life in God’s service
I don’t think it would be right to keep quiet about a favour granted me through Josemaría Escrivá’s intercession. What happened was that two of my best friends, who are religious, wrote to me and said that they were going to leave their order. I was really concerned that two servants of God wanted to leave Him, and I suffered for them. They’d already fixed the date when they would leave the novitiate and the order. Somehow I got on the Internet and found a page where people could write and ask for prayers for an intention, so I asked for prayers for those two friends, that they would not leave the religious life. A few days afterwards someone I didn’t know wrote back to me with the most encouraging news: he was going to pray for me and for my intention through the intercession of Saint Josemaría, and he told me this so that I wouldn’t lose hope.
That was about six months ago, perhaps a bit less, and just now, to my great joy, I received the news that my brothers in religion were renewing their vows and were going to continue in their order. I don’t know if they will reach the goal, being ordained priests and continuing as good religious until their deaths. I only know that those friends of mine would have been out of the order by now, and they are still in it today. If it has been possible to achieve their perseverance for this year, prayer will also achieve their perseverance for their whole life in God’s service. I didn’t know about Saint Josemaría Escrivá, but I don’t doubt that it must have been he who interceded for my friends.
I’ve never written a testimony before, I would like to learn how to give and write more, because I have no doubt of the favours that can be obtained through Saint Josemaría’s intercession.
J. Q. G., Bolivia
January 26, 2005

Intense love for the Blessed Virgin Mary
I am deeply grateful to Saint Josemaría for the help I received through his intercession to find a job. I came in contact with Opus Dei, learnt about his life and strengthened my faith. One of the most important lessons I received from him was intense love and constant admiration for the Blessed Virgin Mary. I can assure everyone who reads this, whether believers or not, that getting to know about Saint Josemaría, having devotion to him, and receiving his invaluable help, are something that can radically transform each of our lives.
Alejandro Pineda Meneses, Colombia
January 26, 2005

Just do it!
For the past year Saint Josemaría has been very much on my mind and on my husband’s mind too. Our lives have changed for the better, understanding the supernatural meaning of everyday things. I believe he is making us into better people with his teachings. I invite you to take an interest in this wise Saint Josemaría. Just do it!
Raquel Torrado, Spain
January 25, 2005

Nowadays I am entrusting the conversion of my family to Saint Josemaría
St. Josemaria has granted the favor I have been asking for him daily for the past few years now.
In November last year, my father had gastrointestinal bleeding. He was rushed to the hospital and was able to recuperate after a few days. I prayed hard to St. Josemaria. My father was given a prayer card with a relic which he placed under his pillow and prayed to for healing. He recovered in less than a week, and my miracle was granted: he has also been cured of his chronic addiction to alcohol and tobacco at the same time, a problem which greatly affected our family life, and the favor I had been praying to St. Josemaria for. Nowadays, I am entrusting the spiritual conversion of my family to St. Josemaria.
J.A., Philippines
January 25, 2005

Because of the fright
A colleague of mine had been suffering from ill-health because of cardiac arrhythmia. He felt discouraged about it and did not have the energy to work properly. His wife was expecting a baby. He went for hospital checks and had two electrocardiograms. The doctor who saw him said that he was not at all well, and made him an appointment to see a consultant five days later so that he could have more thorough checks done. My colleague noticed that his pulse kept stopping and then starting up again very strongly. He got a phone call from his wife asking him to take her into hospital, and he set off in his car to look after her. I was very worried about him and I began praying to Saint Josemaría for him, because I thought it would be terrible if the baby was born and his father died at the same time. As my friend was driving, a pedestrian started to cross the road in front of him. He slackened speed to let the pedestrian cross, but just as the pedestrian got to the middle of the road he changed his mind and went back again. My friend braked sharply and got the fright of his life, thinking he had hit the pedestrian. But, thank God, everything was all right. When he got home he checked his pulse-rate and found that it was quite normal, and his pulse was not stopping and starting as it had before. At the same time the tiredness and indisposition he’d been feeling for some time had disappeared. I think that the fright he got was the work of Saint Josemaría, to make his heart start functioning normally again. Two days later his son Jeronimo was born, and my friend is fine.
Fabio Mejía Norena, Colombia
11 January 2005

At a difficult time for the whole world
Hi. I am from Italy and I wrote to you on 24 November to tell how I managed to re-establish a little contact with a friend after six months, thanks to Saint Josemaría’s intercession, after we had quarrelled over something completely unimportant. Today I can tell you that I have received another miracle from our Father, because peace has been restored and our friendship is as strong as it ever was before. I am absolutely certain that without the help of this great saint I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I thank almighty God and Saint Josemaría that, at such a difficult time for the whole world they gave a bit of thought to my case, which is obviously insignificant compared with the suffering of the people in south-east Asia or other people who are being killed in stupid wars and suffering from man’s injustice. Thank you, Father, from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget what you have done for me.
R. P., Italy
10 January 2005

From one day to the next
I don’t really know where to start. I have known Opus Dei since I was little, and whenever I have any problem I pray to Saint Josemaría and, lately, to Isidoro Zorzano as well. I am writing this to give thanks with all my heart for the many favours the Father has granted me. I will tell about one very big one. I run a business with one other partner, my brother. Two years ago we were going through a difficult situation, with many problems, and I could see that without help from Heaven those problems would not disappear and the business would go under, causing all sorts of financial and family difficulties. At that time my wife was not working and we had one child. I decided to pray to the Founder of Opus Dei to help us get the business back on its feet. I prayed with faith for three months, but I could see that things were not getting any better but were actually getting worse, and I got discouraged and stopped praying the prayer-card so hard. However, on second October 2002, before getting into bed, I knelt down and said three Hail Marys as I do every night, and then I realised that it was the day that Opus Dei had been founded. So without praying the prayer-card, I asked the Founder for something almost impossible, and thanked him for it in advance. On third October I had a telephone call which changed the situation of our business from one day to the next. From that day on I made Saint Josemaría an honorary partner in the business.
I would also like to thank Isidoro Zorzano for a favour he has obtained for us very recently. My wife had not been working outside the home. She began to apply for jobs and send in her resumé to companies, praying to Isidoro Zorzano in her turn. In less than six weeks she found a very good job with great hours that meant she could be at home with our two children nearly every afternoon. And from this February onwards she’ll be combining it with another part-time job of just three hours a week, in the afternoons.
Juan Gonzalez, Spain
7 January 2005

The car was completely wrecked
One New Year’s Day I got up at seven in the morning and went to my son’s room. I found that he hadn’t come in, so I called him on his mobile but got no answer. I was worried and began saying the prayer to Saint Josemaría, asking for his intercession so that my son would be all right. At 7.35 my son called me to say he’d just had an accident, but that he was OK. I went to the place where the accident had happened. The car was completely wrecked, but miraculously my son was unhurt. That happened after I’d prayed to Saint Josemaría to protect him. Isn’t that a miracle?
G. S., Mexico
7 January 2005

She was born on January 9
Twenty-seven years ago, through the intercession of Msgr Escrivá, the miracle happened that my daughter was born safely and in good health. It was a difficult, high-risk pregnancy. I prayed to many saints and our Blessed Lady, which is why my daughter is called Margarita Lourdes (for Our Lady of Lourdes). When she was born, I asked all those intercessors to let us know in some way which of them had interceded for us, so that I could go on thanking them my whole life long, because the gift of a child is something that can never be repaid. On the same day my daughter was born, in the evening, a person in Opus Dei came to visit me (it wasn’t the same person who had given me the prayer-card with the prayer to Msgr Escrivá). As she came through the door she said, “I’ve come to congratulate the lucky mother whose little daughter was born on the same day as Msgr Escrivá!” That was the sign I’d asked for, because in fact my daughter’s birth had been inexplicably delayed, and the doctor had actually said to my husband and me that this baby wanted to be born on January 9. Now, next Sunday, through God’s grace my daughter will be twenty-seven. But that isn’t the whole miracle. She got married and is now expecting a baby. Her pregnancy has been even more difficult than mine, because at two months she had a thrombosis in one leg and she has had to stay in bed ever since. With a lot of faith on our part, the baby has continued to develop, and on January 17 it will be seven months, and the doctor has arranged a caesarean for that date. We are still praying with great faith to Saint Josemaría, as he now is, to intercede for us with our Blessed Lady so that my daughter and grandchild will both be safe and well.
Margarita Lafón de Carrasco, Mexico
4 January 2005

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