God doesn’t let himself be outdone in generosity

Alvaro Vidal, IT manager for a wholesale store, Uruguay

January 1, 2002

Tags: Generosity, Children, Catechetical trips I work in a wholesale store, managing IT and liquid assets, and combine my job with being a father of ten – seven girls and three boys. I’ve been married for twenty-five years. My oldest daughter is married and I’m now a grandfather, and my youngest son is five. I’m one of eleven brothers – a complete football team –, and we have one sister.
My father always worked hard and went without plenty of things for the good of his children. For example, when the Founder of Opus Dei visited Argentina in 1974, my parents decided to sell all the new bathroom equipment they’d just bought, and re-use the old things. They spent the money on taking the whole family to Buenos Aires by the overnight boat across the Rio de la Plata.
Up until that time I didn’t know much about Opus Dei. One of my older brothers had told me a bit about it because he used to go to a university hall of residence, and I myself had gone to a boy’s club a few times, where they held different activities. I do remember very clearly the huge gatherings with the Founder of Opus Dei in Buenos Aires, and a special meeting he had with my family, when he gave a blessing to my parents and all of us children.
Back in Montevideo, I didn’t keep in contact with Opus Dei. In 1976 I started work as a cashier at the “Mercado Modelo”, Montevideo’s main fruit and vegetable market. I had to get up at two in the morning, since I had to open the cashier’s office at four. I was going out with my girlfriend in the evenings, and I got very little sleep. That had already caused me to make some mistakes in the cash balance, and one day I told my boss that I was going to leave the job because I wasn’t doing it well and it wasn’t right for me. But he told me that if I wanted to, he could move me to the central offices in La Teja, where I’d have a different timetable. There I met an accountant who was in Opus Dei, and I started working with him. He soon told me more about Opus Dei and I began to go to formative activities provided by the Work.
What made the deepest impression on me was the message that we were all called to holiness. That was what most attracted my attention, but at the same time it was quite hard, because it demanded something in exchange. I realised that if other people could do it, I could at least try. I knew it would be difficult, but it filled me with enthusiasm.
Some time afterwards, when I was already married and had two daughters, I asked to join Opus Dei. Ever since I was a boy, I’d hoped to have a lot of children. It was one of the things I was very concerned about. The other was how give them a good upbringing. I think that God arranged things for my wife and me so that both things were compatible; the fact that we had six girls first helped enormously. I don’t want to think of what it would have been like if the six eldest had been boys. Lots of people said that we carried on having children because I kept hoping for a boy, but, joking apart, it helped us a lot because the girls were able to help in the house and my wife could go on working. Anyway, after the first boy came, we still had more children.
My wife and I lived for ten years in an apartment measuring 51 square metres, with just three bedrooms, and we managed to live there with nine children. There were so many of us that for birthday celebrations we had to clear the furniture out of our bedroom because otherwise we couldn’t all fit in. We took the bed out to make room for everyone. When we physically had no more room, we all, parents and children, prayed through Saint Josemaria’s intercession asking him to solve the question of the house. We prayed to him for a long time and finally a new house came like a gift from heaven. We had bought our apartment on a mortgage and were still paying it off. We sold the apartment with no debts, by taking out another mortgage for the one we were going to buy. We had three months to buy a new apartment, and when there were just two weeks still to go, we found this house which neither my wife nor I liked. We went to see it a few times, while increasing our prayers to the Founder of Opus Dei. The fourth time we went, we were going to tell the owner that we weren’t really interested, and the only way I could put it was to say that we’d offer ten thousand dollars less than the asking price. To my surprise he accepted. I said to him, “Think it over,” … and in the end there was nothing else we could do except buy the house, and in fact it was just right. It was in quite bad condition before, and now we are delighted with it. And it’s impossible to get a house as good as that, for the price we paid. What’s more, one of the things we asked for when we prayed to Saint Josemaria was for the house to be near a church, because we don’t have a car and it’s very hard to get to Mass otherwise. And, unbelievably, there’s a convent just on the corner where they have Mass every day, and another church three blocks away.
I’m not pretending that having a large family is easy. It means making lots of sacrifices and leaving many things behind, but I’m convinced it can be done and that it’s worth while. What I find very useful is looking at the life of the Founder of Opus Dei, since one of the things that always strikes me is how faithful he was to everything God asked of him, how he responded straight away, never letting himself get slack.
Another aspect that surprises me and really helps me is the love and affection he always had for others, for his children, in the way he spoke and explained things and attended to the smallest details. Every time I see a film of gatherings of the Founder with his children, I get moved all over again, because I realise how much Josemaria loved. Thinking about all that he did, how he often did things even without feeling like it, or when he was tired, helps me to put myself in his place and keep going when I feel like slackening off a bit and not doing things properly.
The Founder of Opus Dei also helps me a lot in family life. There are many things in my character that I am trying to improve, though I still have a long way to go. For example, I’ve always liked what Saint Josemaria used to say about having a bright and cheerful home. And about being the first to say sorry, both to one’s wife or husband, and to one’s children. Although it’s a difficult thing to do, I try to say sorry, because it’s something I find especially hard.
It’s true that as we went on having more children, there were people who said it was wrong and irresponsible of us. I think that sometimes they say that to justify themselves. And what I’m absolutely clear about is that we don’t feel the need to have things we can do without. You quickly forget about the difficulties you go through. What stays with you is something else – the children, the joys. I can even see that the times when we’ve been seriously short of money have also helped us a lot to form our children’s characters.
The Founder of Opus Dei taught us that, although we should do all we can, we should trust in God, and that God won’t let himself be outdone in generosity. Now we are having to make a great effort for our children’s education. We’re having to go without so many things, but we’re more than convinced that it’s all worth while, because we’ve had the proof of it. I often feel that God has given me a special privilege, because of all that I’ve received. I so often see people who are better than me and have more virtues than I do, yet they haven’t received all that I’ve received from God. I’m very much aware of it.
I also hear some people say that Opus Dei is for the elite. I’ve never felt at a disadvantage because I’ve no money, and I’ve never felt uncomfortable, because I’ve always seen people of every kind and every social class there. Perhaps if someone’s got a lot, it’s harder for them to give what they have than it is for me, since I have little or nothing. And I see many very generous people in Opus Dei who live their lives for others, when because of their affluent background they could be leading very different lives. If I’d belonged to a rich family, there’s no saying where I’d be by now. God certainly knows what he’s doing.