Sadness is an ally of the enemy Tags: Joy, Apostolate My name is Vesna Ostoic and I’m from Chile, in South America. I am married with three children: Camila (9), Barbara (7) and Trini (4). My husband’s name is Milton, and he works for a mining company. In January 2007, because of his job, we moved from London to a mining town in the south of Namibia called Rosh Pinah. The closest cities to us are Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and Cape Town in South Africa, both over 900 km from Rosh Pinah. Coming to live here was a difficult decision. After a lot of prayer, not only my own but that of many other people, I realized that we were doing the right thing and accepting God’s Will. Life here is not simple in any way at all. From the spiritual point of view, what you miss is being able to receive the Sacraments frequently. We have one Catholic church here, a really beautiful one, and not quite as desperately poor as the rest of the houses in the town. It is very welcoming. Mass is celebrated just one Sunday a month. The parishioners are joyful when they come to Mass: the church is filled with songs of praise to God, and people dance. We are the only white people in the whole parish. In these surroundings, far from my relatives and the people who would help me in my Christian living with their advice, I notice God’s help in a very special way, and I rely on the support of what I have learned by meditating on St Josemaria’s life and teachings. When a tinge of sadness creeps in I quickly react against it, recalling what he used to say: “Sadness is an ally of the enemy”. And I never leave aside my regular times of prayer. I also try to stay in God’s presence all the time by saying many aspirations, short vocal prayers, and words of love to our Lady, our wonderful Mother. I know that I am never alone and that very many Christians are praying for me, perhaps without even knowing my name. And so the words of the Psalm that I pray every day, “Though a war-host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear!” remind me that God will not let anything bad happen to us. When I find things difficult, there comes to mind point 983 from St Josemaria’s book The Way: “To begin is easy. To persevere is sanctity”. During the day I try to keep in God’s presence through a number of different prayers. For example, in every morning I say, “I will serve you, Lord, I will be faithful to you, like the founder of Opus Dei.” I pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, but as the church is locked, I stand in the road outside, with my daughters, and we put our hearts in the Tabernacle that is there inside. I can tell you, I now value much more all the possibilities of going to church that one has in other countries! But in these new surroundings, above all, point no. 1 of The Way has led me to set myself new goals. It says, “Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love. With your apostolic life, wipe out the trail of filth and slime left by the unclean sowers of hatred. And set aflame all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart.” In my prayer, I thought a lot about my personal apostolate, and I saw that I could plant a seed in Namibia by making the Christian faith known to many people, plus the spirit that I have learned about in Opus Dei, of turning all of life’s circumstances into opportunities of loving God and serving the Church and all souls. I began by giving catechism classes to the faithful of the parish on Mondays. Now we are getting to the end of the Creed, and after that I shall start on the Sacraments. On Wednesdays we say the Holy Rosary together, and on the first Friday of the month we have a period of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Every Thursday we make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and sing the hymn “O Godhead Hid, devoutly I adore Thee”, and something more in Latin: it’s marvelous for them, because these people didn’t know about these devotions, and they are very happy to practice them. When I first arrived here, no-one knew about Opus Dei or had even heard of it or of St Josemaria, so I got some prayer-cards and began to give them to anyone who wanted one. To be able to give the catechism classes well, I know that I need to pray and to continue growing in my spiritual life. A short time ago I went on a spiritual retreat in South Africa, where there are some Opus Dei Centers. I had to drive 900 km to reach an international airport and flew to Johannesburg from there, a total of 1300 km. But it was worth it. I brought back a little picture of St Josemaria, which now hangs on the wall of our church. Recently, I received a donation from Chile to be able to buy the vestments for the different liturgical seasons of the year. I don’t know the full name of the person who gave the money, just his first name, Pablo. As well as this, people in England are sending money to buy Bibles for the parishioners. My next project is to build a house for the priest, so that he could live here and celebrate Mass every day, or at least, more than once a month. I am praying hard for this project. With the people who come to the classes regularly, I organized a “St Josemaria Week” around the 26th June. We watched a video with some extracts from filmed meetings with him, and had a talk about the sanctification of ordinary life; and, finally, got together to read the readings from the Mass of St Josemaria. It was really beautiful. Twelve people came, and it made me happy to remember that the Church began with just twelve people – it’s lovely to think of it like that! I also run a schoolgirls’ club in my house, with lots of activities, and a little talk each time about virtues like courage, cheerfulness, and care of little things. The children love learning to share and be better. In this area, a high proportion of white people belong to the Dutch Reformed Church, which is Calvinist in character, and many of my friends belong to it. That is no obstacle to our sharing our family concerns, discussing the upbringing and education of our children, and so many other things together. I rely on your prayers for everyone who lives here. http://www.josemariaescriva.info/article/sadness-is-an-ally-of-the-enemy-