Love, time, and everything

Doris Cerna moved to the US from Peru with her husband and two small boys in 1991. In Peru, she had been a member of a professional dance group for ten years. She had a friend who loved Peruvian Folk dancing and asked if she would come and perform at a center of Opus Dei in Peru. Doris did, and that was the first time she set foot in a center of Opus Dei. Tags: Education, family, US, Women of Opus Dei

The same cooking-pot

Maria Marta and Laureano Mones-Cazon

Maria Marta studied tourism and then decided to dedicate herself full-time to looking after her family. She is now working in a school. This year Pablo, one of her sons, was ordained a priest. She and he both have the same goal: to become saints. In this interview, mother and son answer the same questions about their ideal and how they follow it hand-in-hand with St Josemaria. Tags: Opus Dei, Priesthood, Holiness, Vocation, Argentina

Fishmonger and revolutionary

Carlos Martinez was a fishermonger. By the age of ten, he had joined the local communist cell. When he was 34, he learned from St Josemaria how to find God in his work. He thought this discovery needed to be written down. His notes have now been written up in book form and published in Spain under the title Carlos Martinez, pescadero. Un revolucionario que se encontró con Dios (“Carlos Martinez, fishmonger. A revolutionary who met God”.) Tags: Opus Dei, Opus Dei members, Associate

In water up to the neck

Andrés Vázquez de Prada

Sensing collapse, Saint Josemaria sent out an SOS, in hopes that the Lord would put an end to a difficult moment. He had decided to consecrate Opus Dei to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To the members in Mexico he wrote: “Soon I will do the consecration to the Sacred Heart. Help me prepare for it” He added as a postscript: “SOS: We are still in water up to the neck. And also with the same trust in God our Father.” Tags: Suffering, Opus Dei, Poverty, Opus Dei members, Consecrations of Opus Dei

To fight for love

Msgr Jaime Fuentes

Bishop Jaime Fuentes, who lived in the same house as St Josemaria Escriva, has written a book about his memories of St Josemaria: in the life of someone who aspires to holiness, the tiniest fact can indeed be sacred. That conviction led him to publish Luchar por amor (“To Fight for Love”), a short book of memoirs: “I lived and worked with the founder of Opus Dei for ten years, from 1964 to 1974 (...). Time has gone by, and very minor memories have become a real treasure.” Tags: Love of God, Ascetical struggle, Holiness, Josemaria Escriva

Magnanimity, faith, and “madness”

For nine centuries Torreciudad has been a meeting-point for devotion to the Virgin Mary. St. Josemaria joined in with this story: his love for our Blessed Lady led him to initiate the building of a shrine. At the time, carrying out this project seemed like madness. Tags: Opus Dei, Our Lady, Torreciudad, Josemaria Escriva

For a “today” that builds tomorrow

We soon found out that the best option was to start with a secretarial school, so I went to speak with the principal of the best secretarial school in Nairobi (for Europeans). When she learned that we were thinking of admitting African girls she couldn´t believe it. “What?” she exclaimed,“they don´t know English! I went away feeling a bit deflated, but knowing that we would go ahead... Tags: Kenya

Ten keys for communicating faith

Juan Manuel Mora

"St Josemaría Escrivá recalled that it is individual people, committed to their beliefs and to their profession, who find the right approaches and solutions. This principle applies to the field of communications". Here an article by J. M. Mora, published in L'Osservatore Romano. Tags: Faith, Evangelization, Mission, Communication

The Beginnings of Kibondeni College, Nairobi

Christine Gichure

Kibondeni College is a corporate work of Opus Dei in Kenya. This article's focus is the pre-history, the initial stages and the development of the school which started as a service unit alongside Strathmore and Kianda Colleges, and seeks to highlight the role of the teaching, faith and vision of St. Josemaría with respect to hospitality work as a noble career for women, and how several women of Opus Dei implemented it at a difficult moment in Kenya’s history. Tags: Youth, school, Women, Kenya, Opus Dei members, Women of Opus Dei

A real passion for making Jesus Christ known

St Josemaria recalled that God’s children have to have a “priestly soul”, meaning we have to try and grow our friendship with Jesus Christ and follow his example. We have, he said, to aim to bring other people to God, and turn the whole of our lives into an opportunity to love him. The Mass is where all of that is done most fully and perfectly, which is why St Josemaria used to call it the “centre and root of the interior life”. Tags: Apostolate, Madrid, Priesthood, Priestly soul, Pictures and statues of St Josemaria Escriva