St Josemaria Escriva in Argentina

On June 7, 1974, the founder of Opus Dei, Msgr Josemaria Escriva, arrived in Argentina, wishing to carry out an intense catechetical apostolate. During his stay in Argentina he had many encounters with people in Opus Dei, families and friends. In these gatherings he talked about the great themes that move the world: God and men, life and death, suffering and joy, love and the fight against sin. Tags: Catechetical trips

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

1830. The political panorama in France, and above all people’s attitudes, had changed a lot since the French Revolution of 1789. Amidst all the upheavals, our Lady made her voice heard. Tags: Holy Rosary, Our Lady, Devotion, Sanctuary of Our Lady

Along the roads of Europe

At the beginning of April 1970, St Josemaria, founder of Opus Dei, said he wanted to visit two shrines of our Lady like a twelfth-century pilgrim: with the same love, the same simplicity and the same joy. He was going there to pray for the world, the Church, the Pope, and Opus Dei. Tags: Piety, Our Lady, trips, In Love with the Church, UK

Show that you’re a Mother!

Early in the morning on May 15, 1970, St Josemaria arrived in Mexico. "I’ve come to see Our Lady of Guadalupe – and, by the way, to see you too," he told his children in Opus Dei there. The next day, he went to the Basilica and began his novena. Tags: Our Lady, trips

St Josemaria Escriva and Ireland

In 1916 the young Josemaría Escrivá avidly followed the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland. “I was then about fifteen and I eagerly read everything in the newspapers about the events of the First World War. Most of all, though, I prayed a lot for Ireland. I wasn't against England; I was for religious freedom.” Tags: Freedom, trips, Ireland

Einsiedeln

During his journeys through Europe St Josemaria often stopped at Einsiedeln. As soon as he caught sight of the towers of the shrine from the car, he said a Salve straight away. As Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, who went with him on these visits, later recalled, “He only went to pray to our Lady. He would stop the night in Lucerne, and go on from there to Einsiedeln, where he often celebrated Mass." Tags: Our Lady

Christmas carol: Little Donkey

Little donkey, little donkey, on the dusty road, got to keep on plodding onwards with your precious load. From the DVD 'Christmas Voices', by Eremeran Hills Study Centre (Sydney, Australia) Download the carol “Continue thinking about the donkey’s good qualities and notice how in order to do anything worth while, it has to allow itself to be ruled by the will of whoever is leading it... On its own the donkey would only... make an ass of itself. Tags: Donkey, Christmas

Teacher of cheerfulness

Jose Luis Soria

Jose Luis Soria was a doctor, later ordained a priest. From then until St Josemaria's death in 1975, he lived and worked with him in Rome. St Josemaria's optimistic attitude to life, says Fr Soria, was part of his temperament, strengthened by his radical awareness of the fact that he was a child of God. Tags: cheerfulness, Divine sonship

Christmases with St. Josemaria

Henry Hernandez

The best Christmases in my life were in the four years I spent in Rome with St Josemaría Escrivá. I can still hear the carols we sang round the crib Tags: Contemplation, Christmas

The Founder of Opus Dei in Ars

St Josemaria always had recourse to the intercession of the Curé of Ars, who is the patron of secular clergy, with great faith. His first journey to the town of Ars, to see the place where St John Marie Vianney worked as a priest and to pray at his tomb, was in 1953. Tags: Priesthood, trips