Dancing Hula in the Quest for Holiness

Jane Reckart, mother of six, studied engineering at Stanford University

January 15, 2010

I learned from St. Josemaría’s love of freedom that God made me the way he did for a reason, and as a Christian I have to be open to his promptings so I can fulfill what he wants of me. I can’t wait to find out how a Jamaican/English hula-dancing engineer with six kids fits into his plans.

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His words reached people’s souls

Inés Dorronsoro, Medical Doctor, Pamplona, Spain

December 5, 2009

My first encounter with the founder of Opus Dei was in the year 1960. I was starting my second year of medicine. Even more than his face, I remember his warm, vigorous voice as he gave a homily in the Cathedral in Pamplona. His words reached people’s souls, producing in them resolutions of greater commitment to Christian living.

I had yet to know anything of Christianity

Toshimi Nakai, Author of Ten to chi wo Tsunagu (“Uniting Heaven and Earth”), a biographical sketch of the founder of Opus Dei.

November 29, 2009

Constancy has never been my strong suit. Many’s the time I’ve regretted not finishing what I’d started. But there is one glowing exception: at college I converted to Catholicism.

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He can put everything right

Virginia McGough, home maker, Cheshire, Great Britain

November 4, 2009

I think the aspect of Saint Josemaria’s teaching that has the greatest effect on my life is his teaching on divine filiation. The knowledge that I’m a precious daughter of God, and that everything that happens to me is either willed or permitted by God, gives me a wonderful feeling of security, a great peace. Of course, sometimes (well, quite often if I’m truthful) I lose this peace. I get in a flap, and end up shouting at the children. But that’s where Josemaria Escriva’s teaching on rectifying, on going back to Our Father God with all the confidence of a child who knows her father is longing for her to say sorry so that he can put everything right, is so wonderful. And once I’ve said sorry to

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She sewed a prayer-card into the inside of our clothes to protect us

Hayat Hassan Ali, Ethiopia

Canada, November 2, 2009

I was born in Ethiopia and have lived in Quebec since 1985. I’m the youngest daughter of a large family of 18 children.
When my brothers and sisters and I had to escape from Ethiopia because of the war, my grandmother sewed a prayer-card of Msgr Josemaria Escriva into the inside of our clothes, to protect us from danger. We felt secure on the way to the border, as we knew our friend was with us. On our long journey on foot, we were terribly thirsty but there was no drinking-water. All we could find were dirty puddles. The guide knew our devotion to our “saint” and encouraged us to kneel down and pray to him. Afterwards we came to a fork in the path, and we saw a man dressed in white waving to us from some way off, as if to say “Over here! This way!” We decided to follow him, and found ourselves standing before a stream of clean water where we could all drink. We couldn’t see any sign of the “guardian angel” who had guided us to it.

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My heart missed a beat

Fr. Masaharu Muraoka, Nagasaki, Japan

October 20, 2009

I had been a priest for thirty years when in 1980 I was appointed to a parish in Nagasaki. A fellow-priest lost no time in introducing me to a priest of Opus Dei. We met a number of times.

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I thought holiness was only for priests and religious

Roger Bissonnette, school bus driver, Quebec, Canada

October 15, 2009

I was practicing my faith, I was going to Mass every Sunday, but never had I thought that I could seek holiness. That, I thought, is only for priests and religious people. But when my wife gave me some of Saint Josemaria’s homilies to read, I realized that I myself could be a saint. It was a great discovery.

Finding in God the truth about himself

Marta Brancatisano, Writer. Rome, Italy

October 15, 2009

From an early age Josemaria Escriva wrote a lot, though he had no desire to be a literary figure. His first writings were what he called ‘Catalinas.’ These are a series of short thoughts expressing an interior experience. There is no stylistic pretension or vanity. The style is that of a diary. The ideas flow spontaneously and simply. They are the ideas of a person who is searching for the thread which will lead him to find in God the truth about himself and about the purpose of his life. The genuineness of his search is impressive to any reader.

The miracle for the canonization

October 5, 2009

In November 1992, when I went to the Ministry of Agriculture, the fingers of both hands were very badly affected. On the left hand it was the index, middle and ring fingers, and on the right hand mainly the index and middle fingers. In particular I had hyperkeratotic plaques and ulcers of different sizes on those three fingers of my left hand. Some of them measured up to 2 centimeters in diameter at the widest point. There were more on the back of my left hand and on the proximal phalanxes and the back of my right hand.

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I was rushing about, but I didn’t know where I was going

Silvia Mas, classics teacher, Lérida, Spain

September 29, 2009

Thanks to the example of generosity and optimism that I found in the writings of Saint Josemaria, my life took a radically new turn. I was just over sixteen. I was leading a very stressful life in a country town – I was always looking at my watch so as to get from place to place more quickly, and timing my steps to see how fast I could go. One day a question arose which made a deep impression on me: what did I hope for from life? I had no answer: I was rushing about, but I didn’t know where I was going.

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