Coming home

Irena Kalpas, Poland

Warsaw, February 6, 2011

During the War, 66 years ago, I was exiled from Poland with my family. Since then I had never been back to the part of Warsaw where I lived as a young girl, and I did not even know whether the house where I was born was still standing.

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A word of encouragement

Eddy Facelli, home-maker, wife, and mother of four

Montevideo, Uruguay, February 1, 2011

Eddy, 42, is a home-maker and has been married for 22 years. She has four children, one of whom, Lourdes, has Down Syndrome. She met Opus Dei in 1993 when her son Alejandro, now 19, started at the CADI kindergarten (Center for the Promotion of Integral Development, which offers help and support for families in one of the outlying districts of Montevideo, Uruguay.

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A different kind of happiness

Marcela Trujillo, Colombia

Colombia, January 17, 2011

Shortly after getting married I was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix. I had an operation and other treatment, and came through it. I have to say it was due to my husband’s love, and to a priest qualified in medicine who advised me to refuse a medical procedure that would prevent me from having children, as long as there was any other option. Three years after my cure, Maria Antonia arrived. Three years after her came Nicolas and Isabel. Our youngest daughter was born with Down’s Syndrome.

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Jose Miguel Ibanez Langlois, Chile

Priest. Chaplain and lecturer in moral theology at the University of Los Andes, Chile.

January 13, 2011

One of the greatest joys of my life

Fr Jose Miguel Ibanez Langlois was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1936. He was ordained a priest in 1960. He gained a PhD in Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid and another at the Lateran University in Rome. He has been a member of the International Theological Commission. He currently works as chaplain and lecturer in moral theology at the University of Los Andes, Chile.

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Searching for the purpose in life

Olga Kurylenko, known as the James Bond girl, describes why There Be Dragons, the new Joffé film about Saint Josemaria, is important for everyone

December 30, 2010

Why I think this movie is important for everyone? Because it just treats the most crucial questions, and this movie speaks about love. And it concerns all of us. It speaks about love. It speaks about searching for the purpose in life. That's what we all look for, I hope. It looks for happiness, which is what we're all looking for in life. It's about making choices, and we're constantly everyday brought to make choices. It's about actually struggling with negative feelings; it's about struggling with hatred and anger. And trying to be a better person. Different characters have it in bigger or smaller amounts.

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A fulltime mum

Marie Jones, Mother of two with a third on its way

Leatherhead, Surrey, UK, December 21, 2010

I am Roman Catholic, aged 29, married and a fulltime mum. We keep pigs, sheep, chickens and a dog in a small village near Leatherhead.

I had known about Opus Dei for quite a long time before I was directly introduced by a friend and I had numerous preconceived ideas which I held pretty fast. Over time however, I came to grow in my understanding and appreciation for the apostolate of Opus Dei and was drawn to the simplicity and clarity of the teaching as well as its constant reminder that through our daily work, petty frustrations and minor victories, we can and should grow closer to Christ and the Holiness to which he calls us each day.

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Pope Benedict XVI

A ray of light streaming forth from the word of God

November 13, 2010

It is certainly not by chance that the great currents of spirituality in the Church’s history originated with an explicit reference to Scripture.

I am thinking for example of Saint Anthony the Abbot, who was moved by hearing Christ’s words: “if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mt 19:21). No less striking is the question posed by Saint Basil the Great in the Moralia: “What is the distinctive mark of faith? Full and unhesitating certainty that the words inspired by God are true … What is the distinctive mark of the faithful? Conforming their lives with the same complete certainty to the meaning of the words of Scripture, not daring to remove or add a single thing”.

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Francis Cardinal Arinze

Cardinal Arinze, retired Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

November 10, 2010

"If any priest takes offense at this use of the figure of the donkey, then may I advise him to read the following remarks by Saint Josemaria Escriva:


Jesus makes do with a poor animal for a throne. I don't know about you; but I am not humiliated to acknowledge that in the Lord's eyes I am a beast of burden: "I am like a donkey in your presence, but I am continually with you. You hold my right hand," you take me by the bridle.

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The late Josefina Magno, MD, hero to terminally sick patients and their families

Josefina Magno, M.D., one of the founders of the hospice movement in the United States.

October 28, 2010

Probably the most renowned woman in Opus Dei in the United States was the late Josefina Magno, M.D., widely regarded as one of the founders of the hospice movement in the United States. Hospice care gives patients with terminal illnesses and their families the support they need to die comfortably and with dignity. In our day, Hospice care is widely available, but when Dr. Magno arrived in the United States in 1969, it was non-existent.

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To become our best selves

Katrina Perry, Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Calgary.

October 20, 2010

I’ve learnt in the means of formation I receive in Opus Dei that we have the chance to seek opportunities to live our best lives, and to make a difference. I have also learnt that there is the possibility to create joy for those who we encounter in our daily routines, in our families, our volunteer commitments, parishes, and communities.

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Yes, God is my father! He can’t leave me now

Virginia, lawyer and mother of three children. Hong Kong

October 11, 2010

Virginia is a Co-operator of Opus Dei and writes from Hong Kong about the intercession of St. Josemaria and her son’s illness.

My son Guillermo has total agenesis of the corpus callosum. The diagnosis was made during my pregnancy and was accompanied by various complications that made me live through months of great anguish and uncertainty.

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A “pill” to get rid of a problem

Eli Xolyx, from Guatemala, tells how St Josemaria helped her family

June 11, 2010

I belong to a family of eleven in Santa Fe Ocana, Guatemala. My father has a rose plantation and we help him with the work. When my mother, who is now 43, was expecting her last child, she had to go to the doctor with a stomach complaint. The doctor who saw her told her to take some pills to terminate the pregnancy. He said it was very easy, it wouldn’t hurt, and then she could receive treatment and would get better without any problem.

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