Homily pronounced by the Holy Father in the Canonization. October 6, 2002

"All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom 8,14). These words of the Apostle Paul, which we have just heard, help us understand better the significant message of today's canonization of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. With docility he allowed [...]
Tags: Apostolate, Canonization, Pope John Paul II, Prayer, Interior life, Ordinary life, Vocation

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God's instrument for the Work

The life of the founder of Opus Dei was the most eloquent application of his message. The lesson of every saint becomes explicit in the coherence between his life, his preaching and his writings. Saint Josemaría spoke of "the mute eloquence" of works: "Love [...]
Tags: The Way, Citizenship, Contemplation, Faith, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Sacraments, Supernatural outlook, Vocation

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Friend of young people and good son of the Church

In an article, Cardinal Paul Shan, S.J., bishop of Kaohsiung and Taiwan's first cardinal, described Josemaria Escriva as a friend of young people and a man who loved the Church. The founder of Opus Dei is a true friend of young people. He has always manifested [...]
Tags: Apostolate, Youth, Holiness, Vocation

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Building the Future

Looking at things from saint Josemaria’s point of view, if he were asked what youth is, or better still, what it should be, he would certainly answer that youth is the time for discovering and freely affirming the meaning of one’s existence; a time for [...]
Tags: Joy, Culture, Youth, Vocation

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The Youthful Spirit of a Saint

There are many things that could be called characteristic features of a saint, because although the saints canonized by the Church are almost infinitely varied, they all have certain things in common. The feature I want to look at today is their being young at [...]
Tags: Joy, Love of God, Generosity, Youth, Optimism, Vocation

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How I came to Opus Dei

José María Casciaro was born in Murcia, Spain, in 1923. He heard about Opus Dei in 1939, when he was 16, from his older brother Pedro, who had been in Opus Dei since 1935. During the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, Pedro encouraged his [...]
Tags: Youth, Opus Dei, Vocation

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The Sanctity of Human Love

The Founder of Opus Dei taught people all over the world to love the family. At a time when sanctity seemed to have become more or less the preserve of the religious and priests, God made use of him to make many married couples see [...]
Tags: Marriage, Vocation

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Prehistory of the founding of Opus Dei (1917-1928)

Opus Dei was founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer on October 2, 1928. At that point he was a 26-year-old priest. Up till that moment, there is no history of Opus Dei as such. There was a prehistory, which was the story of its Founder’s [...]
Tags: October 2, 1928, Founding of Opus Dei, History, Footprints in the Snow, Vocation

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Death of Don José Escrivá, November 27, 1924

On November 27, 1924, Josemaría received a telegram from his mother asking him to come to Logroño because his father had come down with a serious illness. He took the train that very afternoon. At Logroño station he was met by Manuel Ceniceros, a godson [...]
Tags: The Escriva family, Death, Vocation

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The Human Realism of Sanctity

"In the twentieth century, we have witnessed a clarification of the role of the ordinary Christian in the Church". According to an article published in L’Osservatore Romano, Navarro Valls affirms that since the foundation of Opus Dei in 1928, Josemaria Escriva's contribution to this new [...]
Tags: Passionately Loving the World, Holiness, Work, Vocation