By Pete Cook in Opus Dei blogs. Pete comments on the Da Vinci Code fad.
One of the very few positive results from [the Da Vinci Code] fad is the increased availability of accurate information in regards to Opus Dei. Not that Opus Dei has ever sought much press coverage. The pursuit of sanctity in ordinary life is tough to sell in a sound bite, though founder St. Josemaria’s quick points in his spiritual classic The Way might be the closest thing we’ve seen to “spiritual sound bites.” The trouble is, after reading them one has to take time and consider (in silence) the points made by the saint. Doing so takes discipline. Believe me, I have been trying to do so for 15 years and I have yet to pray well or consistently.
I’m not a member of Opus Dei (I was a celibate member for just under a year and a half in 1990 and 1991, but it was not my vocation). That being said, I still have great affection for Opus Dei, St. Josemaria, and his first successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo.
Let’s hope and pray that a handful of those 40+ million Da Vinci Code readers are intrigued enough to honestly look into Opus Dei and the Catholic Church. Being readers, hopefully they’ll pick up a high quality history of the Church, or maybe the Catholic Catechism. If interested in Opus Dei, let’s hope they grab a biography of St. Josemaria or Don Alvaro del Portillo. If they do, they’ll understand why men like John Paul II and our present Holy Father have such great affection for those two men of God, and for Opus Dei. Equally important, they’ll understand why Opus Dei appeals to a regular Joe like you or me.
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