Sanctifying the Ordinary: The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei

By Caitlin Bootsma in Aleteia: Seekers of the Truth

Tutoring and providing character development classes for inner city students in Chicago. Helping to rebuild houses in San Antonio after substantial flood damage. Leading college students in a weekend by the lake, balancing set hours for studying, prayer and fellowship. Restful and informative mornings for young mothers that include watching and discussing Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism series while babysitting is provided for their children. Lectures by some of the most respected theologians and thinkers in the Catholic world at one of Rome’s pontifical universities. All of these moments I have experienced because of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

Latin for “the Work of God,” Opus Dei (as it is typically referred to) has as its particular charism the sanctification of daily work. According to its founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, “It is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind.” This focus facilitates seeing the face of God in his sons and daughters and in the ordinary tasks of everyday life, whether that be in setting the table for dinner, teaching a class to elementary students, or studying for an exam. Read the rest here.

They never pressured me

Part of a comment of Pete Vere in Catholic Lite

I basically showed up on their doorstep, a young Traditionalist journalist who had recently returned to Church, having just been accepted into a canon law licentiate program because of a gentleman who was close to the Work, and was suspicious to know why. I had lots and lots of questions, which they patiently answered.

I attended several activities, and never felt any pressure to join. Some of my friends would visit from my hometown, want to join, and were told they needed to take time to pray and discern, that Opus Dei was a vocation that could not be rushed, that the Church recognized many different paths to sanctity and holiness, and they needed to make sure Opus Dei was a good fit for them. However, I noticed that I was never offered spiritual direction whenever I showed up for recollection, or retreats.

So one day I said to the director: "Am I being singled out because I'm traddy?"

He laughed, and said: "Yes and no. The work is a path to holiness recognized by the Church, but not the only path to holiness that the Church recognizes. The Church also recognizes your involvement with the Ecclesia Dei movement as a path to holiness, you have a good spiritual director back home who is guiding you on this path, and we don't want to interfere with that unless he feels it would help you."

And it was true. My spiritual director back home was an elderly Benedictine moral theologian who often assisted the local Tridentine indult priest. One day Father came to Ottawa to visit me, do theological research, and he quietly wanted to check out Opus Dei since a number of his parishioners had made contact and expressed interest. They invited Father to stay at their residence.

At the end of the weekend, just as he was loading his suitcase in the car to return home, Father turned to the director, pointed at me and said: "Make sure you keep an eye on my Pete while he's down here. He needs some good spiritual direction to keep him focused on his studies when I'm not around. If he gives you any problems, call me."

The director laughed, and after that I was invited to receive spiritual direction. That being said, I never felt called to join, and they never pressured me to.

ST. JOSEMARIA AND THE POOR

By DR. BERNARDO M. VILLEGAS.

St. Josemaria Escriva would have been the male equivalent of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now Blessed Teresa) in the last century if he did not receive the vocation from God to found Opus Dei, a way of sanctification in daily work and in the fulfillment of the ordinary duties of a Christian. He spent the early years of his priesthood substantially given to the ministry of the poor and the sick in the most depressed areas of Madrid, the capital of what at that time was very much a Third World country. If he had been in the Manila of today, he would have spent countless hours administering to both the material and spiritual needs of the very poor in such districts as Tondo and Payatas.

As Chaplain of an NGO that was called the Foundation for the Sick, he spared no effort and time to attend to thousands of poor and sick people. As one of his biographers, Andres Vazquez de Prada, wrote in The Founder of Opus Dei, "The Foundation for the Sick waged war on ignorance and misery, through schools, soup kitchens, clinics, chapels, and catechetical programs scattered all through Madrid and the surrounding areas. On the ground floor of Santa Engracia, there was a public dining room, and on the second floor, a 20-bed infirmary. The parlors and bedrooms of the Foundation looked out into a large courtyard with a public church attached. There, early each morning, the chaplain said Mass." Through his personal example, he made it clear that the spiritual needs of the poor should be given the highest priority in any charitable work.

The priority given to the spiritual needs of the poor is clearly reflected in the following description given by Vazquez de Prada in his book: "There were all kinds of activities at the Foundation on weekends. As a prelude to his other pastoral ministrations, the chaplain started off in the confessional. On Saturdays, the poor and sick from the surrounding neighborhoods came to Santa Engracia – that is, those whose ailments did not prevent them from getting there – or physical and spiritual care in the clinic and the chapel. On Sundays, it was the turn of the boys and girls of the schools that the Apostolic Ladies conducted. They all gathered at Santa Engracia, and Father Josemaria heard their confessions. So many people showed up there on the weekend that an observer used to say, 'Here at the Foundation, everything is done by the ton.'"

Despite his great concern for the material welfare of the poor, he never made the mistake of converting the Catholic religion into a purely social work. He made sure that first and foremost, the poorest of the poor had access to the life-giving Sacraments. In his own words, "I went for hours and hours all over the place every day, on foot, from one area to another, among poor people ashamed of their poverty and poor people too miserable to be ashamed, who had nothing at all; among children with running noses – dirty, but children, which means souls pleasing to God. How indignant I feel in my priestly soul when they say that small children should not go to confession! That's not true! They should make their personal confession, speaking one on one to the priest in secret, just like everyone else. What good, what joy it brings them! I spent many hours in that work, and I'm only sorry that it was not more."

After he saw that it was God's will that he should found Opus Dei on that fateful October 2, 1928, Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, he devoted all his energies to spreading the doctrine of the universal call to sanctity, a teaching that became the centerpiece of the Second Vatican Council almost forty years later. His preferential love for the poor, however, never left him. He made sure that the young university students whom he introduced to the spirituality of Opus Dei would spend many hours in the slum districts of Madrid, bathing the sick, cutting their nails, giving them all the possible mateArial and spiritual care of which they were capable, even at the risk of contamination from infectious diseases (tuberculosis was at that time still incurable). These examples from the first years of Opus Dei have been replicated thousands of times all over the world today as the faithful of the Prelature have given the highest priority in their corporate and personal apostolic works to giving material and spiritual assistance to the poorest of the poor. In all the continents where Opus Dei is present, there are hospitals and clinics for the poor; technical schools for out-of-school youth in farming, electro-mechanical skills, culinary arts, and other skills that enable the children of the poor to obtain gainful employment. In the Philippines for example, faithful of the Prelature of Opus Dei have established such technical schools for out-of-school youth like Dualtech in Manila and CITE in Cebu; Punlaan and Anihan in Luzon and Banilad in Cebu; Family Farm Schools in Batangas and Iloilo; and many other personal initiatives of individual members and cooperators.

Read the rest at: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/362090/st-josemaria-and-the-poor

Holiness for Everyone: The Practical Spirituality of St. Josemaría Escrivá

A book of Eric Sammons with a foreword by Scott Hahn

Eric Sammons is not a member of Opus Dei. He is a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism and was received into the Catholic Church in 1993. He has appeared on EWTN and is a frequent guest on Catholic radio. He is now the Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Venice in Florida. He has a Master's Degree in Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and lives in Florida with wife, Suzan, and their six children.

Here is the description of his book as found in his website: http://ericsammons.com/index.html

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God intends nothing less than sainthood for you!

The early Church held that all believers could achieve holiness. Over time this conviction was largely forgotten. Sainthood seemed to be an honor only intended for a select few among the priests and religious.

Eric Sammons tells how twentieth century Spanish priest—and canonized saint—Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, recovered the message of the universal call to holiness. Declared “the saint of ordinary life” by Pope John Paul II, St. Josemaría developed a spirituality directed toward the sanctity of every man and woman. His legacy is the belief that each of us can, by God’s grace, achieve holiness through the course of our ordinary life and work.

The heart of Sammons’ practical guide to the spiritual life is a detailed examination of the steps in St. Josemaría’s thoughtful plan for building a saintly life in spite of your hectic work and home life – in a world filled with distractions and temptations.

Strive for your own personal holiness as you implement your daily plan to:

• Be a Contemplative in the Midst of a Busy World

• Live a Life of Prayer

• Recognize the Presence of God

• Make a Plan of Life

• Make Your Work a Way to Heaven

Holiness for Everyone! will inspire you as it sets your feet on the path to sainthood.

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"Eric Sammons shows that St. Josemaría has recovered the most powerful truth of classic Christianity and restated it in a way that is compelling for men and women of our time" - Scott Hahn

2012 Holds Multiple Anniversaries for Opus Dei

By Jim Graves in National Catholic Reporter

The beginning of each of the past three decades has brought about a significant event for Opus Dei, whose mission is to promote holiness among laypeople as they go about their daily work.

In 1982, Pope John Paul II approved changing the organization’s status from a secular institute to a personal prelature. In 1992, Opus Dei’s founder, Msgr. Josemaria Escriva, was beatified, and, in 2002, he was canonized. As the prelature celebrates the anniversaries of each of these major events, it continues to enjoy steady growth and have far-reaching influence as it goes about its mission.

Pope Benedict XVI has long supported the unique apostolate of Opus Dei. Upon St. Josemaria’s canonization, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed the belief that the saint’s message helped correct an erroneous idea of sanctity — that holiness was reserved only for “the great.”

More recently, Pope Benedict told the head of Opus Dei, 79-year-old Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, “When you foster the eagerness for personal sanctity and the apostolic zeal of your priests and laypeople, not only do you see the flock that has been entrusted to you grow, but you provide an effective help to the Church in her urgent evangelization of present-day society.”

Opus Dei (which is Latin for “Work of God”) was founded by a young Father Escriva in 1928, and it was approved by Pope Pius XII in 1950. Today, it has 90,000 members in 60 countries, including 3,000 in the United States. Typical elements of its apostolate include evenings of recollection, retreats, spiritual direction and religious-education classes. Opus Dei members also oversee schools, including the respected IESE Business School, the graduate school of management at the University of Navarra in Spain. IESE recently opened up a campus in New York.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/2012-holds-multiple-anniversaries-for-opus-dei/#ixzz1uXOBGQtE

She advised people to make God the center of their lives

By Graydon Megan in the Chicago Tribune

Maria Palos shared her deep Roman Catholic faith with everyone around her — strangers she met on the bus, young couples seeking marriage advice and women she encouraged through her support of Lexington College, a women's hospitality management school run by the conservative Catholic community Opus Dei.

"She was definitely one of the catalysts for the school," said her son Tony Palos Jr.

As for counseling couples on marriage, the mother of nine "would advise them to make God the center of their lives," her son said.

Born Maria Ramirez, Mrs. Palos grew up in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1956, she met Tony Palos, a young man from Chicago visiting there on vacation. He extended his stay after winning a Mexican lottery and spent that time courting her.

The couple married in 1957 and raised nine children. Her husband died in 1991.

Mrs. Palos considered her strong spiritual life a gift, one she was eager to share with others. Her son said she acted "almost like a precinct captain for God." If she saw a stranger with a baby on the bus or in her neighborhood, she would ask whether the baby had been baptized and, if not, encourage the mother to baptize the infant.

Read the rest of the article here.

Cherished Event

By Atty. Jose Sison in Philippine Star

Time flies fast indeed. And this is especially true with respect to some events in our life that remains deeply etched in our hearts because they involve our dearly beloved ones. Tomorrow, our family will be commemorating one such event which happened nine years ago. This is the death anniversary of our beloved and only daughter Joyce. As a father, I seize every opportunity to write about her and dedicate it to all the fathers and daughters who are still together in this world. The urge to do so keeps coming back because I want to show that while my bonding with my sons is usually more intimate and closer, as in all other fathers’ bonding with their sons, my bonding with my daughter was as intimate and close as it should be because all our children are God’s precious gifts to us.

On March 10, 2003, at about 15 minutes before two o’clock in the afternoon, Joyce our oldest daughter and the loving and caring sister of five brothers, after hanging on to life — but not afraid of death — finally ended her short but meaningful and fruitful earthly life and began another life of eternal bliss as she moved into the beatific House of our Lord in heaven.

In her short life span of almost 39 years, our family enjoyed her company only during the first 18 years because she decided to devote the rest of the 21 years in the service of the Lord. But the strong father-daughter bond formed during the period she spent with us made it most difficult for me to let her go. All fathers perhaps who have an only daughter would feel the same. They would naturally resist letting go of “daddy’s girl” whom they used to carry in their arms so lovingly and protectively, forgetting or even ignoring how great and glorious it is to be blessed with such daughters who chose to devote their entire life in the service of God.

After she joined Opus Dei (the “Work”), events spent together with her became so precious few and far between. But they were enough to fill my storage of happy memories with her. The most memorable yet was in 1993 when Joyce, Josie my wife and I went on a spiritual journey to Rome for the beatification of St. Josemaria. That was indeed one of the most spiritually edifying experiences in our life. This event and many other memorable events with her not only strengthened our bond but also made us realize how happy she was in her work. We felt her joy and from then on we became closer though far apart.

Every time we visited her in any Opus Dei center we saw and felt love all around through her and her sisters in the Work with their ever smiling faces. On special occasions when we joined her in the centers of her assignment, that father-daughter bond simply grew stronger. Even when she was in Rome and other far away centers she never failed to get in touch with us. We felt her presence and support wherever she was, through her prayers thus prompting Josie to describe her as our “one woman prayer department.”

News of her cancerous ailment was therefore so heartbreaking and devastating. But her illness, which she called God’s “divine caress”, became the source of so many more awakenings in me about a daughter’s love for her father, requited belatedly and inadequately. To make up for lost time, I tried my best to visit her nearly every day, especially when she was transferred to the “Pandan” and “Punlaan” centers in Manila. Those almost daily moments with her enabled me to understand the meaning of Christian love more deeply and taught me lessons on Sufferings in life by “rejoicing in hope, being patient in tribulation and persevering in prayer.” She made me realize that the greatest suffering of sick people is to see their loved ones suffer because of their own suffering. Thus without any words uttered, I got her message to please change your “tears for Joyce to tears of joy.”

Read up to end of this beautiful piece here.

How Lila Rose Became Pro-Life … and Catholic

by JUSTIN BELL 02/03/2012 from the National Catholic Register

At 9 years old, Lila Rose saw an image of an aborted baby in a book at her home. She said it struck her to the heart, and she asked, How could anybody do this to a baby?

In time, she became educated about the abortion issue and wanted to act, to speak out, and help save some of the lives that were being taken.

At 15, Rose started her organization Live Action, which she continues to lead today. In 2006, Rose began her series of undercover videos of Planned Parenthood that revealed non-reporting of apparent illegal situations. Rose and friends would pose as minor, pregnant girls seeking abortions, while videotaping conversations with workers, and then later posting the videos on YouTube.

Last year, Live Action released a video where a manager at a Planned Parenthood in New Jersey aided a couple pretending to be operating a prostitution ring of 14- and 15-year-old girls.

Live Action’s video investigations have placed serious scrutiny on the largest abortion provider in the country, including a more than $61-million loss of state funding, according to the group. The investigation in New Jersey led to an Illinois law that expanded the list of those who are obligated to report sex violations involving minors to authorities.


You said you converted to Catholicism not that long ago. Can you walk me through that process a little bit?

I was received into the Church two and a half years ago. Best day of my life, although every day after that has been pretty good, too. I was raised as a Protestant, and my parents were very faithful people; and they taught us to read the Bible and love and respect life. I learned about Jesus Christ as a Protestant.

But in my upbringing, my dad was on his own spiritual journey, reading the Church Fathers and doctors. So we had these books in the home: a lot of Ignatius Press books, for example. And so, I was reading these as a young teen. I read Joan of Arc by Mark Twain when I was 12. I was reading Mother Teresa’s writings at 12, 13 … like Total Surrender, Loving Jesus. Then I was reading St. Thomas Aquinas, and I was actually translating him in and out of Latin. That was part of the education experience that I was given by my parents because we’re home-schooled. They really pursued classical education for us. That was really neat, too; that’s another side of the story, but …

I was becoming formed by some of the best thinkers and saints of our Church, doctors of our Church, as a teen. I was very much drawn to the Church. I was drawn to Our Lady. I admired her so much, although the Protestant community doesn’t really talk about her very much. … My family talked about our faith, and, of course, about theology and different aspects of the Catholic tradition and everything. But we were still Protestant.

So then, when I got to UCLA, I fell in with — literally, one day I was looking for a church to go to — I had been experimenting with different Protestant churches, and I couldn’t find one that I clicked with, as they say, because the Eucharist wasn’t there and the theology was not sound. And I knew it, but I hadn’t really gotten to the place in my head that: Oh, I need to be Catholic; that just makes sense. I had been intellectually convinced over a period of years, but I really didn’t have Catholic friends, you know, strong Catholic friendships or anything like that, so it didn’t really occur to me that I could convert.


You didn’t see a way to convert then?

I didn’t see a way to that. And my family, I thought, Well, maybe one day if they do [convert], then I could with them, but they were not doing it at the time.

So I was looking for churches and [said] “I’ll go to Mass.” I had been to Mass a few times before … so I called up my friend Jen, and she was going to a Mass at this women’s Catholic center, which turned out to be a women’s Opus Dei center. … I didn’t realize there were all women in the little chapel; I was kind of clueless.

I went, prayed through the Mass, and then I was sitting with a woman in the back of the Mass; and I turned to her afterwards, and I said, “You know, is there someone here that can mentor me, or something like that?” She was a numerary [a type of member of Opus Dei who, according to the institution’s website is “completely available to attend to the apostolic undertakings and the formation of the other faithful of” Opus Dei], and she’s like, “Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/how-lila-rose-became-pro-life-and-catholic/#ixzz1lZnVUP00

It gives you an inner joy

By Adrienne Treleaven in Independent Catholic News

I first came into contact with Opus Dei as a very shy 16 year old. I applied to do a course in Hospitality at Lakefield, a college in London. My parents allowed me to go even though financially it was quite a burden for them. The main reason they were willing for me to go was the fact that I would be in a Catholic environment and able to attend Mass on a regular basis. Little did I expect how much I would come to know my faith more deeply and the effect it would have on my decision about my life.

I spent two years training in the theory and practice of Household Management gaining my qualifications in Hospitality.

During these years of training, what attracted me most was the family atmosphere, the warmth, the care and the love that the people of Opus Dei showed to everyone. It was not long before I realised I had found what was going to make me happy. I remember saying to myself one day “this is what I want to do, this is for me”. God was giving me a vocation to Opus Dei as an assistant numerary.

So why am I happy?…to give oneself in whatever capacity is very rewarding: it gives you an inner joy that no one and nothing can take from you. Knowing that I have in my hands – what I do and how I do it – the possibility of passing on to others the love that God has for each person.

This profession, for that is what it is, is a very special way of serving one’s family and the wider community. One learns that in serving one receives more than one gives and so this is a wonderful experience even from a purely human point of view. Throughout the day I often remind myself that I am doing the same work that Our Lady did and moreover I receive a salary for doing a job I enjoy immensely.

Read the rest here.

Dora del Hoyo: a very important person for Opus Dei

Dora del Hoyo, said the Prelate of Opus Dei, "was a woman of faith. Because she was the very first numerary assistant, she had to be able to trust in what God, through St. Josemaria, was asking of her.

She lived the virtue of hope, knowing that Opus Dei would grow and expand, becoming what we see today. She was able to trust and hope in this way because her love of God was so great that she forgot about herself; she lived for the Lord and for the others. We have a great intercessor, to whom we owe gratitude. She learned from our Founder that what is most important is always to serve: to serve the Lord and to serve souls.”

Dora del Hoyo Alonso was born in Boca de Huergano (Leon, Spain) on January 11, 1914. Her parents were exemplary Christians and raised her to be a good daughter of God.

On March 14, 1946, in Bilbao, Spain, Dora asked for admission to Opus Dei. From the beginning, she knew how to correspond faithfully to her divine vocation. Outstanding among Dora’s characteristics were her devotion to the Holy Eucharist–the Holy Mass was the center and root of her interior life– as well as her tender love for the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph and her confident recourse to her guardian angel. Dora moved to Rome on December 27, 1946, at the invitation of St. Josemaria, and remained there until the end of her life.

Dora knew how to seek holiness and apostolic meaning in every task, even those that appeared most trivial, combining a spirit of service with professional competence. From Rome, she assisted with the formation of women from around the world, and contributed to the apostolic work of Opus Dei carried out all over the world and at every level of society.

Dora died on January 10, 2004. On that day Bishop Javier Echevarria, the Prelate of Opus Dei, made these remarks,

“Dora was very important for Opus Dei because of her faithfulness and her work well done, always humbly desiring to pass unnoticed, to ‘do and disappear.’ She took the Blessed Virgin Mary as her teacher, as Saint Josemaria Escriva had encouraged her, and because of this she was effective to the very end of her life. She wanted no glory or recognition, and she gave one hundred percent throughout her entire life."

Her remains lie in the crypt of the Church of the Prelature, Our Lady of Peace, Bruno Buozzi 75, Rome.

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I remembered Dora in the garden in the month of August, at the age of 89, watering the pumpkins she would use to make the last cabello de angel of her life, to fill the ensaimadas. “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well,” she would always say–and so she collected the seeds, planted them, and took care of the seedlings. Finally, she filled jars and jars with her cabello de angel for the many people who would enjoy this treat, made with the love of a grandmother. She made marmalade and candy. She enjoyed anything that had to do with spreading the warmth of hearth and home. She didn’t talk about this–she just did it, and that was enough.

“She loved life and delighted in carrying out the familiar, lovable traditions of each holiday, and she spared herself no work in this regard. She created the extraordinary by doing ordinary things with perfection: the peace which comes from living the virtue of order, from finding everything in its proper place, a simple but well prepared meal, and a spotless table set with good taste and simplicity. She was always working but she did so calmly, seeking to serve the others, taking care of the clothing, the garden, all the details of the meals, the cleaning, making sure that “the cold things were cold and the hot things were hot,” as she liked to repeat, doing all of the things which she had learned from Saint Josemaria himself, in order to be a sower of peace and joy.

“In life we get to know a lot of people, and we value and remember them. But there are some people who are unforgettable because, doing things that no one notices and without calling attention to themselves, they make a deep impression on us. We ask ourselves what it is about them…and we begin to discover the heroes of the world, the ones who know how to make us happy in little things, the saints, who show us the wonder of creation, the goodness of the world, the importance of caring for others, one by one, cheerfully, enjoying what they are doing.

“I was reading a novel recently and I came upon a passage which immediately made me think of Dora. The author was writing about a Hungarian immigrant working for a lady in North America at the beginning of the twentieth century. ‘They liked to make delicious and plentiful meals, and see the others enjoy them; they liked to prepare soft, clean beds and see the children sleeping in them…both of them had in their depths a kind of overflowing joy, a pleasure in life which was delicate but invigorating.’

“Dora, following the example of the Blessed Virgin, took care of the others like a mother or an older sister and sought their good in the beauty of the work she carried out. In those details, apparently unimportant, she demonstrated her love for God and for the transcendent life to which He had called her.”

Isabel García Martín
Rome (Italy)

From: http://doradelhoyo.org/

Listening to people’s hearts

Fr. Ron Gillis provides spiritual direction for many
By Lisa Socarras | For the Catholic Herald

Born and raised in Boston, Father Ron Gillis calls 1967 the year of “The Impossible Dream” because the Red Sox won the American League Pennant and because the youngest of eight children in the Gillis household was ordained to the priesthood.

“My father was in seventh heaven,” he said, reflecting on his vocation. “I regard it as a miracle, the whole expectation that you could be called by God to give everything. I looked at the crucifix and said, ‘Lord, You did all that for me. What should I be willing to do for You?’”

Today, 44 years later, Father Gillis serves as chaplain at both the Reston Study Center and Oakcrest School in McLean, and as a spiritual director at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., a position he has held for the past 30 years. Some years, he has given ongoing spiritual direction to more than 40 seminarians, driving twice a week from Northern Virginia to listen, advise and guide those in priestly formation.

As an Opus Dei priest working in the Washington, D.C., area for the past 38 years, Father Gillis has administered the sacraments, taught courses, preached, and provided spiritual direction and evenings of recollection for hundreds of married men and women as well as students. He always has been selfless and ready to help others on their personal path to sanctity, part of the universal call to holiness.

Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church, was founded in Spain in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá, who taught that work and the circumstances of ordinary life are occasions for growing closer to God, serving others and for improving society.

Even as a young man, Father Gillis had a strong sense of purpose for his life and never had any doubts about his vocation.

“It was impossible to grow up in Catholic Boston and not have a strong sense of vocation because vocations were abundant,” he said. “It was a very common question for Catholic young people to ask, ‘What is my vocation?’”

“We were surrounded by the Faith and by the sense of dedication, also present in our parents, who raised large families. They were working-class people, very committed to the Faith,” said Father Gillis.

He attended Catholic elementary and secondary school where his teachers sensed he had a vocation to the priesthood.

“The nuns were after me in the eighth grade to go away to junior seminary,” he said, adding that he was not ready at that young age to make the commitment.

Later, while a junior in high school, Father Gillis said a friend “dragged me along” on a retreat at a Trappist monastery and it made a profound impact on him.

“It was in August and it was the feast of St. Bernard,” he said. “I always remember that it was like going to heaven. It was so beautiful, the peacefulness, the spirituality, the whole thing was magnificent, the Divine Office, the Liturgy. Then we were helping to make the hay with the monks. The silence, I remember thinking this is really the peace of God. This is really wonderful, but I don’t want to stay here.”

He asked himself how one could bring this sense of the presence of God into the midst of the world.

“I don’t have a monastic vocation. I like being in the middle of the world. When I encountered Opus Dei, that’s what happened. I saw that these people are involved in things, but they take spirituality very seriously. I was struck by this kind of formula that we need to bring Our Lord to so many people who are good people who live in the middle of the world,” Father Gillis said.

Following his freshman year of college at the University of Toronto, he became a member of Opus Dei and then transferred to Boston University because there was no Opus Dei center in Toronto. After earning a bachelor’s in history, he went to Rome in 1964 to study for the priesthood as a seminarian at the Roman College of the Holy Cross. While in Rome, he had the opportunity to learn from St. Josemaría Escriva himself.

“He was a great coach and a tremendous leader of men,” said Father Gillis. “Ashttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif the founder, he was strong and enormously affectionate.”

He instilled in the seminarians that the only thing that really matters is personal sanctity, that we be saints. Always ready to admit his own challenges, the saint taught that determination to persevere, even in times of tremendous trial, is the journey of the soul toward holiness. To begin again is man’s goal because of our fallen nature we will have failings.

“The spirit of St. Josemaría is that the important thing is the struggle,” said Father Gillis. “The struggle is the sign of holiness. A saint is a sinner that keeps trying.”

To read the rest the article, see here.

Josemaria's Way

By Robert Moynihan, an excerpt from Catholic Culture

In one of the most important gestures of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II on October 6 canonized St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei. With that gesture, he placed the full weight of his papal authority behind Escriva's "Work"

"To be holy does not mean being superior to others; the saint can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life. Holiness is this profound contact with God, becoming a friend of God: it is letting the Other work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy."

— Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, remarks on the canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva, from the L'Osservatore Romano, Special Issue, October 6, 2002

"Heroism, sanctity, daring, require a constant spiritual preparation. You can only give to others what you already have. And in order to give God to them, you yourself need to get to know him, to live his life, to serve him." — St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge, no. 78

The 20th century ended, for the Catholic Church, on October 6, 2002. It ended precisely 40 years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

It ended on a warm, blue autumn day in Rome with John Paul II's canonization of Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, as a saint.

In so doing, the Pope presented sanctity as the vocation of every baptized person, and so reiterated the central message of the Second Vatican Council. (This year marks the centenary of the birth of Josemaria Escriva, on January 9, 1902, in Barbastro, northern Spain. He died in Rome on June 26, 1975.)

The 20th century was the century that brought the medieval world to a definitive end.

That old world was "Christendom" (admittedly in considerable disarray from the French Revolution onward), dominated politically by at least nominally Christian kings and kaisers and aristocratic elites, dominated militarily and economically by Western Europeans, who colonized the world.

The First World War saw those elites slaughtered in the trenches of France, ushering in the Communist, Fascist and Nazi periods.

The Second World War saw the final destruction of the old European order, as Western European cities were bombed, the continent's Christian tradition was rejected and ridiculed, and its Jewish population murdered or expelled. Out of that war came the United Nations, the creation of the state of Israel, the general de-colonialization of the world, and, after a decade or so, the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

The essential historical purpose and effect of that Council — as it now seems from a vantage point of 40 years — was to prepare the Church for a new world order : the order which is now nearly upon us.

No longer would the world be Europe-centered; the age of "globalization" could already be sensed in the era of intercontinental ballistic missiles (the Cuban missile crisis occurred in the month the Council opened, in October 1962) and international communications.

No longer would the Church be primarily organized in small, separated communities (parishes, dioceses) of people who lived most of their lives in one place, in one cultural context; the Church would increasingly be organized as one world-wide community, a less canonically and jurisdictionally structured social body than a world-wide order, or organism — like the new Church movements . . . or like a personal prelature (the group founded by Escriva, Opus Dei, is for the moment the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church).

The 20th century was marked by vast and pitiless persecutions of the Church. The Communists and the Nazis made clear to the Church that state power in the emerging "modern" world could seek out, crush and physically eliminate unwanted religious groups. (There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in all previous centuries.)

But, if the post-World War II "new world order" were also to be un-Christian, perhaps in a veiled way but with even more sinister and effective means of control and persecution, because more advanced and comprehensive, what chance would the Church have to survive and prosper?

Having experienced the 20th century, the solution seemed evident: the Church needed to "go to ground" — to de-clericalize, de-hierarchicalize, and to have its members intermingle in all aspects of ordinary human life, indistinguishable in any outward way from other members of society, except in the excellence of their work, engaged in as a vocation . . . a vocation to sanctity in the midst of the world. And so, at the Second Vatican Council, the Church made the extraordinary leap, the epochal transformation, from a Church organized along lines that had worked well enough in the medieval age, hierarchical and clerical, to a Church organized to survive and flourish and live out the faith in a "new age," an age of a looming "new world order."

And this was the deep meaning of Pope John Paul II's words when he said, after canonizing Escriva, that the message of the Opus Dei founder is to stand up to "a materialist culture that threatens to dissolve the most genuine identity of the disciples of Christ."

The Holy Father pronounced the formula of canonization for the Spanish priest at 10:23 a.m. in St. Peter's Square. And so, in a certain sense, we may say that we know the exact minute that the old century and the old world ended: at 10:23 a.m. in Rome on a sunny October morning in the year 2002.

Some 300,000 pilgrims, many of them members of Opus Dei, who filled St. Peter's Square, applauded at that moment.

Read the rest at Catholic Culture.

Strong criticism from former members of a religious organization: What experts say

By Raul Nidoy in Reason

The departure of a member in a religious organization can cause pain and big problems for both the person who formerly committed his entire life for the organization and for the organization itself.

One such problem is the existence of extraordinarily fierce criticism made by these ex-members towards the former organization they once showed devotion to.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn discussed this phenomenon: departure or dismissal may ... occur after someone has already made a final commitment. Some of those who have left a community keep in friendly contact, following their own way by mutual agreement. Of course, communities approved by the Church will - in case of conflict - offer their members and ex-members the opportunity to approach the appropriate Church authorities.

Some ex-members cannot come to terms with their negative experiences and make them known from the platform of the media. People living together will experience their limitations and weaknesses. It is, however, unjustified, to present personal difficulties within a community as if they were a general experience. On the whole, negative experiences of individuals are painful for the whole Church community.

Massimo Introvigne, a sociologist of religion who wrote an Encyclopedia of Religion, defines three types of narratives or stories constructed by former members of new religious movements:

Type I narratives are from defectors. The narrative assigns responsibility to the failures of the leaver. He expresses regret and acknowledges the organization's high moral standards.

Type II narratives are from ordinary leave-takers, a phenomenon that happens everyday. They lose interest and commitment, and goes to a new one. They hold no strong feelings concerning their past experience in the group, and usually feel no need to justify themselves. They may make "comments on the organization’s more negative features or shortcomings" while also recognizing that there was "something positive in the experience."

Type III narratives are from what are technically called apostates. These ex-members dramatically reverse their loyalties and becoming a professional enemy of the organization they have left. These apostates often join an oppositional coalition fighting the organization, often claiming victimization.

Bryan R. Wilson, Reader Emeritus of Sociology of the University of Oxford and honored as "one of the most distinguished sociologists of the 20th century" who has exercised "a crucial influence on the sociology of religion", stated that apostates of new religious movements are generally in need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates.

Wilson, thus, challenges the reliability of the apostate's testimony by saying that the apostate "must always be seen as one whose personal history predisposes him to bias with respect to both his previous religious commitment and affiliations, the suspicion must arise that he acts from a personal motivation to vindicate himself and to regain his self-esteem, by showing himself to have been first a victim but subsequently to have become a redeemed crusader."

He also asserts that some apostates or defectors from religious organizations rehearse atrocity stories to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, they were recruited to groups that they now condemn.

While these experts say this, it does not follow that religious organizations are beyond reproach and are perfect. The Catholic Church wants to continue purifying itself and its members want to continue purifying themselves, re-converting to Christ. But so too the whole of humanity should continue purifying itself, especially from modern-day errors such as atheism (no God), secularism (no dedication to God and to religion), relativism (no truth) and hedonism (no moral standards, only pleasure). And instead turn back to Christ as one society.

As Cardinal Schonborn put it:

In our time, a new desire is arising in different countries of the world, in spite of all human frailty, to live up to the message of Christ and to serve the Church in unity with the Holy Father and the Bishops.

Many see new charisms as a sign of hope. Others experience these new awakenings as something strange; for others they are a challenge, by others again they may be experienced as an accusation, against which they vindicate themselves sometimes reacting with reproach in turn.

Some promote a kind of humanism that has less and less to do with its Christian roots. But we should not forget: "If the Second Vatican Council speaks of the 'ecclesia semper reformanda', it speaks not only of the necessity to think anew about the structures of the Church, but more about the constant renewal of the life of the Church and about questioning some long-established and treasured ideas which may be too much in keeping with the spirit of the age."

For further study:

Schonborn: http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/ORSECTS.HTM

Introvigne: http://www.cesnur.org/testi/Acropolis.htm

Wilson: http://www.neuereligion.de/ENG/Wilson/

Proper understanding of the Eucharist is where we need to begin to restore the Body of Christ.

By Jim Cope in RenewAmerica

We Catholics go to Mass dressed worse than when we go to the dentist. I guess it all starts from a lack of understanding of Who resides in the tabernacle. Of course, many churches have placed the tabernacle somewhere outside the sanctuary or even the church proper. He is in something of a holy broom closet or a chapel in another part of the building.

The fact that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ is not well known among the laity — and sometimes I think our priests don't know it either. Proper understanding of the Eucharist is where we need to begin to restore the Body of Christ.

I remember being very deeply touched by the Opus Dei priests at evenings of recollection during exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The priest turned to the monstrance before speaking and said, 'With your permission, Lord Jesus Christ.' I wish all Catholics could witness that once; it would be life-changing for them.

Why World Youth Day is Cool

By Chiqui Agoncillo in Inquirer

On August 16, just a few days from now and counting, hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world will meet with each other and the Pope in Madrid for World Youth Day 2011 (WYD).

The worldwide celebration happens only every three years in different host countries. WYD celebrations had been held in Rome, Argentina, Spain, Poland, USA, Philippines, France, Canada, Germany, and Australia.

Although it is a Catholic event, all youth are called to join the pilgrimage, regardless of religion.

It was started by the late Pope John Paul II in 1985 to encourage young people everywhere to grow in love for Christ.

The theme of every WYD celebration is traditionally based on a scriptural verse, which is particularly relevant to the time the event is held. This year’s theme comes from St. Paul: “Planted and built up in Christ, firm in the faith.”

Cool pilgrimage

Many young people look forward to WYD because it is a time and place to get in touch with their spiritual side in a new, fun, and cool way. Aside from the pilgrimage, they get to meet people of different backgrounds, exchange souvenirs with them, attend youth festivals and culture programs every day and night for a week.

The last night, however, is what pilgrims look forward to the most because it is the night everyone camps out together after a vigil with the Pope. Think of it like a sleepover in the Cuatro Vientos airport with more than a million people. It really is no surprise that so many people signed up for WYD this year!

WYD is not all fun and games, though. Previous pilgrims from our school told us they’d be really exhausted by the time they got to bed, and they slept for three to four hours only every night. The food’s not always good, and there are crowds everywhere. But you don’t go to WYD for a vacation—WYD is a journey; it’s ultimately a pilgrimage of self-discovery and the discovery of God’s love for us all.

Narra delegation

People usually register for WYD with their families, friends, or delegations. I, with approximately 44 of my schoolmates in Paref Woodrose School Inc., formed the Narra Delegation for the WYD.

Our school entrusts the spiritual formation of the people in it to Opus Dei, a Catholic institution founded by the Spanish Saint Josemaría Escrivá in 1928. The mission of Opus Dei is to spread the message to everyone that work and circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others, and for improving society. It is in 66 countries and is growing.

Read the rest in the Inquirer.

Kabataan Club: For Public School Girls

By MCS PASION, Contributor for Manila Bulletin
September 1, 2011, 4:25am

MANILA, Philippines — Values education and life-coaching are the key elements that distinguish this club that prepares public high school girls for a productive and meaningful work life…

Public education in our country does not enjoy general esteem. Lack of competent teachers, unmanageable student-teacher ratio, pathetic classroom facilities: these are but some of the culprits.

In addition, save for a handful of achievers, the quality of students who go to public schools is not at all remarkable.

With due respect, the Philippine public educational system can perhaps be likened to a dilapidated machine churning out sub-standard merchandise. The Department of Education (DepEd) can be lauded for its continuous effort to address these technical problems. But along the way, attention to character formation –a basic building block of a healthy nation- sadly lags behind.

In this need, Kabataan found its niche. Now on its sixth year, Kabataan counts on 35 woman volunteers who positively contribute to improving the quality of students who come from public schools.

TOWARDS HIGHER ASPIRATIONS

“Dream and your dreams will fall short.”

These words of St. Josemaría Escrivá, author of The Way, a book of modern spirituality, have posed a challenge to Agnes Dayao since she first read them.

With her retirement and her husband’s demise, Agnes found herself with time in her hands. She realized that apart from taking care of her grandchildren, and getting involved in a local girls’ club among the underprivileged sector, it was time to reach greater heights.

To ensure the girls’ continuous character education, she launched the Kabataan Public High School Girls’ Club, together with Nanette Corcuera, another retired professional from Las Piñas City, and other volunteer friends.

Their pilot schools were at Verdant, Golden Acres, Equitable Talon, and EastTalon, all located in Las Pinas.

The program consists of values formation classes and a mentoring program. The vision: help mold public high school girls into women of virtue to complement their technical know-how.

Kabataan teaches the basic human virtues that are the stairwell to a person’s higher aspirations. ‘’Since half of those who attend Kabataan come from dysfunctional families, we primarily aim at forming these girls to be good mothers and good workers” says Nanette.

ONE-ON-ONE LIFE COACHING

Most of the students live in the urban poor areas of Las Piñas, where it is difficult for the most basic human virtues to thrive.

“They need to have a good dose of fortitude to stand up for what they learn in Kabataan which may clash with what they usually experience at home and in their neighborhood” says Agnes. “I know how it is to be poor... but with perseverance you can improve your situation.”

The backbone of Kabataan is the mentoring program where adult lead ers volunteer their time for one-on-one life coaching. With this, they are able to monitor the academic and personal development of the students.

Crysjoy and Eloisa, both alumnae of Kabataan are now enrolled in the twoyear Dual Training Program in the Food & Beverage Services course of Punlaan School and are both presidents of their respective classes.

When asked what inspires her in life, Crysjoy talked about the STRONG virtues (Steadfast, Trustworthy, Respectful, Open-minded, Noble, Gutsy) that she learned in a workshop sponsored by Kabataan. In fact, on a recent visit, the Australian Ambassador was impressed with the storytelling talent of Crysjoy who won first prize in a school contest.

He asked about her background and discovered its roots in Kabataan. A good number of the club’s alumnae make it to the top in their respective schools. With their training in Kabataan, they pursue higher studies better equipped and with stronger convictions.

In 2010, 80 graduates of Kabataan entered college. Eight of them are enjoying scholarships in tourism-related courses at Punlaan School in San Juan and at the Maligaya Institute for Culinary Arts and Residential Services in Manila.

read the rest at Manila Bulletin.

‘Killing Fields’ and ‘Mission’ director makes biopic of Opus Dei founder

By Josephine Darang in Philippine Daily Inquirer

ROLAND JOFFE, the director of “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission,” is an agnostic. But he’s the director of “There be Dragons,” a movie about St. Josémaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei which is now showing in Spain and will be released in the United States on May 7. The film is based mainly on the life of the founder during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and shows how Father Escriva at that time chose to forgive his enemies who persecuted not only him, but also Opus Dei, which he had founded on Oct. 2, 1928. Forgiving one’s enemies was something Joffe couldn’t understand.

The film director introduced his Escriva film in Rome on March 21. He was quoted in an interview comparing Escriva to Nelson Mandela in their shared love for freedom and forgiveness. The director admitted, “This story forced me to think as much as I ever have in my life.”

‘God is found in everyday life’

In researching for the film, Joffe (as told to Zenit) was struck by Father Escriva’s teaching, “God is found in everyday life,” “How can God be found in war?” Joffe asked.

“But then,” the director added, “the same question can be asked of all the fundamental challenges in life, and how we face them: How we respond to hatred and rejection, or the desire for revenge and justice—all those dilemmas are heightened in wartime. Those dilemmas are, in a sense, the “dragons” of the film—turning points in our lives where we’re faced with potent choices.”

‘Father, I am Jewish’

A video of a Jewish girl talking to Monsignor Escriva in Chile in 1974 inspired Joffe to go ahead with the film.

During that meeting where hundreds of people were present to listen to the Opus Dei founder, the girl told Escriva: “Father, I’m Jewish but I believe in the Catholic religion, and I would like to convert to Catholicism, but I am a minor and my parents won’t let me.”

Monsignor Escriva answered: “Look, I am going to tell you something that will make you very happy. I learned this from this son of mine (referring to Don Alvaro, a fellow priest, in the background). I must tell you that the first love of my life is a Jew: Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth—a member of your race! And the second love of my life is Mary, most holy Virgin and Mother, mother of the Jewish man Jesus, and my Mother and your Mother. Do you like that?

“And then, I must tell you to be very good toward your parents, to be patient, to pray. Don’t make any gestures of rebellion. Is that clear? ”

Escriva then advised the Jewish girl to continue studying for her catechism and assured her that the Lord Jesus would move her parents to let her follow calmly and serenely the path she wanted.

Read the entire article here.

There Be Dragons: A film that shows that forgiveness can change the future

By Diane Thunder Schlosser in Enerpub

Joffe deftly explains that There Be Dragons is about “bringing love to the world --- the absence of love and what that does. When loves goes it leaves a vacuum – and that vacuum can fill with very many unpleasant things: fear, hatred, despair….This movie is made for all human beings with the sure knowledge that all human beings count – all human beings have value -- and all human beings, as St. Josemaria would say, are capable of being saints…”

Although this is not strictly about recently canonized St. Josemaria Escriva per se, he does figure prominently, and we see vignettes of his life as a young priest and a glimpse of the early days of Opus Dei -- his vision of the Universal Call to Holiness 30 years before Vatican II. In the aftermath and angst over the priest scandals, There Be Dragons sets before us a model of the priesthood that needs to be re-embraced. When was the last time Hollywood produced a movie about a priest – a real priest?

Not a vampire-chasing vengeful priest. Not a sensationalized exorcist. Not a fictitious albino ‘monk’ or even a crooning Bing Crosby priest, but a real priest! This generation is privileged to know of a priest who lived in our lifetime and has been canonized in our lifetime, yet St. Josemaria is not just a saint for members of Opus Dei. He is not just a saint for the people of Spain. He has been raised to the high altars of the Church and canonized a saint for all of us as a model of heroic virtue for the 21st century. As Joffe explains,

“Here is a man who, in a time of civil strife, civil war – when God appeared to be silent – was an example of someone going through a spiritual crisis who never lost the sense that each human being is a saint, that every human being is deserving of love, and he lived that. That is saintliness. Those subjects are worthy of honest storytelling. Josemaria also claimed that ordinary people were quite capable of being saints – and I think this kind of heroic forgiveness is what he was talking about….(it is) what offers room for hope. But the price is high: It takes a deep sense of what it is to be fully human…and, yes, heroic resolve not to be caught up in prevailing hatreds, but to fight them with unremitting love.” (www.mercatornet.com/sheila_liaugminas/view/8815/)

Read the entire article here.

Roland Joffé: There isn’t an Opus Dei party line

By Stephen Greynadu in National Catholic Register

Roland Joffé, director of The Mission and There Be Dragons, calls himself an agnostic, but he seems to be a remarkably God-haunted one.

At a recent press event in Spain, the British writer-director reflected on what drew him to There Be Dragons — a film set during the Spanish Civil War that has predictably elicited media controversy for its positive treatment of St. Josemaria Escrivá, played by Charlie Cox, and Opus Dei, the personal prelature he founded. There Be Dragons recently opened in Spain; the film comes to the United States in May.

“I have no idea whether there’s a God or not, and it seemed to be a fascinating thing to think about,” Joffé explained to a roomful of sometimes skeptical journalists at Madrid’s Villa Magna Hotel. “I’m not a very spiritual person, unfortunately, being a Brit. We tend to go for humor over religion.”

The self-fulfilling humor of the self-deprecating line notwithstanding, the filmmaker easily uses the language of sainthood, spirituality and grace. His British penchant for humor resurfaced as he recounted the reactions of some of his friends to the news that he was doing a film dealing with Opus Dei. “Oh my God, that’s a fascist organization!” was one horrified response he related. “I mean, they slaughtered hundreds of people!”

Joffé’s deadpan rejoinder — “They have? Really? How do you know that?” — was followed by a litany of similarly preposterous charges: that Opus Dei “controls” the Church; that “hundreds” of cardinals and “thousands” of bishops are members; that their membership is kept secret, and so on.

Provocatively tweaking dubious members of his audience, Joffé continued, “The fact is: Opus Dei itself doesn’t really exist. I hate to break this to you, but there isn’t really such a thing as Opus Dei — in the sense of some kind of society with an opinion about something.

“I investigated Opus Dei, and I began to find a very important thing: Opus Dei is a group of people who come together to work on their spiritual life, to work on their relationship to God. But Opus Dei does not have a point of view, other than to say that what you believe you must stand up for — and you must take responsibility for your choices.”

“Beyond that, Opus Dei does not tell people what to think,” he said. “And, in some sense, that’s very beautiful. It’s also shocking to a culture that’s used to large political and ideological groups. Here you have a group that shares some things, but not everything. It’s very difficult to understand. We know that when you belong to a party, most of the time, you’re being told to toe the party line, in one way or another. There isn’t an Opus Dei party line.”

“That means that some people will not like the conservative members of Opus Dei that they meet, or they may not like the liberal members of Opus Dei that they meet,” Joffé said. “But I can assure you that all those sorts of opinions do exist inside Opus Dei.”

Read rest of the article here.

There Be Dragons: Joffe confirms his greatness as an intense and profound director of the highest quality

By Austen Ivereigh

In an era of ideological conformity the founder of Opus Dei had the courage to tell people to think for themselves, and like Nelson Mandela in South Africa brought healing to Spain, the British film director Roland Joffé told an audience at the Vatican last night.

Presenting There Be Dragons at a private screening of 150 Vatican officials, he said St Josemaría Escrivá – one of the central characters in the movie, which opens Friday in Spain – “answered the question that his time gave him, which is that when politics was industrialising and the world was splitting into rigid opposing camps a young priest stood up in Spain and refused to condemn.”

The movie is set against the background of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which left half a million dead and continues to divide Spain. In it the young Fr Escrivá tells his followers in the newly-created Opus Dei that they must forgive and not take sides – even against those who are wrong.

In this way, said Joffé, “Josemaría extended what I would call the warm embrace of the Church to people who weren’t Christian as well … We are all in this world together. That was an extraordinary thing to do, and the power of that message I think is extraordinary and relevant to us.”

Among the audience at the Pontifical North-American College were 11 cardinals, eight bishops, 14 monsignori, and 24 ambassadors, as well as representatives from movements such as Focolare and Sant’Egidio with Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans.

Also in the audience were the writer and director Susanna Tamaro and the film composer Ennio Morricone, who composed the theme to one of Joffé’s 1980s epics, The Mission.

After the screening, Morricone said: “With this film Roland Joffe confirms his greatness as an intense and profound director of the highest quality".

Tamaro described the film as “powerful, very well filmed, and dramatically very effective”. By choosing to tell the story of opposing paths taken by two childhood friends, Joffé “brings out the importance of freedom which God gave us to try to reduce the power of evil in the world”.

Tamaro added that the film had the power “to do great good for the new generations deprived of great figures to admire and emulate”.

Joffé told them “it would be wonderful” if There Be Dragons, which premieres tomorrow evening in Madrid and goes on release in Spain Friday, helped the 21st century to be seen as “the century of reconciliation”, in which “we began once again to discover our innate humanity that exists in all of us” and to heal the wounds of the 20th century wars.

He added: “It’s wonderful that President Mandela was capable of doing that in South
Africa, and it’s wonderful to me that Josemaría Escrivá as a young man fought for the importance of that, and carried the Christian message in such a remarkable way that I who am, I confess, a rather wishy-washy agnostic, found myself standing in total admiration and driven to want to do my best for this movie.”

Read the rest of the article here.