Today is the Anniversary of the Canonization of St. Josemaría Escrivá (2002), Founder of Opus Dei.
The Church has both the permanence of what is universally valid, and the youthfulness of everything that lives and grows. Revealed truth, although unchangeable, is made clearer by opportune doctrinal developments in the exposition of the riches of the deposit of faith, and it is constantly being studied in greater depth.
The kingdom of God always expands and gathers new people into its fold. St Cyril exclaimed as he preached to the people of Jerusalem. “Consider for a moment the number of souls in the world: the Holy Spirit is acting in each one of them according to their needs. He is present in your midst, and aware of your dispositions; he knows your mind and conscience, all that you think and say."
"By the will of God," in words which St. Paul VI used in a message he wrote to St. Josemaría in 1964, the “Opus Dei was born in our time as a clear expression of the Church's perennial youthfulness. Placed as We are by divine will at the helm of Peter's boat ... We ponder with fatherly satisfaction all that Opus Dei has done and continues to do for God's kingdom; the desire to do good which inspires it; the fervent love for the Church and for her visible Head which distinguishes it; the ardent zeal for souls which leads it to undertake the arduous and difficult paths of the apostolate of presence and witness in every sector of contemporary life."
Opus Dei’s apostolate is a service to the Church. St. Josemaría wrote, “constitutes a new fact in ecclesiastical history, while at the same time being as old as the Gospel itself." And although it is a path with its own features within the Church, the Work is universal, and provides Christians with a deep Catholic sense.
Because of its emphasis on work as the proper material for our sanctification, its spirit is open to people of every age, race, and state in life: married and single, priests and laity, men and women, young and old. The universality of its spirit enables its Christian faithful to reach souls in every sphere of life. “We can well say, without boasting, that the Work of God has opened up as a vocation the divine pathways of the earth."
The knowledge that our personal vocation is a sharing in the Church's universal mission should lead us to feel a greater sense of responsibility.
“We will show that we are Catholics by the fruits of sanctity which we produce, for sanctity does not admit of frontiers, nor is it the patrimony of any particular group. We will show that we are Catholics if we pray, if we strive to talk with God at all times, if always and in all things, we make an effort to be just (in the broadest sense of the word "justice", which nowadays is quite often used with a materialistic and erroneous connotation); if we love and defend the personal freedom of all."
Memory Verse
“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24)
Practical Application
Take some time this week to pray for, and with your family. Thank God for the blessing of the Sacrament of Matrimony and ask specifically for a renewed outpouring of grace on your marriage and family
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