 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
|
En esta página se ofrecen testimonios de gran valor histórico. Es una recopilación de artículos publicados en la prensa internacional entre los años 1975 (fecha de fallecimiento del fundador del Opus Dei) y 1990, muy cerca ya de su beatificación por Juan Pablo II. Enlaces Romana (Boletín de la Prelatura del Opus Dei) Obras de San Josemaría Escrivá Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer - Fundador del Opus Dei Iniciativas sociales promovidas por personas del Opus Dei Documentos, artículos y testimonios sobre el Opus Dei y su fundador |
Dominio Ignatius Ekandem, Obispo de Ikot Ekpene, Presidente de la Con ferencia Episcopal Nigeriana, actualmente Arzobispo-Obispo de Abuja, en Independent (Ibadan), 25.3.79.
Texto
Independent Sunday, March 25, 1979 Ibadan, Nigeria Sanctity through ordinary work O pus Dei has been in Ni- geria since 1965. Already as the following lines show, the Association has done remarkable work. There is obvious need for growth and expansion of this providential action among us." Só says, pence. Dom' is Cardinal in his etter to the ius Dei on the-on-going celebration of the 50th anniversary of tbb organisation.. The letter continues: "For the OPUS DU WORK OF GOD) is a providential example of how the world would become a better place by our returning to the obvious. The association, Opus De¡. which this remarkable priest Monsignor Escriva founded on October 2nd, 1928, highlights the truths that `God created man to work' and that our model in this is Jesus Chirst in his thirty years of hidden life. working as an ordinary craftsman in the workshop of St. Joseph. In other words, ordinary work, if well done and done for love of God; can make us holy'. '-one is capable of receiving from od and of being made like God especially in the work he or she does. Concluding Cardinal Ekandem declared. "To Opus Dei I say a blessing on your reaching the half century of Divine achievement and a prayer for your. growth and expansion in our own dear Ni. g How did this organisation come into being? On the second of October, 1928, while a young priest was spending a few days on retreat, Opus Dei came into being. Msgr. Escriva de Balaguer - its founder - never liked to go into the details 'of that 2nd of October, 1928, because he was convinced that the Work belonged to Clod; and he did not want to steal' any of his glory. 7t was on that date that he learned with crystal clarity that he, then only a twenty-sixyear-old priest, without any human resources, was God's chosen instrument to carry out on earth the divine undertaking of Opus Dei (Work of God). When asked about it by jour iolalists eager to explain in human terms what in many countries had become "rows" (given the Christian influence of some of its members and their pro was born on the 2nd of October that. as we read in the Book of 1928. And later, with the cons- Genesis, God created man to tant approval and encourage- work. We have come to call atment of the Holy See and in tention once again to the exameach case with that of the Ordi- ple of Jesus, who spent thirty naries of the places in which we years in Nazareth, working as a work.' (Msgr. Josemaria Escriva carpenter. In His hands, a prode Balaguer: A Profile of the f onal occupation, similar to Founder of Opus Dei, by Salva- that carried out by millions of dor Bernal. Scepter (London). men in the world, was turned 1977, p. 106). into a divine task. It because .This, as the author points out, part of our redemption, a way to is the attitude which is reflected salvation. constantly in the life of the Church: Those who have received God's "charisma' have not been "charismatic'. They point out that their foundation has the backing of eccles-astical authority, and that it is of God because it is of the Church and has been approved by the Hier archy. "The spirit of Opus Dei reflects the marvellous reality (forgotten for centuries by many Christians) that any honest and worthwhile work can be converted into a divine occupation. In God's service there are no second-class jobs; all of them are important. CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD OPUS DEPS FOUNDER "There is still more of the obvious in the inspiring life of this holy priest, the founder of Opus Dei. He confirmed that God makes things come to be. He steered clear of the spectacular and the dramatic. He enjoyed the most richly endowed spiri tual leadership simply by being his simple self, thus becoming a perfect . agent for God's work. He understood very well that obvious and best of dictums that we should never get in God's way; we should always try to share with others what is obviously God's gift to all. Everything comes from God. Every The Founder of Opus Dei used to consider himself in his humility "an inept and deaf ins trument' in carrying out God's plans, though he ivbs in fact most faithful to all the graces he received. Opus Dei received all the approvals of the Church. The pontifical documents clearly acknowledge the supernatural character of its mission. Cardi nal Dell 'Acqua said in April. jests) he would simply answer 1970, that Church, quite justly: with an amazing disregard for this Work is considered as a publicity: Work of God" and Cardinal "I never had and I do no Baggio wrote about the "inonm have any other aim than that of perably effective pastoral action fulfilling the Will of God. Plea- and influence of this remarkable se do nt ask me to go into de- man of the Ch''tch'„ tails about the beginnings of the What has Opus Dei come to Work, which the Love of God do in the 20th century? . " I1te began to make me suspect back late Pope Paul VI declared that in 1917. They are intimately `Opus Dei has come fn our connected with the story of my inner as a living expression been precisely the revaluation af soul and belong to my interior the eternal youth of the Church, that is open to the demands of a ordinary work and of the dig nity All r can say is that r acted modern apostolate ever moge niry of the Christian vocation of , at every moment with the per mission and affectionate bles- active, more personal' better or- life and work in the world." sing of the Bishop of Madrid ga . ~~ And if T may borrow (Cenveisations with Monsignor wiio was my very dear friend the words of its saintly founder, riva de Balaith Sag Tala and in whose diocese us Dei `Our Lord gave rise to Opus (Manila) 1977. n. 55). Dei in 1928 to remind Christians ' "To love and serve God there is no need to do anything stran ge or extraordinary. Christ bids all men without exception to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect. Sanctity, for the vast majority of men, implies sanctifying their work, themselves in it. and sanctifying others through it. -Thus they can encounter God in the course •of their daily lives. "The conditions of contemporary society, which places an ever higher value on work, evidently • make it easier for the men of our times to understand this aspect of the Christian message that the spirit of the Work has recalled. But even more important is the influence of the Holy spirit. His vivifying,,actioa is making our days the witness of a great movement of renewal in all Christianity. Reading the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, it is clear that an important part of this renewal has 23 Opus Dei: opiniones de protagonistas |
