Opus Dei: opiniones de protagonistas - Jaime L. Sin, Arzobispo de Manila, en Bulletin Today (Manila), 29.6.76, en Philippines Daily Express (Manila), 23.6.79, en Abc (Madrid), 26.6.85, y en Bulletin Today (Manila), 2.1.86.

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

Opus Dei

Opus Dei: datos

Romana (Boletín de la Prelatura del Opus Dei)

Obras de San Josemaría Escrivá

Proyecto Harambee

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

OPUS DEI: blog no oficial

Enlaces interesantes sobre el Opus Dei

Jaime L. Sin, Arzobispo de Manila, en Bulletin Today (Manila), 29.6.76, en Philippines Daily Express (Manila), 23.6.79, en Abc (Madrid), 26.6.85, y en Bulletin Today (Manila), 2.1.86.

Texto

PHILIPPINES DAILY EXPRESS Saturday, June 23, 1979

Manila

opus DEI

Msgr: Escriva:

A legacy of unit

By JAIME CARDINAL SIN

IN A ViS[T I made recently to the central offices of Opus Dei in Rome, I spent several pleasant and fruitful hours with the president-general of this international Catholic association. There I saw for myself one of the greatest treasures that a founder can leave as a legacy to his association: the heritage of unity and faithfulness to his spirit. As I talked to the Very Rev. Father Alvaro dei Portillo, who was unanimously elected as president-general of Opus Dei on Sept. 15, 1975, I felt that I was listening to the late Msgr. Josemaria Escrivá de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei, who died in Rome in the odor of sanctity,, and whose writings I have read avidly and whose warm and dynamic figure Ihave gotten to know and admire through some films I have had occasion to watch Although the present president.general has a personality quite distinct from the late founder of Opus Dei, I was impressed to see how totally identified he was with the spirit he had received from the person whom members of Opus Dei affectionately call "our Father."

I told Father Del Portillo that my biggest regret is that I never had a chance to personally meet Msgr. Escrivá, to whose intercession millions of individuals all over the world are privately entrusting all types of intentions, both material and spiritual. In my own archdiocese, I know for a fact that the private devotion to the founder of Opus Dei has spread to people of all ages and walks of life. Factory workers, household helpers, street cleaners, office clerks, ordinary housewives, professional men and women, students and little children: all seem to find the private devotion to Msgr. Escriva an effective way of obtaining favors from God, particularly favors that pertain to the spiritual and material welfare of the members of one's family.

I am not at all surprised that the founder of Opus Dei would, so to speak, "specialize" on favors for the family. I have never heard any person speak more energetically and in the most down-to-earth manner about the possibilities of sanctifying oneself in the married state. In some of those films taken of Msgr. Escriva's get-togethers with thousands of individuals during his "catechetical voyages" in Europe and Latin America, I have heard him encourage married men and women to take their Christian vocation in the state of holy matrimony more seriously. He had an inimitable way of speaking about divine truths in a very attractive and appealing way. For example, in a gathering in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1974, he encouraged married people to take the affection of

.courtship as a model for their own love: "Love one another very much. The love of christìan spouses - especially if they are children o£ God in Opus Dei - is like good wine. It improves with time, and appreciates in value... Well, your love is far more important than the best wine in the world. It is a splendid treasure that Our Lord has wished to grant you. Keep it carefully. Do not throw it away! Look after it!" (Salvador Bernal, AProfile of Msgr. Escriva, p. 57)

These words were among the countless variations on the same theme that he talked about tirelessly. Consider, for example, the following passage from a homily he delivered on Christmas Day in 1970: "For a Christian marriage is not just a social institution, much less a mere remedy for human weakness. It is a real supernatural calling. A great sacrament, in Christ and in the Church, says St. Paul. At the sane time, it is a permanent contract between a man and a woman. Whether we like it or not, the sacrament of matrimony, instituted by Christ, cannot be dissolved. It is a permanent contract that sanctifies in cooperation with Jesus Christ. He fills the souls of husband and wife and invites them to follow him. He transforms their_ _whole married life into an occasion for God's presence on earth." (Christ Is Passing By, par. 23)

In my frequent personal contacts with members of Opus Dei in the Philippines, I see this particular feature of the rich spirituality which Msgr. Escrivá preached for almost fifty years incarnate in the lives of exemplary married men and women. In my pastoral work I have had occasion to talk to individuals who receive the spiritual formation given in centers of Opus Dei. I have always been

impressed by the thorough doctrinal fonmation of men and women. Their piety strikes me as deeply founded on doctrine. With steadfast faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church do these men and women - formed in the spirit Msgr. Escriva taught them = spread and defend the doctrines of the Church on marriage, among others. This apostolate of doctrine done by members of Opus Dei is a great service to the Catholic Church, especially during these times when the sanctity of marriage is so fiercely attacked by enemies of the Church.

I have always found great spiritual comfort from reading and meditating on the writings of Msgr. Escrivá. I never cease to benefit from his constant reminder to all of us about the universal calling to sanctity; his emphasis on the sanctifying value of ordinary work and his profound statement that "sanctity is more attainable than learning, but it is easier to be a scholar than to be a saint." (The Way, 282). He has often inspired me in my task of preaching the Gospel with wordslike the following: "Let us think courageously about our life. Why is it that we do not seem to find a few minutes sometimes to finish lovingly the work we have to do and which is the means of our sanctification? Why do we have the tendency to rush through our prayers or the holy sacrifice of the Mass? Why cep we not be calm and serene when fulfllihgourduties of state and yet waste so much time with no sense of hurry when following the whims of ou.r fancy? You might answer: These thing are trifles. Yes, indeed they are. But those trifles are the oil, the fuel that keeps our fame alive and our light shhiing." (Time Is aTreasuie, Sinagtala Booklet No. 32, p.6)

Indeed, Msgr.. Escriva taught millions of ordinary Christians all over the world that time is not only money; it is glory (The Way, 355). 1 find his message of urgency to all men of lasting value. For it is Christ who urges us. The founder of Opus Dei was a man in a hurry to know, love and serve God, as we all must be in a hurry to know, love and serve God because time is short. As he also said: "We cannot have time to spare, not even a second - and I am not exaggerating. There is plenty of work to be done. The world is huge, and there arc millions of souls who have not yet heard the doctrine of Christ in all its clarity and fullness. If you have time to spare, just think a little. It aright be that you are steeped. in lukewarmness or that, supernaturally speaking, you are a cripple..." (Time is a Treasure, P. 7).