Women of Opus Dei by M. T. Oates

Author:M. T. Oates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company

TWELVE

The Preeminence of the Christian Family

“Our God in his deepest mystery is not a solitary being, but a family, since God’s inner life is paternity, filiation, and the essence of the family, which is love,” said Pope John Paul II in describing the love between the persons of the Blessed Trinity as the root and origin of all family life* St. Josemaría believed that family life was of quintessential importance for souls to live out their Christian vocation.

As a small part of the Catholic Church, Opus Dei has from its start tried to be more like a large, loving, multicultural family than an international institution. This family love derives from the fact that we are all children of God through Baptism. The members of Opus Dei strive to create and live a culture of mutual affection, understanding, support, and encouragement through prayer and deeds. The family spirit is intended to nourish members with the unconditional love of God so that they in turn love and care for their own families better and love and serve those around them as other children of God. It is meant to augment the family life each member enjoys with his or her own respective family.

This family environment is characteristic of Opus Dei. It is experienced and enjoyed not only by the members of Opus Dei, but by cooperators of Opus Dei, relatives of members of Opus Dei, and others who somehow have connections to persons in Opus Dei. As part of this family spirit, members pray regularly for each other, cooperators, their families, and many others. They also pray daily for the intentions of the Pope, the local bishops where they live, and the prelate* of Opus Dei.

The late Bishop Álvaro del Portillo, the immediate successor and closest collaborator of St. Josemaría, explained that much of the spiritual and material manifestation of the family spirit of Opus Dei stemmed from what St. Josemaría had experienced in his own family growing up. Bishop del Portillo described the early influence of St. Josemaría’s mother, Dolores Escrivá, and his sister, Carmen Escrivá, in helping to materialize the spiritual family life St. Josemaría was trying to create in Opus Dei:

They [Dolores and Carmen] transmitted the warmth that had characterized the domestic life of the Escrivá family to the supernatural family our founder was creating. We learned to recognize this in the good taste exemplified in so many small details, in the delicacy with which people treated each other, and in the way the material things in the house were cared for, which imply — and this is the most important thing — a constant concern for others in the spirit of service. . . . We observed all this in the character of [St. Josemaría], and now we saw it confirmed in [Dolores Escrivá] and in [Carmen Escrivá]. We could not fail to treasure all this, and so, with spontaneous simplicity, family customs and traditions took root in us, which even today live on in all the centers

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