1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY
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Opus Dei (Work of God), whose full name is the Prelature of the Holy Cross
and Opus Dei, is a personal Prelature of the Roman Catholic Church. Its
aim is to spread, in all spheres of society, a deep awareness of the universal
call to holiness and the apostolate, in the fulfilment of one's ordinary
professional work. Opus Dei provides its members with the formation and
the spiritual means they need in order to live, in a specific manner and
with personal freedom and responsibility, in the midst of the world, among
the realities that make up their ordinary work, a life proper to a Christian
who seeks to live up to the implications of his faith.
Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer founded Opus Dei on 2
October 1928; two years later on 14 February 1930, he founded the Women's
Section. During those early years, Opus Dei grew through the personal apostolate
of its Founder, who gathered around him people who wished to share his concern
for souls. In its beginnings, the Work spread among university students
and in the working-class districts of Madrid, as well as in other environments
and cities.
In 1934, as a means of helping the spiritual lives of the people who came
to him, whether they belonged to Opus Dei or not, Msgr. Escrivá wrote
Spiritual Considerations, a book which was later to achieve wide
circulation under the title The Way, the name given by the author
to the second, enlarged edition (1939). Also widely read are other writings
of his such as Holy Rosary (1934) and Con versations with Msgr.
Escrivá de Balaguer (1969). Part of his constant preaching has
been published in various Homilies on ascetical, liturgical and doctrinal
subjects. On reading the homilies, one is struck by their theological depth,
the way they make a direct link between the Gospels and the everyday life
of ordinary Christians, and by their excellent literary quality. The first
volume of homilies, Christ is passing by, was published in Madrid
in 1973 and has since been reprinted many times and translated into several
languages. Posthumous works include a second volume of homilies, entitled
Friends of God (1977), and The Way of the Cross (1981), a
work which contains a wealth of points for meditation on the Passion of
Our Lord.
In 1935, preparations were under way for starting the apostolic work of
Opus Dei in France. But the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War forced
a postponement of these plans. In 1946, apostolic activity began in Portugal
and, within the same decade of the 1940s, also in England, Italy, France,
Ireland, the United States and Mexico. In 1946, Msgr. Escrivá moved
to Rome, where he resided from then on and where he set up the central offices
of Opus Dei. From 1950 onwards, the geographical expansion continued: to
Germany, Holland, Argentina, Canada, Venezuela, and other countries in Western
Europe and America, as well as Japan, the Philippines, Nigeria, Australia,
Kenya, Zaire, Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, etc. In 1983, there were over 73,000
members of 87 nationalities.
Msgr. Escrivá de Balaguer died in Rome on 26 June 1975, with a reputation
for holiness. On 12 May 1981 there opened in Rome the process for his beatification
and canonisation, which had been requested of the Pope by 69 Cardinals and
1300 Bishops.
On 15 September 1975 Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo was elected to succeed Msgr.
Escrivá, first with the title of President General and, from 28 November
1982, with that of Prelate (by papal nomination).
Of its very nature, the spirit of Opus Dei is universal. In 1934, only six
years after its foun dation, Msgr. Escrivá wrote to the first members:
I would have you realise that we are not a circumstantial organisation,
nor have we come to meet a particular need of a given country or a given
time, because Jesus wants his Work to be universal, catholic, from the outset.
Opus Dei has enjoyed from the beginning the support and encouragement of
the episcopal Hierarchy. From 1943 onwards, it received all the necessary
approvals of the Holy See; these culminated with its establishment as a
personal Prelature by Pope John Paul II, on 28 November 1982, and thus the
long juridical journey of Opus Dei reached the goal desired by its Founder.
On this occasion the Holy Father expressed his feelings with the following
words: With very great hope, the Church directs its atten tion and maternal
care towards Opus Dei, which -by divine inspiration- the Servant of God
Josemaria Escrivá de Balaguer founded in Madrid on 2 October 1928,
so that it may always be an apt and effective instrument of the salvific
mission which the Church carries out for the life of the world (John
Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Ut sit, 28-XI- 1982).
ANDREW BYRNE,
from his work Sanctifying Ordinary Work, on the Nature and Spirit of
Opus Dei
Scepter Ltd., 1984