Artículos de la prensa internacional en los años que rodean a la beatificación de Josemaría Escrivá por Juan Pablo II

Enlaces

AA.VV., 19-29.5.92 (suplementos semanales)

Texto

N. 20 - 20 May 1992

L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Weekly Edition

Sanctification of ordinary work

was teaching of Blessed Josemaría

Blessed Josemaría Escrivá de Baia

guer was born in Barbastro, Spain, on 9 January 1902. At the age of 13 he left his birthplace and moved to Logroño with his family. In order to dedicate himself entirely to God's will, he decided to become a priest. He completed his studies in Saragossa and was ordained to the priesthood in 1925. His first assignment was to a parish in a rural district.

With the permission of his Bishop he went to Madrid in 1927 to do a doctorate in law. In the capital' of Spain he tirelessly engaged in priestly work, dedicating himself especially to serving the poor and to the incurably sick and dying.

On 2 October 1928, God showed Mons. Escrivá the mission he was to confer on him - Opus Dei - a new way of seeking holiness in the Church which was open to people of all conditions. From that moment on, he gave himself completely to this mission and received the support of the Bishop of Madrid.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), Mons. Escrivá continued to exercise his priestly ministry, heroically, dedicating himself to the task even if it meant putting himself at risk. After the war, he returned to Madrid and from there directed Opus Dei, which was spreading throughout Spain. In 1943, he founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, closely united to and inseparable from Opus Dei. This made it possible to ordain some of the lay members of Opus Dei and incardinate them for service to the Work Later on, it also became possible for diocesan priests to share in the spirituality of Opus Dei while remaining under the authority of their Bishops.

In 1946 Mons. Escrivá de Balaguer moved to Rome. In 1947 the Holy See erected Opus Dei and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross as institutions of pontifical right, with definitive approval in 1950. In 1982 Opus Dei was made a Personal Prelature. From Rome he gave the impetus to the worldwide expansion of Opus Dei.

Mons. Escrivá de Balaguer was, above all, a master of the interior life. The nucleus of his message is the universal call to holiness. He would often say: "Sanctify your work, sanctify yourself in your work and sanctify others with your work". He insisted on the need to forge one's professional activities, prayer and apostolate into a solid unity of life, so that every aspect of life would become an offering to God.

In later years he made long apostolic trips throughout Europe and America to carry out an intense catechetical work. Thousands of people listened to him as he taught them to sanctify themselves in ordinary life. A great part of his teaching is contained in his works of spirituality, such as The Wayand Christ is Passing By.

A sudden heart attack on 26 June 1975, marked the end of his earthly life. His mortal remains were laid in the crypt of the Prelatic Church of Opus Dei, where each year thousands of people from all over the world come to visit and pray.

Humility and simplicity were

hallmark of Blessed Josephine

Blessed Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan in 1869 and died in Schio, Italy in 1947. Having come to Italy as a slave, she became God's daughter through baptism and her response to that love earned her the affection of the people of her adopted homeland. The process for the cause of her canonization began 12 years after her death and on 1 December 1978 the Church proclaimed the decree of her heroic virtues. On 6 July 1991 a decree was proclaimed recognizing a miracle attributed to her intercession.

"Bakhita" was not her given name, a name she forgot due to the shock she suffered when she was kidnapped when she was about six years old and sold into slavery. Her kidnappers gave her a new. name, which means "fortunate".

As a slave she experienced unspeak

able humiliation and physical and moral suffering. After she had been bought and sold five times she was bought in Khartoum by an Italian consul, Callisto Leg

nani, who treated her humanely. In the consul's residence she experienced peace, warmth and moments of joy, even though continuing to suffer because of her slavery and her longing for her own family. When political situations forced Legnani to leave Sudan, Bakhita, who was now about 17 years old, asked to go to Italy with him; they were accompanied by the consul's friend, Augusto Michieli. When they arrived in Genoa, Mrs Michieli, who was expecting a child, asked for the young woman. With their new servant they settled in Zianigo, in the Veneto region, where their daughter Mimmina was born; Bakhita soon became her governess and friend.

When the Michielis bought a hotel in Suakin on the Red Sea, upon the advice of their administrator they entrusted their daughter and her governess to the Canossian Sisters in Venice. It was there that Bakhita came to know God. After several months of catechumenate she was baptized, taking the name of Josephine; the date was 9 January 1890. The new Christian soon developed an intimate relationship with the Lord and when her former owners came to take her and their daughter to Africa, Josephine asked to remain with the sisters and then chose to enter their community, the Daughters of Charity (Canossians).

On 8 December 1896 Josephine Bakhita made her perpetual vows, consecrating herself to God, whom she always called "the Master". For 25 years she served in the community in Schio as cook, seamstress and portress. She charmed the children who came to the school and comforted the poor and suffering who knocked at the institute's door. Age and illness took their toll; at the request of her superiors she dictated her memoirs in order to preserve the record of an exceptional life. After years of agony she died on 8 February 1947. Her humility, simplicity and smile had won the hearts of the citizens of Schio who still refer to her as "our black mother".

Conocer el Opus Dei