JOSEMARÍA ESCRIVÁ DE BALAGUER

Comments by the Popes on Blessed Josemaria and Opus Dei

John Paul II 

“A clear manifestation of divine Providence is the constant presence of men and women faithful to Christ down the centuries, who with their life and their message, shed light on various periods of history. Among these distinguished figures, Blessed Josemaria has an eminent place. As I had occasion to stress on the day of his beatification, he reminded the contemporary world of the universal call to holiness and of the Christian value which professional work can have in the ordinary life of each person”. (Address to the participants of the Congress on the teachings of Blessed Josemaria, October 14, 1993) 

“With supernatural intuition, Blessed Josemaria preached untiringly the universal call to holiness and to apostolate. Christ calls everyone to be holy through all the circumstances and events of everyday life. Work becomes a means of personal holiness and apostolate when it is lived in union with Jesus Christ, the Son of God who, through his Incarnation, has in a certain way united himself with the whole reality of man and with the whole of creation (cf. Dominum et Vivificantem, 50). In a society where the unbridled craving for material things becomes man’s sole object, causing him to draw away from God, the new Blessed reminds us that these same realities, God’s creation and fruits of human industry, if used rightly for the glory of the Creator and in service of one's brothers and sisters, can be a way for men and women to meet Christ”. (Ceremony of the Beatification of Josemaria Escriva, May 17, 1992)

John Paul I 

“Msgr. Escriva, with Gospel in hand, constantly taught: “Christ does not want us simply to be good, he wants us to be saints through and through. However, he wants us to attain that sanctity not by doing extraordinary things, but rather, through ordinary common activities. It is the way that they are done which must be uncommon”. There, nel bel mezzo della strada (in the middle of the street), in the office, in the factory, we can be holy provided we do our job competently, for love of God, and cheerfully, so that everyday work does not become ‘a daily tragedy’, but rather ‘a daily smile’”.(Article in Il Gazzettino, Venice, 25-VII-1978)

Paul VI 

“We have seen in your words the vibration of the generous and enlightened spirit of the whole Institution, born in our times as an expression of the perennial youth of the Church (…). We consider with paternal satisfaction all that Opus Dei has done and continues to do for the kingdom of God: the desire to do good that guides it, the ardent love for the Church and its visible head which characterizes it, the ardent zeal for souls which leads it along the difficult and arduous paths of the apostolate of presence and of witness in all sectors of contemporary life”.(Handwritten letter to Msgr. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, October 1, 1964)