The Pope's dream: why the Church needs well-trained priests
From the CARF Foundation, we work so that the Pope's dream be fulfilled: that a solid and integral formation reaches seminarians and diocesan priests all over the world.
But beyond the public agenda, there is an underlying message that the Holy Father has been repeating insistently since the beginning of his pontificate: the Church needs well-trained priests.
A concern that runs through his entire pontificate
Throughout his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has outlined a very clear vision of the priesthood. It is not just a question of vocations. It is about how they are accompanied and prepared.
As he recalled in his meeting with Spanish seminarians on February 28, 2026, «the seminary is always a sign of hope for the Church». But this hope is not only born from the number of young men who respond to the call, but also from the formation process they undergo. Because it is there that future priests are built.
To form priests is to form people
The Pope insists that formation cannot be reduced to academics. It is not enough to acquire knowledge or pastoral skills. Formation is, above all, a path of relationship. Becoming a priest implies learning to live in friendship with Christ and from there to understand people.
That is why he speaks of the seminary as a «school of affections». A place where the future priest learns to integrate his life, to mature, to love well and to accompany others with balance and depth. This dimension is key. Because the priest does not work with ideas, but with people.
The risk of reducing the priesthood to a function of the priesthood
One of the Pope's most interesting messages at this point is his warning about a silent danger: turning the priesthood into a function. In his meeting with the Dicastery for the Clergy, recalled that the Church does not need “functionaries” but pastors with a heart (June 26, 2025). This statement introduces a decisive key: formation is not only to “do things”, but to be in a certain way. To be a father, to be a guide, to be a presence.
A call that also reaches Spain
The Pope's upcoming visit to our country will not be just a one-time event. As has happened on other occasions, it will leave a deeper mark: it will awaken vocations, confirm decisions and move consciences.
And, in the background, this message will resonate strongly: taking care of the formation of priests is taking care of the future of the Church. "Make the Pope's dream come true" focus precisely on this reality: to make it possible for those who have received a vocation to be trained in the best conditions.
Forming seminarians today to serve as priests tomorrow
Through the CARF Foundation, benefactors from around the world are already contributing to the formation of seminarians and priests in more than 130 countries.
Each grant translates into something very concrete: years of study, human and spiritual accompaniment, intellectual and pastoral preparation. But, above all, it translates into a future.
Because behind every well-trained priest there are thousands of people who, over the years, will receive guidance, support and hope. The Pope's dream has names, faces and concrete stories.
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Make the Pope's dream come true
There are young men all over the world who have heard a deep call to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. They want to serve, to accompany, to impart the sacraments and to help their people encounter God. But many of them do not have the financial means to form themselves well, academically and humanly, at this key stage of their encounter with God.
Pope Leo XIV has recently recalled this with simplicity and depth in his apostolic letter "Loyalty that generates future"The identity of priests is constituted around their being and is inseparable from their mission«.
For this reason, the Church takes special care in the formation of future priests so that they may be humanly, spiritually and pastorally prepared, capable of accompanying their communities and serving people where they are most needed. This is what the CARF Foundation has been doing since 1989.
In many countries around the world, there are people with a vocation to the priesthood where faith is strong, but resources are scarce. That's where your help makes a difference.
The CARF Foundation accompanies seminarians and diocesan priests from 130 countries so that they may receive the integral formation that the Church needs today and will need tomorrow. Behind each one is a story, a family, a people and an entire diocese that one day will have a priest better prepared to serve them and to form others.
With your help you are making this possible. Pope Leo XIV's dream: that formation would reach seminarians and priests all over the world. May the future of the Church be built on firm foundations, with well-prepared and dedicated people.
Make the Pope's dream come true!
Make possible the formation of those who will care for the faith and lives of millions of people around the world.
St. Josemaría was born on January 9, 1902 in Barbastro (Huesca), into a deeply Christian family. He was the second of six children. His father, José, was a merchant; his mother, Dolores, was a pious woman who passed on to her children a living and simple faith. When Josemaría was thirteen years old, the family moved to Logroño due to the bankruptcy of the family business. This change of city would mark a key moment in his spiritual life.
One winter day, during a snowfall, he saw in the street the footprints in the snow left by a barefoot Carmelite. This made a deep impression on him: he perceived that God wanted something from him. Years later, he would remember that moment as the beginning of an interior intuition, of a diffuse call, a spiritual restlessness that grew.
Although he did not know exactly what the Lord was asking of him, he decided to become a priest as a way of being more available to fulfill the divine will. He entered the seminary in Zaragoza, where he began his ecclesiastical studies, which he later combined with law studies. He was ordained a priest on March 28, 1925.
After a brief period as curate in a rural parish in Perdiguera, he moved to Madrid to continue his academic formation. There he worked as a chaplain and ministered to the sick, students and people in need.
Representation of St. Josemaría Escrivá and some key elements of his life and message.
It was in this urban environment, in contact with people from all walks of life, that his life took a definitive turn. On October 2, 1928, during a spiritual retreat, he received with inner clarity the mission that God entrusted to him: to found Opus Dei. He understood that he had to open a path within the Church to help discover that all men and women, regardless of their status, profession or social condition, are called to seek holiness in their ordinary lives through each other's work.
Who was St. Josemaría and why is it celebrated on June 26?
The initial inspiration showed him that any honest task - from an operating room to an office, a kitchen, a factory, the countryside or a classroom - could be a place of encounter with God. It was not a matter of doing extraordinary things, but of doing the ordinary with love, with perfection, with a Christian sense. Work, lived with this attitude, became a means of personal sanctification and service to others. This vision broke the mold at a time when holiness was associated almost exclusively with religious or priestly life. Josemaría insisted time and again to everyone that God does not call only some, but all.
In the early years, Opus Dei began in a very humble way: just a handful of young people in Madrid who listened to that priest speak to them about a Christian life that was coherent, joyful, demanding and committed to the world. In 1930, he also understood that this call was for women, and in 1943 he founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, as part of the structure of Opus Dei. diocesan priests.
Expansion was slow at first, marked by the social and political difficulties of the Spain of the time. During the Civil War, the founder had to go into hiding because he was a priest. At the end of the conflict, he resumed his work with renewed impetus.
But in 1946 he moved to Rome, from where he promoted the international development of the Work. In 1950, the Holy See granted definitive approval to Opus Dei, recognizing the validity of this new path within the Church. The expansion was progressive: they reached countries in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.
From the beginning of his ordination, St. Josemaría developed an intense pastoral and formative activity. He preached retreats, wrote books on spirituality - among them the best known, Caminopublished for the first time in 1939 - and accompanied many people spiritually.
In all her writings and meetings she insisted on the value of the little things, on the importance of doing them well and with God's love. "God waits for us in the little things," he used to say. His spirituality was neither complicated nor inaccessible, but deeply incarnated in daily life with a marked confidence in being a child of God: divine filiation fills the whole life of the person.
He died in Rome on June 26, 1975, unexpectedly, having just arrived at his residence at the headquarters of Opus Dei, Villa Tevere, after seeing and spending time with his daughters at the Roman College of Santa Maria.
Javi, I don't feel well
This is how Blessed Alvaro del Portillo relates it in an interview about the Founder. "At eleven fifty-seven we entered the garage of Villa Tevere. A member of the Work was waiting for us at the door. Father quickly got out of the car, with a cheerful face; he moved with agility, so much so, that he turned to personally close the door. He thanked his son who had helped him and entered the house.
He greeted the Lord in the oratory of the Holy Trinity and, as he used to do, he made a slow, devout genuflection, accompanied by an act of love. Then we went upstairs to my office, the room where he usually worked, and a few seconds after passing the door, he called out: Javi!
Javier Echevarría had stayed behind to close the elevator door, and our Founder repeated more forcefully: "Javi! and then, in a weaker voice: "I am not feeling well. Immediately Father collapsed on the floor. We used all possible means, spiritual and medical. As soon as I realized the gravity of the situation, I gave him absolution and the Anointing of the Sick, as he ardently desired: he was still breathing. He had begged us many times to not deprive him of this treasure.
Possibly, after greeting the picture of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe with an ejaculatory prayer, as he always used to do when entering any room of the house, with that last small act of love he collapsed. That same day the fame of his sanctity began to spread among the faithful.
In 1992 he was beatified by St. John Paul II, and in 2002 he was canonized, The Pope himself said during his homily: "With supernatural intuition, St. Josemaría untiringly preached the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to Christian perfection: workers and peasants, intellectuals and artists, people of all professions, social conditions and cultures".
A path of holiness in the midst of the world
Today, St. Josemaría's message continues to inspire thousands of people around the world. Opus Dei is present in 68 countries and offers spiritual and human formation to Christians from all walks of life. His legacy is not limited to the creation of an institution, but lies, above all, in having opened a new way to live the Gospel in the heart of the world.
Celebrating St. Josemaría's feast day on June 26 is to remember God's call to live fully in the midst of the ordinary. It is an invitation to all - lay people, priests, He urged us to seek holiness in daily life, at work, in the family, at rest, in our professional duties and in our human relationships. He himself said: «There where your aspirations, your work, your loves are, there is the place of your daily encounter with Christ».
In short, St. Josemaría was an instrument in God's hands to remind us of something profoundly evangelical: that there are no second- or first-division Christians, that all of us-you and I-are called to the fullness of love, without the need to change our life, but only by changing the heart with which we live it.
The value of priests in the 21st century
In this year 2026, St. Josemaría's message on holiness in the world takes on a special meaning. For the laity to be able to encounter God in their ordinary life and work, the work and accompaniment of priests, who need a solid theological, human and spiritual formation, is fundamental. Remembering the founder of Opus Dei on his liturgical feast is also an opportunity to support priestly vocations throughout the world.
Praying through the intercession of St. Josemaría
Christians have always had recourse to the intercession of the santos to bring your prayer into the presence of God. You can download the prayer in more than 30 languages.
The revealed truth of the Most Holy Trinity has been from the origins at the root of the Church's living faith, principally in the act of Baptism. It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and prayer of the Church. These formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this greeting found in the Eucharistic liturgy: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (1 Cor 5:17).2 Co 13:13; cf. 1 Co 12,4-6; Ef 4,4-6). This reference comes literally from point 249 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The liturgical celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity invites us to plunge into the very heart of our faith. On this day, the Church calls us to contemplate the infinite Love that unites the Father, the Son and the Son of God. Holy Spirit.
What do we celebrate on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity?
The Church dedicates the following Sunday to Pentecost to honor God in his unity and trinity. We do not celebrate an abstract concept, but rather a mystery of communion. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Trinity is the central mystery of faith and of Christian life. It is the source of all the other mysteries of the faith.
Texts to deepen our understanding of the Holy Trinity
This Trinitarian current of Love (The Light of Faith series editorial): The Mystery of the Trinity profoundly changes our view of the world, because it reveals how Love is the very fabric of reality.
Five questions about the Holy Trinity: Do I believe in God, One and Triune? The Holy Trinity is the mystery of God in itself, the central mystery of Christian faith and life. What does it mean in practice to say “I believe in the Triune God”? How do we distinguish and treat each of the three divine Persons?
'I believe, we believe', e-book by Msgr. Javier EchevarríaThe Creed is the guiding thread of “I Believe, We Believe", a book composed of excerpts from the Pastoral Letters that Bishop Javier Echevarría wrote during the Year of Faith.
Catechism texts on the Holy Trinity.
Classical representation of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit surrounded by heavenly glory.
4 teachings of the Catholic Church on the Most Holy Trinity
1. What is the central mystery of the faith and of the Christian life?
The central mystery of Christian faith and life is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
2. Can human reason alone know the mystery of the Holy Trinity?
God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in creation and in the Old Testament, but the intimacy of his being as the Holy Trinity constitutes a mystery inaccessible to human reason alone and even to the faith of Israel, before the Incarnation of the Son of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit. This mystery has been revealed by Jesus Christ, and is the source of all other mysteries.
How does the Church express its Trinitarian faith?
The Church expresses her Trinitarian faith by confessing one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three divine Persons are one God because each of them is identical to the fullness of the one and indivisible divine nature. The three are really distinct from each other, because of their reciprocal relationships: the Father begets the Son, the Son is begotten by the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
4. How do the three divine Persons work?
Inseparable in their one substance, the divine Persons are also inseparable in their work: the Trinity has one and the same operation. But in the one divine action, each Person is present according to the way that is proper to him in the Trinity. «My God, Trinity whom I adore... pacify my soul. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling place and the place of your repose. May I never leave you alone in it, but may I be there entirely, fully awake in my faith, in adoration, surrendered without reserve to your creative action» (Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity).
Free e-book texts: the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Voice Most Holy Trinity from St. Josemaría's Dictionary
1. The importance of the Trinity in the life and preaching of St. Josemaría. 2. 2. The homily Towards holiness. Unity and Trinity. The “trinity of earth” and the trinity of heaven. Trinitarian devotions.
In his preaching St. Josemaría always went to the essential, to the central mysteries of our faith and, as a consequence, his considerations, in one way or another, always have as their horizon the mystery of the Trinity: the love of God the Father who gives his Son, the love of the Son that leads him to offer his life in sacrifice, and the sanctifying action of the Spirit. His whole spiritual doctrine was deeply Trinitarian and Christological.
Importance of the Trinity in the life and preaching of St. Josemaria
As his spiritual writings attest, St. Josemaría From very early on, he had a warm relationship with each of the three divine Persons, underlining the distinction between them according to the characteristics they manifest in the history of salvation: the Father is the source and origin of everything; the Son, the Word of the Father who becomes man so that men may become children of God; and the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier, the one who unites men with God, making them one with Christ.
One of the features that St. Josemaría emphasized in his spiritual itinerary, with great interior commotion, is the divine filiation and, consequently, the paternity of God. In a homily dated April 1964, he confided: “My life has led me to know that I am especially a child of God, and I have tasted the joy of entering into the heart of my Father” (AD, 143).
He was referring to the supernatural intuition with which he perceived the joyful reality of divine filiation and, consequently, of the paternity of God. This paternity already appears in his Apuntes íntimos (Intimate Notes), in Holy Rosary and in The Way, as the truth that serves as the foundation of his spiritual life.
The Word is present in St. Josemaría, above all, as the Word incarnate, with an endearingly human name: Jesus. He is the Wisdom and the Word of the Father, a Word full of love, for he is “the Word from whom love proceeds” (ECP, 162). With his “Heart of flesh, with a Heart like ours, which is a sure proof of love and a constant witness to the unspeakable mystery of divine charity” (ibidem). The only way to the God-Trinity is precisely the Humanity of the Lord (cf. AD, 300-303).
In the spiritual life of St. Josemaría, this great interior “discovery” took place between September 22 and October 17, 1931. In the autumn of 1932 another “discovery” took place, also of profound and lasting consequences in his interior life and in his theological thought: the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul. Pedro Rodriguez offers a text, taken from Apuntes íntimos, of great mystical elevation.
In it, St. Josemaría describes how he perceives the importance of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul: “Until now, I knew that the Holy Spirit dwelled in my soul, to sanctify it.... but I did not grasp that truth of his presence (...) I feel Love within me: and I want to treat him, to be his friend, his confidant..., to facilitate his work of polishing, of plucking, of kindling (...) -Purpose: to frequent, if possible without interruption, the friendship and loving and docile treatment of the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus” (CECH, p. 270; cf. F, 514).
One of the prayers to the Holy Trinity in the devotional.
When St. Josemaría speaks of God, he thinks above all of the God-Trinity. This is seen, for example, in his reading of the first chapters of Genesis: “The Trinity has fallen in love with man, raised him to the order of grace and made him in his image and likeness (Gen 1:26); he has redeemed him from sin (...) and he earnestly desires to dwell in our soul: he who loves me will observe my teaching and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode within him (Jn 14:23)” (ECP, 84).
Human freedom that springs from the freedom that exists in the Trinity. Here is a very expressive text taken from a homily entitled Freedom, gift of God: “In all the mysteries of our Catholic faith flutters this hymn to freedom. The Most Blessed Trinity brings the world and man out of nothing, in a free outpouring of love. The Word comes down from heaven and takes our flesh with this stupendous seal of freedom in submission: Behold, I come, as it is written of me in the beginning of the book, to do your will, O God (Heb 10:7)” (AD, 25).
When St. Josemaría describes God's love for man, he often recalls that this love is Trinitarian. We find a particularly eloquent passage on the Trinity in a homily delivered on Holy Thursday 1960, in which he devotes ample space to speaking of its relationship with the Eucharist: the «Trinitarian current of love for mankind is perpetuated in a sublime way in the Eucharist» (ECP, 85). Here, at the center of the Christian mystery, the manifestation of God's love for mankind also reaches its highest point: «The whole Trinity is present in the sacrifice of the Altar. By the will of the Father, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, the Son offers himself in redemptive oblation» (CCC, 86).
St. Josemaría is enunciating in these paragraphs truths that are very dear to him, both with regard to the celebration of the Holy Mass and to the nature of the ministerial priesthood - the liturgy, especially the Holy Mass, is the most important of the liturgies. opus Trinitatis, The Mass, I insist, is a divine action, Trinitarian, not human.
The priest who celebrates and serves the Lord's purpose, lending his body and his voice; yet he does not work on his own behalf, but in persona et in nomine Christi, in the Person of Christ and in the name of Christ» (ibidem). In celebrating, the priest enters, so to speak, into the stream of Trinitarian love precisely because, acting in the person and name of Christ, he offers the holocaust to the Father with the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (cf. ECP, 86).
The most direct way to treat the Blessed Trinity is found in the Holy Mass: «By attending Holy Mass, you will learn to treat each of the divine Persons: the Father, who begets the Son; the Son, who is begotten by the Father; the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both. In dealing with any one of the three Persons, we deal with one God; and in dealing with all three, with the Trinity, we deal equally with one true and unique God» (ECP, 91).
2. The Homily Toward Holiness
It is very illustrative what is said in the homily Toward Holiness about the importance in St. Josemaría's thought of the contemplation of the Most Blessed Trinity. In this homily he describes the general lines of man's journey towards God. After speaking of the universal call to holiness, of prayer, of the presence of God and of contact with our Lord Jesus Christ, he adds: «To approach God we have to take the right path, which is the Most Holy Humanity of Christ» (AD, 299). The road to the Trinity must be traveled in close union with Christ through the Bread and the Word.
Union with Christ often means an encounter with the Cross and entering into times of “passive purgation” (AD, 302). These times are to be spent in the midst of peace and joy, for if we truly love Christ, «if with divine boldness we take refuge in the opening that the lance left in his side, the promise of the Master will be fulfilled: whoever loves me will observe my teaching, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode within him» (AD, 306). We are before the truth of the indwelling of the Trinity in the soul and its ascetic consequences.
As if the soul could have experience of this dwelling of God in it, he continues: «The heart needs, then, to distinguish and adore each of the divine Persons. In a way, it is a discovery that the soul makes in the supernatural life, like those of a creature that is opening its eyes to existence. And it entertains itself lovingly with the Father and with the Son and with the Holy Spirit; and it easily submits itself to the activity of the life-giving Paraclete, who gives himself to us without deserving it: the supernatural gifts and virtues» (AD, 306).
St. Josemaría clearly refers to the contemplation of the Blessed Trinity in the midst of the daily hustle and bustle. The expressions he uses to describe this contemplation are similar to those used by spiritual authors to speak of contemplation as the fruit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Here are some very graphic expressions of how he conceives this contemplation: «Words are superfluous, because the tongue is unable to express itself; the mind is stilled. One does not discourse, one looks! And the soul breaks into song again with new song, because it feels and knows that it too is lovingly gazed upon by God at all times» (AD, 307).
These words of St. Josemaría remind us of the marvelous paragraphs in which St. John of the Cross describes the union of the soul with the Holy Trinity and the indwelling of God in the soul, or rather, the indwelling of the soul in God. Of course, it is clear that St. Josemaría is speaking of contemplation and dealing with the Trinity in ordinary life.
“I am not referring to extraordinary situations. They are, they may well be, ordinary phenomena of our soul: a madness of love that, without spectacle, without extravagance, teaches us to suffer and to live, because God grants us Wisdom. What serenity, what peace then, when we are on the narrow path that leads to life! (Mt 7:14)” (AD, 307).
St. Josemaría is well aware that he is mentioning a true goal of spiritual experience, and this in ordinary life. It is a question of “ordinary phenomena” that, at the same time, are an authentic “madness of love. Here, by a logical association of ideas, some questions arise that lead us to understand the importance of union with the Most Blessed Trinity -with each of the divine Persons- in ordinary life: ”Asceticism? Mysticism? It does not worry me.
Whatever it is, ascetic or mystical, what does it matter: it is God's mercy. If you try to meditate, the Lord will not deny you his assistance (...). This is already contemplation and it is union; this must be the life of many Christians, each one going forward on his own spiritual path - there are infinitely many of them - in the midst of the cares of the world, even if they have not even realized it” (AD, 308).
St. Josemaría uses words with precision. He is speaking of contemplation and union with the Trinity, with each of the Persons; these are well known terms in spiritual theology. He also speaks of ordinary life and of many Christians “going their own spiritual way. We find ourselves, then, before a great paradox, but this paradox disappears if we keep in mind the deep conviction with which St. Josemaría relies on the universal call to holiness.
This contemplation of the Trinity will always be a “mercy” of God, a mercy that corresponds to the gift of the universal call to holiness, to the fact that we are children of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit and to the reality of the indwelling of the Trinity in the soul.
Unity and Trinity
St. Josemaría emphasizes the distinction of Persons, considering the Trinity as a communion of life and love in its perfect unity, and advises us to treat each of the Persons in their distinction: “Treat the three Persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And to arrive at the Most Blessed Trinity, go through Mary” (F, 543).
The glory that the Christian should give to God also has a Trinitarian structure. Thus it appears already in The Way: “Let no affection bind you to earth apart from the most divine desire to give glory to Christ and, through Him, with Him and in Him, to the Father and to the Holy Spirit” (C, 786). Devotion to the Trinity has an evident Christological dimension: “Our Master is Christ: the Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity. By imitating Christ, we attain the marvelous possibility of participating in that stream of love, which is the mystery of the One and Triune God” (AD, 252).
In all these counsels, St. Josemaría adheres soberly to the formulations of the Symbol and the doxologies of the Liturgy, with great faith and a great ecclesial sense. Quoting St. Cyprian, he says, “we are one people confessing one faith, one Creed; one people gathered together in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (ECP, 89).
It also reflects, as a long-lived reality, his own spiritual itinerary in his dealings with the Most Blessed Trinity and with each of the divine Persons. In this sense, it is worth noting that the two planes of the consideration of the Trinitarian mystery - the Trinity ad intra and the Trinity ad extra, that is, the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity - are very present and clearly distinguished in his teaching.
Of the first Person, St. Josemaría considers above all his paternity and his fontality: everything proceeds from the Father, he is the origin of the Trinitarian current of love, he is the one who takes the initiative in offering man the Covenant. On this question, as we have already noted in the voice God the Father, the annotations and comments of Pedro Rodriguez, in his critical-historical edition of The Way, are of great interest, especially in numbers 267 and 435.
St. Josemaría contemplates the Father's fatherhood with the eyes of our Lord, uniting his Abba to the Abba of Jesus. This is how he formulated it in a meditation preached on April 28, 1963: “When our Lord gave me those blows, around the year thirty-one, I didn't understand it.
And suddenly, in the midst of that great bitterness, those words: you are my son (Ps. 2:7), you are Christ. And I could only repeat: Abba, Pater!, Abba, Pater!, Abba!, Abba! (...) And the reason - I see it more clearly than ever - is this: to have the Cross is to identify oneself with Christ, is to be Christ, and, therefore, to be a son of God” (cf. also Illanes, 2008, pp. 471-472). Illanes rightly comments that this text and the meditation as a whole bear witness to the spiritual and theological maturity attained by St. Josemaría, who here “reveals the profound meaning from which the meaning of filiation derives and, more concretely, its development.
With regard to the Son, St. Josemaría dwells above all, as is logical, on his humanity and on the mysteries of his life, on the gesta et passa Christi. It is enough to recall what this contemplation is like in the books Holy Rosary and Way of the Cross. In the homily dedicated to the Heart of Jesus, we find a whole Trinitarian and Christological theology: “God the Father has deigned to grant us, in the Heart of his Son, infinite dilectionis thesauros (Prayer of the Mass of the Sacred Heart), inexhaustible treasures of love, mercy and affection (...).
Divine love makes the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, the Son of God the Father, take on our flesh, that is, our human condition, minus sin. And the Word, the Word of God, is Verbum spirans amorem, the Word from which Love proceeds” (ECP, 162), says St. Josemaría, following St. Augustine and St. Thomas (cf. S.Th., I q. 43, a. 5; De Trinitate, IX, 10).
Devotion to the Holy Spirit is also present with decisive force in the life and preaching of St. Josemaría. He is the one who identifies us with Christ and through him introduces us into the life of Trinitarian love: “To concretize, even in a very general way, a style of life that impels us to treat the Holy Spirit-and, with him, the Father and the Son-and to have familiarity with the Paraclete, we can look at three fundamental realities: docility, prayer life, union with the Cross” (ECP, 135).
Perhaps the best way to indicate how the mystery of the Trinity is present in St. Josemaría's writings is to say that it is present as love, according to the Johannine phrase God is Love (1 Jn 4:16) or, to use a well-known theological expression, as communio personarum: “the love of Jesus for mankind is an unfathomable aspect of the divine mystery, of the love of the Son for the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, the bond of love between the Father and the Son, finds in the Word a human Heart (...) Love, in the bosom of the Trinity, is poured out on all men through the Love of the Heart of Jesus” (ECP, 169).
4. The “trinity of earth” and the Trinity of heaven.
St. Josemaría refers to the Sagrada Familia as the “trinity of the earth”, considering that in her the Trinitarian mystery is manifested in a special way, community of life and love, and strongly emphasizes the relationship between St. Mary and the Trinity.
Even before the writing of The Way, Saint Josemaría liked to address Santa Maria recalling her relationship with each of the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: “How men love to be reminded of their kinship with literary, political, military and Church personalities! -Sing before the Immaculate Virgin, reminding her: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail God, Mary, Mother of God the SonHail Mary, Bride of God the Holy Spirit.... More than you, God alone!” (C, 496).
In the critical-historical edition of The Way (CECH, pp. 649-651, nts. 15-17), Pedro Rodríguez recalls the history of this prayer of deep popular roots and offers a testimony from 1939, which documents that, already at that time, St. Josemaría advised considering the mystery of Mary in her relationship to the Blessed Trinity.
It is the same thing we find much later in Friends of God, 274: “This celebration leads us to consider some of the central mysteries of our faith: to meditate on the Incarnation of the Word, the work of the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Mary, Daughter of God the Father, by the Incarnation of the Lord in her immaculate womb, is the Spouse of God the Holy Spirit and Mother of God the Son”.
Trinitarian devotions
St. Josemaría, who was in favor of “few but constant particular devotions” (C, 552), communicated to the members of Opus Dei in 1959 that it was advisable to begin the custom of praying or singing the Angelic Trisagion in the triduum preceding the feast of the Trinity, and of frequently praying and contemplating the Quicumque Symbol. Both customs are intended to manifest devotion to the Trinity with acts of adoration and explicit faith in the truths revealed about the central mystery of our faith. Related words: God the Father; Holy Spirit; Divine Filiation; Trinitarian Inhabitation; Jesus Christ.
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Does it revive the family?
A few years ago I came across the results of a Europe-wide survey that asked how much confidence respondents had in the various organizations that keep a society alive.
The data showed that a growing number of citizens were increasingly distrustful of states, governments, official bodies, etc. At the same time, ninety percent of those interviewed openly acknowledged that they had regained a sense of trust in the state. and a firm confidence in the future. family.
It is not always easy, much less convenient, to give total credibility to surveys, especially if we take into account the influence of what they call "polls". civilization woke and the legal recognition of same-sex unions, so widespread in today's human agglomerates. There are many imponderables that influence the interviewees and that, on many occasions, condition their answers.
The family as a refuge of hope
This time, the indications are in favor of the data corresponding to reality: first, because it refers to the family; and second, because the news, picked up only one day in part of the European press, disappeared the next day from almost all the newspapers.
Press organs that normally highlight divorces, family separations, unions outside any morality and any semblance of legality, etc., have been forced to recognize a reality quite contrary to the one they spread with their propaganda. Fortunately, at least they have had the honesty to give the news one day; and that is to their credit.
What God has joined together
This survey was at the time still too small a sign for us to speak of a return of affection, in every sense, to the family institution, of a recognition of the words of Jesus Christ pointing out: «What God has joined together, let no man put asunder» (Matthew 19, 6). We cannot deny, however, that it was a sign of a revival of the longing of so many men and women to find a place where they could live with the serenity necessary to carry on with the joys, sorrows, anxieties and calms of each day. And this sign is still very much alive today.
Man and woman, since their creation, have carried in their spirit the memory of a family. We have all arrived on this earth in an already determined and very precise channel; none of us have made the first cradle that welcomed our body; and we have come into the world with an inheritance that will never leave us: the blood and dna of our parents..
Memory of life
Everyone can eliminate from his memory bitter or happy memories of his life; what he will never be able to eliminate is the memory of those who have given him life. And, if on some occasion we try to forget, a gesture, a smile, a cry, a way of walking, a sigh, will be enough to bring the memory of our parents back in front of us, with the kind smile of those who know they are the transmitters of something that surpasses them: the divine gift of living.
It is true that not everything is roses within families. I recognize that it pains me to see brothers divided for questions of money, property, quarrels, etc.; relatives who have not spoken to each other for years because someone said one word too many, or one word too few. These are the cracks in life that we all have to help repair: forgiving, asking for forgiveness, praying.
The bond before God and man
I have the impression that, in spite of the number of divorces occurring nowadays, that nostalgia for the family is reviving in many young hearts and minds., They are aware that the family is built by a bond before God, and that to carry forward the illness of a wife, a mother, a father, a child, revives in the spirit that desire of Christ about the family: "what God has joined together, let no man put asunder".
Once again we turn our eyes to that institution that God had the good idea of establishing already in the earthly paradise: the family built before the gaze of God, on the love of a man and a woman; and in whose bosom, already from the dawn of his life, the Christian begins to live that marvelous mystery of human solidarity, of the communion of saints.
And the example set by so many fathers and mothers who calmly bear the illness of their wives, husbands, sons and daughters, is a hymn to marital fidelity, to the Will of God which, in addition to moving those of us who know them, is a master key to loving friendship with God and to open the doors to the Sky.
Ernesto Juliá, (ernesto.julia@gmail.com) | Previously published in Religion Confidential.
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Marriage, a Christian vocation
Reflection: Words of St. Josemaría Escrivá(you can read and meditate on all or just some of them, as you prefer).
1. Why are we in the world? To love God with all our heart and with all our soul, and to extend this love to all creatures. Or does this not seem enough? God does not leave any soul abandoned to a blind destiny: he has a plan for all, he calls all with a very personal, non-transferable vocation. Marriage is a divine path, it is a vocation (Conv., n. 106).
2. Marriage is not, for a Christian, a simple social institution, much less a remedy for human weaknesses: it is an authentic supernatural vocation. It is a great sacrament in Christ and in the Church, says St. Paul, and, at the same time and inseparably, a contract that a man and a woman make forever, because - whether we like it or not - the marriage instituted by Jesus Christ is indissoluble: a sacred sign that sanctifies, the action of Jesus, who invades the soul of those who marry and invites them to follow him, transforming the whole of married life into a divine walk on earth (ECQ, no. 23).
3. For almost forty years I have been preaching the vocational meaning of marriage. What eyes full of light I have seen more than once, when - believing, they and they, that surrender to God and a noble and clean human love were incompatible in their lives - they heard me say that marriage is a divine way on earth! (Conv., n. 91).
4. It is important that spouses acquire a clear sense of the dignity of their vocation, that they know that they have been called by God to reach divine love also through human love; that they have been chosen, from eternity, to cooperate with the creative power of God in the procreation and then in the education of children; that the Lord asks them to make their home and their entire family life a witness to all the Christian virtues (Conv., n. 93).
5. Christian spouses [...] should understand the supernatural work involved in founding a family, raising children, and radiating Christian influence in society. On this awareness of their own mission depend to a great extent the effectiveness and success of their life: their happiness (Conv., n. 91).
6. Love, which leads to marriage and the family, can also be a divine, vocational, marvelous path, a channel for a complete dedication to our God. Do things with perfection, I have reminded you, put love into the little activities of the day, discover that something divine which is contained in the details... (Conv., no. 121).
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Intentions(you can list all of them, or choose only some of them)
Let us pray to God our Lord, through the intercession of St. Josemaría:
A - May it make us understand the greatness of Christian marriage; may we understand that it is a divine vocation - a personal, loving call from God - and a mission that He entrusts to us in the world: to form a healthy and holy Christian family, "the fundamental cell, the vital cell - as Pope John Paul II said - of the great and universal human family" and of the Church.
B - May he grant us the joy of knowing that our marriage and our family are a divine path, in which - by cultivating an intense spiritual life and helping one another - we can and should follow Christ, the way, the truth and the life, and imitate his love and self-giving.
C - That we never forget that God accompanies, strengthens and protects us with the grace of the Sacrament of Matrimony; and, therefore, that we trust that He - with the grace of the Holy Spirit - will fill us with blessings and make us capable of faithfully facing all the responsibilities and problems of family life.
D - May He always remind us of the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who - full of faith and love, and forgetting themselves - lived fully devoted to loving God the Father, and one another, with a joyful and simple dedication, full of generosity and a spirit of service.
Prayer of the prayer card of St. Josemaría
O God, who through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary granted St. Josemaría, a priest, innumerable graces, choosing him as the most faithful instrument for founding Opus Dei, a path of sanctification in professional work and in the fulfillment of the ordinary duties of a Christian: grant that I too may know how to convert all the moments and circumstances of my life into an opportunity to love you, and to serve the Church, the Roman Pontiff and souls with joy and simplicity, illuminating the paths of the earth with the light of faith and love.
Grant me through the intercession of St. Josemaría the favor I ask of you..... (ask). So be it.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Pentecost: the Holy Spirit accompanies, guides and animates
"1On the anniversary of Pentecost, were all together in the same place. 2Suddenly, there came from the sky a roar, as of a wind blowing strongly, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw tongues, like flames, appear and divide, landing on top of each of them. 4They were all filled with Holy Spirit And they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance» (Acts 2:1-4).
Pentecost or Shavuot
For the Jews, it was one of the three great feasts. At the beginning, thanksgiving for the harvesting of grain (first fruits), but this was joined by the feast for the giving of the Torah, the Torahthe "instruction manual" of the world and of man, which granted wisdom to Israel. It was the feast of the Covenant to live always according to the will of God manifested in his Law.
The images that St. Luke uses to indicate the irruption of the Holy Spirit-the wind and the fire-allude to Sinai, where God had revealed himself to the people of Israel and had granted them his covenant (cf. Ex 19:3ff). The feast of Sinai, which Israel celebrated fifty days after Passover, was the feast of the covenant. In speaking of tongues of fire (cf. Acts 2:3), St. Luke wants to present the Upper Room as a new Sinai, as the feast of the Covenant that God makes with his Church, which he will never abandon: this is Pentecost.
The Holy Father asks all the pastors and faithful of the Catholic Church to join in prayer this Pentecost together with the Catholic Ordinaries of Holy Land, The Pope said: "We are calling on the Holy Spirit, so that Israelis and Palestinians may find the path of dialogue and forgiveness.
Shavuot is the Jewish holiday commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments of God's Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, after the flight of the people of Israel from Egypt. Therefore, it takes place seven weeks after Passover, which is the most important holiday for the Jews, since it celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from Pharaoh's slavery. In Hebrew “Shavuot” means “weeks” and also means oath: the covenant that God made with his people through the Law.
The day of Pentecost
By the power of the Holy Spirit they make themselves understood by all, whatever their origin and mentality: Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the noise was heard, the multitude came together and were perplexed, for each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astonished and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it, then, that we hear them each in our own mother tongue? "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, of Judea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the part of Libya near Cyrene, Roman strangers, as well as Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the great things of God (Acts 2:5-11).
The action of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
What happens that day, with the action of the Holy Spirit, is the antithesis of what the Bible had told about the origins of mankind: At that time the whole earth spoke one language and with the same words. Moving from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
-Let's make bricks and bake them in the fire! In this way, the bricks served them as stones and the asphalt as mortar. Then they said: -Let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches to heaven! So shall we make a name for ourselves, that we may not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building, and the Lord said, "They are one people, with one language for all, and this is only the beginning of their work; now nothing they try to do will be impossible for them.
Let us go down and confuse their language right there, so that they will no longer understand one another! So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they ceased to build the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth (Gen 11:1-9).
The Pope Francis recalled during the celebration of Pentecost 2021 in Rome that the Holy Spirit consoles «especially in difficult moments like the one we are going through», and in a very personal way because «only the one who makes us feel loved as we are gives peace of heart». In fact, «it is the very tenderness of God, who does not leave us alone, because to be with those who are alone is already to console».
Pentecost: active communication
When the people in the biblical story began to work as if God did not exist, they found that they themselves had become dehumanized, because they had lost a fundamental element of human beings, which is the ability to agree, to understand each other and to act together. This text contains a perennial truth. In such a technified society, with so many means of communication and information, as the contemporary one, we speak less and less and we understand each other less and less, we lose the real capacity to communicate in an open and sincere dialogue. We need something to help us recover this capacity to be open to others.
The action of the Holy Spirit
What human pride has broken, the action of the Holy Spirit puts back together again. Today too, docility to the Holy Spirit is what gives us the help we need to build a more humane world, in which no one feels alone, deprived of the attention and affection of others. Jesus promised it to the apostles and to each one of us: I will pray the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you always (Jn 14:16). He uses a Greek word para-kletós which means "the one who speaks next to": is the friend who accompanies us, encourages us and guides us along the way.
Now that we are talking to God in this time of prayer, we ask ourselves in his presence: do I strive to build my professional and family life, my friendships, the society in which I live, as a world built by my own efforts without caring about God? Or do I want to listen and be docile to the loving voice of the Holy Spirit, that inseparable companion that Jesus has placed at my side to guide and encourage me?
We can invoke the Holy Spirit with an ancient and beautiful prayer of the Church: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your Love. And we ask the Blessed Virgin, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, that, like her, we may let him do great things in our souls, so that we may know how to love God and others, and build with his help a better world.
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Mr. Francisco Varo Pineda Director of Research at the University of Navarra. Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Faculty of Theology.
PENTECOST VIGIL WITH MOVEMENTS, ASSOCIATIONS AND NEW COMMUNITIES
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEON XIV, St. Peter's Square, Saturday, June 7, 2025.
Dear sisters and brothers:
The creative Spirit, which we have invoked with the song -Veni creator Spiritus-, is the Spirit that descended upon Jesus, the silent protagonist of his mission: «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me» (Lc 4,18). By asking him to visit our minds, multiply our languages, enkindle our senses, infuse love, comfort our bodies and endow us with peace, we have opened ourselves to welcome the Kingdom of God. This is conversion according to the Gospel: to set us on the way to the Kingdom that is already at hand.
In Jesus we see and from Jesus we hear that everything is transformed, because God reigns, because God is near. On this vigil of Pentecost we find ourselves intimately linked by God's proximity, by his Spirit who unites our stories to that of Jesus. We are involved in the new things God is doing, so that his will of life may be fulfilled and prevail over the will of death.
Bringing the Good News
«He has consecrated me by anointing. He sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim a year of the Lord's favor» (Lc 4,18-19).
We perceive here the perfume of the chrism with which our foreheads were marked. Baptism and Confirmation, dear brothers and sisters, have united us to the transforming mission of Jesus, to the Kingdom of God. As love makes us familiar with the scent of a loved one, so tonight we recognize in one another the perfume of Christ. It is a mystery that surprises and makes us think.
At Pentecost Mary, the Apostles, the disciples and the disciples with them were filled with a Spirit of unity, which forever rooted their diversities in the one Lord Jesus Christ. Not many missions, but one mission.
Not introverted and bellicose, but extroverted and luminous. This St. Peter's Square, which is like an open and welcoming embrace, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church, experienced by each of you in the various associative and community experiences, many of which represent fruits of the Second Vatican Council.
On the evening of my election, looking with emotion at the people of God gathered here, I remembered the word “synodality,” which happily expresses the way in which the Spirit shapes the Church. In this word resounds the syn -meaning with- that constitutes the secret of God's life. God is not solitude. God is “with” in himself - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and he is God with us. At the same time, synodality reminds us of the way -odós- because where the Spirit is, there is movement, there is a way. We are a people on the way.
Year of the Lord's grace
This awareness does not alienate us, but immerses us in humanity, like leaven in the dough, which leavens it all. The year of grace of the Lord, of which the Jubilee is an expression, has in itself this leaven. In a broken and peaceless world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together. The earth will rest, justice will be affirmed, the poor will rejoice and peace will return if we stop moving as predators and start moving as pilgrims. No longer each one on his own, but harmonizing our steps with the steps of others. No longer consuming the world with voracity, but cultivating it and guarding it, as the Encyclical teaches us. Laudato si’.
Dear brothers and sisters, God created the world so that we might be together. “Synodality” is the ecclesial name for this awareness. It is the path that asks each one of us to recognize our debt and our treasure, feeling that we are part of a totality, outside of which everything withers, even the most original of charisms. Look: the whole of creation exists only in the modality of existing together, sometimes dangerously, but always together (cf, Laudato si’ 16; 117).
Fraternity and participation
And what we call “history” takes shape only in the form of a coming together, a living together, often in the midst of dissent, but still a living together. The opposite is deadly and unfortunately is before our eyes every day. May your aggregations and communities be places where fraternity and participation are practiced, not only as places of encounter, but also as places of spirituality.
The Spirit of Jesus changes the world because he changes hearts. He inspires, in fact, that contemplative dimension of life that drives away self-assertion, murmuring, the spirit of controversy, the domination of consciences and resources. The Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (cf. 2 Co 3,17). Authentic spirituality commits us, therefore, to integral human development, actualizing among ourselves the word of Jesus. Where this happens there is joy. Joy and hope.
Evangelization, the work of God
Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not a human conquest of the world, but the infinite grace that spreads through lives transformed by the Kingdom of God. It is the way of the beatitudes, an itinerary that we travel together, in continuous tension between the “already” and the “not yet”, hungry and thirsty for justice, poor in spirit, merciful, meek, pure of heart, working for peace. To follow Jesus on this path He has chosen, there is no need for powerful protectors, worldly commitments or emotional strategies.
Evangelization is God's work and, if it sometimes passes through our persons, it is because of the bonds that it makes possible. Therefore, be deeply attached to each of the particular Churches and parish communities where you nourish and spend your charisms. Close to your bishops and in synergy with all the other members of the Body of Christ, we will then act in harmonious harmony. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future less dark, discernment less difficult, if together we obey the Spirit.
May Mary, Queen of Apostles and Mother of the Church, intercede for us.
Christians in the encounter between faith and cultures
What does the Gospel message have to do with cultures? What light does the life of Christ offer us on this? What criteria can be deduced from this for the mission of the Church and the apostolate of Christians?
We are in the midst of a profound and vertiginous cultural change, accompanied by a great technological development and no lesser conflicts for political, economic and ideological reasons. This challenges us as Christians, called to participate in the shaping of the world, while at the same time announcing the Gospel message as a seed of light and definitive life.
In this context, we will dwell on an important message of Leo XIV on the Guadalupe event (in 2031 we will celebrate 500 years), as well as in the Pope's teachings during some pastoral visits to Roman parishes.
This is the the way the history of salvation has taken place, across cultures, The Covenant with the Chosen People, as recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, beginning with the Old Testament. Little by little, God manifested himself as he accompanied the vicissitudes of the People of Israel. Then, «God revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ, in whom He not only communicates a message, but communicates Himself». And, therefore, he teaches St. John of the Cross that after Christ there is no more word to be expected, there is nothing more to be said, for everything has been said in Him (cf. Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22, 3-5).
It is clear that to evangelize, as the term itself expresses, is to bring the “good news” (Gospel) of salvation through Jesus. However, the proclamation of the Gospel message always takes place within a history and a concrete experience. This began with Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the Son of God took on our flesh (we speak of his "Gospel"). Encarnacion): he took on our human condition with all that it entails, also through a specific culture.
Evangelization must continue to do the same: «it follows then that the cultural reality of those who receive the proclamation cannot be ignored, and it is understood that inculturation is not a secondary concession or a mere pastoral strategy, but rather an intrinsic requirement of the mission of the Church». While it is true that the Gospel does not identify with any particular culture, it is able to permeate (illumine and purify) them with the truth and life that come from God.
«To inculturate the Gospel," explains Leo XIV, "is, from this conviction, to follow the same path that God has walked: to enter with respect and love into the concrete history of peoples so that Christ can be truly known, loved and welcomed from within their own human and cultural experience». And he observes: «this implies to assume the languages, the symbols, the ways of thinking, feeling and expressing themselves of each people, not only as external vehicles of proclamation, but as real places where grace wishes to dwell and act».
That said, he adds what inculturation “is not”: is not a «sacralization of cultures or their adoption as the decisive interpretative framework of the Gospel message»; nor is it a «relativistic accommodation or a superficial adaptation of the Christian message». It is not, therefore, a matter of «legitimizing everything culturally given or justifying practices, worldviews or structures that contradict the Gospel and the dignity of the person». This would be tantamount to «ignoring the fact that every culture - like every human reality - must be enlightened and transformed by the grace that flows from the paschal mystery of Christ».
Therefore and in condensed synthesis: «inculturation is, rather, a demanding and purifying process, by which the Gospel, while remaining integral in its truth, recognizes, discerns and assumes the semina Verbi present in the cultures, and at the same time purifies and elevates their authentic values, freeing them from that which obscures or disfigures them. These seeds of the Word, as traces of the prior action of the Spirit, find in Jesus Christ their criterion of authenticity and their fullness».
Guadalupe, a lesson in divine pedagogy
In this perspective, the Pope points out: «Saint Mary of Guadalupe is a lesson of divine pedagogy on the inculturation of salvific truth.». It does not canonize a culture, but neither does it ignore it; rather, it assumes it, purifies it and transfigures it, making it a “place” of encounter with Christ.
"The ‘Morenita’ manifests God's way of approaching his people; respectful in its point of departure, intelligible in its language and firm and delicate in leading her to the encounter with the full Truth, with the blessed Fruit of her womb».
What happened at Tepeyac, assures Pope Leo XIV, is neither a theory nor a tactic; rather, «it presents itself as a permanent criterion for discernment of the evangelizing mission of the Church, called to proclaim the True God through whom we live without imposing him, but also without diluting the radical newness of his saving presence».
Turning to the present situation, the Pope observes that today the transmission of the faith can no longer be taken for granted. We live in pluralistic societies with visions of man and life that tend to dispense with God. In this context, it is necessary «an inculturation capable of dialoguing with these complex cultural and anthropological realities, without assuming them uncritically...., The aim is to foster an adult and mature faith, sustained in demanding and often adverse contexts».
This implies that the faith should not be transmitted «as a fragmentary repetition of content or as a merely functional preparation for the sacraments, but as a true path of discipleship», so that «a living relationship with Christ may form the basis of the faith. believers capable of discernment, of giving a reason for their hope and of living the Gospel with freedom and coherence".
Pope Leo XIV concludes by restating the priority of catechesis for all ages and in all places: «Catechesis becomes an inalienable priority for all pastors (cf. CELAM, Aparecida Document, 295-300)». Catechesis -he insists- «is called to occupy a central place in the action of the Church, to accompany in a continuous and profound way the process of maturation that leads to a faith that is truly understood, assumed and lived in a personal and conscious manner., even when it means going against the current of the dominant cultural discourses».
The gaze of faith
This approach to faith is lived by Leo XIV in his own ministry, as evidenced by his pastoral visits during the past few weeks. On the second Sunday of Lent, he appeared at the parish of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Quarticciolo (Rome). In his homily (1-III-2026) he showed the power of faith starting from the journey of Abraham (cfr. Genesis 12, 1-4) and the scene of the transfiguration of Jesus (cfr. Mt 17, 1-9).
From Abraham we learn trust in the Word of God who calls him and sometimes asks him to leave everything. We too «will cease to fear losing anything, because we will feel that we are growing in a richness that no one can rob us of». The apostles were also reluctant to go up with Jesus to Jerusalem, especially because he had announced to them that he would suffer and die there, although he would also rise again. But they were afraid, and even Peter tried to dissuade him. But Jesus encouraged them by allowing them to contemplate his Transfiguration, which dispelled the inner darkness in their hearts. «Peter becomes the spokesman for our old world and its desperate need to stop things, to control things.».
In the midst of the vicissitudes of daily life with its difficulties, darkness and discouragements - the Pope addresses the faithful of the parish - we too can count on «the pedagogy of the gaze of faith, which transforms everything into hope, spreading passion, sharing and creativity as a remedy for the many wounds of this neighborhood».
Thirst for living water
The following Sunday, the Pope visited the Roman parish of St. Mary of the Presentation. In his homily (cf. 8-III-2026) he contemplated the Gospel passage of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:1-42), insofar as it helps us to improve our relationship with God.
We too have a “thirst for life and love”. Deep down, a desire for God. «We seek him like water, even without realizing it, every time we wonder about the meaning of events, every time we feel how much we miss the good we desire for ourselves and for those around us.».
It is in this context that we find Jesus, like the Samaritan woman. «He wants to give her this new, living water, capable of quenching every thirst and calming every restlessness, because this water flows from the heart of God, the inexhaustible fullness of all hope». And he promises her a gift from God that will make her, herself, a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. In fact, that woman accepts what Jesus offers her and becomes a missionary.
We Christians must continue with the proposal of Jesus: a true and full just life, starting from the Eucharist. We must be «a sign of a Church that, like a mother, cares for her children, without condemning them, but rather welcoming them, listening to them and supporting them in the face of danger. Pope Leo XIV ended by encouraging those present: »Go forward in faith!«.
The face of God
A week later, the successor of Peter visited the parish of the Sacred Heart in Ponte Mammolo, where he celebrated Laetare Sunday (15-III-2026). In the current context of violent conflicts, the Pope's message was clear: «Beyond any abyss into which human beings may fall because of their sins, Christ comes to bring a stronger clarity, capable of freeing them from the blindness of evil, so that they may begin a new life».
Jesus« encounter with the man born blind (cf. 9:1-41) prompted the Pope to consider how we too must recover our sight. This »means first of all overcoming the prejudices of those who, when faced with a man who suffers, see only an outcast to be despised or a problem to be avoided, shutting themselves up in the armored tower of a selfish individualism".
Jesus« attitude is quite different: »He looks at the blind man with love, not as an inferior being or an annoying presence, but as a beloved person in need of help. Thus, his encounter becomes an occasion for God's work to be manifested in everyone". In the miracle, Jesus reveals himself with his divine power and the blind man, on regaining his sight, becomes a witness to the light.
In contrast, there is the blindness of those who resist accepting the miracle. And further, to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. They refuse to see the face of God as he appears before them, clinging to «the sterile security offered to them by the legalistic observance of a formal norm. Perhaps, at times,» the Pope observes, "we too can be blind in this sense, when we fail to notice others and their problems.
Leo XIV concluded with a reference to St. Augustine. In preaching to the Christians of his time, he asks what the face of God is like, to tell them that they, who are the Church, are the face of God if they live charity: «What face does love have? What form, what stature, what feet, what hands? [...] It has feet, which lead the Church; it has hands, which give to the poor; it has eyes, with which one recognizes the needy» (Commentary on the First Letter of John, 7, 10).
Full message of the Holy Father Leo XIV to the participants in the Pastoral Theological Congress on the Guadalupan event, 24.02.2026
Dear brothers and sisters:
I cordially greet you and thank you for your work of reflection on the sign of perfect inculturation that, in St. Mary of Guadalupe, the Lord wanted to give to his people. In reflecting on the inculturation of the Gospel, it is appropriate to recognize the way in which God himself has manifested himself and offered us salvation.
He wanted to reveal Himself not as an abstract entity nor as a truth imposed from outside, but by entering progressively into history and dialoguing with man's freedom. «After having spoken of old to our fathers by the Prophets, on many occasions and in various ways» (Hb 1:1), God revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ, in whom He not only communicates a message, but communicates Himself; therefore, as St. John of the Cross teaches, after Christ there is no more word to be expected, there is nothing more to be said, for everything has been said in Him (cf. Climbing Mount Carmel, II, 22, 3-5).
Evangelization consists, above all, in making Jesus Christ present and accessible. Every action of the Church must seek to introduce the human being into a living relationship with Him, who enlightens existence, challenges freedom and opens a path of conversion, disposing us to accept the gift of faith as a response to the Love that gives meaning and sustains life in all its dimensions.
However, the proclamation of the Good News always takes place within a concrete experience. To keep this in mind is to recognize and imitate the logic of the mystery of the Incarnation, through which Christ «became flesh and dwelt among us» (Jn 1:14), assuming our human condition, with all that it entails in its temporal configuration.
It follows then that the cultural reality of those who receive the proclamation cannot be ignored and it is understood that inculturation is not a secondary concession or a mere pastoral strategy, but an intrinsic requirement of the Church's mission. As St. Paul VI pointed out, the Gospel - and therefore evangelization - is not identified with any particular culture, but is capable of permeating all of them without being subject to any one of them (Apostolic Exhortation, "The Gospel is a gift of God"). Evangelii nuntiandi, 20).
To inculturate the Gospel is, from this conviction, to follow the same path that God has traveled: to enter with respect and love into the concrete history of peoples so that Christ can be truly known, loved and welcomed from within their own human and cultural experience. This implies taking on the languages, symbols, ways of thinking, feeling and expressing oneself of each people, not only as external vehicles of proclamation, but as real places where grace wishes to dwell and act.
However, it is necessary to clarify that inculturation is not equivalent to a sacralization of cultures or to their adoption as the decisive interpretative framework of the Gospel message, nor can it be reduced to a relativistic accommodation or a superficial adaptation of the Christian message, since no culture, however valuable it may be, can be identified with Revelation without further ado or become the ultimate criterion of faith.
To legitimize everything culturally given or to justify practices, worldviews or structures that contradict the Gospel and the dignity of the person would be to ignore the fact that every culture - like every human reality - must be enlightened and transformed by the grace that flows from the paschal mystery of Christ.
Rather, inculturation is a demanding and purifying process by which the Gospel, while remaining intact in its truth, recognizes, discerns, and assumes the semina Verbi present in cultures, and at the same time purifies and elevates their authentic values, freeing them from that which obscures or disfigures them. These seeds of the Word, as traces of the prior action of the Spirit, find in Jesus Christ their criterion of authenticity and their fullness.
From this perspective, St. Mary of Guadalupe is a lesson of divine pedagogy on the inculturation of salvific truth. In her, a culture is not canonized nor are its categories absolutized, but neither are they ignored or despised: they are assumed, purified and transfigured to become a place of encounter with Christ. The Morenita manifests God's way of approaching his people; respectful in its starting point, intelligible in its language and firm and delicate in its leading to the encounter with the full Truth, with the blessed Fruit of her womb.
In the tilma, among painted roses, The Good News enters the symbolic world of a people and makes its closeness visible, offering its novelty without violence or coercion. Thus, what happened at Tepeyac is not presented as a theory or a tactic, but as a permanent criterion for the discernment of the evangelizing mission of the Church, called to proclaim the Good News without violence or coercion. True God for whom one lives without imposing it, but also without diluting the radical novelty of its saving presence.
Today, in many regions of the American continent and the world, the transmission of the faith can no longer be taken for granted, particularly in large urban centers and in pluralistic societies marked by visions of man and life that tend to relegate God to the private sphere or to do without Him. In this context, strengthening pastoral processes requires an inculturation capable of dialoguing with these complex cultural and anthropological realities, without assuming them uncritically, in such a way as to awaken an adult and mature faith, sustained in demanding and often adverse contexts.
This implies conceiving the transmission of the faith not as a fragmentary repetition of content or as a merely functional preparation for the sacraments, but as a true path of discipleship, in which a living relationship with Christ forms believers capable of discernment, of giving a reason for their hope and of living the Gospel with freedom and coherence.
Therefore, catechesis becomes an indispensable priority for all pastors (cf. CELAM, Aparecida Document, 295-300). It is called to occupy a central place in the action of the Church, to accompany in a continuous and profound way the process of maturation that leads to a faith that is truly understood, assumed and lived in a personal and conscious way, even when this means going against the current of the dominant cultural discourses.
In this Congress, you wanted to rediscover and understand how to adequately disseminate the theological content of the Guadalupan event and, therefore, of the Gospel itself. May the example and intercession of so many holy evangelizers and pastors who faced this same challenge in their time -Toribio de Mogrovejo, Junípero Serra, Sebastián de Aparicio, Mamá Antula, José de Anchieta, Juan de Palafox, Pedro de San José de Betancur, Roque González, Mariana de Jesús, Francisco Solano, among so many others- grant you light and strength to continue the proclamation today. And may Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, accompany and inspire every initiative towards the 500th anniversary of her apparition. From my heart I impart to you my Blessing.
Vatican City, February 5, 2026. Memorial of St. Philip of Jesus, Mexican Protomartyr.
Mr. Ramiro Pellitero IglesiasProfessor of Pastoral Theology at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra.
