26J saint Josemaría: the saint of ordinary life
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 of Saragossa, 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.
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. Opus Deito also integrate 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.
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 everyone - laity, priests, married people, singles - to seek holiness in daily life, at work, in the family, at rest, in professional duties and in 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.
Praying through the intercession of St. Josemaría
Christians have always turned to the intercession of the saints to bring their prayer into the presence of God. You can download the prayer in more than 30 languages.
Bibliography:
- Official biography at opusdei.org
- Foundation of Opus Dei: opusdei.org
- Canonization and appointments: opusdei.org
- Book Caminoby St. Josemaría Escrivá (Rialp ed.)
