In Rome, the young people taking part will broaden their cultural horizons through dialogue, cultural activities and visits to the Eternal City, and experience Holy Week very close to the Pope.

UNIV Forum 2017 website

I have spoken with some of your former students. They told me that you gave your Fundamental Theology classes from memory, without needing to refer to a textbook, walking around the classroom. Is your memory that good?

Some years have passed since then and I don't remember many details. Certainly, although memory helps, when teaching Theology you are dealing with realities that are at the center of one's own life, and not only information to be remembered.

In the Prelature, fidelity to what is essential, to the spirit and mission received, should coexist with the changes required by new circumstances

If I ask you about changes that could occur within the Prelature, is that a paradox? For sometimes people label you as conservatives, immovable, as if you were afraid of changing...

Institutions in the Church, including Opus Dei, have before them the challenge of being completely faithful to Jesus Christ in every moment in history, through the mission that they have received. With God's help, they strive to make Christ visible in a way that best fits their circumstances of time and place. That's why in the Prelature, fidelity to what is essential, to the spirit and mission received, should coexist with the changes required by new circumstances, those that are seen as needed within the wide range of what is not essential. As Saint Josemaria said, over time ways of speaking and acting change, while the nucleus, the spirit needs to remain unchanged.

How do you view your mission and its requirements?

In first place, I see the need for full union with the Pope and with the other shepherds, which is essential for a task in the service of the Church. Naturally, I have to live paternity and closeness with people, above all with those in Opus Dei, as they are the ones the Church has entrusted to me. I realize very well that the mission far surpasses my personal capacity, but I also know that God will help me. I also count on the assistance of my vicars and advisors, and especially on the prayer of the faithful of Opus Dei and many friends.

You are the third successor of the founder of Opus Dei. Have there been changes in the Work since its beginning? What is the reality of Opus Dei today?

The general mission of the Church can be summarized as bringing the Gospel to the whole world, helping people to find Jesus in the Word and in the sacraments. The Prelature of Opus Dei shares in this mission, by reminding people of the universal call to sanctity and offering Christian formation directed especially towards sanctifying ordinary life: one's work, family life, social relations, etc. Since 1928, Opus Dei has spread to all the continents. It has seen the variety of its faithful increase in terms of age, social conditions, nationalities; it has encouraged the start of numerous social and educational iniciatives, etc. But the nucleus, the spirit and mission to which I referred, will continue to be the same, although as I mentioned before, at every moment we have to discover what this message offers to the changing challenges of society, of people, of epochs.

The Portuguese, with their trusting and calm faith, and with their openness, have brought the message of Saint Josemaria to many nations.

What is Opus Dei's situation in Portugal?

The Portuguese, with their trusting and calm faith, and with their openness, have brought the message of Saint Josemaria to many nations. Portugal was the first country where the founder brought Opus Dei outside of Spain, which he did personally in 1945, encouraged by Sor Lucia. There are about 1500 faithful of the Prelature there, the majority of them married. They are ordinary Catholics and secular priests, who strive to live the Gospel at work and in all aspects of their ordinary life. The Prelature of Opus Dei offers them Christian formation through spiritual retreats, theology classes, study groups, etc., besides the pastoral care provided by priests. These activities are open to everyone and, in fact, many people take part who are not in Opus Dei. Some Portuguese who are members of Opus Dei dedicate themselves to formative projects in the area of education and the family, to which the Prelature provides pastoral assistance in a way that is publicly known.

Do you know about Portugal's recent legislative changes? Some people want to include the topic of abortion, which has been legal for years now, in the school curriculum. They are also debating the decriminilization of euthanasia. Portugal, a country with a long Catholic tradition, seems to be becoming less Christian, just as much in its customs as in its laws. How do you see the future of this country?

The rapid secularization of lifestyles, people growing accustomed to living as if God did not exist, and at times as if we did not have to die, is a cultural evolution that is affecting many countries of the so-called Christian West. Portugal is no exception, in spite of being a country that so greatly loves life, and where people are loved for who they are, independently of their physical or spiritual health. I do not know the Portuguese situation in depth, but you spoke to me about issues that are present in many places. In first place, there is a need to return to God, who is truly a good father filled with tenderness; from Him comes the light to know the truth and the strength to do the good. The world's future, including Portugal's, depends on this. It seems to me that here Fatima is like a great magnet for the Portuguese, and a source of security and optimism.

Europe is immersed in a humanitarian crisis, while there is political extremism lurking and upcoming elections. Is Opus Dei, sometimes labeled as being very conservative, in agreement with certain extreme positions?

Opus Dei has no other position than that of the Catholic Church, and so the members enjoy the freedom of any Catholic in all questions open to discussion. But, along with this, all of us Catholics face certain challenges that are ethical before being political. Europe finds itself before the challenge of welcoming and integrating thousands of refugees forced to abandon their countries in search of a better future. For people in Opus Dei, as for all Christians, the needs and sufferings of these brothers and sisters are a constant invitation to service and prayer, since we recognize in them "the suffering body of Christ," as Pope Francis frequently reminds us.

Christian love is a concrete love that follows the model of Jesus: living continuously for the others.

Christian love is a concrete love that follows the model of Jesus: living continuously for the others, clothing them with dignity through works of service, accompanying them in their deepest pain and transmitting to them Christ's consolation. In the address the Pope gave at the end of 2014 in the European parliament, he offered suggestions for how to approach this dramatic situation. Hopefully those who govern will take them into account.

What do you think of Donald Trump's decision to raise up walls and close doors to immigrants, for example? Pope Francis has often said that we should take them in as our brothers and sisters, but complex questions are at play from a security point of view. How can we achieve the difficult balance between security and freedom?

The North American bishops are accompanying immigrants closely and share their concerns. They have also shown themselves open to collaboration with authorities, in order to exchange ideas and points of view. Attaining the right balance in specific solutions—particularly between security and freedom—is not easy and there is certainly room for a variety of approaches. This is an important responsibility for the political authorities. Politicians, regardless of their ideas, can count on the prayers of believers, including when they don't think the same way. I pray that in all countries there is an atmosphere of welcoming people in need. Now, in particular, this involves immigrants and refugees, regardless of race, religion or social condition.

Politicians, regardless of their ideas, can count on the prayers of believers, including when they don't think the same way.

Recently I saw a study where Portugal appeared among the countries of Europe with the highest rate of divorce and a significant number of broken marriages. The Work insists a lot on the charism of the family, and on the family as the pillar of society and the spiritual life. Why do so many marriages fail today? What are the greatest threats for the family?

For a man and a woman to offer themselves to each other, for their whole life, with a commitment to exclusivity and until death, to grow together and have children that are the continuity of that love, is an marvelous reality that is of concern to everyone, not just the Church. And the fact that this project shipwrecks and fails, besides wounding those involved, also has repercussions in society. Christ said that God views this union and respects it as definitive. And for Christians, marriage is a sacrament, through which God acts with his help and blessing for married people and their children.

Many people today are discouraged by the failures around them, by the strenuous rhythm of life, the lack of material means, of space and time, all of which affects families.

I think Pope Francis helps us to avoid this pessimism and to remember that marriage has to be grounded on the joy of love. I want to suggest here the attentive reading of what the Pope calls the heart of Amoris Laetitia: the fourth chapter about love in marriage, and the fifth chapter about love that becomes fruitful. There you can find practical ideas and suggestions, all very accessible, that can strengthen families.

In your first message, you cited Christ is Passing By, saying that "every generation of Christians has to redeem and sanctify their own time..." How do you see the times in which we are called to live?

These are times of insecurity and also of a desire for change; of people distancing themselves from God and also longing for Him; of sadness and tiredness, but also of nostalgia for the good; of fear of conflicts, together with a great desire for peace. These are the times that we have to live, and they are times to be open to God's action.

These are times of insecurity and also of a desire for change; of people distancing themselves from God and also longing for Him.

Some people in public opinion refer to Opus Dei as closed in, almost like a pressure group. When talking about Opus Dei in the public arena, frequent reference is made to money, influence, or wealth. Is Opus Dei really so influential? Does it have so much money or so many goods? Why are there so many important people in Opus Dei and from the upper classes (bankers, for example, in Portugal)? Are there more rich people than poor in the Prelature? Is that because Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven?

The reality is very different, and there is a lot of fiction in the collective imagination sometimes. Among those belonging to Opus Dei you can find all kinds of people: healthy and sick, young and old, poor and those better off, people with stable work, people who are retired, and many unemployed who, in countries suffering from the crisis, suffer together with all those in the same circumstances. It seems important to me to come closer to the reality, to get to know the people. Opus Dei provides a service of Christian accompaniment to everyone, which goes beyond social or economic conditions, and without interfering in the broad area of professional, artistic, political and civil decisions. At the same time, our centers and apostolic works have their doors open to anyone who wants to get to know these realities at first hand. Many people in Opus Dei together with their friends carry out social and educational projects that are at the service of many people and tend not to be newsworthy. I'll give you an example of one that I learned about recently. Some faithful of Opus Dei in the Ivory Coast have started the Wale Medical Center that offers medical assistance and free treatment to AIDS patients, in both Yamoussoukro and Toumbokro. I ask God that these initiatives, personal or collective, do not cease to multiply, including on Portuguese soil.

Do you agree with Saint Paul when he says that money is the root of all evil?

Saint Paul says that love of money is the root of all evil. It is the same warning that Pope Francis gives when he speaks of the idolatry of money. The Pope, in addition to alerting us to great social injustices, also helps us to improve even in the way we give alms: looking in the eyes of the person who is asking, and letting our hands touch the hands of those who receive from us.

In recent years, Opus Dei has received positions of influence in the Curia and in the Holy See. The University of Santa Croce has also grown significantly. How do you explain this increase in prestige and in the tasks entrusted to Opus Dei?

There are actually very few people of Opus Dei working in the Vatican Curia. Their appointment is publicly acknowledged in the Prelature's official bulletin, Romana, where anyone can see it. These are people who have responded freely to those who have asked for their collaboration, and who will try to work with an attitude of service and of obedience to their superiors in the Curia. On the other hand, it seems to me crucial to understand that the work of administrative organisms in the Church are lived as a service to the universal Church and not as positions of prestige. In any case, I can assure you that the only thing that interests us is serving the Church as the Church wants to be served. That's what Saint Josemaria taught us and that's what we hope to be doing.

In terms of size, can you compare Opus Dei with the Jesuits? Would you say that Opus Dei today is equally or more important than the Jesuits?

In the Church we all want to respond to Christ's missionary mandate, and we all collaborate in this great mission of evangelization. Each one carries this out according to his or her own charism and, even taken altogether, we are few to be helping so many people. That's why we feel united to each other, and there is no room for comparisons. The service to humanity that the Company of Jesus has provided and continues to provide is remarkable, with the dedication and self-giving of so many men who unite prayer, study and a very real service in dramatic human situations. I myself studied at a Jesuit school in Madrid as an adolescent, and I am very grateful for what I received both academically and on the level of human and spiritual formation.

The service to humanity that the Company of Jesus has provided and continues to provide is remarkable, uniting prayer, study and a very real service in dramatic human situations.

Have you seen the movie Silence? What did you think about it? If you haven't seen it yet, what have others told you about it?

I read something about the movie, that it shows how the price for being loyal to God can be very high in some situations. Although we don't want to be tested in that way, we trust that God will help us, in every moment, so that we do not fail to do what is just and good.

What is it like to interact with a Jesuit Pope? I know that you will respond that the Pope is Pope for the whole Church. Obviously one wouldn't doubt his infallibility. However there are Popes that one can like more than others, for one reason or another. Francis has experienced certain opposition for some positions that conservatives consider a little lax. Is there a worry in the Work that there might be doctrinal changes?

In a good son or daughter of the Church, one should not find the kind of misgivings you describe. Furthermore, with the current Pope it is very easy to have human affection, to have friendship. Personally I am impressed by his life of prayer and his openness to every person, showing a love of predilection towards the sick. We are talking about a Pope with a great pastoral sense, and who wants an evangelizing Church. This past March 3rd, I was in a private audience with the Pope. Francis was very affectionate, grateful for and interested in the apostolic work of Opus Dei throughout the world. I often recall a motto that Saint Josemaria gave us: Omnes cum Petro, ad Iesum per Mariam: all, with Peter, to Jesus through Mary.

What can you tell me about the topics discussed in the synod on the family: the access to the sacraments—in some cases—of divorced people who have contracted a new marriages; or certain other declarations—not very conservative—of the Holy Father about not judging homosexuals and instead welcoming them?

The Pope invites the whole Church to accompany, discern, and integrate all men and women, whatever their personal situation might be. It is a new pastoral impulse that calls for concrete responses within the continuity of the doctrine of the Magisterium. In his document on the family, while reminding people that the doctrine of the Church cannot change, the Holy Father encourages us to look for ways to help people who want to get married, or who want to grow in their conjugal love, or those who encounter difficulties. Therefore, there is a great need for more spiritual directors and counselors to be available and well prepared.

What do you think of the group of cardinals that wrote Pope Francis indicating a certain disagreement with aspects of his post-synodal exhortation? Do you agree that there has been, perhaps, a mistaken interpretation or erroneous explanation of some points? Which ones?

You will understand that it is not my role to go into detail here on this topic. In any case, there is clearly a diversity of opinions on important questions, which is why we need to pray for unity.

Does it make sense for the Church to have so many different movements? Couldn't the diversity of movements and charisms lead to a more divided Church?

The Church is a People, the People of God, which is made up of many peoples. It is a great and expansive house, which Christ constructs in order to welcome all people, and where everyone can find the place where they feel at home. Unity and diversity are not in opposition; the opposite of unity is division. If there is union with Christ, through Peter, there is no risk of division. Unity in diversity is what we mean by communion, which brings with it notable enrichment for the Church.

If there is union with Christ, through Peter, there is no risk of division.

How would you explain Opus Dei to today's world?

The founder, Saint Josemaria Escrivá, used to say that Opus Dei is a great catechesis. It is a very graphic image: each person in Opus Dei, with the naturalness of their Christian life and friendship, in spite of their own limitations and defects, strives to share the joy of the Gospel among their family members, friends, work colleagues, neighbors... and to build up the Church right in these professional, familiar, and social peripheries. Our world is full of wounds and is thirsting for hope. The witness of a Christian life in the most ordinary daily events can help many people to get to know and encounter Christ, and by discovering his Love, to have a deep joy in their lives.

What expectations do you have about the visit of Pope Francis to Portugal? He has preferred to visit Fatima instead of going to the Sanctuary of Aparecida in Brazil. What does the Prelate of Opus Dei expect of Pope Francis' visit to Portugal in May?

The Pope's deep and living devotion to our Lady is very moving. He will go to Fatima drawn by God through Mary. The theme of the trip is important: "With Mary, pilgrim in hope and peace." In Fatima, the little shepherds learned to passionately love God, who dazzled them. Hopefully, alongside the Pope, we can all discover or rediscover, with Mary's maternal help, God's immense love for each of us.

[this section given in Italian]

“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). Let us go in our imagination to the Cenacle in Jerusalem, to contemplate the great proof of love our Lord gives us: the institution of the Eucharist.

Our God is always close to us. But in the Eucharist He shows Himself especially close to our heart: with his Body, with his Blood, with his Soul, with his Divinity. Jesus has loved us “to the end.” No one is excluded from this love. For each of us, the eternal Son of God has become man, like us in all things “except sin” (Heb 4:15). Moreover, he has wanted to bear the burden of the sins of all mankind, to make reparation for them and restore us to friendship with God the Father, making us children of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We can ask ourselves: how are we responding to this Love. On this Holy Thursday we ask our Lord to help us to grasp more deeply God’s love for each of us and the love with which we need to respond, imitating and uniting ourselves to Jesus.

[given in English]

Our response to God’s love has many manifestations. One way to show our gratitude for so much affection is to have recourse to the sacrament of Confession, in order to prepare ourselves very well to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion. Our participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is not simply the memory of our Lord’s self-giving for us. The Mass is much more: it is the sacramental representation of the sacrifice of Calvary, anticipated in the Last Supper. “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19), our Lord said when He instituted the sacrament.

The Church, faithful to his command, makes present Christ’s Passion and Death, through her priests, in each Eucharistic celebration. Saint John Paul II wrote that the sacrifice of the Cross “is so decisive for the salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and returned to the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had been present there” (Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 11).

Thank you, Lord, for the Eucharist. And thank you for faith, for our faith, in the Eucharist. Thank you for the priest, who has perpetuated this love of yours in time. “God’s love for his creatures is so boundless and our response to it should be so great that time ought to stand still when Holy Mass is being said” (Saint Josemaria, The Forge, no. 436).

[given in Spanish]

From the Cross, from the Eucharist, stems the force of the Redemption. There we find the source of all grace, the model of the love with which we have to love one another, the root of apostolic effectiveness. At the Last Supper Jesus gave this this express command: “that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). And in order to engrave it deeply on the memory of his disciples and each one of us, he washed the apostles’ feet.

Saint John in his first epistle writes: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (I Jn 3:16). How can we do this? There are many ways to put in practice the new commandment of our Lord. Saint Josemaria offers us this advice: “Charity consists not so much in giving as in understanding” (The Way, no. 463).

Forgiving, excusing, sincere interest in others, small details of service in daily life—in one’s family, at the university, at work, when resting, etc.—are so many opportunities to make present and a part of our life our Lord’s commandment.

[given in French]

During the Last Supper, Jesus asked the Father for the unity of those who would be called to be his disciples down through the centuries. “That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn 17:21).

We will imitate God’s example if we strive to strengthen the unity among us, in the Church, and in so far as we can, among believers. Our Christian vocation, when fully lived, brings our friends and colleagues closer to Jesus, whether they know Him already or not.

“As thou, Father, art in me” (Jn 17:21). Sharing in the union among the Persons of the Blessed Trinity: this is a very high goal. But our Lord grants us this participation in an eminent way through the gift of the Eucharist, the sacrament of faith and love. May our Lady, Mother of Fair Love, obtain for us through her maternal mediation the grace of a more intense faith in God’s love for us and a greater charity towards those around us.

Amen.

I am the third of a large family of thirteen children. My parents have always been deeply Christian; my father looks like holy Job – a bit like Father Christmas, too – and my mother like Judith, on account of her beauty and her strong character.

Mother was always profound in her thoughts and feelings, rebellious in a comfort-loving society and very courageous. But above all she was by definition a mother. She brought us up without any programmes or formulas, with family naturalness, celebrating everything that could be celebrated and being very much present in the home. She read a lot, talked and just enjoyed being with us. From time to time she scolded us – for which she had plenty of reasons. We all remember the day when she held up a cake to fling at the face of my father, and on seeing his shocked look, changed direction so that the cake hit the ceiling.

Despite the natural frictions, we always regarded ourselves as a very united and privileged family given all that we had received from God over the years – the greatest being the gift of faith. We had the opportunity to reaffirm out faith together with John Paul II in the Mass he celebrated at the first Meeting with Families in 1994. Another great gift was the ability to enjoy life. We all relish human relations, meetings with relatives and friends... Life is a marvellous gift that we have always valued.

God’s plans are not our plans.

When I was 19 years old I went to the sanctuary of Torreciudad with some friends. There my sister, Paula, who is a supernumerary, introduced me to a girl of Opus Dei, and through her I started attending some activities. I always thought that my life would be like that of my parents, as I greatly admired them and had a natural inclination to marriage and maternity. However, God’s plans are not our plans, and after finishing my studies in Technical Architecture, I realized that God was calling me to a life of dedication to Him and to others, as a numerary of Opus Dei. Not long before, my brother Arturo had taken the same decision.

When I told my mother, she reacted in a totally unexpected way. She said I did not have a true vocation, and literally flew into a rage. She said that if that was the life I wanted to choose, I could get out of the house there and then, and she sent me out with what I was wearing. Then she went straight to my brother Arturo and told him to pack his suitcase and go too. Our whole family was upset, but it takes a mother to understand a mother's heart.

My father also reacted badly at first, but after hearing my story he said: “This is from God. When your mother hears it, she’ll be convinced too.” But my mother didn’t want to listen. My father always supported her; they have been one heart and head, and an example for us all. They fulfilled to the letter the promises made on their wedding day: “I will love you in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in richness and in poverty…all the days of my life.”

We returned home two weeks later, but our family was not the same. The relations with my mother were strained; we argued a lot and there were constant misunderstandings. I suffered, thinking that what God was asking of me could separate my mother and my siblings from Him and from the Church. Then I would hear our Lord telling me in my heart: “Take courage, you look after my things, and I’ll look after yours.” Among “my things” was our family.

The years went by, and my mother continued without understanding our vocation, though our relations became smoother. The birth of my niece, Marina, drew us closer together. My parents continued refusing to enter the Centres where we were living or to listen to anything concerning our life in Opus Dei. But they never ceased loving us, and they counted on us. We often went home, although not as often as they wanted, and they made that clear to us. Arturo joked with my father saying that he didn’t have “the gift of bilocation.” One Christmas Eve, my father presented him with the gift of a “bilocation ring,” made of paper, but of course it didn’t work. It was worse for me because I couldn’t manage to joke with my mother. Over time she came to admit that we really did have a vocation; it wasn’t just an “escapade.” And she relied on our prayers for different intentions, almost always related to the family.

A huge family crisis

The family harmony seemed to have been restored, when fourteen years after the first “earthquake,” my sister, Paz, decided to give herself to God as a consecrated memberof Regnum Christi. It happened on my birthday, 27 August 2012, and she thought that the coincidence was a clear sign that her response was a consequence of mine. We wondered how our parents would take it. We thought perhaps it would be all right, but this time the precarious equilibrium broke down, unleashing a huge crisis. After years of moral suffering and tired of being “the villain,” my mother broke down. The day she told her, Paz was also thrown out of the house. It was hard for us to accept her lack of acceptance, but my mother was the first one who couldn’t accept not accepting.

Faced with this new situation and her inability to assimilate it, my mother went into a deep depression that led her to reject what she loved most. In January she decided to go away and live in our seaside flat and told my father she had “decided to separate from him.” At first we didn’t believe her; it seemed just the typical threat that soon passes. But days, weeks and months went by and she continued wanting nothing to do with my father. She was tired of taking the important family decisions; of watching out for each one of us, and she wanted just to stop suffering. So she was opting for “eyes that don’t see, a heart that doesn’t feel.”

Not knowing what to do, we turned to our Lady, begging her to return our mother to us. My father, Paz and I travelled one day to a Marian Shrine. The resignation of Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis took place around that time and, together with other things, moved my mother.

Our Lady of Torreciudad changes hearts.

I suggested to my mother that after Holy Week she come to Torreciudad, where my brother Arturo was taking part in a seminar for young fellows and I was attending a Course in the nearby conference centre. To my surprise, she agreed.

On the first day, she came for lunch and get-together in La Solana. The administration prepared a Valentian paella and the people were very kind to her. At the end she was happy. When I heard she was coming, I spoke to the Rector of the Sanctuary and explained the situation to him. “You must speak to my mother, you have to be the one.” He answered with a big smile: “No, it has to be our Lady; you just pray.”

During those days we dined with my mother, went for excursions, and visited the sites of the Sanctuary. One afternoon we went for the Rosary and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. At the end I looked at my mother, who was very serious, and said: “Mama, I told the Rector that you are here; would you like to speak to him?” “Yes, right now,” she answered, without hesitation: Afterwards she told me about that conversation, and how she had said: “I see so many errors in my life…but I don’t want to change, I don’t want to return to my husband, so I can’t confess.” The priest told her: “Don’t worry about that, because God will give you purpose of amendment.” And that’s what happened. The following day she went for confession and became once again the mother I knew.

Those who receive visitors to Torreciudad have a gift of making you feel as if you were the only person in the world. The Vice-rector showed us around the Chapel of the Holy Family. He told us how many wedding anniversaries are celebrated there. My mother told him that on 12th October they would have been married forty years, and it would be a good chance to take everyone there. He agreed, and said, laughing: “It might be risky to wait for fifty: first, because you never know if you’ll get there, and second, you never knew how you’ll be.” A week later my mother returned to Valencia with Arturo, happy to come home. She was unsure of herself but sure of God.

An urgent call

On 24 September 2013 my father called me. He was very upset and said my mother was in the hospital ; she had suddenly found it difficult to speak. I went there as fast as I could. The doctor told us that she clearly had a brain tumour. We decided to tell her at once because she always wanted to be told the truth and moreover she was expert at detecting any dissimulation or lie. Heartbroken, my father, Paula and I accompanied the doctor to my mother’s room. On hearing the news, my mother simply looked at the doctor and said: “Well, one has to die of something; some go sooner, others later.” When we started sobbing, my mother told us “stop dramatizing and go for lunch.”

In the cafeteria, my father, between tears and a nervous laugh, told me that he was amazed at my mother’s fortitude. He thought it should have been the other way round; the doctor should have told my mother first and then asked “Now, Madam, when do you think we should tell your husband and children?”

I spent that night with mother in the hospital. At a certain moment she said anxiously: “How God will punish me in the next life, because I spent so many years opposing his will…” “No,” I said, “think how much Pope Francis is talking about mercy, Mama. God will smile at you when you reach heaven and give you a big hug.” She tried to smile, but I realized she was not at peace. As I went to sleep in the hospital chair, I asked God to give my mother the peace she lacked. The following day I said to her: “I’m going to bring you some bread sticks this afternoon. Is there anything else you would like?” “Yes,” she said, “bring me a priest.”

“Said and done”

After a number of tests, the doctors decided to operate on 14 October. We called the Vice-rector of Torreciudad to cancel the celebration of my parents’ wedding anniversary we had organized there. My mother was very sorry not to be able to go. On 11 October, at three in the morning she prayed: “You know, Lord, you could have delayed that tumour a bit, so that our family could have gone to Torreciudad.” She felt our Lord answering: “And who’s stopping you from going?” “It’s true!” she thought. “No one is stopping us!” And she told my father of her decision. By 8 o’clock that morning we had all been informed. She got permission to leave the hospital and in true Valentian style – pensat i fet, “said and done” – the following day thirty-six of us were in the bus going to Torreciudad, to return the same day.

It was a bittersweet day for me: sweet on account of the joy of all of us going to Torreciudad, but bitter because I thought it would be the last trip we would make together as a family. My mother’s operation brought with it a great risk, and she was ready to go to heaven. Saint Josemaría used to say that God is not a furtive thief who seizes his prey at the most unexpected moment, but rather a gardener who cuts the roses at their best. That’s how I saw my mother, like a beautiful flower ready to be cut.

“I want to give witness”

The operation went very well. The tumour was removed without damaging the brain. In the afternoon we visited my mother in the ICU. Arturo and I were the last to go in. We entered and she told us, beaming: “Today has been the happiest day of my life.” I asked if she had been afraid during the operation and she said no.

A few days later I went to spend the night with her in the hospital, and dared to ask her what had happened during the operation. She told me: “I don’t know exactly. I only know that God has given Himself to me as a kind of gift, and I don’t want to lose it.I can’t understand how he has given Himself to me in this way, when I have been so far away, opposing his will so many times, wanting to abandon everything last year.” I agreed that it was a mystery, but she had always tried to live uprightly and God knew that. She said she felt like Dimas, the good thief, who at the last moment stole heaven from Jesus. Then I asked: “Mama, do you understand our vocation now?” She didn’t let me finish: “Not only do I understand it, but I understand that it is the best thing that could have happened.” Later, a sister of mine told me that on entering the ward after the operation my mother told several of my siblings: “I want you to know something: I have spent my whole life trusting a lot in God, but only up to a point. And that point was my pride, and it prevented my union with God and understanding his things.” During those days she also had many words of reconciliation, tenderness and understanding for my sister Paz.

Days later she told us that she wanted to give the witness of a mother who had turned a blind eye to the vocation of her children, a mother who was mistaken. Nevertheless, my mother wasn’t mistaken, because she brought us up and taught us to be generous, making a reality of Saint Josemaría's words, that we owe ninety per cent of our vocation to our parents. In our case, I would say ninety-nine per cent.

After the tumour was analysed, we were given the bad news that mother had between six months and a year to live. They were months of treatment: radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc., as well as the gift of life, because another two years went by. She was able to live important events: weddings, baptisms, a pilgrimage to Holy Land, a visit to our Lady of Fatima, Torreciudad, etc. Not only that, every day she taught us new things. She had time to ask for pardon, to give thanks, to speak to each one, to tell us to be not only good, but holy.

In September 2014 my parents attended the Beatification of Alvaro del Portillo in Madrid. Those were unforgettable days, filled with a lot of grace from God and gratitude on our part.

The story of the conversion of my mother has been the story of the conversion of my father and of each one of us children. She said that she was going to heaven to prepare the house for us so that it would be comfortable. She died on 24 February 2016, surrounded by her children and grandchildren, with great peace and joy. It is she who will tug at us from heaven until she gets us all there beside her, together with the Holy Family of Nazareth, in the Blessed Trinity. In heaven there will be no tears, no pain, no more misunderstandings… there will only be a great communion of love, where I hope we will meet all of you who are reading this story.

In the early afternoon of Tuesday, April 18th, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz arrived in Dublin from Rome. He was welcomed by some faithful of the Prelature, among them, Rev. Fr. Justin Gillespie, Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in Ireland.

That same evening, the Prelate went to Rosemont School, where he gave a class to the faithful of Opus Dei. After the class, he greeted the Board of Rosemont. Afterwards there was a get-together with some women of Opus Dei. "It is clear," he told them, "that Opus Dei has always been in our hands. But somehow, with the passing to Heaven of Don Javier (Bishop Echevarría, the previous Prelate), we now feel this even more deeply. At the same time, we are more grateful to our Lord for the trust He has in each of us, despite our sense of inadequacy."

The Prelate added that "we are carrying out Opus Dei all together throughout the world. This ought to bring us great joy, because we know that what we are doing here and now is also helping our sisters and brothers in Australia, China, the US, Spain, France, and everywhere."

During his first day in Ireland, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz also met with a number of people in the Regional Commission of the Prelature in Ireland.

For more information about the Prelature's activities in Ireland see: Opus Dei in Ireland.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!

Every Sunday we remember the Lord Jesus’ Resurrection, but in this season after Easter, this Sunday has an even more illuminating meaning. In the Church’s tradition, this Sunday, the first after Easter, was called “in albis.” What does this mean? The expression intended to recall the rite carried out by all those who received Baptism in the Easter Vigil. Each one of them was given a white garment – “alba” – ”white” — to indicate their new dignity as children of God. This is also done today: newborns are given a small symbolic dress, whereas adults put on a true and proper one, as we saw in the Easter Vigil. And, in the past, that white garment was worn for a week. until this Sunday, and from this stems the name in albis deponendis, which means the Sunday in which the white garment is taken off. And thus, the white garment removed, the neophytes began their new life in Christ and in the Church.

There is something else. In the Jubilee of the Year 2000, Saint John Paul II established that this Sunday be dedicated to the Divine Mercy. It is true, it was a beautiful intuition: it was the Holy Spirit that inspired him in this. A few months ago we concluded the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and this Sunday invites us to take up forcefully the grace that comes from God’s mercy. Today’s Gospel is the account of the Risen Jesus’ apparition to the disciples gathered in the Cenacle (cf. John 20:19-31). Saint John writes that, after greeting His disciples, Jesus said to them: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” Having said this, He made the gesture of breathing on them and added: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (vv. 21-23). Here we see the meaning of mercy that is presented on the day of Jesus’ Resurrection as forgiveness of sins. The Risen Jesus transmitted to His Church, as her first task, His same mission to take to all the proclamation of forgiveness. This is the first task: to proclaim forgiveness. This visible sign of His mercy brings with it peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord.

In the light of Easter, mercy is perceived as a true form of knowledge. And this is important: mercy is a true form of knowledge. We know that one knows through many ways. One knows through the senses, one knows through intuition, through reason and also other ways. Well, one can also know through the experience of mercy, because mercy opens the door of the mind to understand better the mystery of God and of our personal existence. Mercy makes us understand that violence, rancor, vengeance make no sense, and the first victim is the one who lives these sentiments, because he deprives himself of his dignity. Mercy also opens the door of the heart and enables us to express closeness especially to all those who are alone and marginalized, because it makes them feel brothers and children of one Father. It fosters the recognition of all those in need of consolation and makes us find the appropriate words to give them comfort.

Brothers and sisters, mercy warms the heart and makes it sensitive to the needs of brothers with sharing and participation. In sum, mercy commits all to be instruments of justice, reconciliation and peace. Let us never forget that mercy is the keystone in the life of faith, and the concrete way with which we give visibility to Jesus’ resurrection.

May Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us to believe and live all this with joy.

[translation by Zenit]

Schedule for April 28-29 trip and links to papal interventions.

The transmission can be accessed from the link: http://www.opusdei.org/live.

Although the ceremony will be in Latin and Italian, live commentary will be provided in English and Spanish.

The celebrant will be Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State. The Prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, will take part in the ceremony from the presbytery.

The future priests' names are listed below (they make some statements here).

• Alejandro Pardo Fernández (Spain)
• Etienne Montero Redondo (Belgium)
• Andrés Echevarría Escribens (Peru)
• Giovanni Manfrini (Italy)
• Erwin See (Philippines)
• Álvaro Ruiz Antón (Spain)
• Javier Ruiz Antón (Spain)
• Rafael Peró Baig (Lebanon)
• Salvador Rego Bárcena (Canada)
• Carlos Aníbal Valencia Ospina (Colombia)
• Diogo da Cunha e Lorena de Brito (Portugal)
• Francisco José Chapa Sancho (Spain)
• Luigi Vassallo (Italy)
• Pablo Rojo Mardones (Spain)
• Martin Mundia Gikonyo (Kenya)
• Álvaro René Villamar Rosales (Guatemala)
• Álvaro Javier Mira García (Spain)
• Alexander Vaz Serrano (Spain)
• Santiago Callejo Goena (Spain)
• Joseph Frederick Keefe (United States)
• Daniele Guasconi (Italy)
• Francisco Javier Bordonaba Leiva (Spain)
• Phillip Joseph Elias (Australia)
• John Paul Watson (Australia)
• Rafael Alejandro Quintero Pérez (Venezuela)
• António Maria Braga Dias Alves Mendes (Portugal)
• Benjamín Goldenberg Ibáñez (Chile)
• Gerard Jiménez Clopés (Spain)
• Dante Parado Estepa Jr. (Philippines)
• Adam Andrzej Sołomiewicz (Poland)
• Ricardo Guillermo Bazán Mogollón (Peru)

This afternoon Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello ordained to the priesthood 31 faithful of the Opus Dei prelature from 16 countries: Australia, Belgium, Chile, Canada, Colombia, Spain, the United States, the Philippines, Guatemala, Italy, Lebanon, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Kenya and Venezuela. The ceremony took place in the Basilica of Saint Eugene in Rome.

“Be priest-priests, priests one hundred percent”

During his homily, Cardinal Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, reminded those present that in order to fulfill his mission, "the priest must have with Jesus the same relationship that Jesus has with the Father: to remain united to Christ, without thinking of anything as his own, and considering that without Him he can do nothing."

All your ministry will merge into in the service of that supreme Word of God that is Jesus Christ and his Gospel

"Dear ordinands," he said to them, "I am sure that all your ministry will merge into the service of that supreme Word of God which is Jesus Christ and his Gospel in proclaiming the love of the Father and his mercy."

The ceremony was attended by numerous relatives of the new priests. "What sustains us at the moment," said the newly ordained Portuguese priest Diogo Brito, "are the prayers of so many relatives and friends." Italian Luigi Vassallo explained: "We have tried to live these days in a climate of prayer and accompanied by the prayers of many people. May we be able to bring the joy and mercy of Christ everywhere, as Pope Francis asks us."

The new priests had received the ordination to the diaconate six months ago from Bishop Javier Echevarría, prelate of Opus Dei, who died on Dec. 12. Álvaro Mira, from Spain, said, "Bishop Javier Echevarría would have been very happy watching our ordination from heaven. He ordained us as deacons, and I believe we are all asking him to help us be good priests. I remember the hug he gave me at that ceremony. It gives me a lot of confidence to think that he is asking God for us to be good instruments for Him."

Here are the names of the new priests and their countries of origin:

• Alejandro Pardo Fernández (Spain)
• Etienne Montero Redondo (Belgium)
• Andrés Echevarría Escribens (Peru)
• Giovanni Manfrini (Italy)
• Erwin See (Philippines)
• Álvaro Ruiz Antón (Spain)
• Javier Ruiz Antón (Spain)
• Rafael Peró Baig (Lebanon)
• Salvador Rego Bárcena (Canada)
• Carlos Aníbal Valencia Ospina (Colombia)
• Diogo da Cunha e Lorena de Brito (Portugal)
• Francisco José Chapa Sancho (Spain)
• Luigi Vassallo (Italy)
• Pablo Rojo Mardones (Spain)
• Martin Mundia Gikonyo (Kenya)
• Álvaro René Villamar Rosales (Guatemala)
• Álvaro Javier Mira García (Spain)
• Alexander Vaz Serrano (Spain)
• Santiago Callejo Goena (Spain)
• Joseph Frederick Keefe (United States)
• Daniele Guasconi (Italy)
• Francisco Javier Bordonaba Leiva (Spain)
• Phillip Joseph Elias (Australia)
• John Paul Watson (Australia)
• Rafael Alejandro Quintero Pérez (Venezuela)
• António Maria Braga Dias Alves Mendes (Portugal)
• Benjamín Goldenberg Ibáñez (Chile)
• Gerard Jiménez Clopés (Spain)
• Dante Parado Estepa Jr. (Philippines)
• Adam Andrzej Sołomiewicz (Poland)
• Ricardo Guillermo Bazán Mogollón (Peru)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!

Today, I would like to talk to you about my Apostolic Journey to Egypt which, with God’s help, I undertook in recent days. I went to that country, taking up a four–fold invitation: from the President of the Republic, from His Holiness, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch, from the Grand Imam of Al–Azhar and from the Coptic Catholic Patriarch. I thank each of them for their truly warm welcome. And I thank all the people of Egypt for the participation and affection with which they experienced this visit by the Successor of Saint Peter.

The President and civil authorities took exceptional pains to ensure that this event could take place in the best possible way; so that it might be a sign of peace, a sign of peace for Egypt and for all that region, which, unfortunately, is afflicted by hostilities and terrorism. In fact, the trip’s theme was: “Pope of Peace in Egypt of Peace.”

My visit to Al–Azhar University, the oldest Islamic university and the highest academic institution of Sunni Islam had a twofold aim: that of dialogue between Christians and Muslims and, at the same time, that of promoting peace in the world. At Al–Azhar, there was a meeting with the Grand Imam, a meeting that later extended to the International Peace Conference. In this context, I offered a reflection which recognized the history of the land of Egypt as land of civilization and land of covenants. For all of humanity, Egypt is synonymous with ancient civilization, art treasures and knowledge; and this reminds us that peace is built through education, the formation of knowledge, of a humanism which includes as integral parts the religious dimension, the relationship with God, as the Grand Imam recalled in his address. Peace is also built by beginning once again from the covenant between God and man, the foundation of the covenant between all peoples based on the Ten Commandments written on the stone tablets at Sinai, but much more deeply in the heart of each man of every time and place, the law that is summarized in the two commandments of love of God and neighbour.

This same foundation is also at the basis of the building of social and civil order, in which all citizens, from every origin, culture and religion, are called to cooperate. Such a vision of healthy secularism emerged in the conversation with the President of the Republic of Egypt, in the presence of the country’s authorities and Diplomatic Corps. Egypt’s great historic and religious heritage and its role in the Middle Eastern region give it an unusual task in the journey toward stable and long-lasting peace that rests not on the law of force, but rather on the force of law.

Christians, in Egypt like in every nation on earth, are called to be the “leaven” of fraternity. This is possible if they live, within themselves, the Communion in Christ. Thanks to God, we were able to show a strong sign of communion with my dear Brother Pope Tawadros ii, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox. We renewed our commitment, also by signing a Common Declaration to journey together, and not to duplicate baptisms already received in the respective Churches. Together we prayed for the martyrs of the recent attacks that tragically struck that venerable Church; and their blood rendered fruitful that ecumenical encounter, in which Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch, my dear Brother, also participated.

The second day of the trip was dedicated to the Catholic faithful. The Holy Mass celebrated in the stadium provided by Egyptian authorities was a celebration of faith and fraternity in which we felt the living presence of the Risen Christ. Commenting on the Gospel, I called on the small Catholic community in Egypt to relive the experience of the disciples of Emmaus: to always find in Christ, Word and Bread of Life, the joy of faith, the ardour of hope and the strength to bear loving witness that “we have encountered the Lord!”

I spent the last phase with priests, men and women religious and seminarians at the Major Seminary. There are many seminarians. This is a consolation! It was a Liturgy of the Word in which the vows of consecrated life were renewed. In this community of men and women who have chosen to offer their life to Christ for the Kingdom of God, I saw the beauty of the Church in Egypt and I prayed for all Christians in the Middle East, that, led by their pastors and accompanied by the consecrated, they might become salt and light in those lands, in the midst of those peoples. For us, Egypt was a sign of hope, of refuge, of help. When that part of the world was starving, Jacob went there with his sons. Then, when Jesus was persecuted, he went there. For this reason, telling you about this trip means taking the path of hope. For us, Egypt is that sign of hope both for history and for the present time, of this fraternity which I wanted to tell you about.

I once again thank those who made this journey possible and all those who, in different ways, made their contribution, especially so many people who offered their prayers and their suffering. May the Holy Family of Nazareth, who migrated to the banks of the River Nile to flee from Herod’s violence, bless and always protect the people of Egypt and guide them to the path of prosperity, fraternity and peace.

Thank you!

Pope Francis: “Vivian Francesca, would you like to receive Baptism in the Faith of the Church that we have all professed?”

Vivian: “Yes, I do.”

Hi, I'm Vivian from Malaysia. I'm feeling very excited now and I'm very happy because I am the one who is going to be baptized by the Pope tomorrow night in the Easter Vigil.

Pope Francis: “Vivian Francesca, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Last year, I got an opportunity to come to Rome for Holy Week. On Easter Sunday, we got the chance to get near the Pope. He just passed by us very closely, and that's the moment that I felt something in my heart and I knew that he is the representative of Jesus on earth. That's when I started thinking about my baptism.

Before this, I was just a very normal person, having a very normal life, but religion didn't really impact my life, I never thought about God. I didn't know Him. He had never been in my life. But in 2015, I got an opportunity to join a training program in the Opus Dei center in Malaysia, so I got to know about the faith and bit by bit I was thinking... the faith and what I had learned must be true.

Through the liturgy and the formation that I have received through these two years, I learned that what you get from God is free, and that you have to pass it to other people also, so I pray that everyone can receive what I am receiving now.

Schedule for the pilgrimage and links to addresses and homilies

Dear People of Portugal,

Only a few days remain before our pilgrimage, mine and yours, to the feet of Our Lady of Fatima. These are days of joy in expectation of our encounter in the home of Mary our Mother. I know that you wanted me to come to your homes and communities, your towns and cities. I received all your invitations! Needless to say, I would have liked to accept every one of them, but I cannot. So I am grateful even now for the understanding with which the various Authorities accepted my decision to restrict my Visit to the usual events associated with a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Fatima. I want to meet everyone at the feet of the Virgin Mother.

It is as the universal pastor of the Church that I would like to come before the Madonna and to offer her a bouquet of the most beautiful “blossoms” that Jesus has entrusted to my care (cf. Jn 21:15-17). By this I mean all of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who have been redeemed by Christ’s blood, none excluded. That is why I need to have all of you join me there. I need to feel your closeness, whether physical or spiritual; the important thing is that it come from the heart. In this way, I can arrange my bouquet of flowers, my “golden rose”. With all of us forming “one heart and soul” (cf. Acts 4:32), I will then entrust you to Our Lady, asking her to whisper to each one of you: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the path that leads you to God” (Apparition of June, 1917).

“With Mary, a pilgrim in hope and in peace.” That is the motto of our pilgrimage. It contains an entire programme of conversion. I am happy to know that in anticipation of that blessed moment, the culmination of a century of blessed moments, you have been preparing yourselves by intense prayer. Prayer enlarges our hearts and makes them ready to receive God’s gifts. I thank you for all the prayers and sacrifices that you offer daily for me. I need them, because I am a sinner among sinners, “a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Is 6:5). Prayer gives light to my eyes and enables me to see others as God sees them, and to love others as he loves them.

In his name, I will come among you and have the joy of sharing with everyone the Gospel of hope and peace. May the Lord bless you, and the Virgin Mother protect you!

Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz pointed to the “peace and serenity” that Blessed Alvaro spread around him: “an aspect of his character that was more than just a feature of his personality,” he said. “And if he was able to spread peace wherever he was, it was because he took refuge in the peace and strength of God. Don Alvaro was a good shepherd who cared for the flock of Opus Dei because he let himself be guided and protected by Jesus, the good Shepherd who knows his sheep.” Therefore, “everyone found a place in his heart and in his self-giving.”

The Prelate also stressed the need for Christians to bring peace to the world: “Let us ask our Lord, through Blessed Alvaro’s intercession, to help us to be men and women of peace. Today, when often one sees a great lack of peace in society, in the workplace, in family life…, there is an ever great need for us Christians to be, in the words of Saint Josemaria, 'sowers of peace and joy.' Peace in the world, perhaps, depends more on our personal struggle each day to smile, to forgive others and not give importance to ourselves, than the great negotiations carried out among States, however important these might be.”

Referring to the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to Fatima, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz invited those present to “go in our hearts to Cova da Iria in this Mass.” During the month of May, especially dedicated to our Lady, “let us also do so with the Rosary, the preferred prayer of our Lady.” “While we accompany Pope Francis on his trip, let us address our Mother with the words Pope Francis used to consecrate the world to our Lady of Fatima in October 2013: 'Guard our life with your embrace: bless and strengthen every desire for good; give new life and nourishment to our faith; sustain and enlighten our hope; awaken and animate our charity; guide us all on the path to holiness'” (Pope Francis, Act of Consecration to our Lady of Fatima, 13 October 2013).

Finally, he recalled a visit by Blessed Alvaro to the Portuguese shrine: “In January 1989, during a pilgrimage to Fatima, Blessed Alvaro addressed a prayer to our Lady out loud: “I know that you always hear us, but still we have wanted to come from Rome to tell you what you already know: that we love you, but want to love you more. Help us to serve the Church as she wants to be served: with our whole heart, with complete self-giving, with loyalty and faithfulness.”

Question from manager Ferdinando Garré of the Naval Repairs district:

In our work, we find ourselves struggling with so many obstacles – excessive bureaucracy, slowness in public decision-making, lack of services or adequate infrastructure – which often do not allow the best energies of this city to be released. We share this challenging journey with our chaplain and are encouraged by our archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco. We turn to you, Holiness, to ask for a word of closeness. A word of comfort to encourage us before the obstacles we businessmen come up against every day.

Pope Francis :
Good morning, everyone!
It is the first time I have come to Genoa, and being so close to the port reminds me of where my father left … This is very emotional for me. And thank you for your welcome. Mr. Ferdinando Garré: I knew the questions, and for some I wrote down some ideas to respond; and I also keep my pen in my hand to note down something that comes to mind at the time, to answer. But for these questions on the world of work I wanted to think well so as to answer well, because today work is at risk It is a world where work is not considered with the dignity it has and gives. Therefore, I will answer with the things I have thought about, and some that I will say at the time.

First, a premise. The premise is: the world of work is a human priority. It is, therefore, a Christian priority, our priority, and also a priority of the Pope. Because it comes from that first command that God gave to Adam: “Go, till the earth, work the earth, tame it”. There has always been friendship between the Church and work, starting with a working Jesus. Where there is a worker, there is the interest and the gaze of love of the Lord and of the Church. I think this is clear. It is beautiful that this question that comes from a businessman, an engineer; from his way of speaking abut the enterprise, the typical entrepreneur’s virtues emerge. And since this question was posed by a businessman, we will talk about them. Creativity, love for your business, passion and pride for the work of the hands and intelligence of yourself and your workers. The businessman is a key figure in any good economy: there is no good economy without a good entrepreneur. There is no good business without good entrepreneurs, without your ability to create, to create jobs, to create products. In your words we also perceive your esteem for the city – and we understand this – for its economy, the quality of the workers, and also for the environment, the sea … It is important to recognize the virtues of workers. Their need – workers – is the need to work well so that the job is done well. Sometimes it is thought that a worker works well just because he is paid: this is a serious disrespect towards workers and labour as it denies the dignity of work, which begins precisely in working well for dignity, for honour. The true manager – I will try to make the profile of a good manager – the real manager knows his workers, because he works alongside them, he works with them. Let’s not forget that the entrepreneur must be first of all a worker. If he does not have this experience of dignity, he will not be a good manager. He shares the workers’ efforts and shares the joys of work, of solving problems together, of creating something together. If and when he has to lay off someone, this is always a painful decision and he would not do it if possible. No good manager likes to lay off his people – no, he who thinks he can solve the problem of his job by firing people, is not a good entrepreneur, he is a trader, who sells his people today and tomorrow sells his dignity. He always suffers, and sometimes from this suffering new ideas emerge to avoid dismissal. This is the good entrepreneur. I remember, almost a year ago, a little less, at Mass at Santa Marta at 7 am, at the exit I was greeting the people who were there, and a man approached. He was crying. He said, “I came to ask for a grace: I am at the limit and I have to make a statement of bankruptcy. That would mean firing sixty workers, and I do not want to, because I feel like I am firing myself”. And that man was crying. He was a good manager. He fought and prayed for his people because they were “his”: “They are my family”. They were attached to one another.

A disease of the economy is the progressive transformation of entrepreneurs into speculators. The entrepreneur must not be confused with the speculator: there are two different types. The entrepreneur must not be confused with the speculator: the speculator is a figure similar to what Jesus in the Gospel calls a “mercenary”, as opposed to the Good Shepherd. The speculator does not love his company, he does not love his workers, but sees business and workers only as a means to make a profit. He uses, uses the company and the workers to make a profit. Firing, closing down, moving the company is not a problem to him, because the speculator uses, exploits, “eats” people and means for to reach profit targets. When the economy is inhabited by good entrepreneurs, businesses are friendly to people and even to the poor. When it falls into the hands of speculators, everything is ruined. With the speculator, the economy loses face and loses its faces. It is a faceless economy. An abstract economy. Behind the speculator’s decisions there are no people, and therefore we do not see the people who are to be dismissed and cut out. When the economy loses contact with the faces of concrete people, it itself becomes a faceless economy and therefore a ruthless economy. We must fear the speculators, not the entrepreneurs; no, do not fear businessmen because there are so many good ones! No. Fear speculators. But paradoxically, sometimes the political system seems to encourage those who speculate on work and not those who invest in and believe in the job. Why? Because it creates bureaucracy and controls, starting from the hypothesis that the agents of the economy are speculators, so those who are not speculators remain disadvantaged, and those who can find the means to circumvent controls and reach their goals. It is known that regulations and laws intended for the dishonest end up penalizing the honest. And today there are so many real entrepreneurs, honest managers who love their workers, who love the company, who work alongside them to carry ahead the business, and these are the most disadvantaged by these policies that favour speculators. But honest and virtuous entrepreneurs go ahead, in the end, despite everything. I like to quote a good phrase of Luigi Einaudi, economist and president of the Italian Republic. He wrote: “Thousands, millions of individuals work, produce and save despite everything we can invent to molest them, to obstruct them, and to discourage them. It is a natural vocation that drives them, not just the thirst for gain. The taste, the pride of seeing your business thrive, obtain credit, inspire trust in an increasingly broad clientele, expand their factories, are a springboard for progress just as powerful as profit. If that were not the case, it would not be possible to explain why there are entrepreneurs who in their own companies exhaust all their energies and invest all their capital, often earning an income far more modest what they could surely and comfortably obtain with other efforts”. They have that mystical love …

Thank you for what you said, because you are a representative of these entrepreneurs. Be mindful, entrepreneurs, and also you, workers: beware of speculators, also of the rules and laws that in the end favour speculators and not true entrepreneurs. In the end they leave people without work. Thank you.

Question from Micaela, union representative

Today we talk about industry again, thanks to the fourth industrial revolution or “Industry 4.0”. Well: the world of work is ready to accept new productive challenges that bring prosperity. Our concern is that this new technological frontier and the economic and productive recovery that sooner or later will come, will not bring with it new quality employment, but will instead contribute to the rise in precariousness and social hardship. Today, the real revolution would be to transform the word “work” into a concrete form of social redemption.

Pope Francis :
It first came to mind to me to answer with a play of words … You finished with the word “social redemption” [in Italian – “ riscatto ”], and I think of “social blackmail” [in Italian – “ ricatto ”]. What I am about to say is a real thing that happened in Italy about a year ago. There was a queue of unemployed people applying for a job, an interesting job, in an office. The girl who told me this story – an educated girl, who spoke several languages, which was important for that role – said they had told her “Yes, you can start …; there will be 10-11 hours a day …” – “Yes, yes!” she said, immediately, because she needed work – “and it starts with – I think they said, I do not want to make a mistake, but it was no more than 800 euros per month”. And she said, “But … just eight hundred? For eleven hours?”. And the man – the speculator, he was not a businessman, the employee of the speculator – said to her, “Miss, look at the line of people behind you: if you don’t like it, you can go”. This is not riscatto , redemption, but rather ricatto , blackmail!

I will now say what I had written, but your last word reminded me of this. lllegal work. Another person told me that he had a job, but from September to June; he was laid off in June and taken on again in October, September. And this is how it goes – illegal work.

I welcomed the proposal to have this meeting today, in a workplace and workers, because these too are places of the people of God. Dialogues in workplaces are no less important than the dialogues we have in parishes or solemn conferences, because the places of the Church are the places of life and therefore also squares and factories. Because someone can say, “But this priest, what does he say to us? Go to the parish!” No, the world of work is the world of the people of God: we are all Church, all people of God. Many of the meetings between God and men, spoken of by the Bible and the Gospels, occurred while people were working: Moses hears the voice of God calling him, and revealing his name while grazing his father-in-law’s flock; Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen and were called by Him while working by the lake. It is very true what you say: lack of work is far more than not having a source of income for to live on. Work is also this, but it is much, much more. By working we become a fuller person, our humanity flourishes, young people become adults only by working. The Church’s social doctrine has always seen human work as a participation in creation that continues every day, also thanks to the hands, mind and heart of the workers. On Earth there are a few joys greater than those we experience working, just as there are fewer pains greater than those of work, when work exploits, crushes, humiliates, kills. Labour can do great harm because it can do great good. Work is the friend of man, and man is the friend of work, and for this reason it is not easy to recognize it as an enemy, because presents itself like a person at home, even when it strikes us and hurts us. Men and women are fed through work: by work they are “anointed with dignity”. For this reason, the entire social pact is built around work. This is the core of the problem. Because when you do not work, or you work badly, you work little or you work too much, it is democracy that enters into crisis, and the entire social pact. This is also the meaning of Article 1 of the Italian Constitution, which is very beautiful: “Italy is a democratic republic founded on labour”. On this basis we can say that taking work away from people or exploiting people with work that is unworthy, or poorly-paid or whatever, is unconstitutional. If it were not founded on labour, the Italian Republic would not be a democracy, because the place of work is occupied and has always been occupied by privileges, castes, and revenues. It is therefore necessary to look without fear, but with responsibility, to the technological transformations of the economy and life, and not to be resigned to the ideology that is gaining ground everywhere, that imagines a world where only half or maybe two-thirds of the workers will work, and the others will be maintained by social subsidies. It must be clear that the real goal to reach is not that of “income for all” but rather, “work for all”. Because without work, without work for all, there will be no dignity for all. The work of today and that of tomorrow will be different, perhaps very different – we think of the industrial revolution, there has been a change; here too there will be a revolution – it will be different from yesterday’s work, but it will have to be work, not pension, not retirement: work. One retires at the right age, it is an act of justice; but it goes against the dignity of the person to put them in retirement at the age of 35 or 40 years, to give them state benefits, and say, “get by”. “But do I have enough to eat?” Yes. “Can I support my family, with this check?” Yes. “Do I have dignity?” No! Why? Because I do not work. Today’s work will be different. Without work, you can survive; but to live, you need work. The choice is between surviving and living. And there needs to be work for everyone. For young people … Do you know the percentage of young people aged 25 and under, unemployed, in Italy? I will not say it: look for the statistics. And this is a debt on the future. Because these young people grow up without dignity, because they are not “united” by the labour that gives dignity. But the cornerstone of this question is this: a monthly cheque, a monthly allowance that enables you to support a family does not solve the problem. The problem must be resolved with work for everyone. I think I have answered more or less …

Question from Sergio, a worker on a training course promoted by the Chaplains
Not infrequently in the workplace, competition, career, and economic aspects prevail, but work is a privileged occasion for witnessing and proclaiming the Gospel, lived by adopting attitudes of brotherhood, collaboration, and solidarity. We ask your Holiness for advice on how to journey better toward these ideals.

Pope Francis :
The values of work are changing very fast, and many of these new values of large businesses and big finance are not values in line with the human dimension or, therefore, with Christian humanism. The emphasis on competition within the company, besides being an anthropological and Christian error, is also an economic mistake as it neglects the fact that the business is first of all cooperation, mutual assistance, and reciprocity. When a business scientifically creates a system of individual incentives that put workers in competition with each other, perhaps an advantage can be gained in the short term, but it soon ends up undermining that fabric of trust that is the soul of any organization. And so, when a crisis arises, the company unravels and implodes, because there is no longer any rope to hold it together. It must be said strongly that this competitive culture among workers within a business is a mistake, and is therefore a vision that needs to be changed if we want the good of enterprise, workers and the economy. Another “value” that is actually a disvalue is the so-called “meritocracy”. Meritocracy is very appealing because it uses a beautiful word: “merit”; but since it is exploited and used ideologically, it is distorted and perverted. Meritocracy, beyond the good faith of the many who invoke it, is becoming a way of ethically legitimizing inequality. The new capitalism, through meritocracy, gives a moral appearance to inequality because it interprets the talents of people not as a gift: talent is not a gift according to this interpretation: it is a merit, determining a system of cumulative advantages and disadvantages. Thus, if two children are born differently in terms of talent or social and economic opportunities, the economic world will interpret the different talents as merits and will pay them otherwise. And so, when those two children retire, the inequality between them will be multiplied. A second consequence of the so-called “meritocracy” is the change of the culture of poverty. The poor person is considered undeserving and therefore to blame. And if poverty is the fault of the poor, the rich are exonerated from doing anything. This is the old logic of Job’s friends, who wanted to convince him that he was guilty of his misfortune. But this is not the logic of the Gospel, it is not the logic of life: meritocracy in the Gospel is instead found in the figure of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He despises his younger brother and thinks he must remain a failure because he deserves it; instead the father thinks no son deserves the acorns that are for the pigs.

Question from Vittoria, unemployed
We unemployed feel that the Institutions are not only distant, but like stepmothers, more intent on passive assistance than committing themselves to creating the conditions favourable to work. We are comforted by the human warmth with which the Church is close to us and the welcome that each one of us finds at the house of the Chaplains. Your Holiness, where can we find the strength to continue to believe, and never to give up despite all this?

Pope Francis :
That’s it! Those who lose their job and can not find another good job, feels that they lose their dignity, just as those who are forced by necessity to accept bad or unsuitable jobs. Not all jobs are good: there is still too much bad work without dignity, in the illegal trafficking of weapons, pornography, gambling and all those businesses that do not respect the rights of workers or nature. How bad is the work of those who are paid a lot because they do not have timetables, limits, boundaries between work and life because the job becomes the entire life. A paradox of our society is the presence of a growing share of people who would like to work but are not able to, and others who work too hard, who would like to work less but are unable to because they have been “bought” by businesses. Work, on the other hand, becomes “brother work” when alongside it there is the time for non-work, feast days. Slaves do not have free time: without the feast day, work becomes slavery, even if well-paid; and in order to feast, we have to work. In families where there is unemployment, it is never really Sunday and festivities sometimes become sad days because work is lacking on Monday. To celebrate the feast, you need to celebrate labour. One marks the time and rhythm of the other. They go together.

I also believe that consumption is an idol of our time. Consumption is the centre of our society, and therefore also the pleasure that consumption promises. Grand shops, open twenty-four hours a day, every day, new “temples” that promise salvation, eternal life; cults of pure consumption and therefore of pure pleasure. This is also the root of the labour crisis in our society: work is fatigue, sweat. The Bible knew it very well and reminds us of it. But a hedonistic society, that sees and wants only consumption, does not understand the value of fatigue and sweat and therefore does not understand labour. All idolatries are experiences of pure consumption: idols do not work. Work is labour: there are pains in the generation of joy for what has been generated together. Without regaining a culture that values fatigue and sweat, we will not find a new relationship with work and we will continue to dream of the consumption of pure pleasure. Work is the centre of every social pact: it is not a means for consumption, no. It is the centre of every social pact. Between work and consumption there are so many things, all important and beautiful, called dignity, respect, honour, freedom, rights, rights of all, women, children, children, the elderly … If we sell out labour for consumption, with work we will soon sell out these accompanying words: dignity, respect, honour, freedom. We must not allow this, and we must continue to ask for work, to generate it, to estimate it, to love it. We must also pray for it: many of the most beautiful prayers of our parents and grandparents were prayers of work, learned and recited before, after, and during work. Work is a friend of prayer; work is present every day in the Eucharist, whose gifts are the fruit of man’s land and work. A world that no longer knows the values, and the value, of work does not understand the Eucharist either, the true and humble prayer of workers and workers. The fields, the sea, factories have always been “altars” from which beautiful and pure prayers have been raised, which God has received and gathered. Prayers said and recited by those who knew and wanted to pray, but also prayers said with the hands, with sweat, with the fatigue of work by those who did not know how to pray with their mouth. God has also welcomed them and continues to welcome them today too.

For this reason, I would like to end this dialogue with a prayer: it is an ancient prayer, the “Come, Holy Spirit” which is also a prayer for work and for work.

“Come, Holy Spirit,
send forth the heavenly radiance of your light.
Come, father of the poor,
Father of workers.
Come, giver of gifts,
come, light of the heart.
Greatest comforter,
sweet guest of the soul,
sweet consolation.
In labour, rest,
in heat, temperance,
in tears, solace.
Cleanse that which is unclean,
water that which is dry,
heal that which is wounded.
Bend that which is inflexible,
fire that which is chilled,
correct what goes astray.
Grant the reward of virtue,
grant the deliverance of salvation,
grant eternal joy.
Amen”.
Thank you!

And now, I ask the Lord to bless you all, to bless all workers, businessmen, the unemployed. Each one of us, think of the entrepreneurs who do everything to give work; think of the unemployed, think of workers. And may this blessing descend upon all of us and all of them.

[Blessing] Many thanks!

[Courtesy of the Vatican Press Office]

Strathmore School was started in 1961 under the guidance and encouragement of Saint Josemaría Escrivá. Once he got to know the educational problems facing Kenya at the time he was very keen that members of Opus Dei with their friends and colleagues would do something to alleviate the situation.

He made it clear from the beginning that the School had to be multiracial, which was not then allowed by law in Kenya. He wanted people from different races and tribes to live together, and the College to be open to non-Catholics and non-Christians too. This approach was completely new and succeeded in spite of many difficulties which were overcome with his encouragement and with the hard work of the people who started it.

Saint Josemaría said that "this will be the first time for such a center to be started in Kenya, an institution that will not take into account racial differences: whites, blacks and Indians will be together. All our Centers are open to everyone. We are all the same. There is only one race, the race of the children of God.”

Strathmore started as an A-Level college offering Forms 5 and 6 [the final two years of high school] with eight staff members and a total of sixty students: Africans from various tribes and five Europeans, two Indians and eleven Goans. In 1966 Strathmore started offering Accountancy qualifications. In 1977 it began a secondary school (Form 1 to Form 4) and in 1987 a primary school. All these educational iniciatives were located on the same campus in Lavington. With the help of the Kenya Government and the European Union, Strathmore School of Accountancy moved to the Madaraka campus within the city of Nairobi in 1993 where it merged with Kianda Secretarial College and in 2002 became the present Strathmore University. Strathmore School remains on the Lavington campus.

In the video below, Prof. Sperling speaks more at length about the beginnings of Strathmore and his personal recollections of Saint Josemaria:

June 26, the day Saint Josemaria died in 1975, is now his feast day in the Church. Commemorative Masses will be held in cities throughout the U.S. on or about this date.

Dates and times for many Masses for the feast of Saint Josemaria are listed on the interactive map at the St. Josemaría Institute website:

http://www.opusdei.org/en-us/article/masses-for-feast-of-st-josemaria-3/

Confessions will normally be available before Mass.

A partial listing of the Masses being celebrated in the U.S. on or about June 26 is given below:

(This list will be updated as new information becomes available.)

Arizona

Phoenix

St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church
3801 E Greenway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85032
Friday, June 23, at 6:30 pm
Main celebrant:Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead

California

Los Angeles

St. John Chrysostom Church
546 East Florence Avenue
Inglewood, CA 90301
Saturday, June 17, at 11 am

Orange County

Mission Basilica of St. Juan Capistrano
31522 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693
Thursday, June 22, at 7 pm

Sacramento

St Mel Catholic Church
4745 Pennsylvania Avenue
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
Friday, June 9, at 7 pm

San Diego

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
13541 Stoney Creek Rd.
San Diego, CA 92129
Tuesday, June 20, at 7:30 pm

San Francisco

Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption
1111 Gough Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Saturday, June 17, at 11 am

Florida

Jacksonville

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
601 Airport Center Drive East
Jacksonville, FL
Saturday, June 24, at 10:30 am

Miami

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church
11691 NW 25^th Street
Doral, FL 33172
Saturday, June 10, at 11 am

Tampa

Christ the King Catholic Church
821 S. Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33609
Friday, June 23, at 7 pm

Illinois

Chicago

St. Mary of the Angels
1850 N. Hermitage Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
Monday, June 26, at 7:30 pm

Maine

Church of the North American Martyrs
Falmouth, ME
Wednesday, June 28, at 6 pm

Massachusetts

Boston

St. Joseph’s Church
1360 Highland Avenue
Needham, MA 02492
Monday, June 26, 7:30 pm

Cape Cod

Corpus Christi
324 Quaker Meeting House Road
East Sandwich, MA02537
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm

Missouri

St. Louis

Ascension Catholic Church
230 Santa Maria Drive
Chesterfield, MO 63005
Saturday, June 17, at 11 am

Nevada

Las Vegas

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
2300 Sunridge Heights Parkway
Henderson, NV 89052
Saturday, June 17, at 11 am

New Hampshire

Manchester

St. Joseph’s Cathedral
145 Lowell St.
Manchester, NH 03104
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm

New York

Manhattan

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral
Fifth Avenue between 50th & 51st St.
New York, NY
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm
Main celebrant: Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations

North Carolina

Raleigh

St. Joseph Catholic Church
2817 Poole Road
Raleigh, NC 27610
Saturday, June 24, at 11 am

Oregon

Portland

St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church
2727 NE, 54th Ave.
Portland, OR 97213
Saturday, July 1, at 12:15 pm

Pennsylvania

St. Paul Cathedral
108 N Dithridge Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Monday, June 26, at 7:30 pm

Texas

Austin

St. Martin de Porres Church
26160 Ranch Rd. 12
Dripping Springs, TX 78620
Saturday, July 1, at 10 am

Dallas

Christ the King Catholic Church
8017 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75225
Monday, June 26, at 7 p.m.
Main celebrant: Bishop Gregory Kelly, Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas

Houston

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
1115 St. Joseph Parkway
Houston, TX 77002
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm
Main celebrant: Cardinal Daniel DiNardo

San Antonio

San Fernando Cathedral
115 W. Main Plaza
San Antonio, TX 78205
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm
Main celebrant: Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller

Virginia

Saint Bridget Catholic Church
6006 Three Chopt Road
Richmond, VA 23226
Friday, June 23, at 7:30 pm

Washington

Seattle

St Pius X Catholic Church
22301 58th Ave W.
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Friday, June 30, at 7 pm

Wisconsin

Milwaukee

St. Mary's Visitation Catholic Parish
1260 Church Street, Elm Grove, WI 53122
Monday, June 26, at 7 pm

I am a photojournalist, seeking a story behind every photo, the person behind the story and hope behind the life. My aim is to try to portray in photographs the human condition in Brazil, Spain, Kenya….

For 80% of humanity, life is a lottery where God seems to have split the tickets between the same winners. Faced with this scenario, my question is quite simple: what would have happened if I (a native of Andalucía) had been born fifteen kilometers below the strait of Gibraltar, in a different culture and religion? How and to what extent does a country and family influence us?

“I build my life with the biography of the others,” says well known photographer Richard Avedon. So I seek the humanity in the persons I portray. In the first place people, then ideas.

My job is simple. I try to tell stories with photos just like any photojournalist. Professionally, I work in corporate communications. For example, I transform into images the corporate identity of educational, social or economic entities, whether universities, NGOs, or business schools.

Photography is both memory and identity, and I try to look for these two aspects in documenting people and institutions that wish to improve their public communication. It is not about just taking pictures, but about truly reflecting people and entities according to their specific characteristics: sometimes, the images of people’s stories in photojournalism, other times in corporate photographs.

During the past few months, my work has taken me to the Amazon in Brazil and Lake Turkana in Kenya. In both countries I have worked for Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Vatican foundation that helps financially the initiatives of various institutions of the Catholic Church. Sometimes in a refugee camp, other times in a clinic for AIDS patients. Places where I discover stories that bring me closer to death, but where what I really understand better is life. In the end, I would like the stories below to help you understand something about the meaning of life…and always with hope.

1. Where God weeps

“Abandon all hope, you who enter here” (Dante, The Divine Comedy)

March 2017. On the outskirts surrounding the city of Sao Paulo, men and women easily succumb to temptations. Yet a group of ex-drug addicts is struggling to reach the shore of normality. They live in Fazenda de la Esperanza [Hacienda of Hope], a pioneering center for ex-addicts. There they seek rehabilitation through life in common, work and spiritual counseling. Fazenda de la Esperanza wasstarted in 1983 by Fray Hans Stapel, a German Franciscan priest, in Guaratingueta, Brazil, to rehabilitate addicts. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI visited this center during his apostolic trip to Brazil. Fray Hans founded a total of 112 Fazendas de la Esperanza all over the world (Angola, Russia, Germany, Argentina, South Africa, Mozambique…). This year, 2017, another ten new fazendas will open.

—When a drug addict hits bottom rock and decides to try to climb out, we call it the “cry” of the Gospel: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It is the cry of despair of the person who is suffering. At that moment, many decide to come to the fazenda freely, says Daniel, a young optimist, who accompanies Rafael, a junkie.

—Look, there is a nuance. You have to understand that drugs are not the origin. The drugs are a consequence of an emotional, family or sexual drama, which arose in the past and needs to be purified…. Daniel is silent and waits for Rafael to speak. An hour later, Rafael recounts his story good-naturedly as darkness falls. Dressed in blue jeans and Nike sneakers, he looks like he has never broken a plate in his life and could pass as the perfect son every mother-in-law wants for her daughter: a quiet and affectionate boy.

These are the appearance, but now his inner life:

“My parents were distant cousins and they got intimate one night in the heat of a campfire in Portoalegre. When my uncle learned that my mother was pregnant, he tried to pierce her belly with a knife.

—This child is mine’ she said, a pretty 16 year old girl with green eyes and blond hair.

—But when I was born, my mother never gave me her blessing. I was a living aborted child and she abandoned me with my grandmother. When I was six, that woman, my mother returned…

—Rafael, you are useless. I expect you to clean the bathroom after I use it, do you understand? That’s what she told me. Normally, I obeyed to avoid being punished.

The boys in the neighborhood called me “disaster face” and the constant humiliation left me friendless. In school, Paulo made my life miserable. Each day he would shout to me: “Your mother is a bad woman and you will end up like her….”

In 2006, tired of the humiliation, I ran away from home. My mother wasn’t interested in finding me and only my grandmother, when she knew where I was, came to bring me home. But I refused. My grandmother, who saw my wounds, understood very well my pain and inner anger.

—I won’t live with that woman, I said

So, at the age of 12 I started working on the streets of Portoalegre selling DVD for the mafia. Small drug dealers gave me a place to sleep. Money was easy to make but was also spent quickly on alcohol and other vices. Without no hope in my life, I started to take cocaine at age 13. Every day, every morning, I took 10 grams to get high to sell the DVDs. The drugs gave me euphoria and a carefree feeling. At 16, I started using crack, which was cheaper and left me even more dependent.

In the middle of the chaos, one night I met a new friend, Raul. I knew of his fame and didn’t need to ask about him. I simply accepted him as you accept the first person who enters your life as a friend. We talked and drank. Two days later, Raul asked me for a favor. I took him on a motor bike. We arrived at the destination in ten minutes with two plastic bags. I watched the street with the engine running while my friend grabbed a backpack. He climbed the stairs of a bar, opened the door and took a 38mm pistol from the plastic bag and shot a drug dealer seated in the gambling den. There were shouts in the street, and suddenly among the people in the crowd I recognized Paulo, my old school bully, who was now a big arms dealer. I ran up to him and shot him in cold blood.

Raul carried out 20 more hits as a hired assassin before being executed by a gang, in our apartment. I barely managed to save my own skin.

In a panic, I decided to abandon everything and leave for another city. Only my grandmother knew my whereabouts. Drugs kept me going until a builder offered me a job as a bricklayer. It was hard to keep a schedule, wake up very early and obey someone, when your life is built without rules. But at least I was busy.

One morning, we were sent to repair the roof of a parish church. I wasn’t baptized or a Catholic, but the priest who celebrated Mass was a good man. One day the priest stopped me and said; “If you are a drug addict, I can help you.” God was giving me an opportunity and I wasn’t going to let it escape.

Then I made the second biggest decision in my life. I decided to go to La Fazenda de la Esperanza to get cured. I called my grandmother.

—I am happy you are going there. When I was about to end the call, I heard the voice of a woman on the other end, my mother.

—Don’t cut me off. I need to tell you something that weighs heavily on me. I beg for pardon for all the past years. I love you for what you are going to do now, my son

I hung up. In 22 years, I have never been called a son.

For a year now I have been living at La Fazenda de la Esperanza, gradually escaping from my drug addiction. Healing comes through living alongside others, working and growing in my spiritual life. I have come to understood that my mother has also suffered a lot and I have been able to forgive her. I want to go back to see her because I need a family. I also want to ask my mother to forgive me for what I have done. Then I want to come back to the fazenda to help the others here and also close a cycle in my life. I also have to go and ask for pardon from the parents of the person whose life I ended, even though I know that in Brazil the spirit of vengeance is very strong: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I leave my forgiveness to God. I feel he has forgiven me and I can help others to experience his forgiveness. I have been baptized and confirmed and received Holy Communion, but I know that I need prayers to face this. I need to know that I am not alone.

2. About the living and the dead

“The stories are hard, but there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism” (Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being).

March 2017. In the 1970s, many people went to seek diamonds in the central western state of Mato Grosso, in Brazil. Mato Grosso is a region twice the size of Spain or Kenya (900,000 sq. km)

The diamonds attracted many adventurers to Juina, a small city with 50,000 habitants. As a result of greed, there were many murders and the mortality rate was quite high. A local businessman decided to open a funeral home to make his own fortune. Rich and poor had to pay 3000 reales to this sole undertaker in the city.

There came a time when the not so wealthy couldn’t afford the burial fees. The Salesian Bishop of the city, having been informed of the plight of the needy, saw that he needed to care for the poor people who died by promoting the work of mercy burying the dead.

Thanks to his initiative and funding provided by Aid to the Church in Need, a second funeral home and mortuary chapel was opened in 2012. Since then, the association under the auspices of the Catholic Church has buried more than 2,500 persons with professionalism, care and respect for the deceased, thanks to many volunteers who take turns in helping the foundation. Those who die in Juina can now be buried for only 500 reales.

Today has been a tough day: documenting the funeral of an old woman and a man murdered by seven stab wounds. The first deceased was a good lady, an evangelical Protestant. The murdered person was a man without faith, who was executed in a quarrel on a farm.

I have seen other morgues around the world and I was impressed by the care with which the volunteers cleaned the man’s body, as you can see in the image above. You see Christ’s universal, catholic charity being extended to this old woman and the murdered man when it was least expected. Perhaps they only hoped for the justice of a dignified burial; but they received the mercy of love.

3. Death, where is your sting?

“I’m interested in the future because that’s where I am going to spend the rest of my life” (Woody Allen)

June 2016. Turkana is an African region in northern Kenya. Lake Turkana is famous for being the largest alkaline lake in the world and an important breeding ground for crocodile. Other deadly species roam the desert, like snakes and spiders, although the most dangerous is the female anopheles mosquito that transmits malaria. The Turkic tribe that surrounds the lake is distinguished by its sinewy tobacco-chewing men and women who adorn their necks with striking colored collars.

I am dazed as I return from the burial of a year-old child. The dead baby was wrapped in a bag and deposited in the trunk of the car, although I only became aware of this when the priest asked me to take the sack from the back of the vehicle.

“What’s inside…?” I ask.

The priest keeps silent and moves forward offering words of consolation to the mother, who comes to receive us. The villagers finish digging a grave next to the family hut. I let down the little sack and walk away. A nun now consoles the mother who has lost her second child in three years. The ceremony begins with everyone around the sack in the pit: “You are dust and unto dust you will return.” The elderly women of the village prepare to cover the pit with branches. One of them lifts a palm branch and a scorpion appears and runs away rapidly, reminding us that death is still present with us and not just with the tiny child. The old woman, with her necklaces, shows no fear. With a quick strike of her thongs, she kills the animal, crushed on the sand.

While thinking about life and death, I return to the house and find Erik there, a cheerful Turkic adolescent, who opens the gate for me as I look for some water to hydrate myself.

—Erik, I need a conceptual photo for a project. I need a scorpion and I don’t know where to find one, I tell him

Erik looks at me with weary disdain and says: “Surely, Musungu’ (white man). I will find it. Do you want it dead or alive?

I look at him in surprise, because what is terrifying to me holds no fear for him.

—But I don’t want you to take any chances, I insist.

—Relax, Musungu, no problem for me.

Twenty minutes later, Erik knocks at my door. He has a scorpion in the bottom of an empty plastic water bottle that is displaying its stinger.

—Here you are.

And here again is death, here at the bottom of a bottle is death mirrored in a scorpion, which challenges us with its sting. Why the fear of death? Who is the guardian of my life? We aren’t immortals in this life and someone is watching over us. We assume that evil will not prevail.

Erik looks at me. He knows that life and death are daily scenes in Turkana, in Kenya, in Africa. Here, both life and death are cheap. To Africans, it doesn’t make sense the way we westerners clutch so tightly to life. Everything is in God’s hands and his providence.

For Erik, life means simply living for today, and not worrying about tomorrow. Help those you can today, and leave the future to God and his plans.

4. Take my photo for the Pope

“You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven” (Lk 7:46-48)

In the central district of Sao Paulo, Brazil, God is with you 24 hours of the day. Amid the skyscrapers and office buildings stands Our Lady of Good Death, a church where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed 24 hours each day. Here in the neighboring peripheries of the city true hope is being born: drug addicts, people without families and prostitutes come to the church to pray. They come alone or accompanied by missionaries of Schoenstatt, who seek out and assist the poor and rejected in society.

Edilson is one of the poor, who lives in a cardboard house. Bruna is a young blonde girl, a consecrated member of Schoenstatt, who visits him every Friday with a group of young people. Edilson doesn’t stop talking.

—I’m going to tell you the truth; she is the only person who visits us without worrying whether we smell good or bad. Many Fridays she comes to accompany us and ask about our lives. She doesn’t care about our appearance. She is been the only person who remembered my birthday and brought me a cake to celebrate.

—Well, I can be with you for a few hours, but God is with you for 24 hours, says Bruna

—My dream is to meet the Pope and take a picture, interrupts Rafinha, crippled by an accident and the father of seven children. Take a photo of me and bring it to him, he implores.

—I will try…

5. Look people in the eyes

“Giving love is in itself an education” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

“If your photograph isn’t good enough, then you’re not close enough,” says war photographer Robert Capa. Something similar can be said about mercy.

Rome, 1 February 2017. Holy Father, I am Ismael, a Spanish photographer who lives in Kenya. I assist the project Aid to the Church in Need. We have an album of photos to give you, but how do we give hope to these people?

—[pensive] Treat them with affection, with your look, with a gesture of tenderness. Look them personally in the eye and you will bring hope.

—Thank you Holy Father, I will try to do so and pray for your intentions at Mass each day, as I am a member of Opus Dei.

—Oh and in Kenya! Do you live there? In Kenya, you are doing a great job. The Work is doing a great job there. When I was in Kenya last year, I could see all that is being done in many places, with people from all classes. Keep up the good work. Opus Dei is doing a great job in helping Kenyans.

—Thank you Pope Francis. I don’t think it’s any merit of Opus Dei’s. We’re just trying to help you and the people there.

Rome, 17 September 2016. This time I don’t present Bishop Javier Echevarria with any more stories about Africa in the get-together, but I take out a crocodile tooth from my pocket

—You didn’t take it from the crocodile yourself?

—A sage in northern Kenya gave it to me, in the Kakuma refugee camp. I’ll put it alongside my passport so that you may bless my visa that has sometimes expired and I’ve had problems with the African bureaucracy.

—Ismael, my son, I’ll bless whatever you want, of course. But be careful with the crocodiles; we need you alive. The most important passport for a Christian is the one that gives entrance to heaven. So take care, you are still very young. And while we are on earth, we are here to give consolation and life to the others. As Saint Josemaria taught, “the time has ended for giving a few spare coins and old clothes. We have to give affection; we have to give our heart!”