Letter from the Prelate (May 2011)
The letter of Bishop Javier Echevarria transmitted triple joy with which he started in May: the celebration of the Easter season, the beatification of John Paul II and the beginning of the month dedicated to the Virgin.
May 4, 2011
still feel-and-always feel the echo of the joy of the Church Dominus vere et Surrexit apparuit Simoni [1]: the Lord is truly risen and has appeared to Simon. With this joyful exclamation supernatural and human, the Apostles are in the Cenacle of Jerusalem, the final day of the first Christian Passover, two disciples returned urgently, in the middle of the night, from Emmaus. Cleopas and his companion told them that Jesus had shown them the way to live in that village and had even sat with them at the table.
What we understand is the surprise of those men, witnessing the ignominious death of the Master! Also because they had given credence to the announcement of the holy women who early in the morning, the empty tomb of the Lord, had received this special announcement: not afraid: go to announce to my brothers to go into Galilee: there I will . [2] However - how admirably nearby God! - So great was the desire to comfort his people, to restore faith and joy that Jesus Christ not wait to come together in Galilee. That night entered the room where they were met with closed doors for fear of the Jews [3], and greeted them: peace be with you. The disciples were filled with terror and fear-scoring San Lucas - thinking they saw a spirit. And he said: Why do you asustáis, and you admit those thoughts in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet myself. Touch me and understand that a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have [4]. Then I asked for something to eat, to be firmly convinced that it was indeed him, the Good Teacher, triumph over evil and sin, who had broken the chains of death.
has passed the first week of Easter and the Church does not cease to meditate joyfully again and again, the Gospel texts that speak of the resurrection of Jesus. It does so with gratitude and deep emotion, full of faith in the victory of their Lord. It is a singular and unique event in human history, an event that shows, at the same time, the exemplar of the universal resurrection of the last day. Through Baptism we are incorporated into Christ and made partakers of His death and resurrection. Dead to sin and risen to the life of grace, and walk a new life, as we await the full renewal of our being. For, as St. Paul writes, if we have been grafted into Him in a death like his, we will also be a resurrection like his [5].
rises again our wonder and respect to the greatness and mercy of God. The resurrection of Christ was not a return to the previous life, as with Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain, whom the Lord called physical death prolonging its existence a few years then return to earth to die. The Resurrection of Our Lord was something radically different. " Testimony of the New Testament leaves no doubt that in the" resurrection of the Son of man has come up with something completely different. The resurrection of Jesus has been to a breaking the chains to move toward a completely new kind of life, a life that is no longer subject to the law of evolution and death, but beyond that, a life has opened a new dimension of being human. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is not an isolated event that could be overlooked and that belong only the past but it is (...) a quantum leap. In the resurrection of Jesus has reached a new possibility of being a man, a prospect that concerns all and opens up a future, a new kind of future for humanity " [6] .
in world history, the announcement of the resurrection of Christ is the good news par excellence. To bear witness to this fact, the apostles were scattered throughout the land, after overcoming all their fears, the martyrs were strong amid all manner of torments and before the death, many confessors and virgins put aside ambitions and the features below to aspire with all his energies to the eternal goods, and countless ordinary Christians throughout the centuries, have managed to raise his eyes to heaven, while working with honesty and love for God and men things of the earth.
The peculiar character of the resurrection of Christ is that his most Sacred Humanity, reunited soul and body, has been completely transfigured in the glory of God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, as clearly seen in the stories of the appearances to his disciples, while so being a true humanity. Something that certainly holds beyond our experience. This historical fact, founded on the testimony of witnesses fully credible, is at the same time, the primary object of supernatural faith. As already said Augustine, "is not a big thing to believe that Christ died (...). All believe that Christ died. The faith of Christians is the resurrection of Christ. How large we believe that Christ rose "[7]. Perhaps
ever wonder why Jesus said not risen to the whole world so that all might believe in Him Benedict XVI said that " in the history of everything that has life, the early developments are small, almost invisible, may go unnoticed. The Lord himself said that the "Kingdom of Heaven" in this world is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds (cf. Mt 13, 31). But carries the potential of God's infinite [8] . He concludes that this has come the resurrection in the world: only through some mysterious appearances elected. And yet, was the beginning really new, that which, in secret, all [world] was waiting " [9] .
With the passing of the centuries, faith in the Lord's resurrection has been spreading through the land, has taken root in new cultures, different civilizations, drawing on the collaboration of believers, members of the Mystical Body pilgrimage in the land. Now, with so much force as we San Josemaria insisted it's up to you and me, to all Christians, bear witness to Christ in our behavior and our words.
"The good news of Easter requires the work of enthusiastic and courageous witnesses. Every disciple of Christ, also each of us is called to be witnesses. This is the precise mandate, engaging and exciting the risen Lord. The "news" new life in Christ must shine in the lives of Christians, must be alive and active in whom the community, and should really be able to change the heart, the whole existence " [10] . Do you feed daily strong faith, strong in the Lord's triumph? The awareness that Christ is risen indeed, "fills us up on our way? How constantly strive to discover us, in all walks of our walking field?
For all this, " the Easter is a time of joy, a joy that is not limited to the time of the liturgical year, but at all times sits in the heart of the Christian. Because Christ lives: Christ is not someone who has gone, that existed at one time and he was gone, leaving a memory and a wonderful example.
not: Christ lives. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. His resurrection shows us that God does not abandon his own " [11].
Jesus, besides being in the Father's glory, is still present in the Church a special way in the Eucharist, and, by grace, in the heart of every Christian. Through Baptism we received the new life that the Lord has a good life; the other sacraments are perfected more and more the supernatural existence. Only with the resurrection of the flesh is in full compliance with the members of the Mystical Body full glorification now enjoying our Head, Jesus and His Blessed Mother, our Mother too. However, as pointed out by our founder, and now " faith tells us that man, in grace, is deified. We are men and women, not angels. Flesh and bone, heart and passions, with sorrows and joys. But the divinity is in all men as a foretaste of the glorious resurrection " [12]. Hopefully out of our souls, so constant, thanks for knowing ourselves children of God in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
This advance of the final glory shines clearly more intense in the trail left by the saints, especially those that the Church presents to us as an example of virtue and offers for our veneration. Obviously we are pleased with the final triumph of those brothers and sisters. Immense joy that arises especially today, May 1 for the beatification of the beloved John Paul II. Although the vast majority of you could not come to Rome to participate in this event, all you feel, we feel, very close in spirit to this great feast of the whole Church.
We have known this great Pontiff who generously spent their lives for the souls to their last moments on earth. We have witnessed the depth of his faith, his hopes up, the ardor of his charity, embracing each and every one. The Opus Dei, as well, as I pointed out on several occasions, we keep a great debt of gratitude to new Blessed, especially because John Paul II was the instrument that served the Lord for giving us the final legal form of the Work and the canonization of St. Josemaría. It is very natural, then, rejoice especially for his elevation to the altars and thank God for the gift given to the Church. I myself, on 3, will celebrate a solemn Mass of thanksgiving. Unite with more intensity, if anything, to my Mass on that day, asking for all the intentions to introduce you to our Lord through the intercession of the new Blessed.
addition, we began the month of May. In recent weeks, the Church invites us to give special honor to Santa Maria. I suggest you choose us to the intercession of our Father and John Paul II, let us ask that we get these days, immediately following the beatification of Pope grace to love and venerate with all our strength to the Mother of God. Karol Wojtyla, from his youth, offered entirely to her, as expressed in the motto inscribed on his episcopal coat of arms: Totus Tuus . San Josemaría also wanted to be absolutely loyal subject of the Queen of Heaven. On December 28, 1931, commenting on the custom of the religious communities of Trustees Santa Isabel on the feast of the Holy Innocents, wrote: " Lady or a game I want you to stop being the Owner and Empress of all creation" [13].
We too, we want to be-completely-the Lord, we walk down that path that St. Josemaría Marian left us a legacy. " If anything, I want to imitate ," he said, is the love I have for the Virgin " [14]. This month gives us a unique occasion to promote Marian devotion through the traditional pilgrimage of May. Invite our friends and acquaintances to visit these days a chapel or shrine of the Virgin, praying and contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary. We will make a great spiritual good, because "Jesus always goes and" returns "by Mary" [15]. Come to this meeting with the devotion with which our father was a Sonsoles. Moreover, as we suggested years later in the ninth before the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, we bring to our Mother many small roses, the daily happenings.
On May 14, the eve of the fourth Sunday of Easter, also called the Good Shepherd , because the Gospel of the Mass, "bestow priestly ordination on 35 deacons, brothers of yours. As always on these occasions, I ask that we are all very united in prayer and in offering a sacrifice for the new priests and the priests worldwide. Be especially present in your prayers for the Pope and all Bishops, that always imitate the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep [16].
After Easter, I made a quick trip to Slovenia and Croatia. In Ljubljana and Zagreb, I met with the faithful of the Prelature and many others who benefit from the spirit of Opus Dei. Thank God because apostolic work of my daughters and my sons firm takes root in these two countries, which both prayed Our Father is hard to describe how I loved all the land, especially to those going through difficulties of any kind.
I return to the beginning of these lines. Vere Lord is risen! " risen Christ walks before us towards the new heaven and new earth (cf. Rev 21, 1), which eventually will live as one family, children of one Father. He is with us until the end of time " [17] . Escondido under the appearances of bread and wine in a sacramental way, has been in the Holy Eucharist, to hear our prayers for comfort and full of strength. We depart from your company, take him to many others, to also forgive them and them-the point: remember how grateful Don Alvaro his first Communion! - Experience the joy of being with Christ, to accompany Christ, life in Christ. Dates are so many memories of the history of the work, which I can not stop: it shows how we have cared Santa Maria! Let us thanks.
With all my affection, I bless your Father
+ Javier
Rome, May 1, 2011.
[1] Lk 24, 34.
[2] Mt 28, 10.
[3] Cf Jn 20, 19.
[4] Lk 24, 36-39.
[5] Rm 6, 5.
[6] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth , II, p. 284.
[7] St. Augustine, Enarr on the Psalms, 120, 6 (CCL 40, 1791).
[8] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth , II p. 288.
[9] Ibid .
[10] Benedicto XVI, Discurso en la audiencia general, 7-IV-2010.
[11] San Josemaría , Es Cristo que pasa, n. 102.
[12] Ibid ., n. 103.
[13] San Josemaría, Apuntes íntimos (28-XII-1931) n. 517 (cfr. A. Vázquez de Prada, El Fundador del Opus Dei, I, p. 413).
[14] San Josemaría, año 1954.
[15] San Josemaría, Camino , n. 495.
[16] Cfr. Jn 10, 1-18.
[17] Benedicto XVI, Mensaje urbi et orbi , 24-IV-2011.
opusdei.es of
The letter of Bishop Javier Echevarria transmitted triple joy with which he started in May: the celebration of the Easter season, the beatification of John Paul II and the beginning of the month dedicated to the Virgin. May 4, 2011
still feel-and-always feel the echo of the joy of the Church Dominus vere et Surrexit apparuit Simoni [1]: the Lord is truly risen and has appeared to Simon. With this joyful exclamation supernatural and human, the Apostles are in the Cenacle of Jerusalem, the final day of the first Christian Passover, two disciples returned urgently, in the middle of the night, from Emmaus. Cleopas and his companion told them that Jesus had shown them the way to live in that village and had even sat with them at the table.
What we understand is the surprise of those men, witnessing the ignominious death of the Master! Also because they had given credence to the announcement of the holy women who early in the morning, the empty tomb of the Lord, had received this special announcement: not afraid: go to announce to my brothers to go into Galilee: there I will . [2] However - how admirably nearby God! - So great was the desire to comfort his people, to restore faith and joy that Jesus Christ not wait to come together in Galilee. That night entered the room where they were met with closed doors for fear of the Jews [3], and greeted them: peace be with you. The disciples were filled with terror and fear-scoring San Lucas - thinking they saw a spirit. And he said: Why do you asustáis, and you admit those thoughts in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet myself. Touch me and understand that a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have [4]. Then I asked for something to eat, to be firmly convinced that it was indeed him, the Good Teacher, triumph over evil and sin, who had broken the chains of death.
has passed the first week of Easter and the Church does not cease to meditate joyfully again and again, the Gospel texts that speak of the resurrection of Jesus. It does so with gratitude and deep emotion, full of faith in the victory of their Lord. It is a singular and unique event in human history, an event that shows, at the same time, the exemplar of the universal resurrection of the last day. Through Baptism we are incorporated into Christ and made partakers of His death and resurrection. Dead to sin and risen to the life of grace, and walk a new life, as we await the full renewal of our being. For, as St. Paul writes, if we have been grafted into Him in a death like his, we will also be a resurrection like his [5].
rises again our wonder and respect to the greatness and mercy of God. The resurrection of Christ was not a return to the previous life, as with Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain, whom the Lord called physical death prolonging its existence a few years then return to earth to die. The Resurrection of Our Lord was something radically different. " Testimony of the New Testament leaves no doubt that in the" resurrection of the Son of man has come up with something completely different. The resurrection of Jesus has been to a breaking the chains to move toward a completely new kind of life, a life that is no longer subject to the law of evolution and death, but beyond that, a life has opened a new dimension of being human. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is not an isolated event that could be overlooked and that belong only the past but it is (...) a quantum leap. In the resurrection of Jesus has reached a new possibility of being a man, a prospect that concerns all and opens up a future, a new kind of future for humanity " [6] .
in world history, the announcement of the resurrection of Christ is the good news par excellence. To bear witness to this fact, the apostles were scattered throughout the land, after overcoming all their fears, the martyrs were strong amid all manner of torments and before the death, many confessors and virgins put aside ambitions and the features below to aspire with all his energies to the eternal goods, and countless ordinary Christians throughout the centuries, have managed to raise his eyes to heaven, while working with honesty and love for God and men things of the earth.
The peculiar character of the resurrection of Christ is that his most Sacred Humanity, reunited soul and body, has been completely transfigured in the glory of God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, as clearly seen in the stories of the appearances to his disciples, while so being a true humanity. Something that certainly holds beyond our experience. This historical fact, founded on the testimony of witnesses fully credible, is at the same time, the primary object of supernatural faith. As already said Augustine, "is not a big thing to believe that Christ died (...). All believe that Christ died. The faith of Christians is the resurrection of Christ. How large we believe that Christ rose "[7]. Perhaps
ever wonder why Jesus said not risen to the whole world so that all might believe in Him Benedict XVI said that " in the history of everything that has life, the early developments are small, almost invisible, may go unnoticed. The Lord himself said that the "Kingdom of Heaven" in this world is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds (cf. Mt 13, 31). But carries the potential of God's infinite [8] . He concludes that this has come the resurrection in the world: only through some mysterious appearances elected. And yet, was the beginning really new, that which, in secret, all [world] was waiting " [9] .
With the passing of the centuries, faith in the Lord's resurrection has been spreading through the land, has taken root in new cultures, different civilizations, drawing on the collaboration of believers, members of the Mystical Body pilgrimage in the land. Now, with so much force as we San Josemaria insisted it's up to you and me, to all Christians, bear witness to Christ in our behavior and our words.
"The good news of Easter requires the work of enthusiastic and courageous witnesses. Every disciple of Christ, also each of us is called to be witnesses. This is the precise mandate, engaging and exciting the risen Lord. The "news" new life in Christ must shine in the lives of Christians, must be alive and active in whom the community, and should really be able to change the heart, the whole existence " [10] . Do you feed daily strong faith, strong in the Lord's triumph? The awareness that Christ is risen indeed, "fills us up on our way? How constantly strive to discover us, in all walks of our walking field?
For all this, " the Easter is a time of joy, a joy that is not limited to the time of the liturgical year, but at all times sits in the heart of the Christian. Because Christ lives: Christ is not someone who has gone, that existed at one time and he was gone, leaving a memory and a wonderful example.
not: Christ lives. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. His resurrection shows us that God does not abandon his own " [11].
Jesus, besides being in the Father's glory, is still present in the Church a special way in the Eucharist, and, by grace, in the heart of every Christian. Through Baptism we received the new life that the Lord has a good life; the other sacraments are perfected more and more the supernatural existence. Only with the resurrection of the flesh is in full compliance with the members of the Mystical Body full glorification now enjoying our Head, Jesus and His Blessed Mother, our Mother too. However, as pointed out by our founder, and now " faith tells us that man, in grace, is deified. We are men and women, not angels. Flesh and bone, heart and passions, with sorrows and joys. But the divinity is in all men as a foretaste of the glorious resurrection " [12]. Hopefully out of our souls, so constant, thanks for knowing ourselves children of God in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
This advance of the final glory shines clearly more intense in the trail left by the saints, especially those that the Church presents to us as an example of virtue and offers for our veneration. Obviously we are pleased with the final triumph of those brothers and sisters. Immense joy that arises especially today, May 1 for the beatification of the beloved John Paul II. Although the vast majority of you could not come to Rome to participate in this event, all you feel, we feel, very close in spirit to this great feast of the whole Church.
We have known this great Pontiff who generously spent their lives for the souls to their last moments on earth. We have witnessed the depth of his faith, his hopes up, the ardor of his charity, embracing each and every one. The Opus Dei, as well, as I pointed out on several occasions, we keep a great debt of gratitude to new Blessed, especially because John Paul II was the instrument that served the Lord for giving us the final legal form of the Work and the canonization of St. Josemaría. It is very natural, then, rejoice especially for his elevation to the altars and thank God for the gift given to the Church. I myself, on 3, will celebrate a solemn Mass of thanksgiving. Unite with more intensity, if anything, to my Mass on that day, asking for all the intentions to introduce you to our Lord through the intercession of the new Blessed.
addition, we began the month of May. In recent weeks, the Church invites us to give special honor to Santa Maria. I suggest you choose us to the intercession of our Father and John Paul II, let us ask that we get these days, immediately following the beatification of Pope grace to love and venerate with all our strength to the Mother of God. Karol Wojtyla, from his youth, offered entirely to her, as expressed in the motto inscribed on his episcopal coat of arms: Totus Tuus . San Josemaría also wanted to be absolutely loyal subject of the Queen of Heaven. On December 28, 1931, commenting on the custom of the religious communities of Trustees Santa Isabel on the feast of the Holy Innocents, wrote: " Lady or a game I want you to stop being the Owner and Empress of all creation" [13].
We too, we want to be-completely-the Lord, we walk down that path that St. Josemaría Marian left us a legacy. " If anything, I want to imitate ," he said, is the love I have for the Virgin " [14]. This month gives us a unique occasion to promote Marian devotion through the traditional pilgrimage of May. Invite our friends and acquaintances to visit these days a chapel or shrine of the Virgin, praying and contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary. We will make a great spiritual good, because "Jesus always goes and" returns "by Mary" [15]. Come to this meeting with the devotion with which our father was a Sonsoles. Moreover, as we suggested years later in the ninth before the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, we bring to our Mother many small roses, the daily happenings.
On May 14, the eve of the fourth Sunday of Easter, also called the Good Shepherd , because the Gospel of the Mass, "bestow priestly ordination on 35 deacons, brothers of yours. As always on these occasions, I ask that we are all very united in prayer and in offering a sacrifice for the new priests and the priests worldwide. Be especially present in your prayers for the Pope and all Bishops, that always imitate the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep [16].
After Easter, I made a quick trip to Slovenia and Croatia. In Ljubljana and Zagreb, I met with the faithful of the Prelature and many others who benefit from the spirit of Opus Dei. Thank God because apostolic work of my daughters and my sons firm takes root in these two countries, which both prayed Our Father is hard to describe how I loved all the land, especially to those going through difficulties of any kind.
I return to the beginning of these lines. Vere Lord is risen! " risen Christ walks before us towards the new heaven and new earth (cf. Rev 21, 1), which eventually will live as one family, children of one Father. He is with us until the end of time " [17] . Escondido under the appearances of bread and wine in a sacramental way, has been in the Holy Eucharist, to hear our prayers for comfort and full of strength. We depart from your company, take him to many others, to also forgive them and them-the point: remember how grateful Don Alvaro his first Communion! - Experience the joy of being with Christ, to accompany Christ, life in Christ. Dates are so many memories of the history of the work, which I can not stop: it shows how we have cared Santa Maria! Let us thanks.
With all my affection, I bless your Father
+ Javier
Rome, May 1, 2011.
[1] Lk 24, 34.
[2] Mt 28, 10.
[3] Cf Jn 20, 19.
[4] Lk 24, 36-39.
[5] Rm 6, 5.
[6] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth , II, p. 284.
[7] St. Augustine, Enarr on the Psalms, 120, 6 (CCL 40, 1791).
[8] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth , II p. 288.
[9] Ibid .
[10] Benedicto XVI, Discurso en la audiencia general, 7-IV-2010.
[11] San Josemaría , Es Cristo que pasa, n. 102.
[12] Ibid ., n. 103.
[13] San Josemaría, Apuntes íntimos (28-XII-1931) n. 517 (cfr. A. Vázquez de Prada, El Fundador del Opus Dei, I, p. 413).
[14] San Josemaría, año 1954.
[15] San Josemaría, Camino , n. 495.
[16] Cfr. Jn 10, 1-18.
[17] Benedicto XVI, Mensaje urbi et orbi , 24-IV-2011.
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