Was Opus Dei in Charge of a Sister Lucy Switch and the Falsification of the Fatima Message and the Third Secret? Will this Investigation Bring Down "St." Josemarie Escriva as well?
So
many "Saints" involved in the Sister Lucy Mystery! "Saints" John XXIII,
Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Josemarie Escriva. If they
perpetrated a "Sister Lucy" fraud, how saintly can they be?
Here
is the article, first in translation and then in the original, pointing
to Opus Dei's central involvement in the "Sister Lucy Case."
Monsignor Escrivá, pilgrim of Fatima
Testimony of Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, Bishop of Leiria. Chapter of "Así lo visto", a book that gathers testimonies about the Founder of Opus Dei.
October 23, 2008
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Monsignor Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei, it is a great joy for me to highlight one of the many facets of his spirituality: devotion to Our Lady. He lived his love to the Virgin, love of love, with the depth of a theologian and the simplicity of a child.
Already before his ordination he perceived that the Lord was asking him something, that he did not know how to concretize or define. But he had a burning desire to do the will of God and, therefore, like the blind man in the Gospel, he constantly begged: "Lord, let him see," and added "Let it be!"
From a very early age, he entrusted Our Lady with total fidelity to his vocation. At the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, in 1924, (he was not yet a priest), he engraved on the pedestal of an image of the Virgin of Pilar this little ejaculation: Domina ut sit - "Madam, may it be!"
The foundation of the Work, which today is called Opus Dei and has more than 60,000 associates of eighty nationalities, is supported by the living rock of the dear devotion to Our Lady that its founder had. Later he would write with knowledge, the fruit of an intensely lived experience: "Love for the Lady is proof of good spirit, in works and in unique people. He distrusts the company that does not have that signal "(Camino, No. 505).
Opus Dei is marked with this sign from its beginnings. And always its founder walked the difficult paths of loyalty embraced in the loving arms of the Mother of God and Mother of men.
For Monsignor Escrivá, the pilgrimages to the Marian shrines were one of the most beautiful expressions of his tender and strong devotion to Our Lady. He liked to do them alone or in small groups, in a climate of recollection and intimacy. How charmingly he tells us about that pilgrimage that was attended by only three people to the sanctuary of Sonsoles, in the vicinity of Ávila! And those of Loreto or Lourdes repeated so many times!
Sr. Lucia and St. Josemaría
In the forties he made the first visits to Portugal to lay the foundations of Opus Dei in our homeland, which he loved dearly and which he liked to call "Land of Santa Maria." For him, coming to Portugal was the same as going to Fatima. And it was there, in the Cova de Iria, where he delivered the first fruits of the Work, destined to produce marvelous fruits among the Portuguese people of all conditions. In Tuy he visited Sister Lucy, then a religious Dorothea, who admirably understood the spirit of Opus Dei: sanctification in ordinary and ordinary life, contemplation in the midst of the world. For a member of Opus Dei his cell is the street. A curious anecdote: it was Lucia who intervened in the solution of the bureaucratic difficulties so that Monsignor Escrivá could enter Portugal at that time. Being a Carmelite in Coimbra, she received on several occasions the founder of Opus Dei, who loved ardently the religious life and especially the contemplative orders. The Carmel of Santa Teresa in Coimbra and the Cova de Iria in Fatima were "cooperators" of Monsignor Escrivá [and the Opus Dei], deeply contemplative and Marian.
The founder of Opus Dei loved with madness the Roman Pontiff and the bishops of the Holy Church. That's why I did not do anything without your approval.
He spoke several times with the Bishop of Coimbra, Don Antonio Antunes [the latest bishop of Coimbra is, in fact, an Opus Dei member], who supported with open arms and heart, the start in that city of the Work, which then took the first steps.
He treated closely the Bishop of Our Lady, Don José Alves Correia da Silva, whom he visited when he made his pilgrimages to the Cova de Iría. He lived and taught to live that ancient rule:
Nihil sine Episcopo -not without the bishop-. He had a particular affection for St. Joseph, manifested in evident signs of affection, as the gift of precious sacrays for the chapel of the Episcopal House and an expressive telegram that I found in the archive.
In May 1967, days before the Holy Father's pilgrimage, Monsignor Escrivá also became a pilgrim of the Sanctuary of Fatima ["Sister Lucy" met Paul VI (and Monsignor Escriva?), with that filial, affectionate and tender devotion of which his priest's soul was capable, who always wanted to be a priest, and only a priest; a priest who passionately loved Jesus and his Mother. As he crossed the roads of Portugal with the thousands of pilgrims on foot to Fatima, he exclaimed excitedly: "May God bless you for the love you have for your Mother!"
St. Josemaría in Fatima, on another pilgrimage in 1970, Opus Dei came to implore the protection of the Virgin for the Holy Church, wounded by the lack of love and by the attacks of their own children. I could see him excited to walk barefoot the last stage of his pilgrimage, praying with recollection the Holy Rosary accompanied by a small group of his spiritual children. Monsignor Escrivá, great theologian and canonist, mingled with the simple people of our land, with pious and good old ladies shelling the beads of his rosary loaded with medals! This was the rosary of Monsignor Escrivá, adorned with many medals that he kissed devoutly with the tenderness and emotion with which we kissed the portrait of our mothers. I understood then how the science of a theologian can perfectly ally with the piety of a child. I thought of the little shepherds of Aljustrel who saw Our Lady and received from her the great message of salvation for the world today, and I also thought of the small and simple Gospel to whom the Lord promised the Kingdom of Heaven. The last pilgrimage for Saint Josemaría to Fatima was in the autumn of 1972. Hundreds of people from the most varied backgrounds joined him to pray the rosary devoutly and to receive the healthy influence of his fortress human and supernatural personality. What stood out most in this man of God was Jesus Christ's unrestrained longing to save everyone. On that occasion he carried out a great catechesis in Portugal, simple and profound at the same time. Thousands of people, in Lisbon and Oporto, mainly young people and priests, could hear enchanted the evangelical word that he sowed with hands full, in familiar and communicative dialogue. The words came from a burning heart; that's why he convinced and dragged. In love to the Holy Virgin, Mother of the Church and Mother of the whole Humanity; in love of the Holy Family, which he liked to call the Trinity of the Earth; in love of the Trinity of Heaven, he learned to love all men of all races and conditions, cultures and religions. With the good humor that characterized him, he said one day to Pope John XXIII that he had not learned ecumenism from him, since he had been living it for a long time. The servant of God gave himself entirely to men; passionately loved the world that came out wonderful from the hands of God the Creator. He even spoke of "Christian materialism" to imply that earthly and temporal realities, all the honest tasks of men, are the place and path of holiness for the children of God. This is his mission: "to make all the roads of the earth divine", under the protection of the Virgin Mary, who embodied the greatest holiness of any creature through the ordinary life of each day. By the intercession of the founder of the Opus Dei is finally overcome this great world crisis that is a crisis of saints.Article published in A Voice Do DomingoLeiria, 27-VI-76 Return to the index.
Testimony of Bishop Alberto Cosme do Amaral, Bishop of Leiria. Chapter of "Así lo visto", a book that gathers testimonies about the Founder of Opus Dei.
October 23, 2008
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Monsignor Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei, it is a great joy for me to highlight one of the many facets of his spirituality: devotion to Our Lady. He lived his love to the Virgin, love of love, with the depth of a theologian and the simplicity of a child.
Already before his ordination he perceived that the Lord was asking him something, that he did not know how to concretize or define. But he had a burning desire to do the will of God and, therefore, like the blind man in the Gospel, he constantly begged: "Lord, let him see," and added "Let it be!"
From a very early age, he entrusted Our Lady with total fidelity to his vocation. At the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, in 1924, (he was not yet a priest), he engraved on the pedestal of an image of the Virgin of Pilar this little ejaculation: Domina ut sit - "Madam, may it be!"
The foundation of the Work, which today is called Opus Dei and has more than 60,000 associates of eighty nationalities, is supported by the living rock of the dear devotion to Our Lady that its founder had. Later he would write with knowledge, the fruit of an intensely lived experience: "Love for the Lady is proof of good spirit, in works and in unique people. He distrusts the company that does not have that signal "(Camino, No. 505).
Opus Dei is marked with this sign from its beginnings. And always its founder walked the difficult paths of loyalty embraced in the loving arms of the Mother of God and Mother of men.
For Monsignor Escrivá, the pilgrimages to the Marian shrines were one of the most beautiful expressions of his tender and strong devotion to Our Lady. He liked to do them alone or in small groups, in a climate of recollection and intimacy. How charmingly he tells us about that pilgrimage that was attended by only three people to the sanctuary of Sonsoles, in the vicinity of Ávila! And those of Loreto or Lourdes repeated so many times!
Sr. Lucia and St. Josemaría
In the forties he made the first visits to Portugal to lay the foundations of Opus Dei in our homeland, which he loved dearly and which he liked to call "Land of Santa Maria." For him, coming to Portugal was the same as going to Fatima. And it was there, in the Cova de Iria, where he delivered the first fruits of the Work, destined to produce marvelous fruits among the Portuguese people of all conditions. In Tuy he visited Sister Lucy, then a religious Dorothea, who admirably understood the spirit of Opus Dei: sanctification in ordinary and ordinary life, contemplation in the midst of the world. For a member of Opus Dei his cell is the street. A curious anecdote: it was Lucia who intervened in the solution of the bureaucratic difficulties so that Monsignor Escrivá could enter Portugal at that time. Being a Carmelite in Coimbra, she received on several occasions the founder of Opus Dei, who loved ardently the religious life and especially the contemplative orders. The Carmel of Santa Teresa in Coimbra and the Cova de Iria in Fatima were "cooperators" of Monsignor Escrivá [and the Opus Dei], deeply contemplative and Marian.
The founder of Opus Dei loved with madness the Roman Pontiff and the bishops of the Holy Church. That's why I did not do anything without your approval.
He spoke several times with the Bishop of Coimbra, Don Antonio Antunes [the latest bishop of Coimbra is, in fact, an Opus Dei member], who supported with open arms and heart, the start in that city of the Work, which then took the first steps.
He treated closely the Bishop of Our Lady, Don José Alves Correia da Silva, whom he visited when he made his pilgrimages to the Cova de Iría. He lived and taught to live that ancient rule:
Nihil sine Episcopo -not without the bishop-. He had a particular affection for St. Joseph, manifested in evident signs of affection, as the gift of precious sacrays for the chapel of the Episcopal House and an expressive telegram that I found in the archive.
In May 1967, days before the Holy Father's pilgrimage, Monsignor Escrivá also became a pilgrim of the Sanctuary of Fatima ["Sister Lucy" met Paul VI (and Monsignor Escriva?), with that filial, affectionate and tender devotion of which his priest's soul was capable, who always wanted to be a priest, and only a priest; a priest who passionately loved Jesus and his Mother. As he crossed the roads of Portugal with the thousands of pilgrims on foot to Fatima, he exclaimed excitedly: "May God bless you for the love you have for your Mother!"
St. Josemaría in Fatima, on another pilgrimage in 1970, Opus Dei came to implore the protection of the Virgin for the Holy Church, wounded by the lack of love and by the attacks of their own children. I could see him excited to walk barefoot the last stage of his pilgrimage, praying with recollection the Holy Rosary accompanied by a small group of his spiritual children. Monsignor Escrivá, great theologian and canonist, mingled with the simple people of our land, with pious and good old ladies shelling the beads of his rosary loaded with medals! This was the rosary of Monsignor Escrivá, adorned with many medals that he kissed devoutly with the tenderness and emotion with which we kissed the portrait of our mothers. I understood then how the science of a theologian can perfectly ally with the piety of a child. I thought of the little shepherds of Aljustrel who saw Our Lady and received from her the great message of salvation for the world today, and I also thought of the small and simple Gospel to whom the Lord promised the Kingdom of Heaven. The last pilgrimage for Saint Josemaría to Fatima was in the autumn of 1972. Hundreds of people from the most varied backgrounds joined him to pray the rosary devoutly and to receive the healthy influence of his fortress human and supernatural personality. What stood out most in this man of God was Jesus Christ's unrestrained longing to save everyone. On that occasion he carried out a great catechesis in Portugal, simple and profound at the same time. Thousands of people, in Lisbon and Oporto, mainly young people and priests, could hear enchanted the evangelical word that he sowed with hands full, in familiar and communicative dialogue. The words came from a burning heart; that's why he convinced and dragged. In love to the Holy Virgin, Mother of the Church and Mother of the whole Humanity; in love of the Holy Family, which he liked to call the Trinity of the Earth; in love of the Trinity of Heaven, he learned to love all men of all races and conditions, cultures and religions. With the good humor that characterized him, he said one day to Pope John XXIII that he had not learned ecumenism from him, since he had been living it for a long time. The servant of God gave himself entirely to men; passionately loved the world that came out wonderful from the hands of God the Creator. He even spoke of "Christian materialism" to imply that earthly and temporal realities, all the honest tasks of men, are the place and path of holiness for the children of God. This is his mission: "to make all the roads of the earth divine", under the protection of the Virgin Mary, who embodied the greatest holiness of any creature through the ordinary life of each day. By the intercession of the founder of the Opus Dei is finally overcome this great world crisis that is a crisis of saints.Article published in A Voice Do DomingoLeiria, 27-VI-76 Return to the index.
Monseñor Escrivá, peregrino de Fátima
Testimonio de Mons. Alberto Cosme do
Amaral, Obispo de Leiria. Capitulo de “Así le vieron”, libro que recoge
testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei
HAN DICHO
23 de octubre de 2008
ons.
Álvaro del Portillo, el P. Galamba, la madre de Francisco y Jacinta
Marto, San Josemaría Escrivá y Mons. José López Ortiz. Fátima (Portugal)
6-II-1945.
Con ocasión del primer aniversario de
la muerte de Monseñor Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, fundador del Opus
Dei, es para mí motivo de gran alegría destacar una de las muchas
facetas de su espiritualidad: la devoción a Nuestra Señora. Vivió su
amor a la Virgen, amor de enamorado, con la profundidad de un teólogo y la sencillez de un niño.
Ya antes de su ordenación percibió que
el Señor le pedía algo, que él no sabía concretar ni definir. Pero
tenía el deseo ardiente de hacer la voluntad de Dios y, por eso, como el
ciego del Evangelio, suplicaba constantemente: «Señor, que vea», y
añadía « ¡Que sea!».
Desde muy pronto confió a Nuestra
Señora la fidelidad total a su vocación. En la fiesta de Nuestra Señora
de la Merced, en 1924, (todavía no era sacerdote), grabó en la peana de
una imagen de la Virgen del Pilar esta pe4ueña jaculatoria: Domina ut sit –«¡Señora, que sea!».
Los cimientos de la Obra, que hoy se
llama Opus Dei y cuenta con más de 60.000 asociados de ochenta
nacionalidades, se apoyan en la roca viva de la entrañable devoción a
Nuestra Señora que tenía su fundador. Más tarde escribiría con un saber,
fruto de una experiencia intensamente vivida: «El amor a la Señora es
prueba de buen espíritu, en las obras y en las personas singulares.
Desconfía de la empresa que no tenga esa señal» (Camino, núm. 505).
El Opus Dei está marcado con esta señal desde sus inicios. Y siempre
su fundador recorrió los difíciles caminos de la fidelidad mecido en
los brazos amorosos de la Madre de Dios y Madre de los hombres.
Para Monseñor Escrivá, las
peregrinaciones a los santuarios marianos eran una de las expresiones
más bellas de su devoción tierna y fuerte a Nuestra Señora. Le gustaba
hacerlas solo o en pequeños grupos, en un clima de recogimiento e
intimidad. ¡Con qué encanto nos habla de aquella peregrinación a la que
asistieron tan sólo tres personas al santuario de Sonsoles, en los
alrededores de Ávila! ¡Y las de Loreto o Lourdes repetidas tantas veces!
Sor Lucia y san Josemaría
En la década de los cuarenta hizo las
primeras visitas a Portugal para poner los cimientos del Opus Dei en
nuestra patria, que él amaba entrañablemente y a la que le gustaba
llamar «Tierra de Santa María». Para él, venir a Portugal era lo mismo
que ir a Fátima. Y fue allí, en la Cova de Iria, donde entregó las
primicias de la Obra, destinada a producir frutos maravillosos entre las
gentes portuguesas de todas las condiciones. En Tuy visitó a la
hermana Lucía, entonces religiosa dorotea, que comprendió admirablemente
el espíritu del Opus Dei: santificación en la vida corriente y
ordinaria, contemplación en medio del mundo. Para un miembro del Opus
Dei su celda es la calle. Una anécdota curiosa: fue Lucía la que
intervino en la solución de las dificultades burocráticas para que
Monseñor Escrivá pudiese entrar en Portugal en aquel momento. Siendo
carmelita en Coimbra, recibió en diversas ocasiones al fundador del
Opus Dei, que amaba ardientemente la vida religiosa y en especial a las
órdenes contemplativas. El Carmelo de Santa Teresa en Coimbra y la Cova
de Iria en Fátima eran escalas obligatorias para Monseñor Escrivá,
profundamente contemplativo y mariano.
El fundador del Opus Dei amaba con
locura al Romano Pontífice y a los obispos de la Santa Iglesia. Por eso
no hacia nada sin su aprobación.
Habló varias veces con el obispo de
Coimbra, don Antonio Antunes, que apoyó con brazos y corazón abiertos,
el arranque en aquella ciudad de la Obra, que entonces daba los primeros
pasos.
Trató muy de cerca al obispo de
Nuestra Señora, don José Alves Correia da Silva, a quien visitaba cuando
hacia sus peregrinaciones a la Cova de Iría. Vivía y enseñaba a vivir
aquella norma tan antigua:
Nihil sine Episcopo -nada sin
el obispo-. Tenía un particular afecto hacia don José, manifestado en
muestras evidentes de cariño, como el regalo de unas preciosas sacras
para la capilla de la Casa Episcopal y un expresivo telegrama que
encontré en el archivo.
En mayo de 1967, días antes de la
peregrinación del Santo Padre, Monseñor Escrivá se hizo también
peregrino del Santuario de Fátima, con aquella devoción filial,
afectuosa y tierna de la que era capaz su alma de sacerdote, que siempre
quiso ser sacerdote, y sólo sacerdote; sacerdote que amaba
apasionadamente a Jesús y a su Madre. Al cruzarse en las carreteras de
Portugal con los millares de peregrinos, que a pie se dirigían rumbo a
Fátima, exclamaba emocionado: « ¡Que Dios os bendiga por el amor que
tenéis a su Madre!».
San Josemaría en Fátima, para pedir por la Iglesia
En otra peregrinación, en el año 1970,
el fundador del Opus Dei vino a implorar la protección de la Virgen
para la Iglesia Santa, herida por el desamor y por los ataques de sus
propios hijos. Yo pude verle emocionado recorrer descalzo la última
etapa de su peregrinación, rezando con recogimiento el Santo Rosario
acompañado por un pequeño grupo de sus hijos espirituales. ¡Monseñor
Escrivá, gran teólogo y canonista, confundido con la gente sencilla de
nuestra tierra, con viejecitas piadosas y buenas desgranando las
cuentas de su rosario cargado de medallas! Así era el rosario de
Monseñor Escrivá, adornado con muchas medallas que él besaba devotamente
con la ternura y emoción con que besamos el retrato de nuestras madres.
Comprendí entonces cómo la ciencia de un teólogo se puede aliar
perfectamente a la piedad de un niño. Pensé en los pastorcitos de
Aljustrel que vieron a Nuestra Señora y recibieron de ella el gran
mensaje de salvación para el mundo de hoy, y pensé también en los
pequeños y sencillos del Evangelio a los cuales el Señor prometió el
Reino de los Cielos.
Última peregrinación de san Josemaría a Fátima y catequesis en Portugal
La última peregrinación de Monseñor
Escrivá al santuario de Fátima fue en otoño de 1972. Centenares de
personas de las más variadas procedencias se unieron a él para rezar
devotamente el rosario y para recibir el saludable influjo de su fuerte
personalidad humana y sobrenatural. Lo que más destacaba en este hombre
de Dios era el ansia incontenida del mismo Jesucristo de salvar a todos.
En aquella ocasión llevó a cabo en
Portugal una gran catequesis, sencilla y profunda al mismo tiempo.
Millares de personas, en Lisboa y en Oporto, principalmente jóvenes y
sacerdotes, pudieron oír encantadas la palabra evangélica que él
sembraba a manos llenas, en diálogo familiar y comunicativo. Las
palabras le brotaban de un corazón ardiente; por eso convencía y
arrastraba.
En el amor a la Virgen Santa, Madre de
la Iglesia y Madre de la Humanidad entera; en el amor a la Sagrada
Familia, a la que le gustaba llamar la Trinidad de la Tierra; en el amor
a la Trinidad del Cielo, aprendió él a amar a todos los hombres de
todas las razas y condiciones, culturas y religiones. Con el buen humor
que le caracterizaba dijo un día al Papa Juan XXIII que no había
aprendido de él el ecumenismo, ya que hacía mucho tiempo que lo vivía.
El siervo de Dios se dio enteramente a
los hombres; amó apasionadamente el mundo que salió maravilloso de las
manos de Dios Creador. Llegó incluso a hablar de «materialismo
cristiano» para dar a entender que las realidades terrenas y temporales,
todas las tareas honestas de los hombres, son el lugar y el camino de
santidad para los hijos de Dios. Esta es su misión: «hacer divinos todos
los caminos de la tierra», bajo la protección de la Virgen Santa María,
que encarnó la mayor santidad de cualquier criatura a través de la vida
ordinaria de cada día.
Que por la intercesión del fundador del Opus Dei sea finalmente vencida esta gran crisis mundial que es una crisis de santos.
Artículo publicado en A Voz Do Domingo
Leiria, 27–VI-76