The Prelate requests:
Let us ask the Lord for the grace to serve the Church with our whole life. To this end, let us pray cor unum et anima una (Acts 4:32: "one heart and one soul"), closely united to the Father, for the task the Pope has asked the Work to carry out in the motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum. Let us strive to promote, through concrete details, unity in our spiritual family and among all Christians, in order to serve the Church as the Church wants to be served. In this way, we will contribute to the evangelization of the world from the beauty of the charism received by St. Josemaría.
Recommended bibliography:
– St. Josemaría, Conversations, nn. 58-63 which contains a excerpt of an interview with St. Josemaria where he speaks on Opus Dei as an Association that fosters the search for holiness in the world.
– Pastoral Letter of the Prelate of 19th March 2022, nn. 10-12 where he reflects on some consequences of being faithful to Christ and to the vocation to the Work, following the teachings of Saint Josemaria. In this particular section, he deals with the topic of "What is permanent and what is changeable in the life of the Work".
For those in East and Southern Africa, the Prelate's representative requests:
Let us invoke our Lady's intercession for the fruits that will come following the revision of the Statutes of Opus Dei that we are undertaking with the Holy See. We can pray for this intention by doing Marian pilgrimages, by saying aspirations like "Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam" (Latin for "All with Peter to Jesus through Mary") and in many other ways.
Recommended bibliography:
- The Prelate's Pastoral Letters of 3rd June 2023, of 10th August 2023 and of 13th September 2023.
- The homily of St. Josemaria "In love with the Church, Loyalty with the Church" which is the first of three homilies on themes related to the Church, given in 1972, when the author suffered much over the confusion of the post-conciliar years.
- Ebook "Unity and Love for the Good Shepherd" that was made available last year in celebration of Pope Francis' birthday. It deals with Christian unity as a participation in the unity of love among the Persons of the Blessed Trinity and how here on earth, this unity of love is realized through affective and effective union with the Roman Pontiff.