What do you think?
Rate this book
Cartas II
Recoge cuatro documentos, numerados del 5 al 8, que suponen un conjunto de escritos inéditos de gran valor para conocer el mensaje del Opus Dei y la biografía de su fundador. No son misivas de su epistolario, sino Cartas destinadas a los hombres y mujeres del Opus Dei de todos los tiempos. Es decir, se redactaron pensando en la posteridad, no en un momento histórico determinado.
Los temas que aparecen en estas cuatro cartas son variados: la enseñanza, a sus diferentes niveles; la misión del Opus Dei en la Iglesia; las actividades formativas y apostólicas de la institución católica; el espíritu de servicio a la Iglesia y a la sociedad, etc. No obstante, estos escritos no interesarán exclusivamente a los miembros del Opus Dei, sino que tienen valor universal, para un público amplio.
Los temas que aparecen en estas cuatro cartas son variados: la enseñanza, a sus diferentes niveles; la misión del Opus Dei en la Iglesia; las actividades formativas y apostólicas de la institución católica; el espíritu de servicio a la Iglesia y a la sociedad, etc. No obstante, estos escritos no interesarán exclusivamente a los miembros del Opus Dei, sino que tienen valor universal, para un público amplio.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published January 4, 2022
16 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Josemaría Escrivá
146 books178 followersSaint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (9 January 1902 – 26 June 1975) was a Roman Catholic priest from Spain who founded Opus Dei, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. He was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, who declared Saint Josemaría should be "counted among the great witnesses of Christianity."
Josemaría’s father’s textile business failed in 1915, so the family relocated to Logroño, where José found other work. It was in Logroño that Josemaría sensed his vocation for the first time. After seeing some bare footprints left in the snow by a friar who had walked that way a short time earlier, he felt that God wanted something from him, though he did not know exactly what. He thought that he could more easily discover what it was if he became a priest, so he began to prepare for the priesthood, first in Logroño and later in Saragossa. Following his father’s advice, he also studied for a law degree at the University of Saragossa. His father died in 1924 and Josemaría was left as head of the family. Ordained on March 28, 1925, he began his ministry in a rural parish, and afterwards in Saragossa.
In 1927, with the permission of his bishop, Fr. Josemaría moved to Madrid to work on his doctorate in law. There, on October 2, 1928, God showed him clearly the mission he had been hinting to him for several years; and he founded Opus Dei. From that day on he worked with all his energies to develop the foundation that God asked of him, while he continued to fulfill the various priestly responsibilities he had at that time. These brought him into daily contact with sickness and poverty in the hospitals and the poor districts of Madrid.
When the civil war broke out in 1936, Josemaría was in Madrid. The religious persecution forced him to take refuge in a variety of places. He exercised his priestly ministry in a clandestine fashion until he was finally able to leave Madrid. After escaping across the Pyrenees to southern France, he took up residence in Burgos.
At the end of the war in 1939 he returned to Madrid. In the years that followed he gave many retreats to lay people, priests, and members of religious orders. In the same year, 1939, he completed his doctorate in law.
Josemaría’s father’s textile business failed in 1915, so the family relocated to Logroño, where José found other work. It was in Logroño that Josemaría sensed his vocation for the first time. After seeing some bare footprints left in the snow by a friar who had walked that way a short time earlier, he felt that God wanted something from him, though he did not know exactly what. He thought that he could more easily discover what it was if he became a priest, so he began to prepare for the priesthood, first in Logroño and later in Saragossa. Following his father’s advice, he also studied for a law degree at the University of Saragossa. His father died in 1924 and Josemaría was left as head of the family. Ordained on March 28, 1925, he began his ministry in a rural parish, and afterwards in Saragossa.
In 1927, with the permission of his bishop, Fr. Josemaría moved to Madrid to work on his doctorate in law. There, on October 2, 1928, God showed him clearly the mission he had been hinting to him for several years; and he founded Opus Dei. From that day on he worked with all his energies to develop the foundation that God asked of him, while he continued to fulfill the various priestly responsibilities he had at that time. These brought him into daily contact with sickness and poverty in the hospitals and the poor districts of Madrid.
When the civil war broke out in 1936, Josemaría was in Madrid. The religious persecution forced him to take refuge in a variety of places. He exercised his priestly ministry in a clandestine fashion until he was finally able to leave Madrid. After escaping across the Pyrenees to southern France, he took up residence in Burgos.
At the end of the war in 1939 he returned to Madrid. In the years that followed he gave many retreats to lay people, priests, and members of religious orders. In the same year, 1939, he completed his doctorate in law.
In 1946 he took up residence in Rome. There he obtained a doctorate in theology from the Lateran University and was named consultor to two Vatican Congregations, as well as honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, and prelate of honor to His Holiness. He followed closely the preparations for the Second Vatican Council and its various sessions (1962-1965), keeping in touch with many of the council fathers. From Rome he frequently went to different countries in Europe, including Britain and Ireland, to spur on the apostolic work of Opus Dei. It was with the same objective that, between 1970 and 1975, he made long trips to Mexico, Spain, Portugal, South America, and Guatemala, holding catechetical gatherings which large numbers of men and women attended.
He died in Rome on June 26, 1975. Thousands of people, including many bishops (a third of all the bishops in the world), requested that the Holy See open his cause of beatification and canonization.
On May 17, 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified Josemaría Escrivá. He proclaimed him a saint ten years later, on October 6, 2002, in St. Peter’s Square, in Rome, before a great multitude. In his homily on that occasion, the Pope said: “Following in his footsteps, spread in society the awareness that we are called to holiness, without distinction of race, class, culture or age."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 21, 2023
In his fifth letter St Josemaria discusses the mission of the laity in education and teaching by contrast to the religious. In letter six he focuses on the call to evangelisation and the seventh hones in on apostolate with the youth. His eighth letter is on a spirit of service and freedom.
St JM had to keep clarifying things and contrasting it with the religious because there is no benchmark for the laity. You realise how neglected the laity had been in the Church and how revolutionary Opus Dei was and is in providing a clear mission for the laity.
It also struck me how obvious it was that St JM is transmitting God's plans not his own personal ideas and to do that you have to have an incredibly intimate relationship with God.
As with previous letters there is so much to take in you could be rereading these forever and still be drawing out new insights. Exceptional.
St JM had to keep clarifying things and contrasting it with the religious because there is no benchmark for the laity. You realise how neglected the laity had been in the Church and how revolutionary Opus Dei was and is in providing a clear mission for the laity.
It also struck me how obvious it was that St JM is transmitting God's plans not his own personal ideas and to do that you have to have an incredibly intimate relationship with God.
As with previous letters there is so much to take in you could be rereading these forever and still be drawing out new insights. Exceptional.
April 30, 2023
Vote: 4,50
Class: P-A1
Il secondo volume delle lettere di San Josemarìa, scritte (e riviste) a partire dagli anni trenta, è forse ancora più bello del primo. In ciascuna si coglie tutta l'inspirazione divina del messaggio ricevuto dal Fondatore dell'Opus Dei e la chiarezza con cui è stato accolto e comunicato ai suoi figli di tutti i tempi.
Lo stile è quello di lettere familiari, in cui sono contenute indicazioni, raccomandazioni e sogni per tutte le generazioni che verranno, in modo che possano udire tutti la voce sempre viva di quello che per noi sarà sempre il nostro Padre.
Un ringraziamento di cuore alle persone che con il loro lavoro hanno reso possibile la pubblicazione di questo tesoro.
Class: P-A1
Il secondo volume delle lettere di San Josemarìa, scritte (e riviste) a partire dagli anni trenta, è forse ancora più bello del primo. In ciascuna si coglie tutta l'inspirazione divina del messaggio ricevuto dal Fondatore dell'Opus Dei e la chiarezza con cui è stato accolto e comunicato ai suoi figli di tutti i tempi.
Lo stile è quello di lettere familiari, in cui sono contenute indicazioni, raccomandazioni e sogni per tutte le generazioni che verranno, in modo che possano udire tutti la voce sempre viva di quello che per noi sarà sempre il nostro Padre.
Un ringraziamento di cuore alle persone che con il loro lavoro hanno reso possibile la pubblicazione di questo tesoro.
April 13, 2022
Incluso más interesante que el volumen anterior. Las cuatro cartas que contiene me parecen fundamentales para profundizar en el pensamiento de san Josemaría. Me han gustado especialmente las 6 y 7.
Pienso volver a leerlo cuanto antes.
Pienso volver a leerlo cuanto antes.
June 29, 2024
I read this in translation; nevertheless, it was very good.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews