Romana

This is the faithful and prudent steward whom the Lord has placed at the head of his servants (cf. Lk 12:42). We can apply these words from the entrance antiphon to Blessed Alvaro, who spent his life first as a steadfast support and then successor to St. Josemaría at the head of Opus Dei. He was a loyal son of the Church. As Pope Francis wrote on the occasion of his beatification, “Especially outstanding was his love for the Church, the Spouse of Christ, whom he served with a heart devoid of worldly self-interest, far from discord, welcoming towards everyone and always seeking in others what was positive, what united, what was constructive. He never spoke a word of complaint or criticism, even at especially difficult times, but instead, as he had learned from St Josemaría, he always responded with prayer, forgiveness, understanding and sincere charity” (Letter to the Prelate of Opus Dei on the occasion of the beatification of Alvaro del Portillo, June 16, 2014). We can also ask ourselves now: Do I usually have the same attitude in my daily life, in the face of difficulties and problems?

A faithful and prudent man: that was Blessed Alvaro! Let us have recourse to his intercession so that our Lord will make us faithful and prudent. We ask him for the prudence to be faithful to the Gospel at all times in the face of changing circumstances of time and place, which are often quite complicated. And faithful, not in following an idea, but a Person: Jesus Christ Our Lord, who opens ever new horizons in the life of each and every one of us.

Today’s liturgy of the Word presents us with the figure of the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel of St. John, the figure of the shepherd is very specific: “I am the Good Shepherd . . . and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11.15). Indeed, he, Jesus, truly lays down his life for his sheep. He goes in search of those who have gone astray and leads them to peaceful waters, as the responsorial psalm stresses (cf. Ps 22). Loving the people entrusted to his care, as Christ loves them, is one of the fundamental characteristics of a good shepherd. And this is how Blessed Alvaro lived throughout his life: with his welcoming, understanding and peaceful attitude, a peace and joy that he never lost even in the face of difficulties and problems.

As St. Josemaría said, Christian joy has “its roots in the shape of a cross” (Christ Is Passing By, no. 43); it is joy “in the Lord” (cf. Phil 4:4): the joy that Jesus won for us on the Cross, capable not only of being sustained, but even of growing in the face of difficulties and sufferings with the strength of faith, hope and love. In the first reading we heard these words of St. Paul: “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24). We have seen this in the life of Don Alvaro, the good shepherd for his daughters and sons, who transmitted his joy to others. We too, with God’s grace, can joyfully unite to the Cross of Christ everything that at this moment makes us suffer the most.

Yes, this joy in the Lord not only remains, but grows amid difficulties and sufferings, if the power of faith, hope and love is at work in the soul. Alvaro’s life was not free from trials. “We would be mistaken,” Pope Francis recently remarked, “if we thought that the saints were exceptions to humanity: a sort of narrow circle of champions who live beyond the limits of our species” (Audience, March 13, 2024). Don Alvaro always relied first and foremost on God’s grace, so that God was the center of his life. His example, like that of all the saints, teaches us that the person who is faithful to the vocation that God has given them comes to full maturity and thus experiences, already on this earth, a happiness that is the anteroom to the happiness of heaven.

In this month of May, let us have special recourse to our Blessed Mother Mary, so that she may help us to grow in the prudent fidelity of knowing how to and wanting to give our lives for others, day by day, with great joy.

So be it.