Romana

Chile

While first spending a few days in northern Spain, the Prelate dedicated a good part of his time to meeting with faithful and cooperators of the Prelature. On July 16, for example, he had a get-together with several thousand people in the sports center of the University of Navarra, in Pamplona. The Prelate of Opus Dei then began his trip to Latin America, arriving in Santiago de Chile early in the morning on July 24. Three families welcomed him at the airport.

On Thursday the 25th, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz visited the Archbishop of Santiago, Archbishop Fernando Chomalí. Also present were Bishop Alberto Lorenzelli, vicar general of the archdiocese, Fr. Juan Ignacio Schramm, episcopal vicar of the northern zone, and the regional vicar, Alvaro Palacios. They presented the Prelate with a medal of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, patroness of Chile, and a book on the recent restoration of the bishop’s palace. The Prelate gave the Archbishop a recently published copy of Hablar de Dios y de las cosas de Dios, which includes words spoken by St. Josemaría on his trip to Chile five decades ago.

In the afternoon, Msgr. Ocáriz met with more than 350 young women in the Alvaro del Portillo Hall of Honor at the University of the Andes. In response to questions from the audience, he stressed that the key to happiness in this life is to have a heart in love with Christ. In the face of difficulties or discouragement, he said we can always address God as “my Father,” with the confidence that we are his children, members of his family. The Prelate encouraged the participants to awaken in others the desire to carry out works of service for those most in need, because we are all responsible for the world in which we live. He invited them to dream of the good resulting from their own lives and that of others. He encouraged them to seek a happy life, a life in love, filled with God’s love, even when suffering appears. For even in the midst of suffering we can be aware of the love God has for us.

On Friday, July 26, Msgr. Ocáriz gave a class to professors at the University of the Andes, of which he is honorary rector.[1] In the afternoon he spent time at the Tabancura school with a large group of young people who attend the activities of spiritual and human formation offered by Opus Dei. We are apostles, we have to love people, since all men and women are the object of God’s love, he told them. He added that, in order to explain and share with friends the experience of prayer, especially with people who are far from God, it is important that there be true friendship. In one of the final interventions, those present told him about the weekly visits that some of them make to elderly people in the poor neighborhoods of Valparaiso. And he remarked: “We have a great light; therefore we have the responsibility to go out to others. The key is to see Christ in others. Let us not stand still. Often we can do more than we think.”

On Saturday the 27th, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz met with women of Opus Dei at the Araucaria University Residence. Among other things, he spoke to them about being available to say yes to God’s plans. At the end of the morning he received Nena and her husband Pepe, both 100 years old, a couple who in the late sixties helped organize several social and educational initiatives. In the afternoon he met with several families of people of the Work who had traveled from Antofagasta, Rancagua, Melipilla and Talca. At the end of the day he had another get-together at the Alameda Cultural Center. He encouraged those present to care for the message that St. Josemaría preached in Chile 50 years ago, to manifest the joy that love gives and to live fraternity, from which arises the impulse to bring souls closer to God.

Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz’s visit to Chile continued on Sunday, July 28, meeting with families at the Movistar Arena. Presiding over the meeting was the pilgrim statue of Our Immaculate Lady of the Shrine of Lo Vasquez. A recurring theme in many of the Prelate’s answers to questions from the audience was the need to pray: “The first thing, for everyone, is prayer,” he said. “What can we do to preserve the faith of our children? How can we confront with joy the difficulties of daily life in raising a family? How can we better accompany the elderly, the sick, the dying? By praying to our Lord for them and teaching them to pray.” He recommended the recitation of the Holy Rosary, a prayer of great value before our Lady, the “omnipotent supplicant.” He also spoke about the Eucharist, the center and root of Christian life, in which the redemption of the world is made present. A couple from the Family Center of the Nocedal Foundation thanked the Prelate for the letter he had sent in February, after the serious fires in Viña del Mar, and said that after those events, forty families from the communities of La Pintana and Puente Alto went to help and accompany the victims. Msgr. Ocáriz encouraged them in this initiative and told them that, along with material help, they should always provide understanding and affection.

On the morning of the following day, the Prelate visited the Trigales and Puente Maipo schools, located in Bajos de Mena, a poor area in the Puente Alto district. He stopped at the Family Center of the Nocedal Foundation, to which these schools belong, and blessed a grotto dedicated to the Holy Family of Nazareth built by the families themselves. Then he went to the place where the future oratory of the Trigales School will be built and blessed an image of St. Joseph and another of the Virgin Mary.

On his last day in Chile, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz visited the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, located on the summit of San Cristóbal Hill. The rector, Father Jaime Tocornal, told him the history of the shrine and gave him a book. Three saints have visited the shrine so far: St. Alberto Hurtado, St. John Paul II and St. Josemaría. On the way back, Msgr. Ocáriz and those accompanying him stopped for a few minutes in front of the image of St. Josemaría that is located in a square on the avenue that bears his name.

On Tuesday 30, early in the afternoon, the Prelate of Opus Dei went to the Santiago airport to board the flight to Lima.

Peru

On arriving in Lima, on July 31, the Prelate went to greet Archbishop Carlos Castillo and then to pray to Our Lady of the Evangelization in the cathedral, before whose image St. Josemaría had also prayed in 1974.

The next day he went to Arequipa, where he also met with the Archbishop of Arequipa, Javier del Río Alba. At noon he began a meeting with families and young people in contact with Opus Dei in the Convention Center of the Law Association Club. Among the audience were people from Tacna, a city on the border with Chile, and from Cusco, 500 km away across the Andes. After praying the Angelus with everyone, the Prelate spoke briefly about holiness, which doesn’t consist in not having defects, because “it is not the perfection of a museum, but the perfection of love.” He then answered some questions and listened to the testimonies given by several of the participants. That same afternoon he returned to Lima.

On Friday, August 2, he met with various groups in a cultural center of the Lima campus of the University of Piura. In the same place, in 1974, St. Josemaría also met with many families. There were talks by people from different walks of life. Speaking about vocational discernment, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz pointed out that “we all have a vocation and we all need light to see what God is asking of us.” And in this context he added: “Our Lord does not want to be so obvious that he restricts our freedom.”

On Saturday, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz visited Piura, where more than five thousand people from various cities of northern Peru, including Chiclayo and Trujillo, gathered to listen to him and share their concerns with him. Several of the questions he was asked sought an answer on how to channel one’s spirit of service. In the last intervention, two professors from the Institute of Family Sciences at the University of Piura presented the results of a recent research project they have carried out and gave the Prelate the opportunity to speak about love and marriage.

On Sunday, August 4, the Prelate met with another large group of families at the Polideportivo Legado in Villa El Salvador, south of Lima, where people from the capital, Chiclayo (770 km away), Cañete (about two hours by car) and other Peruvian cities were present. Msgr. Ocáriz began by encouraging people to grow in their life of faith and to give thanks to God for the gift of the Eucharist. He then entered into a dialogue with the audience. Responding to a school teacher, who also belongs to a rock band, he remarked that music is also a path to find God. “All beauty stems from the beauty of God and elevates the soul,” he said. “We can see in the beauty of music a feature of God’s infinite beauty.” Shortly before the end of the get-together, someone gave him a picture of St. Joseph sleeping. Msgr. Ocáriz recalled that the Pope has a special devotion to St. Joseph and encouraged everyone to pray for the Church, for the Pope and for the whole world, especially for peace.

On Monday, the Prelate of Opus Dei visited the shrine of Our Lady, Mother of Fair Love, in Cañete, whose image was given to the Prelature of Yauyos by St. Josemaría. There he met with priests from various cities: Lima, Chiclayo, Cañete, Ica, Huancavelica, Abancay, Callao, Chulucanas, Ayacucho and Chosica. He encouraged them, among other things, to cultivate the virtue of hope and to live the communion of saints. After the get-together, he prayed a response in the crypt of the sanctuary, where several priests of the Prelature of Cañete, Yauyos and Huarochirí are buried. In the afternoon, also in Cañete, he visited the Condoray Institute and met with several groups of women of Opus Dei and families from the surrounding area. He encouraged everyone to “reconquer” their joy every day.

On August 6 and 7, he spent time with the numerary and associate men of Opus Dei in Lima and Cañete, preaching meditations for them and being with them in get-togethers.

On Thursday, August 8, after celebrating Holy Mass at the site of the Regional Commission, he took the plane to Quito.

Ecuador

At noon on Thursday, August 8, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz arrived in Ecuador. During the afternoon he had a get-together at the Solana Center. There was time for conversations, songs and the presentation of a typical dance of the Ecuadorian highlands. Before the end of the day, he greeted some families. In the evening, during a brief meeting in the Ilaloma conference center, several people spoke about the way they try to care for the elderly people they live with, some of whom are quite sick and limited. The Prelate thanked them for their efforts with those who need the most care.

During the morning and afternoon of Friday, the Prelate of Opus Dei greeted several families who were waiting for him in Ilaloma. Grandparents, parents and children had the opportunity to talk with him about their lives and their family concerns. Two of the women present had greeted St. Josemaría at the Quito airport in 1974 from their father’s shoulders, when they were just children.

At the end of the afternoon, Msgr. Ocáriz had a get-together with about 40 diocesan priests and some seminarians: “We priests don’t simply transmit ideas or doctrines, but Jesus Christ,” he told them. He stressed the importance of the Eucharist as the center and root of their interior life, and he added: “Each person is worth all the Blood of Christ, a soul is worth all our efforts.” Father Eduardo lives in Lita, in the north of the country, where the majority are indigenous people from the Awa community. He recounted how, since 2020, out of a population of 5,000 people, 600 have been baptized, and a significant number of marriages are expected to be formalized soon. It was an opportunity to look at this service to souls with optimism and hope. At the end, the Prelate encouraged everyone to be instruments of unity, to foster priestly fraternity and to be united in prayer for Pope Francis.

The Torremar school in Guayaquil hosted on Saturday August 10^th a get-together for families with Msgr. Ocáriz. As is usual in that part of the country, he wore a white cassock instead of a black one. People came from several Ecuadorian cities, not only from Guayaquil. A young lawyer who was about to get married asked the Prelate for some advice on how to have a happy home and be faithful for life. A woman told him about the difficulties she has had to go through in giving birth to her two children, one premature and the other with Down syndrome. She too will soon receive the sacrament of marriage, after ten years of asking our Lady and St. Josemaría for it. At the end of the ceremony, the Prelate prayed the Angelus with the more than two thousand people gathered there and blessed them. During the afternoon, in the church of St. Josemaría Escrivá, he shared some time with various groups of people, several of whom are involved in social work in needy areas.

On Sunday, August 11, back in Quito, he had another get-together with a large group of people. In the Intisana school, where it took place, a “Museum of St. Josemaría” had been set up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founder of the Work’s trip to that country. In response to a pilot who asked him about reconciling family and work, Msgr. Ocáriz advised him to always put family priorities first and to ask our Lord for light so as to be able to deal with the inevitable challenges that arise with joy. A woman named Angela told him about a foundation she helps out with, AFAC (Fundación de Ayuda Familiar y Comunitaria), which accompanies pregnant women in vulnerable situations. She said that AFAC has contributed to the birth of more than five thousand babies of mothers who had intended to seek an abortion. She asked the Prelate for prayers to be able to continue this work.

During the afternoon, he held two gatherings with young people at the Ilaloma conference center.

On the morning of August 12, the Prelate went to the airport to take a flight to Bogota.

Colombia

On Tuesday, August 13, the Prelate met with about 60 priests. He invited them not to neglect their own religious formation, to make a deep commitment to family ministry (a rich field where our Lord raises up new vocations for the Church), and to ask the laity to participate more in the media. In the afternoon the Prelate received some families and blessed the last stone of the Children’s Forest, a new school building for children between the ages of 5 and 9. “St. Josemaría taught us that we should finish each job well and this building is a sign of that,” he remarked. Later, in the library of the Los Cerros Gymnasium, the same place where he had met with the priests in the morning, he had a relaxed dialogue with some 400 young men from Medellin, Bucaramanga, Armenia, Manizales, Pereira, the Caribbean Coast, Chia and Bogota. There was no lack of songs, testimonies and questions of various kinds, all of which gave Monsignor Ocáriz the opportunity to speak about the need to get closer to God and to bring one’s friends closer to God.

On Wednesday morning, the Prelate blessed the image that presides over the new oratory of the Universidad de la Sabana, a statue of the Immaculate Virgin being raised to heaven by two angels. He then met with the faculty, reminding them that the university is not a sum of faculties or unconnected subjects, but a place where true unity is sought, where the concern for one another and the positive interest in being open to everyone is evident. With words that naturally pleased the audience, he also said that he had been there twice before and that he had been moved this time to see the growth of the university.

The following day, August 15, there was another “tertulia,” as St. Josemaría familiarly called his catechetical gatherings, even though thousands of people attended them, with Colombians coming to Bogota from many different cities, as well as Venezuelans. It was the anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, and there was no shortage of people to congratulate him and thus unleash a round of applause.

On Friday, August 16, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz arrived in Medellín. About three thousand people came to the City Hall for the afternoon get-together. There were several interventions; some were moving, others quite funny. Susana, 23 years old, a baker by profession, offered him a cake and told him that, if he liked it, she would make another one for him to take back to Rome. She also asked for suggestions on how to do her work well, to which the Prelate responded with some considerations on the supernatural meaning of work. Another “less young” woman, Lucía, 90 years old (with over 50 years in the Work) asked how to make the joy of being in Opus Dei alive for the new generations. “We have no other law to do Opus Dei than prayer,” the Prelate said, among other things. At the end, the choir from the Alcázares School sang Esa, by the well-known musician and composer José Vásquez.

With this get-together, the Prelate of Opus Dei’s pastoral trip to America came to an end. He spent a few days at the Guaycoral conference center before returning to the Eternal City.

From Medellin, he sent a message of friendship and affection to all the people of the Work and friends in Venezuela, through Father Ignacio Rodríguez, regional vicar of Opus Dei, and the regional secretary, Maria Gabriella Nicolicchia. He said that he accompanied them in his prayer for that beloved country and expressed his desire to travel soon to Venezuela to see them and to greet Our Lady of Coromoto.

[1] The text is published in this issue of Romana.