St. Josemaría Escrivá left the Opus Dei in the hands of Bl. Álvaro del Portillo, a holy bishop who died on March 23, 1994, and was beatified by the Church on September 27, 2014.
According to the Opus Dei’s website, Bl. Álvaro went on pilgrimage in 1994 to the Holy Land.
Bishop del Portillo had returned only a few hours before from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where, with deep prayer and piety, he had followed Jesus’ footsteps from Nazareth to the Holy Sepulcher. He had celebrated his last Mass on earth in the Church of the Cenacle in Jerusalem.
The Cenacle is also known as the “Upper Room,” and is the location of the Last Supper where Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist.
Bl. Álvaro died in Rome when he returned from his pilgrimage.
While an initial miracle has been attributed to his intercession, a second miracle is currently under investigation.
The official website of Opus Dei explains, “The possible miracle consists of the speed and integrity of the recovery, without rehabilitation, of Juan Carlos Bisogno, who suffered severe traumatic brain injury” in 2015.
The world is escaping
Here is an excerpt from one of Bl. Alvaro’s prayers beautiful prayers to Our Lady:
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Fair Love: you see how the world is escaping from Jesus, how the Christian family is falling apart, how this civilization of ours is inflicting on our Lord so many offenses.
Have mercy on the souls that sin has made selfish, and who are unable to raise their heart to tell you “Mother of ours” and to tell your Son: “Here we are!”
Move them, and move us, so that we may decide to follow Jesus along the narrow path of self-denial, which we need to travel even when we find it hard.
Remind us that our Lord’s Cross isn’t heavy, because He, Jesus, will be our Simon of Cyrene, who carries it with us and who died for our salvation.
And today we celebrate...