Teachings of Opus Dei are the teachings of the founder of Opus Dei, the Spanish Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.
The following are the main features of Escrivá's spiritual teachings, the basis of the message Opus Dei was tasked to spread. Another exposition of these main teachings, expressed as "the main features of the spirit of Opus Dei," can be found in the Opus Dei website.
General considerations In his Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit, John Paul II declared that "this Institution has in fact striven, not only to illuminate with new lights the mission of the laity in the Church and in society, but also to put it into practice; it has also endeavored to put into practice the teaching of the universal call to holiness, and to promote at all levels of society the sanctification of ordinary work, and by means of ordinary work."
According to Dr. Pedro Rodríguez, an Opus Dei priest who specialized in studying the theology of the Roman Catholic Church (ecclesiology), Opus Dei is all about a message and an institution bearing that message. "The message of St Josemaría," says José Saraiva Martins, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, "belongs to the perennial patrimony of the Roman Church." The following are the main features of Escrivá's spiritual teachings, the core message of Opus Dei.
Ordinary life and the "universal call to holiness"
One central feature of Opus Dei's theology is its focus on the lives of the ordinary Catholics who are neither priests nor monks. mirrored on CatholiCity Opus Dei emphasizes the "universal call to holiness": the belief that everyone should aspire to be a saint, not just a few special individuals. Opus Dei does not have monks or nuns, and only a minority of its members are part of the priesthood. Whereas the members of some religious orders might live in monasteries and devote their lives exclusively to prayer and study, most members of Opus Dei lead ordinary lives, with traditional families and conventional careers, and strive to "sanctify ordinary life". Indeed, Pope John Paul II called Escrivá "the saint of ordinary life".
One of the distinctive features of Opus Dei is its stress of lay spirituality - a spiritual life for lay people living an everyday life and doing ordinary work. Escriva takes decided position against the concept of having an interior spiritual life and a separate "not spiritual" professional, social, and family life. According to Opus Dei, Opus Dei's spirituality commits lay people to sanctify themselves in the same place where they were before they met Opus Dei and their place in the world is the means for their sanctification.
"There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations," Escriva preached, "and it is up to each of you to discover it."Escriva, Josemaria (1993). Conversations With Josemaria Escriva Sydney New York: Little Hills & Scepter.
According to Escrivà, Christians can become saints and apostles right there where they work and live. Whatever work they do is to be done with a spirit of excellence as an effective service for the needs of society. Their work then becomes a fitting offering to God. Sanctifying work means to work with the spirit of Jesus Christ, to work competently and ethically, with the aim of loving God and serving others, and thus to sanctify the world from within, making the Gospel present in all activities whether they be outstanding or humble and hidden. In the eyes of God what matters is the love that is put into work, not its human success.
Unity of Life A related characteristic is Opus Dei's emphasis on uniting spiritual life with professional, social, and family life.
A Christian who practices these teachings has no double life, a life of faith divorced from daily work. Instead, he has a "unity of life"—a profound union with Jesus Christ, both fully God and fully man, one person in whom divine power is fused with ordinary human activity. A Christian's work should be God's work, opus Dei. This Christian, despite all his defects, which he humbly tries to remove, is alter Christus, ipse Christus, another Christ, Christ himself.
St Josemaría said: “There is just one life, made of flesh and spirit. And it is this life which has to become, in both soul and body, holy and filled with God.”
Work Since the Bible stated that man was created "to work" (Gen 2:15) and that Jesus "did all things well" (Mk 7:37), Escrivá encouraged Christians to work excellently out of love. By doing so, their work is a service to society and a fitting offering to God. "'Great' holiness consists in carrying out the 'little duties' of each moment", says Escrivá.
Love for freedom Escriva preached that Christians should love freedom because God the Son himself, on becoming man, took on human freedom. He sanctified mankind through love: by freely giving himself, "obeying" his Father's will throughout his ordinary life, "until death on the cross." (Phil 2,8) Escriva notes that Jesus "gave himself, because he wanted to." (Is 53,7) Through his freedom, each man controls and shapes his life, being responsible for cooperating or not with God's loving plan of holiness. Recognizing such great dignity, Christians should therefore delicately respect the freedom of others, be open to a pluralism of opinions, and give themselves, with full freedom and personal responsibility, to God and neighbor.
Prayer and mortification
Love, the essence of sanctity and apostolate, is nurtured by constant childlike prayer which is supported by norms of piety involving the Eucharist, the Bible, and the Virgin Mary. Mortification, "prayer of the senses," is especially done by striving to practice all the human virtues, such as being kind, hardworking, sincere and cheerful despite difficulties and failures. "Do everything for Love. Thus there will be no little things: everything will be big... Great' holiness consists in carrying out the 'little duties' of each moment." These actions are co-offered in the Holy Mass, the same redeeming sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Sanctifying grace flows down especially through communion and confession.
Charity and apostolate Christians are to give the highest importance to the virtue of charity: being understanding and caring for each person. Included are service towards the needy in society and the practice of human courtesy, refinement, warmth, affection and fraternal correction. Love, which should be orderly, starts by performing one's duties well and is first directed towards the Pope. And it overflows when one generously gives the best to people, bringing them closer to their Father God, source of peace and joy.
Foundation: divine filiation
According to Escrivá, the foundation of Opus Dei's spirit is a personal awareness of the Christian's "divine filiation". Divine filiation is the Christian's fundamental state as a daughter or son of God in Christ, a deep awareness of which brings about immense happiness: "Joy comes from knowing we are children of God." Opus Dei, in the words of Escrivá, is "a smiling asceticism."
Catholic faith and Opus Dei teachings
John Paul II said Opus Dei "anticipated the theology of the lay state, which is a characteristic mark of the Church of the Council and after the Council." The Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council stated:
With Escriva's teaching that God comes close to us and we can cooperate with his plan of salvation, John Paul II said that "it is easier to understand what the Second Vatican Council affirmed: 'there is no question, then, of the Christian message inhibiting men from building up the world ... on the contrary it is an incentive to do these very things' (Vatican II, , n. 34)."
The biblical concept that everyone is called to sanctity was already enunciated by Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Sales, and Alphonsus Liguori, but their emphasis was on prayer and liturgical devotions, basically monastic spirituality applied to lay people. Cardinal Luciani (1977), who later became John Paul I, wrote: "Escrivá is more radical ... For him, it is the material work itself which must be turned into prayer and sanctity", thus providing a lay spirituality for lay people to attain holiness. Thus, Sebastiano Baggio, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, states that Escrivá is a "turning point in the history of Christian spirituality". Cardinal Franz König, the perceived leader of the "progressivists" in Vatican II, said in 1975 that the "absolute novelty" of Opus Dei lies in teaching that the two separated worlds of religious life and professional life "should in fact walk together". On a deeper level, José Saraiva Martins stated in 2002 that the "great originality" of Opus Dei's message is based on the teaching that all of creation has been sanctified by the God-become-flesh: movies, boardrooms, gardens, sports can and should lead to God. In this Christian materialism, as Escrivá calls it, Christians leading an integral life of prayer and mortification are called to "passionately love the world" and to overcome the "enemies of sanctity": greed, lust and egoism.
In the work of spreading a message that to many seems new, Opus Dei faced challenges, misunderstandings and controversies, leading some Catholic leaders like Cardinal John Carmel Heenan to see Opus Dei as a sign of contradiction, a "sign that is spoken against" (Lk 2:34).John Paul II wrote that this term is "a distinctive definition of Christ and of his Church". Others who say Opus Dei is a sign of contradiction are:
In the 1940s, some Jesuits led by Fr. Ángel Carrillo de Albornoz, who later left the Society of Jesus, denounced Opus Dei's teachings as "a new heresy". It is not orthodox, they said, to teach that the laity can be holy without public vows and distinctive clothing. Also, these critics were concerned that Opus Dei would take away vocations from the religious orders.
Based on reports from Spain, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Wlodimir Ledóchowski (1866–1942), told the Vatican he considered Opus Dei "very dangerous for the Church in Spain". He described it as having a "secretive character" and saw "signs in it of a covert inclination to dominate the world with a form of Christian Masonry". This attack against Opus Dei from within well-regarded ecclesiastical circles ("the opposition by good people", Escrivá called it), which happened time and again in its history, is considered the root of present-day accusations coming from the most varied quarters. This is the conclusion of a number of writers, including John L. Allen Jr., a Catholic American journalist, in his work Opus Dei: an Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church (2005).
Some time after the end of the Second Vatican Council, Opus Dei critics started stating that it has an ultraconservative and reactionary vision of the Roman Catholic faith. In contrast, Messori and Allen state that the Opus Dei prelature does not have any doctrine other than what the Catholic Church teaches. Catholic thinkers such as George Weigel say the use of conservative, a political category, on religious, moral, or intellectual matters is "implausible and distorting". These should be categorised, they say, as either faithful or heretical, good or evil, true or false.See also Benedetto Croce's comments in Messori 1997. The "handing on" (traditio) of "living faith", writes Weigel, has the "capacity to inspire innovative thinking". Opus Dei is the perfect storm, says Allen: It has become the center of the debate in the post-Vatican II polarization in Catholic politics.