Opus Dei begins the countdown to its centenary

– Supernatural new website, within the site From Opus Dei, it brings together everything related to the celebration in one place. It also includes a video of the prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, in which he invites us to live this time as a moment of thanksgiving to God together with the whole Church, with renewed fidelity and joy.

This website offers materials such as messages and letters from the Prelate, texts from St. Josemaría, explanatory videos and the project Be Do Care, as a starting point for understanding what is being celebrated and why. It also provides resources for spiritual life, stories from people around the world, and what is being prepared in each country for the centenary.

Three years, three big themes

The Centenary celebration will begin on October 2, 2028, and will actually last five hundred days, until February 14, 2030, when the one hundredth anniversary of Saint Josemaría beginning the apostolate of Opus Dei among women is commemorated.

In its message from March 19th, The Prelate proposed three themes for this celebration: being contemplative in the midst of the world, being friends with all, and sanctifying work. The reference point, he indicated, was “the example of the first Christians.” He recalled some words of the founder, Saint Josemaría, found in Conversations“If one wants to find a comparison, the easiest way to understand Opus Dei is to think about the life of the first Christians. They lived their Christian vocation to the fullest; they earnestly sought the perfection to which they were called by the simple and sublime fact of Baptism. They were not outwardly distinguished from other citizens.”.

The topics are:  

2026-2027: contemplatives in the midst of the world. The first year proposes discovering God in the big and small things of each day. This idea encapsulates many elements of the spirit of Opus Dei, such as the sense of divine filiation, the Mass as the center and root of existence, the value of ordinary life, and the beauty of discovering that “something divine” hidden in the most common realities of work, family, and civic life.

2027-2028: Friendship. The second year focuses on friendship as a place where faith is shared from person to person, from family to family, with the freedom of those who know how to live with those who think differently. It is about each of us being for others "Christ who passes by," in the words of Saint Josemaría, and discovering Him in others as well.

2028-2030: the job. During the five hundred days of the Centenary celebrations, the focus will be on work: sanctifying work, sanctifying oneself in work, and sanctifying others through work, with professional competence and out of love for God, beginning with those closest to us, as outlined in the book Conversations.

Monsignor Ocáriz summarized this entire itinerary as follows: “This is my hope for the coming years: that the Work will be a great catechesis to help make holiness a reality in everyday life.”.

Intention for 2026

At the start of preparations for the Centenary, the Prelate also announced his General Intention for 2026 and 2027, which he proposes to the faithful and friends of Opus Dei: “Let us deepen our vocation to be contemplatives in the midst of the world, as preparation for the centenary of the Work. Let us consider how the spirit we have received through Saint Josemaría transforms our existence, living all the moments and circumstances of our lives as beloved children of God in Jesus Christ, and how we can transmit this in our dealings with others.”.