the father's visit to Swiss

Key ideas

1. The Father reminded us that:

    a. We all have the same vocation in Opus Dei, and we are Opus Dei in all our activities (not only in the activities we attend). Our first apostolate is our family and our work.

    b. We are instruments of the Lord in transforming all things into prayer and an opportunity to serve others. Our Father used to pray "Let's do things together, Lord!" 

    c. We should pray for the Pope, for his health, in the midst of much divisions from within the Church. Never speak ill of the Pope, even when he says something we don’t like

2. In response to questions regarding:

    a. How to explain the Christian faith to our friends —> know the doctrine and the Gospel well, not primarily to explain the faith, but rather to search for Christ there so that we can be other Christs to our friends. We never stop forming ourselves, otherwise we will never be Christ-like enough. Our formation is for them and for us.

    b. How to make more present the prayers we pray (in the Preces) for the Bishop, for our brothers, for the Father —> exercise charity, which is more than a feeling. It is about understanding and giving. Be sowers of peace and joy, and really work hard on listening to others and smiling. (The Father gave an example of working alongside Don Javier in the same room for 20 years, who commended and listened attentively to anyone visiting Villa Tevere in whatever situation he might be in)

    c. How to encourage fathers to have more part in Boys’ Club / St Raphael activities —> mainly a question of their availability, Full of hope, hoping for the impossible but being reasonable with them at the same time. We should also know them as a whole, and see how to help them

    d. How to respond to our children who question the faith with much force and argue against the Church’s teaching —> take care of our norms, of the Eucharist, and our prayer. That will help us be filled with God and to bring our children to the core of faith, the Eucharist. Like what our Father used to say, we need to have interior life, prayerful souls, Eucharistic souls

3. Some anecdotes

    a. One guy works for the Zürich public transport company, and the Father joked that it should be too stressful (coz Switzerland’s trains always run on time) - and then he commented that stress is mostly in our heads

    b. One person mentioned that the 3 recorded favours from Toni are all from Latin America (Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala) - and asked whether the Europeans aren’t praying too much :) To which the Father responded maybe Toni has a preference for the Latinos :)