SAXUM: Don Alvaro, Good and Faithful Servant

SAXUM Don A lvar o,Good an d Fai t hfu l Se r van t

Francis David T. Perez, Edward Joseph C. Tucay, Mark David D. De Los Angeles

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WHO?

ALVARO DEL PORTILLO was born in Madrid on March 11, 1914. He was the third of eight children in a devout Catholic family. He studied engineering and began working professionally in that field. To his doctorate in engineering he later added doctorates in history and canon law.

In 1935 del Portillo joined Opus Dei, which had been founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá seven years before. In keeping with his vocation to Opus Dei, he sought to sanctify his professional work and daily duties, and he carried out a broad apostolate with his classmates and colleagues. He would soon become St. Josemaría’s strongest support, which he remained for almost forty years.

On June 25, 1944, del Portillo was ordained as one of the first 3 priests of Opus Dei. From then on he dedicated himself to pastoral ministry, serving the members of Opus Dei and many others. In 1946, he moved to Rome with St. Josemaría, where he served on Opus Dei’s General Council until 1975.

During Father del Portillo’s years in Rome, the Holy See entrusted a number of tasks to him, and he carried these out with great dedication. He was a consultor to several congregations and councils of the Holy See, such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He took part in the Second Vatican Council in various capacities, first as head of the ante-preparatory Commission on the Laity and then as secretary to the Commission on the Discipline of the Clergy, and also as a consultor to other commissions. His books Faithful and Laity in the Church (1969) and On the Priesthood (1970) are largely the fruit of that experience. As a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, he also helped draft the current Code, promulgated by John Paul II in 1983.

On September 15, 1975, Fr. del Portillo was elected as St. Josemaría’s first successor. When Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature on November 28, 1982, Pope Saint John Paul II appointed him Prelate of Opus Dei. The Holy Father later ordained him as a bishop on January 6, 1991.

Bishop del Portillo worked diligently to serve the Church by extending the apostolates of Opus Dei, and his governance was characterized by great fidelity to St. Josemaría and his message. During his nineteen years at the head of Opus Dei, the work of the prelature started in twenty new countries.

His dedication to the mission he had received was rooted in a deep sense of his divine filiation, one of St. Josemaría’s key teachings. This led him to seek identification with Christ in a spirit of trusting abandonment to the will of God the Father, nourished by prayer, the Eucharist, and devotion to Mary.

His love for the Church was seen in his close communion with the Pope and the bishops. He had charity toward all, showed tireless concern for his daughters and sons in Opus Dei, and always spread kindness, serenity, and good humor around him. A spiritual portrait of his soul would also include his humility, prudence, fortitude, simplicity and selflessness. His zeal to win souls for Christ was reflected in his episcopal motto: Regnare Christum volumus! We want Christ to reign!

Early in the morning of March 23, 1994, God called his good and faithful servant to Himself. 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. Later that day, Pope Saint John Paul II came to pray before Bishop del Portillo’s remains, which now lie in the crypt of the Church of the Prelature, Our Lady of Peace at Bruno Buozzi 75, Rome.

TAKEN FROM OPUSDEI.ORG. IMAGE TAKEN FROM FLICKR.COM.

moments

WITH DON ALVARO

Regnare Christum volumus!

“Upon receiving the sad news of the loss of Bishop Alva to the members of the Prelature my deeply felt sympath parted, his priestly and episcopal zeal, the example of fo constantly offered, his fidelity to the See of Peter and hi and worthy successor to Blessed [now St.] JosemarĂ­a. I and faithful servant into eternal joy. And to all who hav ing gifts of mind and heart I send as consolation a

aro del Portillo, Prelate of Opus Dei, I express to you and hy. I recall with gratitude to our Lord the life of the deortitude and of confidence in divine Providence which he is generous ecclesial service as an intimate collaborator raise up to our Lord fervent suffrages to take this good ve benefited from his pastoral dedication and outstanda special apostolic blessing.� - Pope St. John Paul II

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God and the Neighbor EDWARD TUCAY AND MARK DE LOS ANGELES

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ow do we love? Jesus Christ taught that we should practice charity, a true love for everyone. Love is the basis for all our works and sacrifices, as the entirety of the Commandments could be summarized into two parts, or the Great Commandments: the first and the greatest being You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might; and the second being You shall love your neighbor as yourself. These greatest commandments are one of the things that Don Alvaro proved in one’s Christian life: serving God and the neighbor.

Don Alvaro del Portillo, being the successor of St. Josemaria Escriva as head of Opus Dei, showed both love of God and love of neighbor as he continued his work. In all his works, he enlightens and helps people, while offering his activities to God by the sanctification of the works he did.

He worked with great dedication to spread the reaches of Opus Dei, and also accomplished tasks given to him by the Holy See. He truly loved the Church, bringing charity wherever he went, and wanted Christ to reign over the members of His Church. It was seen in him: the humility, prudence, fortitude, simplicity, and selflessness. He has zeal in practicing apostolate and winning souls for Christ because he cares for everyone and wants all to reach eternal happiness.

If ever we are assailed by the temptation of thinking that God is asking too much or that we are already doing enough, let us go to the Tabernacle, and we will realise that there cannot be the slightest chance of exaggerating in our love for God (Like Salt and Like Light, 120). Don Alvaro tells us here that no amount of love for God is too much; we love Him because of everything He has done. Our pains and trials could not compare to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and we should remember that He willingly died for us. We should love God with all our heart, soul, and might, and to do that, we must each look at ourselves, and start first and foremost with our own lives.

To carry one’s neighbour means to sustain him.

(Like Salt and Like Light, 125). It means to share one’s burden. The trial will never be a struggle to a person who loves his neighbors. According to him, Don Alvaro says that as long as this person loves someone, then the weight of the burden changes into wings, fly¬ing higher until it reaches the fullness of the love of God. There should be no pain or annoyance in carrying one’s burden. Jesus taught this to all by carrying them onto his shoulders until now.

How do we attain Don Alvaro’s love for the Greatest Commandments given by our Lord? Simple! We should love God by serving our neighbor, just as Don Alvaro did when he went to the four corners of the earth, spreading the spirit of the Work to all seven continents. We must pray constantly, keeping our relationship with God healthy and powerful. We should observe proper practice of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, and developing our virtues as we work. By improving ourselves, we carry the burden of our cross, sacrificing certain things and offering them to God.

One of the posters from the gallery about Don Alvaro’s beatification that was made by some NFD students said, “Alvaro del Portillo loved visiting the sick. When he had pastoral assignments or medical needs in Pamplona, as soon as he arrived, he would ask the director of the hospital of the University of Navarre a list of gravely-ill people who would appreciate a visit. He always went to the children’s ward to personally bring consolation to their parents.” Love everyone and give consolation to the sick and to the poor is a simple way of Don Alvaro’s love for his neighbor. We are all equal in the eyes of God, so our view on one another should not differ. Your love for them is so remarkable that you want them to be closer to God. Reach Heaven, and you will be like Alvaro: a man of holiness and charity. Also happiness!

His Eucharistic Love

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FRANCIS PEREZ

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nquire your closest relatives and friends a question about Don Alvaro and most likely they will begin to stare at you and ask the same, uttered question: “Who is Alvaro del Portillo?” It is true, that little is known about the successor of the Founder, Don Alvaro.

For a simple introductory, Don Alvaro del Portillo was born on March 11, 1914 in Madrid, Spain and received the Sacrament of Baptism before he was a week old. His parents, Clementina and Ramón, were profoundly Christian. Alvaro was the third of eight children. Ramón was a lawyer who worked for an insurance company. His father was a man with a very honest character, who dedicated his life to his work and his family. Clementina, born in Mexico, was an educated and pious woman, with a deep life of prayer and mortification. His mother attended daily Mass and regularly read the lives of saints and books of spiritual formation.

He succeeded Saint Josemaria Escriva, becoming the Prelate of Opus Dei. He went to the four corners of the Earth to do the work of the Apostolate, and for what? It is for his love for Christ, for his adoration of the Eucharist.

Many people in his life said that he had a Eucharistic Soul in his spiritual life. A close collaborator described Don Alvaro’s humility and love for the Eucharist: “Bishop Alvaro cultivated a singular love for the Eucharist over the course of his entire life. The center and source of his inner life, on a daily basis, was the Holy Eucharist.” The pillars of his spiritual life were the Eucharist and his love for Our Lady.

Jesus expects deeds, deeds of love. It would be very easy to content oneself with a ‘Jesus, I love you’, and then perhaps forget the Real Presence of Jesus in our oratories or in the churches to which we usually go. Let us be men and women of faith!

Let us keep him company! Let us stir up desires of reparation! Let us put a lot of love into the care of the oratory and all that has to do with the Most Holy Eucharist. Let cleanliness shine through in the material aspect and piety even more so in the acts of worship. (Like Salt and Like Light, 261) Those were the words of Don Alvar o that summarizes that everytime we receive the sacrament, we receive the Messiah himself.

Maybe that was his love for the Eucharist? More than that. There are more to come, more to see.

Simply, Don Alvaro wants to show everyone that receiving the Eucharist, is receiving “the light of the world, the one who created heaven and earth, the one who makes it rain and makes it stop

raining, the one who makes the fields yield fruit, the one infinitely beautiful and great, the one so good and such a Father to us that waits for us there, made from a piece of bread”. And why do we receive the Eucharist? Because of our love for God. How do we attain a Eucharistic Soul like Don Alvaro’s?

First, we make it a practice to attend the Holy Mass every day. But there is a preparation needed before we receive Christ: contrition, confession, and reconciliation with the Lord. Be sorry of your mistakes that you’ve done in the past and be honest in front of the priest that you will go to.

Once you’ve washed your clothes, you’re clean from sin. Now, we must act and pray, so that we will be able to receive the true grace from our Lord through the means of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Let us make Don Alvaro our example: a man of humility, prayer, and love for the Eucharist. Again, why does he love so much the Eucharist? It is because that our Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah is present in the Eucharist! The eternal bread is open to those who suffer from sin and temptation.

Prayer to DON ALVARO O God, merciful Father, you granted your bishop Blessed Álvaro, the grace of being, with our Lady’s help, an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the Founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I also may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Deign to grant the canonization of Blessed Álvaro, and through his intercession grant me the favour I request… (here make your petition). Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.

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The Beatification of

DON ALVARO watch the live coverage at ewtn channel from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. pst. on september 27.