Romana

On June 26 the liturgical memorial of St. Josemaría Escrivá was celebrated. For this occasion numerous Masses were held all over the world.

Noteworthy was the fact that for the first time a Mass in honor of St. Josemaría was celebrated in the penitentiary of Rio Seco (Piura, Peru), a prison afflicted with overcrowding and poor living conditions.

Following Pope Francis’ call to go out to the “peripheries” of society, Father Martin Chero, pastor of the parish of Nuestra Señora del Tránsito (Piura), wanted to share the feast of St. Josemaría with the more than 250 inmates in the prison. “St. Josemaría,” he told those attending, “reminded us of what our treasures are on earth so that we don’t let them go to waste: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonor, poverty, loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison (see The Way, no. 194). Do we discover these treasures in our own life?”

Following the Eucharist, prayer cards of the founder of Opus Dei were distributed among the inmates, who then shared an appetizer in an atmosphere of friendship.

An interactive map, published on the webpage www.josemariaescriva.info, provided information on the Eucharistic celebrations held throughout the world. Masses in memory of St. Josemaría have also been celebrated in countries where Opus Dei is not yet carrying out its apostolic work in a stable way, such as Vietnam, The Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Tunisia.