Forever in thanksgiving

Tags: Abandonment to God, Gratitude, Alvaro del Portillo, Javier Echevarria, Opus Dei

Thanksgiving is part of Christian life, as we realize how much God has done for us and for others. St Josemaria developed gratitude as a virtue throughout his life, as those who lived with him recall.

In December 1972 St Josemaria wrote, "There will come the day – which we can anticipate, starting now – when we will give continuous thanks to God: ut in gratiarum semper actione maneamus. And he said that his motto for the new year would be that: to remain always in thanksgiving."
(A. Vazquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei vol. 3, p. 473.)

Below are some testimonies on the way St Josemaria thanked God and people for the good things he received. These testimonies are by two people who lived close to St Josemaria for many years:
Bishop Javier Echevarria, the current prelate of Opus Dei, and St Josemaria’s first successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo.

Bishop Echevarria says:

"Whatever he was doing, he was constantly mindful of the fact that God is my Father. He helped us consider how God, my Lord, my All, loves me and is centred on me. That thought should send us crazy with love, with an ever-growing craziness of love. On one occasion, he suggested to us as a prayer: gratias Tibi, Omnipotens Aeterne Deus, Beata Maria intercedente, pro universis beneficiis tuis, etiam nobis ignotis, qui cum Filio in unitate Spiritus Sancti vivis et regnas. Amen. Thank our Lord as often as you remember to, and tell him that you would like to do it continually. We will never be able to thank God enough for all the benefits we receive, and that should move us to live in permanent thanksgiving, because additionally, we are convinced about the love that God has for his children, caring for us from all eternity, before we were born."
(Memoria del Beato Josemaria Escriva, Madrid: Rialp, 2000.)

Bishop Alvaro del Portillo recalled how St Josemaria used to thank people who helped him:

"Among the people he remembered with great gratitude and affection were Fr Angel Malo, who baptized him; Fr Enrique Labrador, who prepared him for his first Confession; and Father Manuel Laborda, who prepared him for his First Holy Communion – these last two were both Piarist Fathers. I was always impressed by the fact that he remembered their names, because it’s unusual. I have asked many people if they remember the names of the priests who administered those sacraments to them, and they always say no. I think that this is also a proof both of his gratitude and of the great love our Founder had for those holy sacraments ever since he was small.
I would also like to recall his lifelong gratitude to Fr Daniel Alfaro, the army chaplain who lent him the money for his father’s funeral. He prayed for him by name every day for over fifty years.

St Josemaria and Alvaro del Portillo. 1938

When persecution of Opus Dei was at its bitterest, and in 1941 Bishop Eijo y Garay of Madrid decided to give a formal written approval of the Work, he came in for a lot of criticism. Some people began to say, even from the pulpit, that in the history of the Church there have been many heresies that were supported by bishops.

Our Founder thought that Bishop Eijo was taking too much of a risk, especially because the See of Toledo, the primatial See of the Church in Spain, had fallen vacant, and it was rumoured that Bishop Eijo might be appointed to it. So one day St Josemaria said to him, "Your Eminence, stop defending me, just abandon me."
Bishop Eijo said, in surprise, "Why do you say that?"
- "Because by defending Opus Dei, you risk losing the mitre of the diocese of Toledo." Bishop Eijo looked at him and said, "Josemaria, I risk losing my soul. I cannot abandon you or Opus Dei."

I think that that suggestion from our Father demonstrated truly extraordinary charity and self-forgetfulness. The only thing he thought about was the good of souls, and he was sure that Bishop Eijo y Garay would have been able to do a lot of good for the Church if he had been appointed Bishop of Toledo.’
(Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, in an interview about the founder of Opus Dei.)