BLESSED JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA
                     Founder of Opus Dei
                           Prayer

O God, You granted your priest Blessed Josemaria countless
graces, choosing him as a most faithful instrument to found Opus
Dei, a way of sanctification in daily work and in the fulfillment
of the Christian's ordinary duties. Grant that I too may learn to
turn all the circumstances of my life into occasions of loving
You and of serving the Church, the Pope and all souls with joy
and simplicity, lighting up the pathways of this earth with faith
and love. Deign to grant the canonization of Blessed Josemaria
and, through his intercession, grant me the favor of...(here make
your request). Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

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Blessed Josemaria Escriva was born in Barbastro, Spain, on
January 9, 1902. He was ordained to the priesthood in Saragossa
on March 28, 1925.

On October 2, 1928, in Madrid, by a divine inspiration he founded
Opus Dei, which has opened up a new way for the faithful to
sanctify themselves in the midst of the world, through the
practice of their ordinary work and in fulfillment of their
personal, family and social duties. They thus become a leaven of
intense Christian life in all environments. On February 14, 1930,
Blessed Josemaria Escriva by God's grace understood that Opus Dei
was meant to develop its apostolate among women as well. And on
February 14, 1943, he founded the Priestly Society of the Holy
Cross, inseparably united to Opus Dei. Opus Dei received the
definitive approval of the Holy See on June 16, 1950. On November
28, 1982, it was erected as a personal Prelature, a juridical
form desired and foreseen by Blessed Josemaria Escriva.

He guided and inspired the growth of Opus Dei throughout the
whole world with constant prayer and penance and by the heroic
practice of all the virtues. In doing so, he showed loving
dedication and untiring concern for all souls, and a continual
and unconditional surrender to God's will. When he yielded up his
soul to God, Opus Dei had spread to five continents with over
60,000 members of 80 nationalities, serving the Church with the
same veneration for and complete union with the Pope and bishops
that Blessed Josemaria Escriva always lived.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was the root and center of his
interior life. His profound awareness of being a son of God,
expressed in a constant presence of the Holy Trinity, moved him
to seek complete identification with Christ in everything, to
live a deep and tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and
St. Joseph, and to enjoy a continual and confident friendship
with the holy guardian angels. This made him a sower of peace and
joy along all the ways of the earth.

Msgr. Escriva had repeatedly offered his life for the Church and
the Pope. Our Lord accepted this offering, and on June 26, 1975,
in Rome in the room where he worked, he surrendered his soul to
God with the same simplicity that characterized his entire life.

His body rests in the Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace at
Viale Bruno Buozzi 75, Rome. There it is accompanied by the
constant prayer and gratitude of his sons and daughters and
countless others who have come closer to God through his example
and teaching. His cause for canonization was introduced in Rome
on February 19, 1981. Pope John Paul II, on April 9, 1990,
declared that he lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree,
and on July 6, 1991, decreed that a cure attributed to his
intercession was miraculous. The Founder of Opus Dei was
beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 17, 1992, in Rome.

- With the ecclesiastical approval of the Vicariate of Rome -

Those who obtain favors through the intercession of Blessed
Josemaria Escriva are asked to notify the Office of Vice
Postulation of Opus Dei in the United States, 330 Riverside
Drive, New York, NY 10025.