Q. Why do people say Opus Dei is so secretive?
A. I would say because traditionally you could always identify someone who had pledged to take his Christian life seriously: he would be a monk, a priest or a nun and dressed as one.
With Opus Dei you now have housewives, university students, bankers, teachers, farmers, professors, actors, engineers, musicians, high school students, accountants, chefs, taxi drivers, fashion designers, house-helps, architects, IT gurus, security guards who are committedly trying to grow in their Christian life and in holiness. And because they are ordinary Christians, you can't single them out any more than you would be able to single out a faithful of Nakuru diocese or of Nairobi diocese. Some well-intentioned people have mistaken this for secrecy. It is not secrecy any more than your inability to single out a faithful of Nakuru diocese is due to their secrecy.
Q. Okay. But surely you must agree that at least they are elitist!
A. Opus Dei emphasises the Catholic Church's teaching that by doing our ordinary day-to-day work as perfectly as humanly possible we can grow in both the human and supernatural virtues. That is, we can show and grow in our love for God and for those around us.
But for this to happen, we need to do that work with the aim of making the lives of those around us simpler and more pleasant whether at home, in the office, in school, on the sports field, in the lab, on the farm, at the gym etc.
For this to happen, for God and those around us to be pleased and edified by our work, it must needs be done as perfectly as humanly possible. This is something members of Opus Dei strive to live. This is as elitist as it gets: ordinary professionals and students striving to work as best as they can for the sake of the others.
Happy feastday again!
28thNovember 2015