Opus Dei: Prayer or labor?

Abstract

The paper critically discusses the charism of Saint Benedict spirituality and its motto ora et labora or sometimes orare et laborare. In particular, the author notes the common practice of misquoting this motto to say: “laborare est orare”, in relation of Opus Dei spirituality. The paper underlines that the Latin motto cannot be found in the writings of Escriva, but the idea captured in “Laborare est Orare” is the basis for the spirituality of Opus Dei. The paper then arguments how Sts. Benedict and Escriva represent the fundamental alternative charisms of work. In Benedict, work is the necessary precondition for the spiritual freedom of prayer while for Escriva work is itself offered up as a form of prayer. In the first, we encounter God through the spiritual exercise of prayer, in the second, through the exertion of our daily occupation.