Consecration of altar

March 4th, 1957

St. Josemaría consecrates the altar of the Pentecost Chapel (the Chapel of the General Council).

March 4,1957, was a memorable day at Villa Tevere. Bishop Antonio Samore had been invited to consecrate the altar of the oratory of the Most Holy Trinity, where the Father would ordinarily say Mass. On that same day the General Council was completed, and its altar was consecrated by the Father.

After the consecration St. Josemaría said to those present (among other things):

"There is a lot to meditate on here. First: we need to "hide and disappear" -this chapel is not seen from outside- we don't boast about our dedication to our Lord (...) Our Mother, Opus Dei is in total development expanding throughout the whole world, with a marvelous poverty. And for Jesus we have prepared this tabernacle, which is the richest we have been able to do. And in it, we've wanted those words that are His "Consummati in unum!", so that the hearts of us all, as they have been before and are now, will always be one same heart. So that the words of Scripture will be real: 'Multitudinis autem credentium erat cor unum et anima una' ['The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul': Acts 4:32]. 

"Up there, above those doors, I've made it written the system, the procedure, the method, the only way that we can have this life abundant and fecund in supernatural fruits: "Omnes perseverantes unanimiter in oratione. (...). The same as the first Christians, as the first disciples, who would be mesmerized before the miracles they would do In nomine Iesu: The same for us. Because we rise dead souls, and we bring back to life withered limbs which didn't work anymore! And we bring light to intellects which didn't want to see more than darkness! Miracles like the ones the first faithful did!"