June 6th, 1939: Nothing would get in the way of Don Alvaro's evening of recollection

From the 6th to the 10th of June, St. Josemaria preached the first retreat for university students after the civil war, at the “Blessed Juan de Rivera” College in Burjasot.

At his arrival the previous evening, the group of boys were awaiting him. As soon as he stepped out of the car, don Antonio Rodilla commented in a low voice to the boys: “This priest is miraculous”. Our father, despite the distance, heard the comment and gently grabbed don Antonio by the neck, making a gesture as if telling him he shouldn’t say that. Many of those who attended later asked to join Opus Dei: one of them was don Amadeo de Fuenmayor.

A few days after the retreat had started, don Alvaro turned up, as he had managed to get some days of leave (he was still second lieutenant in the Spanish army). He had been traveling three days, without sleeping much, to be with st. Josemaria (the war had destroyed many roads and bridges). St. Josemaria told him to go straight to bed. Don Alvaro asked him whether he could stay for the meditation so that he could fulfill his monthly 'day of recollection' (one of the norms in the plan of life followed by members of the Work). Despite seeing him exhausted, st. Josemaria agreed upon his insistence. Years later, St. Josemaria would recall, with amusement: “He sat on the first bench, and after 10 minutes he was already asleep. He was so tired that, despite his good will to do the personal prayer, he couldn’t resist his sleep. And mind you, those benches didn’t have a backrest! I was very amused because, despite the outrage of some of those others present, the sleep of that son of mine, on that occasion, was the prayer that would please God, because of the effort that he had invested in fulfilling that monthly norm of the recollection evening”.