Our vocation is not a religious vocation

Nevertheless, my daughters and sons, the apostolic phenomenon of the Work, and your vocation are so special, and so different from the birth and development of a religious vocation, that none of the members of Opus Dei, either before or after meeting this way of holiness in the world, had seriously thought about self-giving to God in the priestly or religious state.

Therefore, we do not take anyone away from his place, leading him to a vocation that is not his; it is not possible for us to turn anyone away from the path that God has marked out for him. To make this perfectly clear, I will write always that we do not want to be like “mitigated” religious: because we are neither mitigated, nor do we have a vocation to be religious.

We have to continue being what we would have been before coming to Opus Dei: ordinary folk, each one in his own state – single, married, widowed, priests – who do not change their state on coming to the Work, although they do dedicate their lives personally to serving souls through Love.