A new edition of The Way, on the eve of Opus Dei's centennial anniversary
On the occasion of its 100th edition in Spanish, the publishing house Rialp is launching a new annotated version of The Way, the best known work of St. Josemaría Escrivá, which continues to arouse interest almost ninety years after its first publication.
09 | 09 | 2025
The publishing house Rialp has just released the hundredth Spanish edition of The Way, the best-known work of St. Josemaría Escrivá. First published in 1939, the book, composed of 999 counsels and reflections, has accompanied the spiritual lives of millions of people for almost nine decades.
Translated into 142 languages and with more than five million copies sold, The Way has become one of the most widely distributed Spanish books in history. Its brief and direct language, designed for staff meditation, reflects the preaching of St. Josemaría's early years and still retains a surprising freshness today.
The new edition, prepared by philologist Fidel Sebastián Mediavilla, a specialist in Golden Age literature, presents the original text with explanatory notes and an introduction that places the reader in its historical and spiritual context. Sebastián Mediavilla comments: "The regular reader of The Way will now find explanations to questions he had wondered about, or will perceive details he had not noticed before, extracting from his reading new teachings or motivations and a more complete knowledge of the message of 'The Way' and of the author's radical and attractive holiness".
The prologue to this special edition is written by Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, prelate of Opus Dei. In it he invites us to read the book in preparation for the centenary of the institution (2028-2030) and stresses that the relevance of The Way lies in the centrality of Christ and in Escriva's ability to connect with the deepest aspirations of the human heart.
On the escriva.org website it can be read free of charge in 28 languages, which has brought The Way to new generations of readers around the world. This book is not only among the most translated books in Spanish, but it has also once again stood out in international sales lists: in the United States, for example, it reached privileged positions thanks to its incorporation in digital prayer initiatives, such as the proposals of the Hallow application.
