Nothing disappoints more than misplaced hope. And maybe nothing is easier to misplace than our hope. From time to time we are all tempted to put our hopes for happiness, even for a kind of salvation, in people whom we idealize or future circumstances we imagine will be perfect.
Saint Josemaria portrays the Blessed Virgin as a unifying force or common bond among the children of God. What better image to have before us as we celebrate Mary as Refuge of Sinners…
Everyone is wounded by original sin and by subsequent personal sins. Everyone has been wounded by the sins of others. What we do with these wounds largely decides the depth of our inner peace.
Does everyone have a breaking point? A point beyond which too much pressure causes collapse?
That Christ has come to us with a heart made of flesh tells us a lot about how the Sacred Heart loves us, and about the kind of love we need. We are loved by any number of hearts during our earthly lives, but one alone among them we call Sacred.
Among the Saints, both ancient and modern, it has never seemed excessive to long continually for God’s mercy, and to plead for it on one’s own behalf, as well as for the whole world.
The Lord promised Simeon that he would not see death before he had seen the Christ of God. The fulfillment of that promise alone was enough to justify an entire lifetime of waiting and contemplating.
It hardly needs to be said that finding God in daily life is one of the keynotes of Saint Josemaría’s spirituality. But do we ourselves want to be found by God in daily life?
Looks of surprise come my way when people learn of my devotion to St Josemaría Escrivá. I don’t blame them.
St Josemaria expresses the wish in The Way that we should learn to speak of the holy souls in purgatory as “My good friends the souls in purgatory” (571).
If Peter wonders how he could ever love the Lord again, Jesus answers, If you love me, keep my commandments, that is, always respond to me as you do now: “Yes, Lord.”
St Josemaria concentrated much of his apostolic drive in convincing ordinary Christians that being ordinary is okay. But his message was not one of mere contentment with everyday life or of shunning the wealth and fame typically associated with “extraordinary” people.
“It has always seemed logical to me that the most holy humanity of Christ should ascend to the glory of the Father. The ascension has always made me very happy. But I think that the sadness that is particular to the day of the ascension is also a proof of the love that we feel […]
We begin Lent with the ultimate reality of human life: we are marked with ashes on our head. And this is meant to stand for who we are…
We are careful about calorie counting, protein intake, omega supplements, as we try to increase one thing and decrease another. It’s easy to be obsessed with the process: we want to see the results, the fruits, of our discipline. Result seeking in the spiritual life, however, can be misplaced…
The Lord does not remain with us in the Eucharist for His own sake, but to meet our deepest human needs for love and friendship: “Jesus, who has encouraged this feeling of emptiness in us, comes out to meet us” (Christ is Passing By, no. 170).
“For the accuser of our brethren has been cast out, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb” (cf. Rev 12:10-11).
We don’t need to be told that we struggle… We struggle daily not only to become holy but just to be good people—naturally good, naturally virtuous.
“Behold your Mother!” (Jn 19:27). This is our Lord’s command to us from the cross. What do we see when we behold our Mother?
How much is holy poverty a driving force on your path to Christ? For the first disciples of Jesus, as for the Saints of every age, poverty is a privileged way of identifying oneself with the “affections” of Christ.
