When the Magi prostrated themselves before Christ, what sentiments must have filled their hearts? They must have thought: All of our hardship was worth it.
As one of the early Christian writers says, referring to union with God, ‘Everything that grows begins small. It is by constant and progressive feeding that it gradually grows big.’ So I say to you, if you want to become a thorough-going Christian … then you will have to be very attentive to the minutest […]
You and I know from experience that people in love surrender themselves unhesitatingly. Their hearts beat in a wonderful unison, with a single love. What then will the Love of God be like? Do you not realize that Christ has died for each and every one of us? Yes, for this poor little heart of […]
Our Lady’s parents lived most of their married life with a conspicuous absence. But being childless only intensified their turning to God, only increased their confidence in His wisdom and providence. They knew that the absence of something good was the preparation for something better.
“The feast of feasts awaits us in Heaven. … I assure you, and I say the same to myself, that our wedding garment has to be woven with our love of God, a love we will have learnt to reap even in the most trivial things we do. It is precisely those who are in love […]
Looking at my life, I see quite honestly that I myself am nothing, am worth nothing and have nothing, that I can do nothing and, even more, that I am nothingness itself! But He is everything and, at the same time, he belongs to me and I to him because he does not reject me […]
Celebrations have been underway around the world in honor of St. Josemaria’s Feast Day (June 26th)! If you would like to share photos and stories of your local celebration please forward them to: info@stjosemaria.org. Following are a note and photos from this year’s celebration in Chennai, India: On June 26th 2018, a group of cooperators in […]
“Having no hope and without God in the world,” is St Paul’s bleak description of humanity without Christ (see Ephesians 2:12). Yet we know that even after Christ’s coming, feelings of hopelessness and abandonment, or weariness with life, can creep back into our lives…
The extraordinary story of the ‘stubborn’ Canaanite woman is about extraordinary faith exercised under unusual circumstances (Mt 15:21-28).
“Please,” “Thank you,” “I’m sorry.” Pope Francis teaches that although these words are easier to say than to mean, they are absolutely necessary. They are part of good manners, meaning respect and the desire for the good of the other, not hypocrisy or pretense. “If a marriage is to preserve its initial charm and beauty, […]
Did St Josemaria ever get tired of serving God? How did he react to his failures? And to difficulties?
When the Church sets before us the example of a Saint to admire and imitate, we can become easily discouraged by trying to imitate the wrong things. We can certainly admire a Saint for his heroic virtues, charismatic gifts, and extraordinary mystical experiences. But the first thing we have to reckon with is a soul […]
Love the Third Person of the most Blessed Trinity. Listen in the intimacy of your being to the divine motions of encouragement or reproach you receive from him. Walk through the earth in the light that is poured out in your soul. And the God of hope will fill us with all peace, so that […]
Until now you had known that the Holy Spirit was dwelling in your soul, to sanctify it… But you hadn’t really grasped this truth about his presence. Now you feel his Love within you, and you want to talk to him, to be his friend, to confide in him… The Forge, no. 430 The New […]
If you live in the presence of God, high above the deafening storm, the sun will always be shining on you; and deep below the roaring and destructive waves, peace and calm will reign in your soul. ST. JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA The Forge, no. 343 “They saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the […]
God has a special right over us, his children: it is the right to our response to his love, in spite of our failings. This inescapable truth puts us under an obligation which we cannot shirk. But it also gives us complete confidence: we are instruments in the hands of God, instruments that he relies […]
Today we see the full conclusion of the Emmaus story (Luke 24:35-48). As the two disciples recount what had just happened to them on their journey, and in the breaking of the bread, the same risen Jesus stands in their midst and imparts His “Peace” to the gathered disciples. What is the meaning of this […]
Christian life on earth is often called a journey, a pilgrimage. Even on our best days in this world, we never feel entirely at home here, entirely comfortable or at rest. We’re not supposed to.
One of the hardest tasks we face is the conversion of our ways. Wouldn’t we all like to walk out of church on a Sunday morning feeling compelled to change our lives for the better? To feel so inspired that we are willing to give up anything and do anything for the Lord? It always […]
Where does prayer come from? Especially prayer of the deepest kind with “sighs too deep for words” (Rm 8:26)? Is there a bedrock from which prayer rises utterly pure, sincere, and true? What Scripture calls “the depths” we could call the ‘ground zero’ of our prayer life—a place which few have explored and mapped as […]
