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…
A friend of mine once told me: “You are never freer than when you are doing God’s will, and never less free than when you are doing your own.” There you have the Annunciation.
Whenever our Lady appears on earth it is to remind us of something that we are neglecting. She never comes to reveal something new, but to express in a new and forceful way what we should already know.
As we celebrate October, the month of the holy Rosary, the St. Josemaria Institute speaks with Katie Luangkhot about living as a witness to the Catholic faith, Marian devotion, and incorporating the Rosary into a family prayer life.
The gospel appointed for the Solemnity of St Joseph just might break all the rules for discipleship.
Our mother is a model of correspondence to grace. If we contemplate her life, our Lord will give us the light we need to divinize our everyday existence.
To find our place in the heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, is unique—not so much the sentimental homecoming of popular song, but a place of rebirth in Christ.
Early in the morning on May 15, 1970, St Josemaria arrived in Mexico City. “I’ve come to see Our Lady of Guadalupe…”
To have been embraced by the blessed Virgin as our mother in her moment of supreme grief leaves no doubt about the special worth that she places on suffering in our lives.
In her poem “Why I Love You, O Mary!”, Saint Therese of Lisieux says that the Blessed Virgin teaches her how to weep and rejoice—what to have sorrow for and what to rejoice over.
“My impression is that the Rosary is of greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady at Fatima, but according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that Our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know how to pray, this simple method 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 […]
“Let us also contemplate his blessed Mother, who is our Mother too. We find her on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, praying. This is nothing new for Mary. She has always acted like this, as she fulfilled her duties and looked after her home. As she went about the things of this earth […]
“What must the cheerful way that Jesus looked upon people have been like? It must have been the same which shone from the eyes of his Mother who could not contain her joy — Magnificat anima mea Dominum! — and her soul glorified the Lord while she carried Him within her and by her side. […]
All the feasts of Our Lady are great events, because they are opportunities that the Church gives us to show with deeds that we love Mary. But if I had to choose one among all her feasts, I would choose today’s, the feast of the divine Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin.
In the fall of 2012, a group of pilgrims travelled to France and Spain on a special pilgrimage—“Saint Josemaria, Our Lady, and the Streets of Madrid” organized by Mater Dei Tours and St. Mary of the Angels Church, Chicago. The pilgrimage included visits to the Shrine of Our Lady in Lourdes, France, and to the […]
