Josemaria Escriva: To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolle...

Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.

Josemaria Escriva

inspiration faith ordinary

You must realise now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fileds, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work.

Josemaria Escriva

inspiration faith home

Either we learn to find the Lord in the ordinary everyday life or else we shall never find him

Josemaria Escriva

everyday-life everyday ordinary

Don't say, "That person bothers me." Think: "That person sanctifies me".

Josemaria Escriva

persons bother thinking

I assure you, my children, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God. That is why I have told you so often, and hammered away at it, that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my children, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives.

Josemaria Escriva

christian faith children

You're bored? That's because you keep your senses awake and your soul asleep.

Josemaria Escriva

awake bored soul

You need a heart which is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness.

Josemaria Escriva

love-you heart needs

To begin is for everyone. To persevere is for saints.

Josemaria Escriva

persevere saint

Put your heart aside. Duty comes first. But when fulfilling your duty, put your heart into it. It helps.

Josemaria Escriva

heart helping firsts

You don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, 'Lord, I don't know how to pray!' you can be sure you have already begun.

Josemaria Escriva

saint praying lord

All the things that are now worrying you can be put into a smile which shows your love of God.

Josemaria Escriva

catholic god-love worry

Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary's which purifies the monotony of your sins!

Josemaria Escriva

rosary catholic blessed

If you have so many defects, why are you surprised to find defects in others?

Josemaria Escriva

defects ifs

You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God.

Josemaria Escriva

rosary catholic helping

When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.

Josemaria Escriva

holy-eucharist christian waiting

So your strength is failing you? Why don't you tell your mother about it? ... Mother! Call her with a loud voice. She is listening to you; she sees you in danger, perhaps, and she-your holy mother Mary-offers you, along with the grace of her son, the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace ... and you will find yourself with added strength for the new battle.

Josemaria Escriva

christian mother son

Don't judge without having heard both sides. Even persons who think themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence.

Josemaria Escriva

judging sides thinking

Christian optimism is not a sugary optimism, nor is it a mere human confidence that everything will turn out all right. It is an optimism that sinks its roots into an awareness of our freedom, and the sure knowledge of the power of grace. It is an optimism that leads us to make demands on ourselves, to struggle to respond at every moment to God's call.

Josemaria Escriva

struggle christian roots

To begin is easy; to persevere is sanctity.- Let your perseverance not be a blind consequence of the first impulse, the work of inertia: let it be a reflective perseverance.

Josemaria Escriva

persevere perseverance firsts

It's true he was a sinner. But don't pass so final a judgement. Have pity in your heart and don't forget that he may yet be an Augustine, while you remain just another mediocrity.

Josemaria Escriva

judgement saint heart

To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, and Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond... You - what have you done?