"Each day be conscious of your duty to be a saint. A saint! And that doesn't mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end.”
(Saint Josemaría)
God has always taken the first step in seeking our friendship. By being his friend, we learn how to be good friends of others. A new series on Christian life.
Pastoral letter of Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz on the importance of friendship. “By living in friendship with God, which is the first friendship we have to foster and strengthen, you will be able to make many true friends."
“A friend isn’t just an acquaintance, someone you enjoy passing the time of day with. Friendship is something much deeper.” Some advice from Pope Francis on friendship.
A new article in the series on developing a strong Christian personality. "Openness to others is closely united to our progress in the lifelong battle to unmask the face of pride and grow in humility. Pride seeps into the most surprising nooks and crannies of our relationships with others."
A new article in the series on forging a strong Christian personality. “No human life is ever isolated. It is bound up with other lives. No man or woman is a single verse; we all make up one divine poem which God writes with the cooperation of our freedom.”
Empathy, the ability to share in other people's feelings, is very important for learning to love as Christ did. A new article in the series on forging a Christian personality.
The Christian’s response, says St. Josemaría, should be “to drown evil in an abundance of good” and to open wide one’s arms to all humanity as did Jesus Christ the priest. In this second part of a study published in the journal Romana,we will consider some key ideas from the homily “Christian Respect for Persons and their Freedom” and the practice of forgiveness in contemporary society in striving to foster a culture of peace.
A downloadable audio version of St Josemaria’s homily “The Strength of Love”, published in the book Friends of God. He explains how the Lord does not say that the proof of his disciples, faithfulness will be the working of wondrous miracles and prodigies, although he gave them the power to perform them, in the Holy Spirit. What does he tell them? "You shall be known as my disciples if you love one another".
The following extracts are taken from The Man of Villa Tevere by Pilar Urbano, a book about the founder of Opus Dei. The author highlights St Josemaría’s capacity for getting through to everyone without distinction, making friends with them and putting them in direct contact with God.
