FINDING CHRIST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
One of the things that struck me when I started to learn about Opus Dei
was how practical and concrete it was.
Oftentimes you would go to hear a homily and it would say
‘it’s good to be good and to love everybody, love your neighbour’
and how to actually live it out. That was what I found with Opus Dei. It helped me do that.
God gives you the extra graces to live it wherever you are.
So here I am, I’m out here – and he called me from out here.
So I just have to adapt my circumstances to live Opus Dei
out here in the scrub, really!
It helps you see the big picture. It helps you see what is really really important in life.
If you put the priorities of God, family and work in that order,
you tend to see the big picture.
I’ve got this in my life and I know this is good,
because this has brought, in my own experience, a lot of joy.
So I naturally want to share this with other people.
My spirituality in Opus Dei is not like an ‘added extra’ on top of my day.
I don’t consider it a burden.
It’s not like my day is very busy and I have to – on top of that – have my spiritual life.
They are one and the same thing.
I think in everyday life you try to be a better person, whether it’s washing the car better,
or being a better teacher, or whatever it is.
St Josemaria talked about the little things being important.
When you talk about keeping your love alive,
it’s not always going to be big romantic dinners and grand trips away.
It’s the little things at the end of each day.
It’s doing ordinary things really well and persevering.
It’s like the steeple chase –
you run along and it’s great then you try and jump over the hurdles
and sometimes you fall and drop down but you have to keep on going and get yourself up.
There is something holy, something divine,
hidden in the most ordinary situations
and it is up to each one of you to discover it.
Our ordinary everyday life can be a path to holiness.
[St. Josemaría Escrivá]
Josemaría Escrivá is known as the saint of ordinary life. He founded Opus Dei in 1928.
It’s latin for Work of God and is a Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church.
This specific Christian mission consists in spreading the ideal of holiness in daily work
and the ordinary circumstances of life – Christ in the middle of the world
Everyday Life
"Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life
or else we shall never find Him".
[St. Josemaría]
FINDING CHRIST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei