Some Sayings of St. José Maria

"The Lord has sworn an oath and he will not retract; you are a priest forever, in the line of Melchisedech" (Psalm 110:4)

"Do you see? One strand of wire entwined with another, many woven tightly together, form that cable strong enough to lift huge weights. "You and your brothers, with wills united to carry out God's will, can overcome all obstacles" (St. José Maria, "The Way", 480).

"Conversion is something momentary; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. The divine seed of charity, which God has sown in our souls, wants to grow, to express itself in action, to yield results which continually corresponds with what God wants. Therefore, we must be ready to begin again, to find again -- in new situations--the light and the stimulus of our first conversion" (Christ is Passing By, 58).

"If we want to achieve holiness--in spite of personal shortcomings and miseries which will last as long as we live--we must make an effort, with God's grace, to practice charity, which is the fullness of the law and the bond of perfection. Charity is not something abstract; it entails a real, complete, self-giving to the service of God and all men in the hubbub of the world and those people whose existence is interwoven with our own. By living charity--love--we live all the human and supernatural virtues required of a Christian" (Conversations, 62).

"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 repeatedly, and hammered away once and again on the idea, 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" (Conversations, 116).

"A child of God treats the Lord as his Father. He is not obsequious and servile; he is not merely formal and well-mannered: he is completely sincere and trusting. God is not shocked by what we do. Our infidelities do not wear him out. Our Father in heaven pardons any offense when his child returns to him, when he repents and asks for pardon. The Lord is such a good father that he anticipates our desire to be pardoned and comes forward to us, opening his arms laden with grace" (Christ is Passing By, 64).

Opus Dei

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