While waiting in the airport in Chicago, I also had time to type this up for my blog. I hope you aren't getting bored or annoyed with all of my posts unrelated to Rome. If you are, well, just don't read this one.
January 25, 2013
Waiting in the O'Hare airport also provides me with the perfect opportunity to introduce you to “my man,” St.
Josemaria Escriva. St. Josemaria
is one of my favorite saints. I
will probably refer to him and quote him in this blog often, so it’s important that you know
a little bit about who he is. St.
Josemaria was born in Spain in 1902.
When he was only 15 or 16, he felt that God had a special mission for
him. He decided to become a priest
in order to make himself more available for God. He was ordained in 1925. In 1928, God showed Josemaria that his
special mission was to help *all* people see that they are called to be saints,
not only priests and religious, but also everyone in the world, in every state of life. He founded Opus Dei, “Work of God,” “to
promote, among people of all social classes, the search for holiness and the
practice of the apostolate, through the sanctification of ordinary work, in the
midst of the world and without changing one’s state in life” (taken from a
short biography of St. Josemaria in The
Furrow). He spent his life carrying out this mission. St. Josemaria died in
1975 and was canonized by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2002. I love this saint because of how
ardently he desires everyone to know that they are called to be saints, to
holiness! That’s something I feel
like most people think, “oh, that’s not for me.” No!
“I have never liked
biographies of saints which naively—but also with a lack of sound
doctrine—present their deeds as if they had been confirmed in grace from
birth. No. The true live stories of Christian
heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and
lost. And then, repentant, they
returned to the fray.” ~St. Josemaria Escriva
So,
if you’re reading this, know that you are called to be a saint AND you are totally capable of the task, with the help of God’s grace. St. Josemaria Escriva, pray for us!!
(Click on the "EscrivaWorks" link at the top of my blog to check out some of St. Josemaria's writings! It's not like reading a book; they are formatted as simple, short points that can be read in 10 seconds or less.)
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