Saint JosemariaQuotations from Saint Josemaria

Is holiness for me? 

Tags: Ascetical struggle, Holiness, Unity of life, The Will of God, Josemaria Escriva 

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless

before him… in love. St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 1:4-5. 

All for love

 All for Love! This is the way of holiness, the way of happiness.

Face up to your intellectual tasks, the highest things of the spirit and also those things that are most

down to earth, the things we all of necessity have to do, with this in mind; and you will live joyfully

and in peace. The Forge, 725

Personal sanctity is not an unrealistic idea, but a precise reality, which is both divine and human. And

it manifests itself constantly in daily deeds of Love.The Forge, 440

Just think, there are so many men and women on earth, and the Master does not fail to call every

single one.

He calls them to a Christian life, to a life of holiness, to a chosen life, to life eternal.

The Forge, 13

Today once again I prayed full of confidence. This was my petition: “Lord, may neither our past

wretchedness which has been forgiven us, nor the possibility of future wretchedness cause us any

disquiet. May we abandon ourselves into your merciful hands. May we bring before you our desires

for sanctity and apostolate, which are hidden like embers under the ashes of an apparent

coldness...” 

“Lord, I know you are listening to us.” You should say this to him too. The Forge, 426

Sanctity has the flexibility of supple muscles. Whoever wishes to be a saint should know how to

behave so that while he does something that involves a mortification for him, he omits doing

 

 

something else as long as this does not offend God which he would also find difficult, and thanks the

Lord for this comfort. If we Christians were to act otherwise we would run the risk of becoming stiff

and lifeless, like a rag doll.

Sanctity is not rigid like cardboard; it knows how to smile, to give way to others and to hope. It is life

a supernatural life. The Forge, 156

Filled with joy

You should be full of wonder at the goodness of our Father God. Are you not filled with joy to know

that your home, your family, your country, which you love so much, are the raw material which you

must sanctify? The Forge, 689

Sanctifying one’s work is no fantastic dream, but the mission of every Christian yours and mine. That

is what that lathe-worker had discovered, when he said: “I am overwhelmed with happiness when I

think how true it is that while I am working at the lathe and singing singing all the time, on the outside

and on the inside I can become a saint. How good God is!” Furrow , 517

More is achieved by whoever goes up closer to plead… That is why you must get close to God and

be intent on becoming a saint. Furrow , 648

We have to get moving, we have to set to work! Bravely, energetically, and joyfully, because love

casts out fear (see 1 John 4:18); daring, undaunted! You mustn’t be rash and imagine that everything

is easy because you rely on your own strength; but neither must you be cowed into thinking that

everything is an insuperable barrier because you feel your own weaknesses.

Don’t forget that where there’s a will, there’s a way: God does not deny his grace and help to those

who do what they can. Letter dated 6 May 1945 , 44.

But what about failings, falls, and sins?

Sanctity is to be found in struggling, in knowing that we have defects and in heroically trying to

overcome them. Sanctity, I insist, consists in overcoming those defects… although we will still have

defects when we die; because if not, as I have told you, we would become proud.The Forge, 312

“You told me, Father, that after my past life it is still possible to become another Saint Augustine. I

don’t doubt it, and today more than yesterday I want to try to prove it.” 

But you have to cut out sin courageously from the root, as the holy Bishop of Hippo did.Furrow , 838

Sanctity consists precisely in this: in struggling to be faithful throughout your life and in accepting

 joyfully the Will of God at the hour of death.The Forge, 990

Holiness is attained with the help of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in our souls, through grace

given us by the sacraments and as a result of a constant ascetical struggle.

My son, let us not have any false illusions about this. You and I will never tire of repeating it will

always have to struggle, always, until the end of our lives. So we will come to love peace, and we will

spread peace around us, and we will receive our everlasting reward. The Forge, 429

In your life, there are two things that do not fit together: your head and your heart.

Your intelligence enlightened by faith shows you the way clearly. It can also point out the difference

between following that way heroically or stupidly. Above all, it places before you the divine greatness

and beauty of the undertakings the Trinity leaves in our hands.

Your feelings, on the other hand, become attached to everything you despise, even while you

consider it despicable. It seems as if a thousand trifles were awaiting the least opportunity, and as

soon as your poor will is weakened, through physical tiredness or lack of supernatural outlook, those

little things pile up and excite your imagination, until they form a mountain that oppresses and

discourages you. Things such as the rough edges of your work, your resistance to obedience; the

lack of proper means; the will-o’-the-wisp attractions of an easy life; greater or smaller repugnant

 

 

temptations; bouts of over-sentimentality; tiredness; the bitter taste of spiritual mediocrity… And

sometimes also fear; fear because you know God wants you to be a saint, and you are not a saint.

 Allow me to talk to you bluntly. You have more than enough “reasons” to turn back, and you lack the

resolution to correspond to the grace that He grants you, since He has called you to be another

Christ, ipse Christus! Christ himself. You have forgotten the Lord’s admonition to the Apostle: “My

grace is enough for you!” which is confirmation that, if you want to, you can. Furrow , 166

You will have as much sanctity, as you have mortification done for Love.The Forge, 1025

Holiness and work

Professional work including working in the home, which is a first-class profession is a witness to the

worth of the human creature; a chance to develop one’s own personality; a bond of union with

others; a fund of resources; a way of helping in the improvement of the society we live in, and of

promoting the progress of the whole human race...

For a Christian, these grand views become even deeper and wider. Because work, which Christ took

up as something both redeemed and redeeming, becomes a means, a way of holiness, a specific

task which sanctifies and can be sanctified.The Forge, 702

Sanctity does not consist in great concerns. It consists in struggling to ensure that the flame of your

supernatural life is never allowed to go out; it consists in letting yourself be burned down to the last

shred, serving God in the lowest place… or in the highest: wherever the Lord may call you.  The

Forge, 61

Look, even humanly speaking, it is good not to find it all done for you, with no hitches. Something a

lot depends on you. Otherwise, how could you become a saint?Furrow , 113

When I preach that we have to make ourselves a carpet so that the others may tread softly, I am not

simply being poetic: it has to be a reality!

It’s hard, as sanctity is hard; but it’s also easy, because, I insist, sanctity is within everyone’s reach. 

The Forge, 562