Tag Archives: St Josemaria Escriva

Struggling for holiness

 

At the beginning of another year we use texts of Scripture and St Josemaria Escriva to pray about what our goals and resolutions ought to be, especially that most important goal of eternal life with God in heaven. We consider:

  • The very reason for our existence is to know, love and serve God on earth in order to be happy with him in heaven.
  • We don’t know how long God has given us to live on this earth and therefore we must struggle to be ready to meet him every day.
  • Many souls depend on the life of each of us.
  • Holiness is a struggle, a battle, against the world, the flesh and the devil.
  • Athletes discipline themselves and train hard to win a crown that fades, whereas ours is imperishable: eternal life.

Mental prayer

 

 

It has often been said that the quality of our interior life is the quality of our prayer. In this meditation we use especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St Josemaria’s book The Way to consider how we can improve our personal conversation with God in mental prayer through such means as:

  • Saying slowly and with attention the words of the Introductory Prayer
  • Responding promptly to the initiative of God, who invites us to pray
  • Engaging in the “battle of prayer”, whether we feel like it or not
  • Committing ourselves to regular times for prayer and being faithful to them
  • Fighting the distractions which inevitably come

 

Behold your Mother

Our holy mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.

When he was about to die on the Cross Jesus gave Our Lady to St John as his mother. The tradition of the Church has always seen in St John the whole Church, and indeed all mankind. In this meditation we consider:

  • How Mary is truly our mother
  • How Our Lady’s suffering at the Cross binds her more tightly to all her children
  • How Mary began to exercise her motherly role in the early Church
  • How Our Lady spoke to St Juan Diego at Guadalupe as a mother
  • How Mary continues to intercede powerfully for us in heaven as she did at Cana
  • How we can take Our Lady into our own keeping, as St John did

Lessons from the Cross

Jesus’ passion and death give us many lessons.  In this meditation we use texts from St Thomas Aquinas and St Josemaria Escriva to consider some of the many virtues Christ teaches us from the Cross:

  • Charity and patience
  • Humility and obedience
  • Detachment and fortitude
  • Joy

 

 

Hope in God

 

 

In the ups and downs of life there are many events which are not in our control, where we can only put our hope in God. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture and Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Saved by hope to put our life on a sure foundation. We consider that:

  • The foundation of our hope is God, who is always with us.
  • Our hope in God enables us to find peace and joy even amidst the uncertainties and sufferings of life.
  • The ultimate object of our hope is eternal life with God in heaven.
  • Many passages in Scripture speak to us of hope.
  • We can grow in hope through prayer in its various forms.
  • Mary, our Mother, is our hope: she brings us hope in the person of Jesus, she lives hope herself in many moments, and she intercedes powerfully for us in heaven.

 

 

 

Growing in fortitude

 

God is calling all of us to “go out and bear fruit”, to bring the truth and love of Christ into the world. In a word, to change the world for the better. But it is not easy. It is hard enough to change ourselves. For this reason we need the virtue of fortitude, which strengthens the will. In this meditation we consider:

  • Our mission to go out and bear fruit
  • The need for fortitude, for will power to achieve our goals
  • Some of the important goals we will find difficult to achieve
  • The obstacles we will encounter: the world, the flesh and the devil
  • How we can grow in this virtue

 

Faith in the Church

St Peter’s Basilica

 

The Church has been under fierce attack in recent months with news of widespread sexual abuse by clergy and cover ups by the hierarchy, leading many people to become discouraged and critical of the Church. In this meditation we look at the situation with eyes of faith, considering how:

  • In the history of the Church there have been many crises, some of them much worse than the present one.
  • The Church has always been made up of sinners.
  • The Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, goes beyond the faithful on earth who make her up at any one time.
  • The Church is founded on rock and will last until the end of time.
  • The British historian Thomas Macaulay and St Josemaria Escriva examine the history of the Church and see an institution which has predated all other institutions on earth and will outlast them all.
  • Pope Francis has called on all the faithful to pray very much and do penance for the Church.