THAT’S an expression coined by St. Josemaria Escriva, the
Opus Dei
founder whose 10th anniversary of his canonization was celebrated
recently. It refers to the fact that all human and world affairs, if
seen and handled with faith, can truly become pathways to God.
St. Josemaria was not just indulging in cheap rhetoric when he said
and wrote it. He was convinced God, our Creator and Father, is very
much in the middle of our very existence in all its aspects—personal,
social, economic, political, material, spiritual, etc.—and is just
waiting for us to deal with him.
As corollaries to this, St. Josemaria taught that God is in the little
things of the day—our work, our duties and chores—and in the most
material and mundane things. He liked materializing what was spiritual
and told everyone that unless one finds God in the little things, he
most likely would not find God in the big things.
Another similar expression he used a lot was “passionately loving the
world,” precisely the title of one of his famous homilies. It shows
how he so discerns God’s presence in the things of the world that
loving God is loving the world also, and vice versa.
His faith was such that he was constantly aware of God’s continuing
providence—his governance over the world and the whole of creation—and
he was also continually finding out what role he had to play in that
ever unfolding providence. He always wanted to be in synch with God.
That’s simply because as image and likeness of God and, in fact,
children of his, we are treated the way God treats himself. As someone
said, for us the sky is not the limit. It’s God. God is the limit for
us.
St. Josemaria lived presence of God all the time and was forever
trying to conform his will to the will of God, no matter what it cost.
And so he was no stranger to great sufferings—misunderstandings,
persecutions not only by “bad” people but even by the “good” ones, and
all kinds of privations.
He considered all these as part of the territory, an unavoidable
feature in the life of someone bent in following Christ whose life was
filled with suffering all the way to the cross. He never wavered in
his charity in all these trials.
And so he coined another expression, “at God’s pace,” which served as
some kind of motto of his. He used it to encourage others to be more
mindful of God’s constant invitation to live and work with him. He
referred to such invitation and joint venture as a kind of adventure,
full of great and marvelous expectations, albeit with trials.
Truth is our life is always a life with God, whether we are aware of
it or not, whether we cooperate with him or not. Our relationship with
him is first of all that of the Creator and his creature, and as such,
he is the support of our very existence. Without him, we simply would
cease to exist, we simply would revert to nothing.
It’s a truth that we need to know and understand as soon as we can,
capturing its endless implications, both theoretical and practical.
It’s something that is supposed to shape our life, inspire our
thoughts and desires, leaven our acts.
Being aware of this truth, and more, making it a guiding conviction of
our life, will surely give us a full picture of what our life here on
earth is all about, removing us from a narrow, if not erroneous view
of life. It will give us the basis to be invincibly confident in spite
of the dizzying and sometimes ugly twists and turns of life.
Being aware of it will certainly show us we are meant to love the way
God is love. And that’s because our relationship with God is not just
that of a cold Creator-and-creature thing. It is supposed to be always
warmed up by love.
Our relationship with God is that of a father and a son, the father
loving the son no end, all the way to an endless promise of
forgiveness, while the son, being completely free, can choose to love
the father in return or not.
It’s indeed very important that we learn to see God in everything. In
short, it is to make ourselves real contemplatives in the middle of
the world so that we see that our ordinary affairs are actually divine
paths of the earth.
founder whose 10th anniversary of his canonization was celebrated
recently. It refers to the fact that all human and world affairs, if
seen and handled with faith, can truly become pathways to God.
St. Josemaria was not just indulging in cheap rhetoric when he said
and wrote it. He was convinced God, our Creator and Father, is very
much in the middle of our very existence in all its aspects—personal,
social, economic, political, material, spiritual, etc.—and is just
waiting for us to deal with him.
As corollaries to this, St. Josemaria taught that God is in the little
things of the day—our work, our duties and chores—and in the most
material and mundane things. He liked materializing what was spiritual
and told everyone that unless one finds God in the little things, he
most likely would not find God in the big things.
Another similar expression he used a lot was “passionately loving the
world,” precisely the title of one of his famous homilies. It shows
how he so discerns God’s presence in the things of the world that
loving God is loving the world also, and vice versa.
His faith was such that he was constantly aware of God’s continuing
providence—his governance over the world and the whole of creation—and
he was also continually finding out what role he had to play in that
ever unfolding providence. He always wanted to be in synch with God.
That’s simply because as image and likeness of God and, in fact,
children of his, we are treated the way God treats himself. As someone
said, for us the sky is not the limit. It’s God. God is the limit for
us.
St. Josemaria lived presence of God all the time and was forever
trying to conform his will to the will of God, no matter what it cost.
And so he was no stranger to great sufferings—misunderstandings,
persecutions not only by “bad” people but even by the “good” ones, and
all kinds of privations.
He considered all these as part of the territory, an unavoidable
feature in the life of someone bent in following Christ whose life was
filled with suffering all the way to the cross. He never wavered in
his charity in all these trials.
And so he coined another expression, “at God’s pace,” which served as
some kind of motto of his. He used it to encourage others to be more
mindful of God’s constant invitation to live and work with him. He
referred to such invitation and joint venture as a kind of adventure,
full of great and marvelous expectations, albeit with trials.
Truth is our life is always a life with God, whether we are aware of
it or not, whether we cooperate with him or not. Our relationship with
him is first of all that of the Creator and his creature, and as such,
he is the support of our very existence. Without him, we simply would
cease to exist, we simply would revert to nothing.
It’s a truth that we need to know and understand as soon as we can,
capturing its endless implications, both theoretical and practical.
It’s something that is supposed to shape our life, inspire our
thoughts and desires, leaven our acts.
Being aware of this truth, and more, making it a guiding conviction of
our life, will surely give us a full picture of what our life here on
earth is all about, removing us from a narrow, if not erroneous view
of life. It will give us the basis to be invincibly confident in spite
of the dizzying and sometimes ugly twists and turns of life.
Being aware of it will certainly show us we are meant to love the way
God is love. And that’s because our relationship with God is not just
that of a cold Creator-and-creature thing. It is supposed to be always
warmed up by love.
Our relationship with God is that of a father and a son, the father
loving the son no end, all the way to an endless promise of
forgiveness, while the son, being completely free, can choose to love
the father in return or not.
It’s indeed very important that we learn to see God in everything. In
short, it is to make ourselves real contemplatives in the middle of
the world so that we see that our ordinary affairs are actually divine
paths of the earth.
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