Josemaría Escrivá

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (1902-1975) was a Spanish Catholic priest who founded the Opus Dei movement and espoused the universal call to holiness. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.


Among us there is no place for the lukewarm. Humble yourself, and Christ will kindle in you again the fire of love.

Be united to Christ in order to purify yourself, and together with him experience the insults, the spit, the blows and the thorns....

Compromising is a sure sign of not possessing the truth. When a man yields in matters of ideals, of honor or of faith, that man is without ideals, without honor, and without faith.

Conversion is a matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime.

Don’t be afraid of the truth, even though the truth may mean your death.

Don’t judge without having heard both sides. Even persons who think themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence.

Don’t let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love.

Don’t worry too much about what the world calls victories or defeats. How often the 'victor' ends up defeated!

Holy steadfastness is not intolerance.

If your character and that of those around you were soft and sweet like marshmallows, you would never become a saint.

Let us not forget that unity is a symptom of life; disunion is decay, a sure sign of being a corpse.

Saints are not abnormal cases to be studied by a modernistic doctor. They were--they are--normal, with flesh like yours. And they conquered.

Suffering overwhelms you because you take it like a coward. Meet it bravely, with a Christian spirit, and you will esteem it like a treasure.

The 'prudent' have always called the works of God madness.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.