You must realise now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fileds, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that one can serve God through everyday activities and professions.
Josemaria Escriva's quote teaches that divine service is not limited to religious practices but is found in the simplicity of daily life. It reminds us that our ordinary tasks, whether they occur in a laboratory, hospital, or at home, are also venues through which we can fulfill a higher calling and make a meaningful contribution.
In practice
During a speech at a community service event, to inspire volunteers.
Many Christians take their time and have leisure enough in their social life (no hurry here). They are leisurely, too, in their professionally activities, at table and recreation (no hurry here either). But isn't it strange how those same Christians find themselves in such a rush and want to hurry the priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the most holy sacrifice of the altar?
As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace.
You strayed from the way and did not return because you were ashamed. It would be more logical if you were ashamed not to return.
Christian optimism is not a sugary optimism, nor is it a mere human confidence that everything will turn out all right. It is an optimism that sinks its roots into an awareness of our freedom, and the sure knowledge of the power of grace. It is an optimism that leads us to make demands on ourselves, to struggle to respond at every moment to God's call.
Don't you long to shout to those youths who are bustling around you: Fools! Leave those worldly things that shackle the heart - and very often degrade it - leave all that and come with us in search of Love!
Explore, and explore. Be neither chided nor flattered out of your position of perpetual inquiry. Neither dogmatize or accept another's dogmatism.
Fire is the best of servants, but what a master!
As soon as you try to eliminate a thought or emotion, you make it stronger.
We've got a generation now who were born with semiequality. They don't know how it was before, so they think, this isn't too bad. We're working. We have our attache' cases and our three piece suits. I get very disgusted with the younger generation of women. We had a torch to pass, and they are just sitting there. They don't realize it can be taken away. Things are going to have to get worse before they join in fighting the battle.
PROVIDENTIAL, adj. Unexpectedly and conspicuously beneficial to the person so describing it.
I don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.
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