The Way: Furrow; The Forge

The book is good 👍

As you are reading these mediation's on such topics as Prayer, Humilty & Hypocrisy you can feel the gentle presence of Father Escriva as he guides you on the path to Christ through repentance & self awareness. Setup in the style of sentences for reflection ,you will learn something new about yourself and your faith at each reading. The book is also made in a small portable format with 2 gold ribbons. I also highly recommend Christ Is Passing by and Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaria Escriva.

I have also been continuing my research into Opus Dei, this past week I read Josemaria Escriva's The Way, Furrow and The Forge. Each of these three volumes are collections of thoughts, pense's musings and meditations. They can be read from beginning to end or randomly opened and read just as you find them. Some of the reflections will require more thought and work them. Some examples that particularly grabbed my attention are: "As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of its peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace." -Furrow #836 "Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity ... and, in the words of the scriptures, God will vomit out the lukewarm." -The Way #325 "When I made you a present of that life of Jesus, I wrote in it this inscription: `May you seek Christ, may you find Christ, may you love Christ. These are three very distinct steps. Have you at least tried to live the first?" -The Way #382 "Each day be conscious of your duty to e a saint. A saint! And that doesn't mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end." -The Forge #60 "Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you: have the will to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do not leave any out." -The Forge #82

A wonderful spiritual check list for life. Saint Josemaria Escriva has left a handbook for life. A little reading each day keeps the mind in order and encourages meditation.

These are the three books Bl. Josemaria Escriva wrote that contain short spiritual counsels. Each counsel is concise and insightful. Bl. Josemaria reaches to root of what troubles us spiritually, and challenges us to conform our life to God's plan for our life. He also teaches us that every little thing we do in our life -- work, sport, leisure -- can be done well for the greater glory of God, and offered as prayer. This presented an important spiritual awakening for me, since before reading this book I tended to compartmentalize my prayer life. What is also unique about this book is that the insights are broken down into short sentences. The longest insight is no more than two paragraphs. Thus this book can be carried around with ease, and meditated upon during a spare minute or two during the day. I don't know any Catholic who has read this book and not become more fervent in their faith.

This book is a great gift for all Roman Catholics, not just Opus Dei members. St. Josemaría's "The Way" is one of the most successfull spiritual books in the history of the Church. It's a collection of 999 inspiring thoughts and considerations, collected in different chapters like "The Church", "Piety", "Character" etc. After this saints's death, two other books were released in the same style like "The Way". Now you can get them all in one pocket-book, at an attractive price, and in a very well-styled edition, in onor of St. Josemaría Escrivá's 100th birthday in 2002, the same year when Pope John Paul II canonised this great modern apostle.