Ordinary Life and Holiness in the Teaching of St. Josemaria Escriva

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Ordinary Life and Holiness in the Teaching of St. Josemaría Escrivá Volume 2 By Ernst Burkhart and Javier López On May 17, 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. Ten years later, on October 6, 2002, he was proclaimed a saint. “He was chosen by God,” affirmed the Roman pontiff, “to announce the universal call to holiness and to indicate that daily life, common activities, are a path of sanctification. It could be said that he was the Saint of the Ordinary.” On September 14, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI blessed a statue of St. Josemaría placed on the walls of St. Peter’s Basilica, with the inscription from Sacred Scripture that summarizes his mission of serving the Church: “Et ego, si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnes traham ad meipsum”—“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself ” ( John 12:32). St. Josemaría understood that with these words, “Our Lord was telling us: if you put me at the heart of all earthly activities by fulfilling the duty of each moment, and bear witness to me in what seems big and in what seems small, then: omnia traham ad meipsum! My kingdom among you will become a reality!” (Notes from a meditation preached on October 10, 1963) The present work, in three volumes, is the first attempt to gather together systematically the whole of St. Josemaría’s message about the sanctification of professional work and all daily life. Volume 2 The second volume focuses on St. Josemaría’s teachings concerning the Christian believer, who is called to be alter Christus!, ipse Christus!—another Christ, Christ himself. This volume takes up three themes: the “sense” of divine filiation received at Baptism, which provides the foundation of the Christian life; the freedom of the children of God; and the Christian virtues required for identification with Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man.