Passionately loving the world.

Passionately loving the world.

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This morning I was looking for St. JoseMaria Escriva's homily by that name and instead came across The Greatness of Ordinary Life. I very much like Opus Dei and the teachings of St JoseMaria, although I have heard a few good Catholics express their "doubts" concerning the organization. I don't really know why, especially since the founder has been declared a saint, yet some of the same people say he shouldn't have. (See what I mean when I suggest even devout Catholics can be dissident Catholics - especially when they dissent over innocuous matters such as the canonization of a saint. But I digress.)

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Ordinary life.

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It was providential that I found the little pamphlet this morning, and so I'll use it for meditation today. I just want to post a couple of sections here. The first one is what I really mean when I refer to things some people say as, "religious BS". (Well, kinda.) The following demonstrates that saints express similar thoughts so much more delicately than I can.

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Religiousness.

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"It pains me to hear of a Catholic, a child of God called by baptism to be another Christ, who tranquilizes his conscience by going through the motions. His religiousness leads him to pray now and then... when it is to his advantage. He attends Mass on the days obliged... but not all of them. Meanwhile he makes sure that his stomach suffers no uneasiness, never missing a meal. He is willing to make concessions in matters of faith, to exchange it for a dish of lentils, to do anything so as not to endanger his social or professional status. And then he displays his Catholic "credentials" to get ahead, oblivious or indifferent to the ensuing scandal. This cannot be! We cannot settle for a veneer. We must be Christian from top to bottom, through and through. To that end you must seek proper spiritual nourishment without any if's, and's or but's.

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"Your personal experience has taught you in order to ward off any discouragement, that interior life consists in beginning again and again each day. Our hearts tell us we must fight without letting up. You doubtlessly notice in your examination of conscience that you suffer repeated setbacks; at times they seem monumental because they reveal an obvious lack of love, of dedication, of abnegation, of refinement. Foster desires for reparation and sincere contrition, but do not lose your peace." - Ordinary Life: Christian Consistency, St. JoseMaria Escriva