The Way
From Saint Josemaría Escrivá: founder of Opus Dei
Once every few hundred years, a book comes along that revitalizes and rededicates the Christian community to follow in Christ's footsteps.
In the fifth century, St Augustine's Confessions was such a book. In the Middle Ages, The Life of St Francis of Assisi was another. In later years, Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ and St Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises were read over and over by devout Christians and, in their own way, reshaped the Church.
Today, a new spiritual classic is being discovered by faithful Catholics all over the world. It's Saint Josemaría Escrivá's The Way, a concise collection of 999 spiritual aphorisms and practical maxims all dedicated to helping lay men and women follow Christ in the midst of, and through, their ordinary worldly activities.
Saint Josemaría Escrivá (1902-75), the founder of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei, was decades before his time and anticipated the theology of the laity that was one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council.
Both Escrivá and Vatican II taught that a life wholly dedicated to serving Christ on earth is not merely for priests and cloistered religious. All Christian men and women, regardless of their vocations, are called to follow The Way - to be active, committed, heroic disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Lay person is called to use his or her unique gifts and vocation both as the means of personal sanctification and of serving Christ. A Catholic doctor, in other words, can use the practice of medicine to become a true Christian and serve Christ. A homeschooling mother can use her day-to-day challenges forming Christian children as her own means of sanctification and service.
Escrivá insists that any moral profession can be a means of following The Way - journalism, law, science, education, real estate - and he sets out in The Way to show ordinary lay Catholics how. That's why literally millions of people, both inside and outside Opus Dei itself, have purchased since it was first published in 1935.
One reason The Way is so popular is because of its take-charge, activist spirituality.
Saint Josemaría Escrivá, while prizing highly the life of prayer, believed that many lukewarm Christians become that way out of laziness and fear. In short: they don't have the stomach it takes to be a follower of the Lord Jesus! The Way, in contrast, challenges you to take a stand and insists, over and over again, that Christianity is not a religion for the faint of heart. Best of all, Saint Josemaría Escrivá speaks directly to you - whispering in your ear, he says, "as a friend, as a brother, as a father." He gives you advice. He talks tough. He makes demands you've probably never heard before.
This spiritual classic is now available on audio cassette tapes through a special edition. Listen to these powerful words while you drive to work or do your shopping. But be warned: Your life may never be the same again. Do you dare listen?
5 audio cassettes
