Josemaria Escriva Quotes & Sayings

You're bored? That's because you keep your senses awake and your soul asleep. — Josemaria Escriva

290 To reform. Every day a little. This has to be your constant task if you really want to become a saint. — Josemaria Escriva

Put your heart aside. Duty comes first. But when fulfilling your duty, put your heart into it. It helps. — Josemaria Escriva

You always leave the Rosary for later, and you end up not saying it at all because you are sleepy. If there is no other time, say it in the street without letting anybody notice it. It will, moreover, help you to have presence of God. — Josemaria Escriva

35 There are many pretty terms I don't like: you call cowardice "prudence." Your "prudence" gives an opportunity to those enemies of God, without any ideas in their heads, to pass themselves off as scholars, and so reach positions that they never should attain. — Josemaria Escriva

A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ. We must make an effort to 'live' the Mass with calm and serenity, with devotion and affection. — Josemaria Escriva

There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work. — Josemaria Escriva

So your strength is failing you? Why don't you tell your mother about it? ... Mother! Call her with a loud voice. She is listening to you; she sees you in danger, perhaps, and she-your holy mother Mary-offers you, along with the grace of her son, the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace ... and you will find yourself with added strength for the new battle. — Josemaria Escriva

When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries. — Josemaria Escriva

That conversation ... was as dirty as a sewer! It is not enough for you to take no part in it. You must show your repugnance for it strongly! — Josemaria Escriva

191 Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness. If, with the help of God, you conquer yourself in that moment, you'll have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It's so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish! — Josemaria Escriva

Have confidence. Return. Invoke our Lady and you'll be faithful. — Josemaria Escriva

For those who use their intelligence and their study as a weapon, the Rosary is most effective. Because that apparently monotonous way of beseeching Our Lady as children do their Mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride. — Josemaria Escriva

May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don't abandon me. Don't abandon me, my Mother! - And recommend this prayer to others. — Josemaria Escriva

There is no danger of exaggerating. We an never hope to fathom this inexpressible mystery nor will we ever be able to give sufficient thanks to our Mother for bringing us into such intimacy with the Blessed Trinity. — Josemaria Escriva

To begin is for everyone. To persevere is for saints. — Josemaria Escriva

At the time of your examination(of sins) beware of the devil that ties your tongue. — Josemaria Escriva

Holy Purity is granted by God when it is asked for with humility. — Josemaria Escriva

St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life. — Josemaria Escriva

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. — Josemaria Escriva

When we were little, we kept close to our mother in a dark alley or if dogs barked at us. Now, when we feel temptations of the flesh, we should run to the side of our Mother in Heaven, by realizing how she is to us, and by means of aspirations. She will defend us and lead us to the light. — Josemaria Escriva

God is here. This truth should fill our lives, and every Christmas should be for us a new and special meeting with God, when we allow his light and grace to enter deep into our soul. — Josemaria Escriva

Among us there is no place for the lukewarm. Humble yourself, and Christ will kindle in you again the fire of love. — Josemaria Escriva

All the things that are now worrying you can be put into a smile which shows your love of God. — Josemaria Escriva

For everyone, whatever his state
single, married, widowed, or priest-chastity is a triumphant affirmation of love. — Josemaria Escriva

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! — Josemaria Escriva

You don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, 'Lord, I don't know how to pray!" you can be sure you have already begun." — Josemaria Escriva

How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: 'This man reads the life of Jesus Christ. — Josemaria Escriva

Either we learn to find the Lord in the ordinary everyday life or else we shall never find him — Josemaria Escriva

The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results. — Josemaria Escriva

You were very hurt at being slighted. That means you are forgetting too easily who you are. — Josemaria Escriva

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. — Josemaria Escriva

Love our Lady. And she will obtain abundant grace to help you conquer in your daily struggle. — Josemaria Escriva

Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary's which purifies the monotony of your sins! — Josemaria Escriva

Before, by yourself, you couldn't. Now, you've turned to our Lady, and with her, how easy! — Josemaria Escriva

'You told me, Father, that after my past life it is still possible to become another St. Augustine. I don't doubt it, and today more than yesterday I want to try to prove it.' But you have to cut out sin courageously from the root, as the holy Bishop of Hippo did. — Josemaria Escriva

Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves. — Josemaria Escriva

We all must have the faith of children, but the doctrine of theologians. — Josemaria Escriva

Don't judge without having heard both sides. Even persons who think themselves virtuous very easily forget this elementary rule of prudence. — Josemaria Escriva

You need a heart which is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness. — Josemaria Escriva

Faith, joy, optimism. But not the folly of closing your eyes to reality. — Josemaria Escriva

When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph. — Josemaria Escriva

Is it not true that your gloominess and bad temper are due to your lack of determination in breaking the subtle snares laid by your own disordered desires? The daily examination of conscience is an indispensible help if we are to follow our Lord with sincerity of heart and integrity of life. — Josemaria Escriva

An hour of study, for the modern apostle, is an hour of prayer. — Josemaria Escriva

To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, and Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond ... You - what have you done? — Josemaria Escriva

You go to pray; to become a bonfire, a living flame, giving light and heat. — Josemaria Escriva

I assure you, my children, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God. That is why I have told you so often, and hammered away at it, that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my children, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives ... — Josemaria Escriva

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. — Josemaria Escriva

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? — Josemaria Escriva

What conversations! What vulgarity and what dirt! And you have to associate with them, in the office, in the university, in the operating-theatre ... , in the world.
Ask them if they wouldn't mind stopping, and they laugh at you. Look annoyed, and they get worse. Leave them, and they continue.
This is the solution: first pray for them, and offer up some sacrifice; then face them like a man and make use of the 'strong language apostolate'. - The next time we meet I'll tell you - in a whisper - a few useful words. — Josemaria Escriva

If you don't have a plan of life, you'll never have order. — Josemaria Escriva

Compromise is a word found only in the vocabulary of those who have no will to fight. — Josemaria Escriva

The enemy: Will you obey ... even in this 'ridiculous' little detail? You, with God's grace: I will obey ... even in this 'heroic' little detail. — Josemaria Escriva

When you see the storm coming, if you seek safety in that firm refuge which is Mary, there will be no danger of your wavering or going down. — Josemaria Escriva

Don't say, "That person bothers me." Think: "That person sanctifies me". — Josemaria Escriva

All the sins of your life seem to be rising up against you. Don't give up hope! On the contrary, call your holy mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to your soul. — Josemaria Escriva

If you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son's path. — Josemaria Escriva

He has much who needs least. Do not create necessities for yourself. — Josemaria Escriva

To begin is easy; to persevere is sanctity.- Let your perseverance not be a blind consequence of the first impulse, the work of inertia: let it be a reflective perseverance. — Josemaria Escriva

If I love, there will be no hell for me. — Josemaria Escriva

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. — Josemaria Escriva

The heroic minute.- It is the time fixed for getting up.- Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and.-.-.- up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body. — Josemaria Escriva

Turn to Mary, tota pulchra, all pure and wonderful, and tell her: Our Lady and Mother, the Lord wanted you yourself to look after God and tend him with your own hands. Teach me, teach us all, how to treat your Son! — Josemaria Escriva

I find my pleasure in doing thy will, my God, and thy law dwells deep within my heart. — Josemaria Escriva

Our Lady listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn't fully understand and asks about what she doesn't know. Then she gives herself completely to doing the divine will. — Josemaria Escriva

Don't neglect your spiritual reading. - Reading has made many saints. — Josemaria Escriva

Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. — Josemaria Escriva

After seeing how many people waste their lives, their whole lives (tongues wagging, wagging, wagging, and all the inevitable consequences), silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than ever. And I well understand, Lord, why we have to give an account of all our idle words. — Josemaria Escriva

It's true he was a sinner. But don't pass so final a judgement. Have pity in your heart and don't forget that he may yet be an Augustine, while you remain just another mediocrity. — Josemaria Escriva

If you have so many defects, why are you surprised to find defects in others? — Josemaria Escriva

You can be sure you are a man of God if you suffer injustice gladly and in silence. — Josemaria Escriva