Be An Eagle, Not A Hen

I’ll never forget the first time I encountered St. Josemaria Escriva. I was joining my best friend (who was working as a missionary at UC Berkeley) and her team for a holy hour on campus. Feeling distracted, I picked up the book, “The Way,” by a Spanish saint I had never heard of. Instantly, I was captivated. He spoke of courage, trust, and joy in faith, work, and life. I quickly ordered the book for myself, and in the five years since it has become tattered and worn and underlined excessively.

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The reason I felt so drawn to this saint was because I felt like he understood what I was going through and what I needed. He spoke at length about the importance of sanctifying our work, pursuing holiness in ordinary moments, and allowing God to lead us on an adventure beyond our wildest imagination. St. Josemaria is direct and firm, but also funny and warm. His feast day was yesterday, so I thought I’d share 14 quotes from The Way that have deeply impacted my life:

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• You say you’ve failed! We never fail. You placed your confidence wholly in God. And you did not neglect any human means. Convince yourself of this truth: your success – this time – was to fail. Give thanks to our Lord, and try again!

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• 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.

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• You are ambitious: for knowledge, for leadership, for great ventures. Good. Very good. But let it be for Christ, for Love.

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• Have only a few private devotions, but be constant in them.

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• Get rid of that ‘small-town’ outlook. Enlarge your heart till it becomes universal, ‘catholic’. Don’t flutter about like a hen, when you can soar to the heights of an eagle.

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• Speaking of Saint Joseph in the book of her life, Saint Teresa says: ‘Whoever fails to find a Master to teach him how to pray, should choose this glorious Saint, and he will not go astray.’ — This advice comes from an experienced soul. Follow it.

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• Have confidence in your guardian Angel. Treat him as a lifelong friend — that is what he is — and he will render you a thousand services in the ordinary affairs of each day.

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• It is inevitable that you should feel the rub of other people’s characters against your own. After all, you are not a gold coin that everyone likes. Besides, without that friction produced by contact with others, how would you ever lose those corners, those edges, and projections — the imperfections and defects — of your character, and acquire the smooth and regular finish, the firm flexibility of charity, of perfection? If your character and the characters of those who live with you were soft and sweet like sponge cake, you would never become a saint.

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• You give me the impression that you are carrying your heart in your hands as if you were offering goods for sale. Who wants it? If it takes no creature’s fancy, you will come and give it to God. Do you think that is how the saints acted?

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• Be more daring still, and whenever you need anything, be mindful always of the Fiat “Your will be done” don’t ask, tell him: “Jesus, I want this or that” For that’s the way children ask.​
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• Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because he gives you this and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven’t what you need or because you have. Because he made his Mother so beautiful, his Mother who is also your Mother. Because he created the sun and the moon and this animal and that plant. Because he made that man eloquent and you he left tongue-tied… Thank him for everything, because everything is good.

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• Suffering overwhelms you because you take it like a coward. Meet it bravely, with a Christian spirit: and you will regard it as a treasure.

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• Long face, rough manner, ridiculous appearance, unfriendly attitude. Is that how you hope to inspire others to follow Christ?

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• Encourage those noble thoughts, those holy desires which are awakening in you… A single spark may start a conflagration.

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Maybe take a moment to the one above that most struck you, and take some time in prayer to ponder it today. You can read the whole “The Way” online for free here, or buy a copy of the book for yourself here.

In Christ,

Jane

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