Way The Essential Classic of Opus Dei's Founder

Character 1 Don't let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love. With your apostolic life wipe out the slimy and filthy mark left by the impure sowers of hatred. And light up all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you carry in your heart. 2 May your behavior and your conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears you can say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ. 3 Maturity. Stop making faces and acting up like a child! Your bearing ought to reflect the peace and order in your soul. 4 Don't say, "That's the way I am--it's my character." It's your lack of character. Esto vir!--Be a man! 5 Get used to saying No. 6 Turn your back on the deceiver when he whispers in your ear, "Why complicate your life?" 7 Don't have a "small town" outlook. Enlarge your heart until it becomes universal--"catholic." Don't fly like a barnyard hen when you can soar like an eagle. 8 Serenity. Why lose your temper if by losing it you offend God, you trouble your neighbor, you give yourself a bad time . . . and in the end you have to set things aright, anyway? 9 What you have just said, say it in another tone, without anger, and what you say will have more force . . . and above all, you won't offend God. 10 Never reprimand anyone while you feel provoked over a fault that has been committed. Wait until the next day, or even longer. Then make your remonstrance calmly and with a purified intention. You'll gain more with an affectionate word than you ever would from three hours of quarreling. Control your temper. 11 Will-power. Energy. Example. What has to be done is done . . . without wavering . . . without worrying about what others think . . . Otherwise, Cisneros* would not have been Cisneros; nor Teresa of Ahumada, Saint Teresa; nor Iigo of Loyola, Saint Ignatius. God and daring! Regnare Christum volumus!--"We want Christ to reign!" 12 Let obstacles only make you bigger. The grace of our Lord will not be lacking: Inter medium montium pertransibunt aquae!--"Through the very midst of the mountains the waters shall pass." You will pass through mountains! What does it matter that you have to curtail your activity for the moment, if later, like a spring which has been compressed, you'll advance much farther than you ever dreamed? 13 Get rid of those useless thoughts which are at best a waste of time. 14 Don't waste your energy and your time--which belong to God--throwing stones at the dogs that bark at you on the way. Ignore them. 15 Don't put off your work until tomorrow. 16 Give in? Be just commonplace? You, a sheep-like follower? You were born to be a leader! Among us there is no place for the lukewarm. Humble yourself, and Christ will kindle in you again the fire of love. 17 Don't succumb to that disease of character whose symptoms are a general lack of seriousness, unsteadiness in action and speech, foolishness--in a word, frivolity. And that frivolity, mind you, which makes your plans so void--"so filled with emptiness"--will make of you a lifeless and useless dummy, unless you react in time--not tomorrow, but now! 18 You go on being worldly, frivolous, and giddy because you are a coward. What is it, if not cowardice, to refuse to face yourself? 19 Will-power. A very important quality. Don't disregard the little things, which are really never futile or trivial. For by the constant practice of repeated self-denial in little things, with God's grace you will increase in strength and manliness of character. In that way you'll first become master of yourself, and then a guide and a leader: to compel, to urge, to draw others with your example and with your word and with your knEscriva, Josemaria is the author of 'Way The Essential Classic of Opus Dei's Founder', published 2006 under ISBN 9780385518291 and ISBN 0385518293.