Holiness for everyone

Sanctity is not for a privileged few. The Lord calls all of us. He expects love from all of us—from everyone, wherever they are; from everyone, whatever their state in life, their profession or job. For the daily life we live, apparently so ordinary, can be a path to sanctity: it is not necessary to abandon one's place in the world in order to search for God…because all the paths of the earth can be the occasion for an encounter with Christ. (Mt 5, 48). (Conversations with Monsignor Escriva, n°62)

The sanctification of the ordinary life

In his many preachings and writings, St. Josemaría wants to make sure that every Christian understands the importance of the invitation to sanctity, especially those who may not be aware of it, because they are not interested by priesthood or leading any sort of religious life. Offering your life to God doesn't necessarily imply spending a more or less important amount of your time to making good deeds (starting with your civic duties), while neglecting others. The Christian calling is an invitation to model your life according to God's plan, which he expresses through your personal calling. It blends with your human calling, especially your "professional vocation". 

Being out there in the world doesn't mean Christ has forgotten about you or called you. He enjoins you to follow your path, filled with the many activities and concerns of the world. "He wants you to know that your human vocation, your profession, your talents, are not omitted from his divine plans. He has sanctified them and made them a most acceptable offering to his Father." (Christ is Passing By, 20). St. Paul warned us: "We urged you when we were with you not to let anyone eat who refused to work". But very early, Christians stopped considering work as a good thing in itself, but as an ascetic to fight idleness, the mother of all vices. For a long time, work was only  seen as an act of penitence to pay for one's sins - even though some personalities such as St. Francis of Sales started trying to bring Christians back on the track of prayer in the 17th century. Yet Cardinal Luciani (the future Pope John Paul I) perceived an essential difference between simply "being closer to the world" and "sanctifying the world and in the world". Francis de Sales preached that the law to holiness embraced everyone, but he talked about a "spirituality for laymen", while Escrivá worked to promote a "lay spirituality".

Indeed, Francis almost always suggested that laymen should use same means as those of clergymen, with a few convenient modifications. Josemaría Escrivá's take is more radical: he outright talked about "materialising" - in the prosper sense - sanctification. For him, work itself must be transformed into prayer and holiness. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council solemnly called laymen to holiness in the world and recognises the dignity of human work.

Let's pray with saint Josémaria Escrivá (in Forge)

Come, O Holy Spirit: enlighten my understanding to know your commands;

strengthen my heart against the wiles of the enemy; inflame my will…

I have heard your voice, and I don't want to harden my heart to resisting,

by saying ‘later… tomorrow.' Nunc coepi! Now!

Lest there be no tomorrow for me!

O, Spirit of truth and wisdom,

Spirit of understanding and counsel,

Spirit of joy and peace!

I want what you want, I want it because you want it,

I want it as you want it, I want it when you want it.

Holy Mary seat of Wisdom, pray for me.

Holy Joseph my Father and lord, pray for me.

My guardian angel, pray for me.