I have known Opus Dei for the last 25 years

By Alan Frederick in Catholic Answers Forum.

I will give my experiences and knowledge and each one can form their own opinion.

I am not a member of Opus Dei but on the other hand have known them for the last 25 years. Actually I came to know about them when I worked in Spain. My company had sent me overseas as Financial Director for our Spanish operation. As you know Opus Dei was born in Spain. They are traditional, faithful to the Magisterium. By this I don't mean ultra conservative. By traditional I mean that they are faithful to the Hierarchy of the Church especially the Holy Father, The Church Tradition and Scripture.

Their charism is forming the faithful so that they can go out into the world (world meaning their families and professional occupation and social life) and take the Good News of Jesus Christ into the world. The reason they ask their members for money is in order to further their charism which is to educate the laity in Theology and Philosophy and other Catholic education to empower them for Evangelization. There is nothing extreme about this group. They are very committed to the Faith and to the works of the Church. They don't vacillate in their doctrine. They are solid Catholic recognized by the Church by Pope John Paul II and by the current Pope Benedict XVI. So there you have it.

I am a Seminarian at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin. My current spiritual Director is a Priest of OPUS DEI.

I personally recommend anyone to go and meet and learn. They are not a cult or have witch craft. They strictly follow Catholic Doctrine and are trying to build a better Christian world.

St. Josemaria preached to everybody, not just the Fortune 500 types

By Occupant in Catholic Answers Forum. Occupant is from Camel City, NC, responding to discussions at the Forum.

People in Opus Dei here are nothing but friendly. I have some college experience, due to certain circumstances I can't return yet to finish, and a mediocre job and yet... hold on... they are still friendly to me! In fact when I met them, all they asked was about school and what I did for a living and that was about it. Nothing my aunt doesn't ask me when she flies in from Egypt. I have never had the impression that they only go for the smart types that have money.

St. Josemaria preached to everybody, not just the Fortune 500 types. His examples on life are mostly of Our Lady. She wasn't rich and probably didn't get a college degree!

Granted, I don't go to very many meetings since there is no Opus Dei center in NC, so a priest comes around once every three months to Charlotte, but the actual members that I meet with are nice people who love Christ and who feel called to be saints in the middle of the world. What's wrong with that? I'm sure if something was up with OD then the Church would do something about it.

I suggest reading some of St. Josemaria's books. Very good insights. I know it has helped me greatly.

February 14 and Opus Dei

Taken from RSD Reports

February 14 is a double anniversary in Opus Dei. It celebrates the start of Opus Dei's apostolic work with women in 1930 and the beginning of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross in 1943.

Opus Dei was born on October 2, 1928, when God gave young Fr. Josemaria Escriva a glimpse of the institution he was to found within the Church. At that time, Fr. Escriva did not see that Opus Dei would work with women as well as men.

More than a year later, while he was celebrating Mass on February 14, 1930, it became clear to him that Opus Dei's universality must be reflected not only by embracing people in every sort of profession, but also by including women in its apostolic work. The apostolic work with men and women would be done separately, however, in recognition of their different pastoral needs.

It was also clear to St. Josemaria that Opus Dei needed priests. However, it was not until 1943, again during Mass, that God let St. Josemaría see the juridical solution that would enable priests to be ordained for Opus Dei: the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. Laymen in Opus Dei would be ordained and incardinated in the Priestly Society, which is an intrinsic and inseparable part of Opus Dei. Later, diocesan priests could also form part of the Priestly Society; they would strive for holiness by fulfilling their priestly duties, while remaining within their own dioceses.

Looking back on these anniversaries, St. Josemaría said in 1974:

"I thought that Opus Dei would be just for men. It’s not that I didn’t want women. I have a great love for the Mother of God; I love my own mother and all of yours; I love all my daughters, who are a blessing of God throughout the whole world. But until February 14, 1930, I had no idea there would be women in Opus Dei, although I had in my heart a great desire to fulfill God’s Will in everything. When I finished celebrating Holy Mass that day, I knew that our Lord wanted the women’s branch." Later, on February 14, 1943, he wished to crown his edifice with the Cross: the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

In February 1968, in an interview for a magazine, he was asked about the role that women have to play in society and in the life of the Church. By that time, there were already centers of Opus Dei in countries all over the world.

He said, “Women are called to bring to the family, to society and to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which they alone can give: their gentle warmth and untiring generosity, their love for detail, their quick-wittedness and intuition, their simple and deep piety, their constancy... A woman's femininity is genuine only if she is aware of the beauty of this contribution for which there is no substitute and if she incorporates it into her own life.”

“To fulfill this mission, a woman has to develop her own personality and not let herself be carried away by a naive desire to imitate, which, as a rule, would tend to put her in an inferior position and leave her unique qualities unfulfilled. If she is a mature person, with a character and mind of her own, she will indeed accomplish the mission to which she feels called, whatever it may be. Her life and work will be really constructive, fruitful and full of meaning, whether she spends the day dedicated to her husband and children or whether, having given up the idea of marriage for a noble reason, she has given herself fully to other tasks.”

“Each woman in her own sphere of life, if she is faithful to her divine and human vocation can and, in fact, does achieve the fullness of her feminine personality. Let us remember that Mary, Mother of God and Mother of men, is not only a model but also a proof of the transcendental value of an apparently unimportant life.”

Vocation story of Fr. Cory Sticha

By Fr. Cory Sticha in Omne Quod Spirat, Laudet Dominum!

As I left Scott Air Force Base for what I thought was my last time, I had a lot of uncertainty in my life. I didn't know when I'd get a job. I didn't know where I would be living. Everything that I owned was under a tarp in the box of my truck. This truly was the closest I've ever come to being homeless, and in fact was technically homeless for a couple of weeks.

Through a series of connections and the grace of God, my time as a homeless person didn't last long. One friend offered to let me stay at his house until the job situation was sorted out. Another friend had a connection to a landlord who had recently remodeled a couple of duplexes that were available to rent. My resume which I had posted on an Internet job search site had finally gotten a strong prospect. In short order, after only a couple of weeks, I had a job and a place to live, so I thought things were going well.

During this time, I was making Sunday Mass attendance a priority. Unlike previous moves, I wasn't going to wait a couple of weeks, or even months, to get to Mass. Instead, I went back to St. Clare Parish in O'Fallon, which happened to be only about 5 miles from my new apartment, and formally registered as a member of the parish. I also introduced myself to Fr. Jim, the pastor. We had met briefly when I was “church shopping” before the end of my enlistment, but it was pretty brief, just a quick handshake at the end of Mass.

My new job was on the other side of St. Louis, in the western suburbs, so I began to experience the joys of commuting that so many other Americans trudge through every day. For two hours each day, one hour each way, I had nothing better to do than sit in my truck, drive, and listen to the radio. At first, I would listen to the typical music on the radio, but shortly after I began working, a friend introduced me to WRYT 1080 AM, a Catholic radio station. Catholic radio? There's such a thing? I knew about EWTN, even though I never had the opportunity to watch it, but had not heard of Catholic radio. I started listening and was hooked. More good information, and I could learn as I drove to and from work. This was great!

I had learned a lot from the Catholic Answers website, so I was excited to hear that they also had a radio program, Catholic Answers Live. Oh, boy, more good stuff! There was no end to the amount of material that I could learn about the faith, whether apologetics, Church teachings, history, you name it.
Of course, Catholic Answers Live wasn't the end of the great programs that I was able to listen to. Because WRYT used EWTN for much of its source material, I also got to hear Mother Angelica, the Journey Home, Life on the Rock, and much more. This was an information fire hose, and I just had to turn on the radio!

The more I learned about the faith through the radio and Internet, the more involved I wanted to be. I started to get more active in the parish, volunteering to be a Lector and Eucharistic Minister – now more accurately called an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. I was also getting involved in communal prayer, such as the Rosary, and was starting to meet new people through my involvement.

It was about this time that I met a couple who has been a strong supporter of my vocation, even throughout our respective moves. I don't remember if I first met Mike and Denise at Mass or as part of a communal prayer, but we quickly became friends. Having met and worked with a lot of people my age who were barely Catholic at best, it was exciting to meet a young couple, a little older than me, who were as excited about the Faith as I was.

One day, Mike invited me to an evening of reflection at the Opus Dei center in St. Louis. He explained that it involved a couple of spiritual conferences, exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and reception of the Sacrament of Confession. I had heard of Opus Dei through my research, and was interested in what this evening of reflection was all about, so I agreed to go. It was incredible! Two powerful conferences with lots of silent time for adoration. Following the conferences, there was time for socializing, and it was amazing to meet more Catholic men who were on fire for the Catholic Faith. They loved the Church, they loved her teachings, and they weren't afraid to say so. It was a powerful experience for me, and one I had the privilege to repeat many times over. I even began to look forward to these evenings of reflection, especially as the job and commute became more intolerable.

By the end of the first year out of the Air Force, I'd felt like I'd had enough of the job I was doing. It wasn't a bad job, just wasn't I expected when I was first hired. My experience from the Air Force was that of a computer administrator, keeping servers and networks up and running so that users to get to them 24 hours a day. The job I was doing was more data manipulation, working with a database to set up reports for customers. Not my interest, so my performance at that job suffered. A weakness that I am still working on is my extreme procrastination towards tasks I find unpleasant, and much of this job fell into that category.

My Knights of Columbus connection came through about this time. One of the members of the Scott AFB council was working for a military contractor which specialized in computer programming. They were looking for a computer administrator who knew UNIX, which I happened to know. It was 6 months on base at the main server facility, with the potential to continue with the company for further contracts. This was the job I was looking for. I really thought God was looking out for me.

Well, it turns out He was, just not the way I expected. The main server facility was next to one of the headquarters buildings on base, and had a small restaurant where I would go for lunch. It was also where my friend Mike worked as part of his job, as he was an officer in the Air Force. One day, around noon, I was walking over to the restaurant and ran into Mike. He was heading to daily Mass, and invited me to join him. He had been encouraging me to consider trying to get to daily Mass, and I had plenty of excuses why I couldn't. On this day, the excuses ran out, and I walked with him to the base chapel. From that day on, I would regularly go to daily Mass before grabbing a quick lunch.

It was at daily Mass at the chapel that I first performed the role of altar server, having not done it as a child. I think that this was the turning point in my discernment process, as I started to get a better appreciation for the Mass and how important it needed to be in my life. Instead of just going to Mass once a week to get it “done with”, I was daily present at the Sacrifice on Calvary and receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

About this time, I found out that my friend Matt, who had given me a place to stay when I was between the Air Force and my first job, was not baptized. I had seen him at Mass, and never seen him receive communion. One day I asked him why, and after hearing that he wasn't baptized, asked him if he had ever considered going through baptism. He said that he had, and was considering going through RCIA at the parish.

A couple of weeks later, Matt asked me if I would be willing to be his sponsor through RCIA. I agreed, and for the next year, Matt and I caused trouble during the RCIA classes (in a good way, of course). I was learning a lot about the Faith, but Matt was a voracious reader. He even read the Catechism of the Catholic Church all the way through! (Something I've never done, admittedly.) We never directly contradicted the instructors, but we did ask some questions that they had no idea how to answer. After he completed the RCIA process, and received the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil, I turned to ask him how he felt following the reception of three Sacraments at once. I didn't have to. The tears of joy said it all.

With all this going on, the defenses were starting to go down. I found that I was actually willing to consider a vocation to the priesthood, although I wasn't going to make any commitments at that time. It would still take another year and a half before I finally submitted my will to God's divine will.

St. Josemaría Escrivá is a genius

By Jack Perry in Cantànima

For the record, I'm not a member of Opus Dei, and I'm not looking to become one, but I did discover St. Josemaría Escrivá's The Way while I was in seminary, and I re-discovered it online recently. I started re-reading it last night, and immediately fell in love with its gems again. Consider #4,

Don't say, That's the way I'm made… it's my character. It's your lack of character. Be a man.

I showed it to my wife last night, and she agreed with me that it seems particularly apt to some messy going-on in my extended family.

Or #9:

Say what you have just said, but in a different tone, without anger, and your argument will gain in strength and, above all, you won't offend God.

If I'd used that as a sure guideline, I likely wouldn't have written a few of the entries on this weblog…

Finally, #20:

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.

The world seems to want sponge-cake, yet never seems happy when it finds it.

They know who they are and where they are going

Prof. Mary Ann Glendon in “The Hour of the Laity,” First Things, November 1, 2002. Prof. Glendon is Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

“It was only through serving on the Pontifical Council for the Laity that I came to know groups like Communion and Liberation, the Community of St. Egidio, Focolare, the Neo-Catechumenate Way, Opus Dei, and Regnum Christi, and became acquainted with many of their leaders and members.

What a contrast between these groups that work in harmony with the Church and organizations that define their aims in terms of power! It is no surprise that the more faithful and vibrant the great lay organizations are, the more they are vilified by dissenters and anti-Catholics. But attacks do not seem to trouble them, for they know who they are and where they are going.”

Plan for a peaceful home

By Elizabeth Foss in Catholic Herald

St. Josemaría Escrivá calls it the “heroic moment” — that space between sleep and waking when we assent with our entire being to overcome the creature comforts of slumber and cozy bedding and instead rise to face the morning.

The heroic moment is our first victory of the day. Instead of hitting the snooze button, we get up and get going. Sometimes, I have to ask for the grace and strength to just meet that moment. And I do. The day begins with prayer. That’s a good thing.

I have found that no matter how well organized I am before a baby is born, there is some re-shuffling of schedules and routines to be done once baby arrives. It’s no secret that this time I was a bit unprepared. I spent six weeks on bedrest and delivered six weeks early. After some time in the NICU, baby Sarah Anne has continued to chart her own course. She’s as demanding as she is darling. Still, we are creatures of peace and order and when those things are absent in our lives, we seek them.

I’ve learned that such order — both interiorly and in my environment — is less dependent on my Martha Stewart tendencies and more dependent on my Blessed Mother tendencies. While this birth was difficult and demanding and disruptive, it bore great fruit in my soul. Still, I was amazed to find that that spiritual growth conveys to peace and order in my home — more peace and order than all the management schemes and homemaking notebooks and chore charts could ever yield.

While on bedrest, I had a lot of time for prayer and since I was well aware that delivering this baby could be life-threatening, prayer took on a sense of urgency. After the baby was born and all was well physically, I was disoriented in my home. I thought that it was the physical disarray that was bothering me — my 14-year-old had been in charge of housekeeping for nearly three months. Feel free to imagine the chaos.

To be sure, the mess was troublesome, but the spiritual shock to my system was far more important. My soul had grown accustomed to a spiritual plan of life and I was going through withdrawal. I was able to be up and about and thoroughly immersed in the world and my prayer life suffered for it.

What surprised me is that once I put the spiritual pegs back in place, the environmental peace followed. I knew that I had plenty of time to pray during bedrest. I learned that I must claim that time now and that if I do, God grants abundant grace and strength for everything else that is necessary for the day.

My day must begin in the presence of God. Before I open my eyes, I thank Him for granting me anew a chance to love and serve. It’s a quick silent prayer before my feet hit the floor. And then, baby in arms, I sit and rock and nurse and pray a morning offering.

A morning offering is an opportunity to turn all the work of the day into prayer. This means that whether my day looks like a success to the world out there, it is absolutely successful in heaven. God can take my failures and shortcomings and He can make them holy offerings for the sanctification of souls. The reality lends a whole new meaning to the overused “It’s all good.” With a morning offering, it all is.

Because my day — my work and my play — has been offered to the Lord of my life, every action I make becomes an occasion for silent prayer to Him. I am mindful that this is not really my day, but His.

Because I work for Him, my work is careful and it is cheerful. I am surrounded by eight children all day long. Their needs are pressing and at times overwhelming. I am often faced with circumstances beyond my control. It doesn’t always look very tidy and together. I am mindful that my home and my circumstances might not look successful to my neighbors or my friends, but they are holy in my Savior’s sight.

A morning offering is only the beginning of a peaceful, orderly day in a peaceful orderly home. Next time, we’ll review the rest of the spiritual plan for peaceful home management.

5TODAY!!!

By Oli in superduper

Wahoo! Five years today since I made my first steps in joining Opus Dei : )

Thank you God for opening up such a marvellous panorama to me, and allowing me to deepen in my faith.

Thank you for all of the formation that I have been given!

Thank you for opening my eyes to the beauty of your Truth.

Thank you for lifting my spirits and warming my heart.

Thank you for all the times that you have given me the grace to start again when I have strayed- I ask you for the grace to continue to struggle to love you.

All things are possible to you, Lord! Everything that I have you have given to me, and whenever I forget that, help me to remember that I am nothing, just your imperfect instrument!

===

I am not celebrating, although I ask you to remember me and my intentions in your prayers and when you go to Mass : )

I have a friend's bday tomorrow, and am going to a WYA dignity party in the evening with friends, after my study circle.

Deo Omnis Gloria

===

I would like to end this post with something that St Josemaria wrote in "Christ is Passing By", Number 123.

I have been describing to you, not my own idea, but Christ's doctrine on the Christian's ideal. You can see that it is demanding, sublime, attractive. Still some might ask: "Is it possible to live this way in today's society?" (...)

If I were to describe the present situation of the world as a priest, all I need is to think again about one of our Lord's parables, that of the wheat and the weeds.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away." The situation is clear — the field is fertile and the seed is good (...) If, afterwards, there are weeds among the wheat, it is because men have failed to respond, because they — and Christians in particular — have fallen asleep and allowed the enemy to approach.

When the careless servants ask the Lord why weeds have grown in his field, the explanation is obvious: "an enemy has done this." We Christians should have been on guard to make sure that the good things placed in this world by the creator were developed in the service of truth and good. But we have fallen asleep — a sad thing, that sluggishness of our heart! — while the enemy and all those who serve him acted without stopping. You can see how the weeds have grown abundantly everywhere.

My vocation is not that of a prophet of misfortune. With these words I do not wish to make you see a desolate and hopeless picture of reality. I do not want to complain about this time in which the Lord's providence has placed us. We love this time of ours because it is in this time when we are called to achieve our personal sanctification. (...)

Still, it cannot be denied that evil seems to have prospered. Weeds have grown in this whole field of God, which is the earth, the inheritance of Christ. Not only have they grown, they are abundant. (...)

Our Lord, I insist, has given us the world for our inheritance. It is up to us to keep our souls and our minds wide awake. We have to be realistic, without being defeatist. Only a person with a callous conscience, made insensitive by routine or dulled by a frivolous attitude, can allow himself to think that evil — offence to God and harm, at times irreparable harm, to souls — does not exist in the world he sees.

We have to be optimistic, but our optimism should come from our faith in the power of God who does not lose battles, and not from any human sense of satisfaction, from a stupid and presumptuous complacency.

Divine Filiation

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

I FIRST met this expression, sounding Greek to me at that time, when I read a book of homilies by Opus Dei founder St. Josemaria Escriva. That was many years ago, when I was still in college.

I remember how deeply moved I was when I understood what it meant. I felt as if a whole new world was suddenly opened to me, and I luxuriated in savoring the million and one considerations that instantaneously came to mind.

It simply means that we are children of God. I know that to many, this expression, though sounding beautiful and worthy of brandishing around, can mean hardly anything and give no practical consequences. It’s about time, I think, that some changes be made.

The basis is that first of all we have been created by God, we come from him and have been endowed by him with such richness that we rightfully can be called the masterpiece of his creation.

The heartwarming conclusion I derived was that God who is all goodness and all loving wants to share what he has with each one of us. We have been made in his image and likeness, and with his grace we also have been made to participate in his life and nature.

And even if we bungled all this divine goodness, God continues to be madly in love with us by saving us, going through the most complicated plan to reach us and to bring us back to him. His divine mercy completes his love for us, his patience is forever.

The reality of our divine filiation is at the root and center of our being. Sadly, though, we manage to ignore and misuse this happy truth. A real pity!

When we don’t develop this spirit of divine filiation, we place ourselves at the mercy of our human devices—some of them admittedly can be impressive—that can prop us, to be frank, only for a while at best. Our integrity would be compromised. We could not go the distance.

Have you seen a bear lying flat on the belly after a hearty meal? That’s what can happen to people without this sense of divine filiation. It’s as if life has gone away in spite of their impressive human qualities.

They can have brains and brawn, money, power, fame, etc., but if they don’t have this spirit of divine filiation, their doom will just be a matter of time. They can’t go beyond earthly dimensions, they can’t fly to eternity, to life without end. Sin and temptation sooner or later will capture their heart.

We need to develop this spirit of divine filiation. While it’s a result of divine grace, it’s also something we have to work out. We need to load ourselves, to borrow a mobile-phone term, with a boosting awareness that we are God’s children.

We can go to the extent of psychologizing ourselves into it, repeating the expression until it becomes our breath and heartbeat and drives our stream of consciousness, enabling us to go deeper into its meaning, to instill its character into our thoughts, will, feelings and deeds.

This certainly would not just be a psychological exercise, for it is based on something real, not invented, though it’s a reality that can be accessed not so much by our senses and our reason alone as by our faith.

This point, I believe, is worth reiterating. It is what truly grounds us to the foundation of our life and nature, giving us the meaning and purpose of our existence. It’s a source of joy, confidence and serenity. It tells us what our filial rights and duties are.

More importantly, it tells us who we are and gives us an abiding sense that we are never alone, or worse, just on our own. It fills us with the conviction that we are children of God, that no matter what happens God will always be with us unless we reject him.

It’s heartbreaking to see that because they don’t have this sense of divine filiation, many souls fall into what we may call as Dickensian Great-Expectations syndrome, where one feels he is succeeding and prospering in life when in reality he is being impoverished and corrupted inside.

But I must also confess that I’ve met a good number who, precisely because of their faith and simplicity, enjoy the true blessings of this spirit of divine filiation. (The author is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise in Cebu City - roycimagala@hotmail.com)

Thoughts of Escriva in London

By Robert Colquhoun in Love Undefiled

St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, was a big fan of London. In fact, apart from Madrid and Rome, it was his favourite capital city and he visited many times.

One day he was walking down the street in the financial heart of the city of London and a sad thought suddenly occurred to him- he felt powerless in comparison to the modern world, the powerful banks and other financial institutions and that he was not able to do anything. But on this day, the 10th August 1958 he had a locution from God.

He would later say, "I somewhat lost my composure. I felt useless and powerless. Josemaría, you can't do anything here. Without God, I could not even pull a blade of grass from the ground. My whole miserable weakness was so apparent that I almost grew sad—and that is bad. Why should a son of God be sad? He can be weary, like a faithful donkey pulling a cart. But sad? Never! Sadness is evil. Suddenly, in the middle of the street, where people from all corners of the world were crossing paths, I felt within me, in the depth of my heart, the motion of God's power.

"I felt him reassuring me: 'You can do nothing, but I can do everything. You are weakness, but I am strength. I shall be with you, and that will have an effect. We shall lead souls to happiness, to unity, to the way of salvation. In the City of London, we shall sow peace and happiness in abundance.'"

And that is what he has managed to achieve even to this day.

Serious reservations with the anti-cult movement

By Massimo Introvigne. These are the conclusions of Introvigne, an author of an encyclopedia of religion, in his article on Opus Dei and the Anti-cult Movement

The secularist anti-cult movement arose as having non-Catholic religious movements for its primary objective.

· The movement against Opus Dei started —especially within liberal Catholic circles— without any connection whatsoever with the polemic against "cults".

· In the first half of the 1980's, however, a part of the anti-cult movement extended its activity against its original enemies to cover other groups —Opus Dei among them.

· On the other hand, some Opus Dei adversaries within the Catholic ranks —typical examples of which are Fr Jacques Trouslard in France and Michael Walsh in England— realised that the anti-cult movement could offer them an ideological framework which suited their continued campaign, and provide them with powerful allies and greater resources. Initially, perhaps, the connection between the two movements arose from extrinsic and, at least partly, political reasons. But the anti-cult movement and the adversaries of Opus Dei within the Church did have in common a similar view of the world and of the role of religion which helped their mutual collaboration.

From all this one can make a further interesting and important observation. The secularist anti-cult position and the religious counter-cult position differ as to their objective reasons but do not necessarily present different subjective characteristics on the part of those who support such positions. Thus, for instance, if it is difficult to find militant atheists in the religious counter-cult movements, in the secular anti-cult movements one does find, on a personal level, people who declare themselves to be believers.

I have on other occasions pointed out how, in the anti-cult movements of the United States, mainly directed by atheistic or agnostic "secular humanists", are found well-known figures of the different North American Hebrew communities. This fact was explained by Hebrew members of the anti-cult movement as a characteristic feature of Hebraism, which is not a missionary religion, and which is suspicious of any conversion attempt. Alongside these representatives of the Jewish world some Protestants may be found —really very few— and finally a few Catholic priests and religious —occasionally also some lay people— who are few in number but very active.

One could well ask, why would a Catholic —and even more so if he is a priest or a religious— join in the activities of anti-cult movements, whose ideology, as soon as one gets to know or study it, is evidently hostile to religion in general, or at least hostile to the social relevance of religion, which should be especially dear to a Catholic. It is considered by some that the collaboration of certain Catholics with the anti-cult movement may be explained by their annoyance with "cults" which leads them to choose —wrongly, for they make the mistake of using a violent tone where a strong objective criticism would suffice— the hardest and most decisive line against new religious movements.

However, the history of the attacks against Opus Dei shows that such an explanation would only be valid for a very small number of Catholics whose naivety is as great as their lack of capacity to understand the complex reality of new religious movements and the anti-cult movement. But as for those Catholics who have opted for collaborating with the anti-cult movement, their choice shows a much more ominous way of thinking. They are, in fact, Catholics who know perfectly well the secularist ideology of the anti-cult movement but seek to make use of it as a weapon with which to attack, above all, their inter-ecclesial adversaries, by labelling them as "cults".

It is certainly possible that some Catholics who today are actively involved in the anti-cult movement, may have discovered a late vocation to confront the new religious movements. But it is also true that, many years before they showed any concern for Jehovah's Witnesses or for Hare Krishna, some of them were already actively engaged in attacking Opus Dei. How can one therefore avoid thinking that the reason why "liberal" Catholics have joined the secularist anti-cult movement is not because they have recently discovered the "threat of the cults", but because they are eager to find powerful and wealthy allies, of similar ideologies, in their polemics against Opus Dei and other Catholic entities who wish to remain orthodox and faithful to the Magisterium? Even if one wanted to leave this question open, there are many signs that lead to an affirmative answer. What is more, we have abundant facts that justify the most serious reservations and the most well-founded doubts about the anti-cult movement and about the Catholics, who, with greater or lesser awareness, collaborate with the movement.

All this confirms the need for Roman Catholics to be interested in new religious movements, and even when necessary to enter into discussions about them. But this must be done from a Catholic point of view and according to specifically Catholic standards, which are very different to those of the secularist anti-cult movement, with which any form of collaboration by Catholics —as has become abundantly clear— is not only useless but indeed harmful and blameworthy.

You...what have you done?

In Lord, if you Will

Sometimes, lest we forget, we need to be reminded of the power of sin, the power it can have over our lives, the power it can have to change our lives, because it is stronger than ourselves and without the help of the graces from God what might be a challenge could easily become a losing battle.

In fact, the saints were so aware of the danger of sin and the potential damage it can cause, that some would seek, to a sometimes scrupulous degree, to avoid sin despite the cost. In fact, to put it in perspective, St. Josemaria Escriva once posed this question, he said: “To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond... You..., what have you done?”

It is one thing to struggle with sin, but quite another to struggle to the point of great resistance, to the point of shedding blood. In other words, really fighting, really making an effort, putting everything we are and have into that fight, because we don’t shed blood unless the fight is intense, unless we are making a sacrifice, and unless we stand our ground.

It Seems St. Escriva Knew Me

By Jessica in Toothpaste in the Toilet Seat

I Corinthians 10:31--"Whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

While checking my favorite "mommy blogs" today, I stumbled--via a link from another link--across a post from Conversion Diary (which I've never read before, but may have to check out again soon!) and was struck by the following:

I can't tell you how many times I've been engrossed in some great spiritual book, only to be interrupted by some unexpected chaos with the kids. And my immediate reaction is to think, "Would you kids be quiet! I'm trying to seek God's will here!" sighing that if only I wasn't so bogged down with my household responsibilities that I could really start getting in tune with God. If only I didn't have to change this diaper and deal with that temper tantrum and clear all those dishes off the table I could get closer to finding out what it is that God wills for me!

It's been quite stunning, then, for me to realize that changing that diaper and dealing with the temper tantrum and clearing those dishes are God's will. These are the situations that God puts in front of me every day. If I see them through my eyes alone, holding out for God to reveal to me that "his" will is all about me writing that bestselling book or the lottery win (that just so happen to be big fantasies of mine), I grumble through the mundane tasks of my day. And when I do this, when I apathetically plop a dish into the sink or huff and puff about having to sweep the kitchen floor for the second time today, I am essentially saying, "I will not serve." I'm refusing to accept that these humdrum tasks just might be the answers to all my questions about what God wants me to do.

But to see all these diapers and temper tantrums and dishes through God's eyes, to humbly go about my day executing each task with love, appreciating every moment and every little thing around me as a precious gift, is to know and serve God, to do his will. I don't need to analyze it beyond that. I have my answer.

Wow. I think I needed that reminder. Today. Probably yesterday.

That post had a link to another of her posts where she quotes St. Escriva:

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 the moment, you have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It's so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish.

I know absolutely nothing about St. Escriva, but it seems St. Escriva knew me and presented this admonition specifically for me!

My moms' group is going through Cindy Dagnan's book, Who Got Peanut Butter on My Daily Planner?, and I was particularly convicted by our discussion of chapter 2: "Kryptonite and the Supermom." I am so very often "beaten in the first skirmish." But I want to win! I want to be Supermom, but I am overcome by the kryptonite of my to-do list. Actually, not so much my to-do list, as my snooze button. If I got up "on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness," I could joyfully offer up my entire day to God, and begin to take care of so many things on that to-do list before my girls were even awake. Then, I could spend my precious minutes with them as their mommy, without being distracted by everything else that has to get done.

Instead, I often lay in bed in the morning until the last possible minute. Of course, I have a whole barrage of excuses, the main one being I stay up way too late. And I often stay up way too late because Mr. B is up working, and I like to think that sitting next to him while he works somehow constitutes spending time with him. Silly, eh?

If you're reading this, will you pray for me? Please pray that I will go to bed earlier, so I can get up"on the dot" and tackle each day this way? And, while you are at it, please also pray that I will remember that the tasks I encounter throughout the day are my opportunities to serve, they are God's will for me, and that I might do them "all to the glory of God." I would feel privileged to pray the same for you, too; simply leave me a comment!

Here's I Corinthians 10:31 one more time, my own version:

"Whether, then, you eat or drink, wash lights or darks, scrub toilets or floors, work puzzles or read books, tickle tummies or soothe tears, wipe bottoms or wash hands, do all to the glory of God."