Holiness for Everyone: The Practical Spirituality of St. Josemaría Escrivá

A book of Eric Sammons with a foreword by Scott Hahn

Eric Sammons is not a member of Opus Dei. He is a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism and was received into the Catholic Church in 1993. He has appeared on EWTN and is a frequent guest on Catholic radio. He is now the Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Venice in Florida. He has a Master's Degree in Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and lives in Florida with wife, Suzan, and their six children.

Here is the description of his book as found in his website: http://ericsammons.com/index.html

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God intends nothing less than sainthood for you!

The early Church held that all believers could achieve holiness. Over time this conviction was largely forgotten. Sainthood seemed to be an honor only intended for a select few among the priests and religious.

Eric Sammons tells how twentieth century Spanish priest—and canonized saint—Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, recovered the message of the universal call to holiness. Declared “the saint of ordinary life” by Pope John Paul II, St. Josemaría developed a spirituality directed toward the sanctity of every man and woman. His legacy is the belief that each of us can, by God’s grace, achieve holiness through the course of our ordinary life and work.

The heart of Sammons’ practical guide to the spiritual life is a detailed examination of the steps in St. Josemaría’s thoughtful plan for building a saintly life in spite of your hectic work and home life – in a world filled with distractions and temptations.

Strive for your own personal holiness as you implement your daily plan to:

• Be a Contemplative in the Midst of a Busy World

• Live a Life of Prayer

• Recognize the Presence of God

• Make a Plan of Life

• Make Your Work a Way to Heaven

Holiness for Everyone! will inspire you as it sets your feet on the path to sainthood.

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"Eric Sammons shows that St. Josemaría has recovered the most powerful truth of classic Christianity and restated it in a way that is compelling for men and women of our time" - Scott Hahn

2012 Holds Multiple Anniversaries for Opus Dei

By Jim Graves in National Catholic Reporter

The beginning of each of the past three decades has brought about a significant event for Opus Dei, whose mission is to promote holiness among laypeople as they go about their daily work.

In 1982, Pope John Paul II approved changing the organization’s status from a secular institute to a personal prelature. In 1992, Opus Dei’s founder, Msgr. Josemaria Escriva, was beatified, and, in 2002, he was canonized. As the prelature celebrates the anniversaries of each of these major events, it continues to enjoy steady growth and have far-reaching influence as it goes about its mission.

Pope Benedict XVI has long supported the unique apostolate of Opus Dei. Upon St. Josemaria’s canonization, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed the belief that the saint’s message helped correct an erroneous idea of sanctity — that holiness was reserved only for “the great.”

More recently, Pope Benedict told the head of Opus Dei, 79-year-old Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, “When you foster the eagerness for personal sanctity and the apostolic zeal of your priests and laypeople, not only do you see the flock that has been entrusted to you grow, but you provide an effective help to the Church in her urgent evangelization of present-day society.”

Opus Dei (which is Latin for “Work of God”) was founded by a young Father Escriva in 1928, and it was approved by Pope Pius XII in 1950. Today, it has 90,000 members in 60 countries, including 3,000 in the United States. Typical elements of its apostolate include evenings of recollection, retreats, spiritual direction and religious-education classes. Opus Dei members also oversee schools, including the respected IESE Business School, the graduate school of management at the University of Navarra in Spain. IESE recently opened up a campus in New York.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/2012-holds-multiple-anniversaries-for-opus-dei/#ixzz1uXOBGQtE