St. Josemaria on justice, poverty, and civic responsibility

Teachings of St. Josemaria on education and civic responsibility. Taken from St. Josemaria.info


“A man or a society that does not react to suffering and injustice and makes no effort to alleviate them is still distant from the love of Christ's heart.” (Christ is passing by, 167).

“That is what our entire life is, my daughters and sons —a service with exclusively spiritual aims, because Opus Dei is not, and will never be —nor could it be—a tool for temporal ends. But at the same time, it is also a service to mankind, because all you are doing is trying in an upright way to achieve Christian perfection, acting most freely and responsibly in all the areas of the civil life.” (Opus Dei in the Church, p. 107).

Opus Dei must be present “wherever there is poverty, wherever there is unemployment, wherever there is sadness, wherever there is pain, so that the pain is borne with cheerfulness, so that the poverty disappears, so that the unemployment is overcome.” (In A glance toward the future from the heart of of Vallecas, Madrid, 1998, p. 135. Words from October 1, 1967.)

“We try to bring about a world with less poverty, less ignorance, more justice. I will tell you that the first means is prayer, self-sacrifice, which you can do in your work, doing it well.” (In A glance toward the future from the heart of Vallecas, Madrid, 1998, p. 138. Words from October 1, 1967)

“It is easy to understand the impatience, anxiety and uneasiness of people whose naturally Christian soul stimulates them to fight the personal and social injustice which the human heart can create... I understand and share this impatience. It stirs me to look at Christ, who is continually inviting us to put his new commandment of love into practice.” (Christ is passing by, 111).