I recently began reading The Way, by St. Josemaria Escriva. This book provides short points on how one should advance their spiritual lives and how their overall dispositions as people should be.
Point number 18 out of 999, says “You go on being worldly, frivolous and giddy because you are a coward. What is it, if not cowardice, to refuse to face yourself?”. This quotation so clearly defines the objective of all people. The objective is to figure out who you are as a person, and what it is that you can bring to the table of the Catholic Church. Every individual possesses different gifts and talents, and all of them are useful and necessary.
St. Josemaria makes it clear that these gifts and talents will never be discovered if one does not have the courage to face the big questions.
Who are you?
What do you love to do?
What is the Lord telling you?
These are just some of the many questions that life seeks to answer if we wish to live our lives in a fruitful way.
This quotation is not just a statement about cowards, but it is a call to action! It is a call to all Christians to look inside themselves to find the answers they are looking for. There are 999 total points in this book, and on the 18th there is already something extraordinary. This is not to discredit the others, but to add credit to how many amazing and helpful points are within this text. The idea that I have grasped from this book upon reading the first few points and especially up to the 18th, is that this book does not mess. This book gives us the same idea of our faith, and how we should take it. It should be nothing less than the most important thing in our lives, and it will ultimately provide the answers that we all see. As Catholics, we are called to be fruitful in our endeavors for the greater glory of God, and to pull others out of darkness and cowardice and into the light. In order to do this, we all must find the courage to face ourselves.
