Customer Reviews

The Way, Furrow, The Forge (Single Volume Edition)

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I have also been continuing my research into Opus Dei, this past week I read Josemaria Escriva's The Way, Furrow and The Forge. Each of these three volumes are collections of thoughts, pense's musings and meditations. They can be read from beginning to end or randomly opened and read just as you find them. Some of the reflections will require more thought and work them. Some examples that particularly grabbed my attention are:

"As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of its peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace."
-Furrow #836

"Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity ... and, in the words of the scriptures, God will vomit out the lukewarm."
-The Way #325

"When I made you a present of that life of Jesus, I wrote in it this inscription: `May you seek Christ, may you find Christ, may you love Christ. These are three very distinct steps. Have you at least tried to live the first?"
-The Way #382

"Each day be conscious of your duty to e a saint. A saint! And that doesn't mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end."
-The Forge #60

"Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you: have the will to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do not leave any out."
-The Forge #82

I have previously reviewed each of these separately, yet the value and importance of this combined edition deserves another post. The greatest asset of this combined edition is you have the 3 most famous works by St. Josemaria Escriva in a nice neat combined edition. The individual mini editions may be slightly more portable but in this edition you have it all. The greatest advantage of this 3 in 1 edition is the combined indexes, you have a single index and can search all three books, in either the Subject Index or the Scripture Index. This book is an invaluable tool for spiritual growth!

The Way
Josemaria Escriva
Various Individual Editions

This is one of three great little books by Josemaria Escriva's The Way, Furrow and The Forge. Each of these three volumes are collections of thoughts, pense's musings and meditations. They can be read from beginning to end or randomly opened and read just as you find them. Some of the reflections will require more thought and work then others. Some examples that particularly grabbed my attention are:

"Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity ... and, in the words of the scriptures, God will vomit out the lukewarm."
#325

"When I made you a present of that life of Jesus, I wrote in it this inscription: 'May you seek Christ, may you find Christ, may you love Christ. These are three very distinct steps. Have you at least tried to live the first?"
#382

"Fight against that weakness which makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of lukewarmness... and, in the words of the Scripture, God will vomit the lukewarm out of his mouth."
#325


Each of these three little books will help you grow deeper in the Christian life. They will challenge you every time you pick them up and read. I have gotten to the point that I always carry one of them with me, and while waiting for a ride, or before class, or in any spare moment open it and read, and through that reading I pray. Through that prayer I hope to become a better Christian and a better person.

Furrow
Josemaria Escriva
Various Individual Editions

This is one of three great little books by Josemaria Escriva's The Way, Furrow and The Forge. Each of these three volumes are collections of thoughts, pense's musings and meditations. They can be read from beginning to end or randomly opened and read just as you find them. Some of the reflections will require more thought and work then others. Some examples that particularly grabbed my attention are:

"As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of its peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace."
#836

"Prayer is the humility of the man who acknowledges his profound wretchedness and the greatness of God. He addresses and adores God as one who expects everything from Him and nothing from himself. Faith is the humility of the mind which renounces its own judgement and surrenders to the verdict and authority of the Church. Obedience is the humility of the will which subjects itself to the will of another, for God's sake. Chastity is the humility of the flesh, which subjects itself to the spirit. Exterior mortification is the humility of the senses. Penance is the humility of all the passions, immolated to the Lord. Humility is truth on the road of the ascetic struggle."
#259

"Being faithful to God demands a struggle. And it means close combat, man to man - the old man against the man of God - in one small thing after another, without giving in."
#126

Each of these three little books will help you grow deeper in the Christian life. They will challenge you every time you pick them up and read. I have gotten to the point that I always carry one of them with me, and while waiting for a ride, or before class, or in any spare moment open it and read, and through that reading I pray. Through that prayer I hope to become a better Christian and a better person.

The Forge
Josemaria Escriva
Various Individual Editions

This is one of three great little books by Josemaria Escriva's The Way, Furrow and The Forge. Each of these three volumes are collections of thoughts, pense's musings and meditations. They can be read from beginning to end or randomly opened and read just as you find them. Some of the reflections will require more thought and work then others. Some examples that particularly grabbed my attention are:

"Each day be conscious of your duty to e a saint. A saint! And that doesn't mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end."
#60

"Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you: have the will to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do not leave any out."
#82

"To die is a good thing. How can anyone with faith be, at the same time, afraid to die? But as long as the Lord wants to keep you here on earth, it would be cowardice for you to want to die. You must live, live and suffer and work for Love: that is your task."
#1037

Each of these three little books will help you grow deeper in the Christian life. They will challenge you every time you pick them up and read. I have gotten to the point that I always carry one of them with me, and while waiting for a ride, or before class, or in any spare moment open it and read, and through that reading I pray. Through that prayer I hope to become a better Christian and a better person.

(I have the 3 in 1 edition, the Hard Cover Centenary Complete Works of St. Josemaria Escriva and the Mini Editions. I use all 3 and find there are advantages to each.)

A wonderful spiritual check list for life. Saint Josemaria Escriva has left a handbook for life. A little reading each day keeps the mind in order and encourages meditation.

This book is a great gift for all Roman Catholics, not just Opus Dei members.
St. Josemaría's "The Way" is one of the most successfull spiritual books in the history of the Church. It's a collection of 999 inspiring thoughts and considerations, collected in different chapters like "The Church", "Piety", "Character" etc.
After this saints's death, two other books were released in the same style like "The Way".
Now you can get them all in one pocket-book, at an attractive price, and in a very well-styled edition, in onor of St. Josemaría Escrivá's 100th birthday in 2002, the same year when Pope John Paul II canonised this great modern apostle.

These are the three books Bl. Josemaria Escriva wrote that contain short spiritual counsels.

Each counsel is concise and insightful. Bl. Josemaria reaches to root of what troubles us spiritually, and challenges us to conform our life to God's plan for our life. He also teaches us that every little thing we do in our life -- work, sport, leisure -- can be done well for the greater glory of God, and offered as prayer.

This presented an important spiritual awakening for me, since before reading this book I tended to compartmentalize my prayer life. What is also unique about this book is that the insights are broken down into short sentences. The longest insight is no more than two paragraphs. Thus this book can be carried around with ease, and meditated upon during a spare minute or two during the day.

I don't know any Catholic who has read this book and not become more fervent in their faith.

As you are reading these mediation's on such topics as Prayer, Humilty & Hypocrisy you can feel the gentle presence of Father Escriva as he guides you on the path to Christ through repentance & self awareness. Setup in the style of sentences for reflection ,you will learn something new about yourself and your faith at each reading. The book is also made in a small portable format with 2 gold ribbons. I also highly recommend Christ Is Passing by and Friends of God: Homilies by Josemaria Escriva.

This book challenges you when you read it. You do really have to meditate after each of his thoughts to try to fully understand what the author intended when he wrote the thought. I personally believe every person's faith is different and molded by life events around them. There are obvious "passages" that you can quickly identify with as your own, but also numerous thoughts that you have to remember how Escriva grew up in order to understand, and especially remember his role during the Spanish Civil War when priests were murdered in the streets and his own parish had their church burned to the ground. It is a very inspiring book, and while you may not agree with every thing he has written, it does make you want to become a better person of faith which I think is why he wrote his thoughts down in the first place.

This is an extremely helpful book in the spiritual life, as mentioned in the other comments. I would like to quickly comment on its extreme usefulness in the sanctification of ordinary life.

St. Josemaria does not offer anything in this book that is revolutionary, new or controversial. St. Josemaria shows the basics for the spiritual life according to the unchanging doctrine of the Church. This can be seen in its faithfulness to the Magisterium, the Church, the Saints and also its rich usage of Sacred Scripture.

The most useful aspect of the book for me in my spiritual life has been the subject index in the back. Whenever I have a specific problem (ie. temptations, charity, temperance, foritude, etc...), I can look it up in the index and find a vast array of quotes from the three books that pierce the heart of the issue I am looking up. There are so many times that I have been struggling over a specific issue and, after reading what this great saint has to say about it, I am filled with such a renewed resolution to do better and strive for sanctity.

I gave it as a present to the priest of our parish after the baptism of our daughter! I couldn't have thought in a better gift! I myself enjoy this book a lot as a personal meditation guide!

Really 3 books in one small paper-back book. I use it daily, and the readings, numbered 1 through 1055, are food and prayer for mind and heart!