Customer Reviews

The Way

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

As a seminarian, I have found this book to be a great aid to my spiritual life. Blessed Josemaria Escriva shows us how to take the common everyday events of our lives, and use them to help us advance in holiness as well as in love of God and of neighbour.

This book is very much in harmony with the Second Vatican Council. Blessed Josemaria preached that holiness is not merely reserved for the clergy and the religious (nuns and religious brothers), but for everyone. One of the things that Vatican II taught is the universal call to holiness. All of us, no matter what state of life we are called to be, whether it is as priest or religious, single person or married couple, are called to live holy lives. This book understands that message and proclaims it.

In the current atmosphere of mushy religion and sacchriney spiritual sentiment, it is refreshing to read a book of prayer and wisdom that so forcefully compels the reader to live a truly Catholic lifestyle. This is not for the weak, only the strong--it is meant for true men willing to reform their lives, turn away from the bondage of sin, and come home to Christ and Mother Church.

It changed my life, and it will change yours, too (if you're strong enough)!

I bought this because I was interested in Opus Dei. I am a devout Catholic and was interested in becoming a member of this group, and wanted to know more. Their website isn't much help - little information is contained there. I kept reading (from non-Church sources) that they are basically a secret cult within the Church, and when I tried to contact them they said I had to live near one of their main centers (Houston, D.C., etc.) in order to become a member. So, I bought "The Way", written by the founder of Opus Dei.

Josemaria Escriva was a Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei in the 1930's, and after a few decades it became an enormously powerful and wealthy organization. They are now a personal prelature of the Church, and I still haven't found a good definition of what that is. There are plenty of anti-Catholic conspiracy theorists out there, and I don't want to add fuel to their fires, but it strikes me that perhaps some of the things I've heard about Opus Dei are true - that it's basically a secret society, that you don't know what you're getting into until you're in it, and that once you're in they try a little too hard to keep you in. I love The Church and am devoted to it, but I don't doubt that the above is true.

If "The Way" is anything to judge by, Father Escriva was a pretty odd and fierce guy. For one thing, the book is merely a collection of random thoughts, basically grouped into chapters such as "Prayer" or "Character". Within each chapter are a few dozen little one or two sentence epithets. Some are as long as a paragraph. Most of them are profoundly un-inspiring. I would say only about half of them mention Christ. Some of them are worth remembering, thus the 2 star rating, but many of them are basically no more than this sort of thing (I paraphrase): "You are lazy and foolish...when are you going to get it together and get on with your life?" Or something cheerful like "No matter how hard you try, you can still do more." It reads like a bitter, barely literate "Dao De Ching", except that the Dao is much more inspiring, even though it isn't Christian. I read them and just scratched my head...was this guy serious? I think part of the problem may well be that they are poorly translated from Spanish. The English syntax is poor, the punctuation irregular, and often the meanings of many sentences are completely opaque. There are sentence fragments that leave you scratching your head. One of the epithets really stumped me. "Are there no real men left? Why do we have nothing but...bellies?" I didn't know what to make of that one. And I didn't know what to make of dozens of others. All in all the book left me feeling foolish and confused. I felt as though I was being yelled at by someone with a poor command of English.

If his writing is anything to go by, I don't think Father Escriva was a terribly erudite man. It's quite easy to toss off a little book like this. With random disjointed thoughts, you don't need to even construct a decent paragraph, or develop an argument, or a complex point. You can just throw verbal cream pies at your reader. All of which gives me the funny feeling, at the back of my brain, that Opus Dei is really pretty weird after all. I do not intend to look further into joining them, nor do I intend to read any more of this man's writing. I don't doubt his sanctity. But with all the wonderful, uplifting Catholic writing out there (Aquinas, Augustine, etc.) why would I spend my time on an oddity like this? I don't see how you could start a movement like Opus Dei based on the thought contained in here, unless the movement really ISN'T based on the thought here but reather something else, which I fear may be the truth of the matter.

This is probably the most helpful book I have ever "taken to my prayer". It is a series of 999 "points", really a series of aphorisms, observations and questions about various aspects of the spiritual life. It is organized into a number of chapters, concerning a range of topics, including the Mass, prayer, study, etc. It is also very well-indexed, if you are looking for inspiration on a topic not covered specifically by the chapters. If you are having difficulty in prayer, particularly in focusing in on specific difficulties, or in simply staying concentrated and focused, this book is an excellent resource.

This is the first of three books Bl. Josemaria Escriva wrote of short spiritual counsels. It is also the only one published during his lifetime, and it is considered the greatest work he wrote. Why?

It 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 I 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.

A beautiful book. While some may feel uneasy, perhaps it is because this book is able to provide a light to shine onto their own life which they don't want to see.

Passages are moving and humbling after you read them.

Its perfect to take to Mass with you and look over them as you prepare yourself for the Eucharist.

It makes a GREAT gift for anyone! Especially devout Catholics, if they don't have it already!

This little book (small enough to carry in a pocket) has 999 spiritual directives, organized according to their subject. This organization, PLUS the subject index, enables the reader to quickly find something that is of particular interest.
There just aren't adequate words to describe how inspiring this book can be, if you give it - but more accurately YOURSELF - a full chance to receive and ingrain it's benefits. It's phenomenally, power packed with inspiration and direction !
Although it can be read relatively quickly it's the sort of book that is more likely to give the reader the maximum possible benefit if read slowly, with meditative pauses when something strikes one with particular emphasis.
Although much attention is paid to the individual's interior life there is also a great deal of direction provided for various ways of reaching out to our fellow man.
So ..... to summize ..... I, very strongly, recommend this book ! It really is the sort of book that you'd be apt to read repeatedly, and ingrain it's directives into your daily life.

The most helpfull catholic book I have read, with short and direct comments that help to the spiritual life

Even when The Way is a book that you can use as spiritual reading, it is better to help us make mental prayer, all the thougts are according to the Catholic Church Doctrine.It includes the innovative concept of sanctifing our own work, offering it to God, sanctifing ourselves through our work and sanctifing " others " through our work,that is the essence of the apostolate in the midst of the world.