Find God in Everyday Things

    St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei (“Work of God”), taught that extraordinary holiness can be found in ordinary circumstances: “Everything that is done for love becomes beautiful and grand” in God’s eyes. Want the surest way to sainthood? St. Josemaria said to make every moment holy:

  Sanctifying Work: “Carry out the little duties of each moment,” and put all your heart, mind, skill, and love into what you do. When we offer our tasks (the “raw material”) to God’s grace, He gives them infinite value. For example, activities—especially unpleasant ones—can be offered for our own or others’ intentions. This is one way to dedicate daily activities to God.

  Sanctifying Moments: Find the “Divine hidden in the most ordinary situations.” God uses moments that are difficult, tedious, or just beyond our abilities to conform us to Christ. Jesus spent most of His earthly life working and leading a holy but often ordinary life. With His grace, we grow in patience, perseverance, humility, compassion, and gratitude by meeting ordinary moments with extraordinary virtue.

  Sanctifying Attitude: When we are patient with others, take praise and criticism well, and avoid jealousy, gossip, and dishonestly, we demonstrate that we belong to Christ. Our work becomes God’s work. We become, slowly but surely, “a saint, seemingly like everyone else around him, but deeply identified with Jesus Christ.”