Opus Dei is a Catholic institution founded by Saint Josemaría Escrivá. Its mission is to spread the message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others, and for improving society. http://www.opusdei.us/sec.php?s=310 http://www.opusdei.org/img/opusdeirss.gif http://www.opusdei.us/sec.php?s=310 If that dumb devil mentioned in the Gospel gets into your soul, he will spoil everything. On the other hand, if you get rid of him immediately, everything will turn out well; you will carry on merrily, and all will be well. Resolve firmly to be ``savagely sincere'' in spiritual direction (always keeping your good manners) and to be sincere immediately. (The Forge, 127) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19305 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19305 You are worried. Listen: happen what may in your interior life or in the world that surrounds you, never forget that the importance of events or of people is very relative. Take things calmly; let time pass; and then, as you view persons and happenings dispassionately and from afar, you will acquire the perspective that will enable you to see each thing in its proper place and in its true size. If you do this, you will be more objective and you will spare yourself many causes of anxiety. (The Way, 702) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19246 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19246 Tender, soft, flabby...: that's not the way I want you. It's about time you got rid of that peculiar pity you feel for yourself. (The Way, 193) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19245 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19245 A sure way to be humble is to contemplate how, even without talents, fame or fortune, we can be effective instruments if we go to the Holy Spirit so that He may grant us his gifts. The apostles, though they had been taught by Jesus for three years, fled in terror from the enemies of Christ. But after Pentecost they let themselves be flogged and imprisoned, and ended up giving their lives in witness to their faith. (Furrow, 283) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19244 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19244 Be a little child; the greatest daring is always that of children Who cries for... the moon? Who is blind to dangers in getting what he wants? To such a child add much grace from God, the desire to do his Will, great love for Jesus, all the human knowledge he is capable of acquiring, and you will have a likeness of the apostles of today such as God undoubtedly wants them. (The Way, 857) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19243 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19243 In living holy purity and a clean life, there is a great difficulty to which we are all exposed. The danger is one of becoming bourgeois, either in our spiritual life or in our professional life; the danger - also a real one for those called by God to marriage - of becoming dry old bachelors, selfish; people who do not love. Fight that danger tooth and nail, without making concessions of any kind. (The Forge, 89) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19242 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19242 How beautiful is holy purity! But it is not holy, nor pleasing to God, if we separate it from charity. Charity is the seed that will grow and yield rich fruit under the fertile rain of purity. Without charity, purity is barren, and its sterile waters turn the soul into a swamp, into a cesspool from which rises the stench of pride. (The Way, 119) http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19241 http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=19241