Finding God in Everyday Life

Finding God in all things. Aside from Saint Ignatius, one of the Church's best examples of faithfully epitomizing this motto was Saint Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei.

Opus Dei, or the Work of God, is a group of Catholic men and women who dedicate themselves to Christ while actively being involved in the world, as businessmen, teachers, professionals, workers, even athletes. Through the years, the Opus Dei has produced many venerable examples proving that living the ordinary life can merit sainthood as well.

In one of the fastest canonization processes in the Church, Josemaria Escriva was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.

I suddenly remembered Saint Josemaria, because in a week's time, another school year begins in the Philippines. I'll be dressed once again in the white uniform of a medical student at the University of the Philippines. A stethoscope shall once again be hanging on my shoulders, a nameplate pinned on my vest pocket. Again, my responsibilities as editor of the college newspaper, as member of a Greek-letter organization, and as a devoted son to my family amid a very busy schedule shall once again remind me of the need to find God in all things.

This summer vacation somehow proved to me the strength of the call that I have perceived since that fateful morning almost 8 years ago. I have witnessed before my very eyes an ordination, a perpetual profession of vows, and, especially, the happiness that a vocation brings to the ones being called.

In all these experiences, I still don't understand why, but I actually imagined myself being in those situations. At the moment the priests were laying hands on the candidates for ordination, I felt suddenly I was there. At the moment the candidates for perpetual profession vowed before the Holy Eucharist, I suddenly saw myself pronouncing my own vows, in my native language.

I have been given the chance to mingle with people who perceive the same call as I have, and some may have chosen to follow it concretely, although some, like me, have chosen to work or study some more and finish the things that their families are calling them to do.

These encounters and experiences may have inspired me, but I do pray that when the time comes that I may be able to concretely follow the call, I may be able to attain that "holy perseverance," as Fr. Ramon Bautista, SJ, novice master of the Philippine Jesuit novitiate, said in his homily at the Vow Day mass yesterday.

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Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.

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credits, picture of Saint Josemaria: http://www.oremosjuntos.com/Santoral/Junio26.html