My kind of guy

I came across some of the writings of St. Josemaria Escrivá. Although I had heard of him, I was (and remain) largely unfamiliar with his work. Well, lo and behold -- I have found a modern counterpart to my pithy favorite, St. Teresa of Ávila. I offer for your pleasure several of his sayings which will continue to do me good:

• Diamonds are polished with diamonds, and souls with souls.
  
• If you abandon prayer, you may at first live on spiritual reserves and, after that, by cheating.
  
• A disciple of Christ will never treat anyone badly. Error he will call error, but the person in error he will correct with kindliness. Otherwise he will not be able to help him, to sanctify him. We must learn to live together, to understand one another, to make allowances, to be brotherly and, at all times, in the words of St John of the Cross, ‘where there is no love, put love and you will find love’.
  
• You are unwilling, are you? Well, try to become willing. And let that be the end of it.
  
• As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, your soul is robbed of its peace just as consent to impurity destroys grace.
  
• Meditate upon this carefully and act accordingly -- people who think you are unpleasant will stop thinking that when they realize that you really like them. It is up to you.

And, being fond as I am of saintly humor, I will leave you with this delightful anecdote found at www.josemaria.info:

On one occasion, St. Josemaría and some fellow priests were being driven erratically around Madrid by an inexperienced driver called Caesar. The passengers were petrified, especially when the car swerved off the road, travelled along the pavement for a few yards and finally collided with a lamp post.

In the silence that followed, Josemaria's voice was heard: "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant!" ("Hail, Caesar, we who are about to die salute you!").