"Furrow"

St. Josemaría Escrivá

Furrow contains 1000 points for meditation, arranged in 33 chapters on human virtues — generosity, cheerfulness, daring, struggle, sincerity, loyalty, work, the will, purity, responsibility, and more.

The title is agricultural: a furrow is the deep groove cut by a plow, preparing soil to receive seed.

"My reader and friend, let me help your soul contemplate the human virtues, for grace works upon nature. May we profit by them so that in our lives our deeds may leave behind a deep and fertile furrow."

Your life is meant to cut a furrow — to leave a mark, to prepare the ground for the Gospel.


I. What You Really Need

"To be happy, what you need is not an easy life but a heart which is in love."

"Begin by feeding that truth into your own heart, which will be perpetually restless, as Saint Augustine wrote, for as long as you don't place it entirely in God."

The world sells comfort. Christ offers love — harder, but the only path to real happiness.

"There are many who feel unhappy, just because they have too much of everything."

Discussion: Where have you been chasing comfort instead of love? What would change if you stopped looking for an easy life?


II. The Struggle and the Will

"Nunc coepi! — now I begin! This is the cry of a soul in love which, at every moment, whether it has been faithful or lacking in generosity, renews its desire to serve — to love! — our God with a wholehearted loyalty."

Every day is a fresh start. Nunc coepi — "Now I begin" — was one of St. Josemaría's favorite phrases. No matter how many times you've failed, begin again.

"You fight without fighting, without the desire of an authentic positive improvement. I wish to remind you of the clear words of the Holy Spirit: only those who fight legitime — genuinely, in spite of everything — will be crowned."

"If your imagination bubbles over with thoughts about yourself and creates fanciful situations... Do not leave off the practice of interior mortification for even a single day!"

Discussion: Where are you fighting without really fighting? What would it look like to say "Now I begin" today?


III. Cheerfulness and Fortitude

"Nobody is happy on earth until he decides not to be."

"Servite Domino in laetitia! — I will serve God cheerfully. With a cheerfulness that is a consequence of my Faith, of my Hope and of my Love."

"Personal sanctity is a remedy for everything! That is why the saints have been full of peace, of fortitude, of joy, of security…"

Christianity is not sullen. The enemies of Christ expect believers to be gloomy — don't prove them right.

"We give you thanks, Lord, because you have chosen to count on our cheerful, very happy lives to erase that false caricature."

"This cheerful crusade of manliness will move even shrivelled or rotten hearts, and raise them to God."

Discussion: Is your faith marked by joy or grimness? What steals your cheerfulness?


Closing Challenge

"You run the great risk of being satisfied with living 'like a good boy,' who stays in a cosy and neat house, with no problems. That is a caricature of the home in Nazareth. Because Christ brought happiness and order, he went out to spread those treasures among men and women of all times."

Don't settle for a tidy, comfortable faith. Christ went out. So must you.

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