Opus Dei is divine filiation, it is a spiritual journey that betters the lives it touches. It is part of the author's life and this was his journey, of how he became a better husband, father,son and friend. Anyone can follow Opus Dei man or woman. The basic criteria have changed little since St.Josemaria founded Opus Dei. Scott Hahn's books are informative and usually detailed. I enjoyed this one as well.

A fascinating, practical introduction to a famous but mostly-misunderstood movement in the Catholic Church. It actually made me want to become a member of The Work!

It is possible to do God's work in your everyday life.

Me quedé con ganas de leer ahora "Camino", que tengo pero no he leido: Muchas de las frases que subrayé de este libro son citas de "Camino".
Me gustó ver este acercamiento de un punto de vista exterior hacia el catolicismo y luego hacia la Obra.

(2,5) Si uno busca un libro sobre el Opus Dei, los hay mejores. Claro que si uno se interesa en el desarrollo de Scott en él, el libro cumple. Pero la historia de conversión de Scott es mucho más interesante en Roma, dulce hogar. Los diferentes aspectos de la espiritualidad del Opus Dei se describen de forma correcta y amena, pero esperaba más del libro.

Great book for those looking to make the hum drumness of life something special and holy.

Estuve 10 años en un colegio del Opus Dei y tengo un recuerdo maravilloso de todos esos años.
Sabía alguna cosa de la creación de la orden y sobretodo la idea ,que siempre me pareció mágica, de que se puede uno santificar con el trabajo de día a día.
Y luego algunas cosas que te van quedando porque te las van repitiendo a lo largo de los años. Pero a pesar de estar encantado en el colegio y de que la idea me parecía maravillosa no me interesé mucho en el Opus Dei. También había una sección nocturna, para aquellos que querían estudiar pero que como trabajaban tenían que estudiar por la tarde/noche. Era gratis y me pareció otra vez una idea estupenda.
Ahora a través de Scott Hahn me he enterado bien de lo que pretendió San José Maria, su pensamiento y sus inspiraciones. Me ha gustado mucho lo de "DIVINE FILIATION"
Que tenemos que no perder de vista y vivir diariamente sabiendo que somos hijos de Dios y que es una maravilla. Y que eso es lo único importante. Y que a partir de ahí viene todo lo demás.
En definitiva, que me ha gustado mucho y que quizá podía haberme interesado más en todos los años que pasé en un colegio del Opus.

I've read other books by Scott Hahn, and sometimes on Monday evenings I listen to him on EWTN. An interesting guy, with an interesting story about his conversion from Protestantism to the Catholic faith. But what about this book? I had trouble reading it, and I can't put my finger on why. I bought this and started it over a year ago, but just couldn't get through it. I recently decided to try again, and this time I made it through. I learned a bit, but I found it a bit too much of his faith journey, which I had already read, and not quite as much about understanding Opus Dei itself.
I heard Scott say on a tv show or radio somewhere, that because he does so many lectures and from his college teaching he has so many class lecture notes, that when it is time to write a book, he just puts his notes together and has a book. I think that is what he did here, and while it is an interesting recap of how Opus Dei influenced him, and how he came to understand the organization from his personal perspective, it is not a book about Opus Dei, and for that I was disappointed.

I gave up. I'm sure it's a decent book but I can't focus on this right now. For Scott Hahn, one needs to be free from distraction :0)

Esse livro é meu primeiro contato com a Opus Dei, é minha mente explodiu com ele. Várias questões em aberto na minha prática da fé católica foram respondidas, e com muito embasamento: há vários trechos da Bíblia citados ou referenciados nessa apresentação.
O principal é ver sentido na lógica por traz dessa instituição. Muitos trechos foram grifados, a ponto de que eu facilmente transformaria em um handbook para consultar de tempos em tempos.
Certamente relerei trechos, e daria de presente para amigos cristãos (católicos ou não) abertos a conhecer essa vertente encantadora da nossa religião.

This is such a wonderful book! It is so rich with insights into Catholic spirituality and theology that I hardly know where to begin. Within these pages, Scott Hahn recounts his first encounter and experience with Opus Dei. It's partly a spiritual memoir, and partly an exposition of what Opus Dei, as an institution and a family, is all about.

I would've filled the pages of this book with markings and notations if it belonged to me. A friend lent it to me a few weeks ago. He invited me to attend Opus Dei recollections and "circle" meetings early this year, and since then I got hooked. I looked forward to attending the recollections every month. It is a source of spiritual strength for me.

The book explains that at the heart of Opus Dei is this truth of "divine filiation" -- we are all God's children. As I've said, this book is packed with so much insights that I'm at a loss where to start. But among all the things that Scott Hahn discussed, this appealed to me the most -- that we can do God's work (opus Dei) here on earth. With our hands, efforts, energies, and activities, we can continue God's work here on earth; we can work hard, we can work well, we can strive for excellence in every area of our lives (in our professional life, in our family life, in our day to day routines, and so on), and we can offer them to God so that He may bless, sanctify, or consecrate our work and our efforts and make them holy, and in the process making us and the people who will be served or touched by our work or service holy. Isn't that an indescribably wonderful and beautiful thing? To think that we can extend God's work here on earth using our own hands! To think that we can save or redeem the world with our ordinary day to day tasks! To think that we have this ability to spread holiness and transformation all around us! So work, no matter how ordinary, tedious, difficult, or seemingly insignificant it may be, is actually a gift, because we can use it as an instrument to sanctify ourselves, other people, and the world. It is similar to the gift possessed by King Midas -- we have the privilege of turning things and people into "gold", but in a supremely good sense.

Because God is perfect, He deserves nothing but the best from us, so we should strive to give excellent work and offer it to Him so that He may bless it.

We can also offer the struggles and the pain we experience in our work to God during the Holy Mass so that they may be united with God's sacrifice of Himself in the Holy Eucharist. Hence, work is not a necessary evil. It is not a punishment from God. It is, rather, a gift that gives us the opportunity to share in Jesus' suffering and sacrifice.

Of course, Opus Dei is founded on Scripture, too, as well as the teachings of the Church Fathers. Thus, it takes seriously this challenge from Scripture of a "universal call to holiness." Its founder, St. Josemaria Escriva, was steeped in Scripture and the writings of the Fathers. He often reminded the faithful that we are all called to become saints, but that we don't have to remove ourselves from the world. We can still become saints wherever we are placed by God. In the midst of the world, at the heart of the "hustle and bustle" of daily life, we can be "contemplatives in action" -- we can be holy and transform the world from within.

I also find this idea of an "apostolate of friendship" very beautiful and appealing. It is a call for discipleship that is based on "handshakes and heart-to-hearts."

And all that is just the tip of the ice berg. There is still much in this book that I cannot now explain. I may have to read it again someday. I highly recommend it!

I'm intrigued to learn about Scott Hahn's relationship with Opus Dei. I admire Hahn's work very much, so this will prove interesting.