Words from Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, published 12 years before Escriba/Escriva claims to have “seen” that God was asking him to found Opus Dei as a reminder that sanctity is not only for the religious but for the laity also:
There is another definition of what a Saint is. It is this: One who, with the object of pleasing God, does his ordinary duties extraordinarily well. (index)(…)
Every person that is born is called to be a Saint. Take it as most certain that you – no matter how unfitted your life may seem for holiness – are being given graces sufficient, if corresponded with, to bring you to sanctity. (…) [N]othing beyond our strength is expected; neither is sanctity the exclusive property of any grade or manner of life. Among the Saints canonised by the Church are kings and beggars, and representatives of every trade, slaves, hermits, city people, mothers of families, invalids, soldiers, and persons of every race and colour.
(…)
As half of our waking day is spent in toil, the need for rightly understanding the dignity and sanctity of labour is evident. It comes to this, that our work, whatever it may be, as seamstress, labourer, teacher, doctor or farmer was given to us by God as a means of sanctification and as a penance for our sins. Thus it is the foundation of our spiritual life. He who neglects his work and yet thinks, because he says many prayers, that he is leading a holy life, deludes himself. (Can we be saints by Frank Duff)
