Gratisschriften zum katholischen Glauben — Nimm und lies! · Die aufgeführten Schriften besitzen die kirchliche Druckerlaubnis. Sie eignen sich für Schriftenstände, den Unterricht und die Katechese sowie für jede Form von Apostolat.
With a format similar to The Way and Furrow, The Forge is the last published work of St. Josemaria. Reading and meditating on the points in The Forge "will lead many souls to the forge of divine Love and enkindle in them an ardent desire for holiness and apostolate" (from Bishop Alvaro del Portillo's foreword to the book). It was first published in 1987. Almost half a million copies have been sold in 14 different languages.
As the author tells us in his brief preface: "How can I fail to take up your soul-pure gold-and place it in 'the forge,' and fashion it with fire and hammer, until that gold nugget is turned into a splendid jewel to be offered to my God, to your God?"
The Forge contains 1055 points for meditation, arranged in thirteen chapters. Many of these points, written down for the most part in the 1930's by the founder of Opus Dei, refer to events in the author's own life, although they are usually related in the third person.
The book follows the interior itinerary of a Christian as he seeks an ever closer identification with Christ. "The Forge accompanies the soul on the path of its sanctification, from the moment one's Christian vocation is first glimpsed right to the final light of eternity" (Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, Foreword).
Spiritualität
Foreword
Foreword
There was a mother
who, like all mothers,
was passionately fond of her little child,
whom she called
her prince, her king,
her treasure, her very sun.
I thought of you.
And I understood
— for what father does not carry
deep inside some maternal feelings? —
that it was no exaggeration
for that good mother to say:
you are more than a treasure,
you are worth more than the sun itself:
you are worth all Christ’s Blood!
How can I fail to take up your soul
— pure gold —
and place it in the forge,
and fashion it with fire and hammer,
until that gold nugget is turned
into a splendid jewel
to be offered to my God,
to your God?
