For spiritual reading, my son has been using St.

Josemaría’s three famous books of

aphorisms — The Way, The Furrow, and The Forge — and has taken pleasure in
sharing with me some wonderful remarks on liturgy and the virtues it forms in the
soul. It is obvious from reading the remarks that they emerge out of the rich
spirituality of the traditional Mass and the healthy phase of the Liturgical Movement.
Modern-day members and supporters of Opus Dei would benefit from rediscovering
this important side of their founder and his life of prayer.[2]

Some sayings from his most famous book, The Way:

Your prayer ought to be liturgical. Would that you were given to reciting the psalms
and prayers of the missal instead of private or special prayers!  (#86)
Show veneration and respect for the holy liturgy of the Church and for its
ceremonies. Observe them faithfully. Don’t you see that, for us poor humans, even
what is greatest and most noble enters through the senses? (#522)
The Church sings, it has been said, because just speaking would not satisfy its desires
for prayer. You, as a Christian — and a chosen Christian — should learn to sing the
liturgical chant. (#523)
“Let’s burst into song!” said a soul in love, after seeing the wonders that our Lord was
working through his ministry. And the same advice I give to you: Sing! Let your
grateful enthusiasm for your God overflow into joyous song. (#524)
That woman in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany, anointing the Master’s head
with precious ointment, reminds us of the duty to be generous in the worship of
God. All the richness, majesty and beauty possible would seem too little to
me. And against those who attack the richness of sacred vessels, of vestments and
altars, we hear the praise given by Jesus: “opus enim bonum operata est in me”—“she
has done me a good turn.” (#527)
A very important characteristic of the apostolic man is his love for the Mass. (#528)
“The Mass is long,” you say, and I add: “Because your love is short.” (#529)
You saw me celebrate the holy Mass on a plain altar— table and stone, without a
reredos. Both Crucifix and candlesticks were large and solid, with wax-candles of
graded height, sloping up towards the Cross. The frontal, of the liturgical colour of
the day. A sweeping chasuble. The chalice, rich, simple in line, with a broad cup. No
electric light, nor did we miss it. And you found it difficult to leave the oratory: you
felt at home there. — Do you see how we are led to God, brought closer to
him, by the rigour of the liturgy? (#543)
In the Holy Mass and the Liturgy all the affections and needs of a Christian's heart find their best
channel: through Christ the Mass and the Liturgy of the Church leads us perfectly to the Father in the
Holy Spirit. The priest should make a special effort to ensure that people know this and put it into
practice. No other activity should, normally, take precedence over this task of teaching people to
love and venerate the Holy Eucharist and the Church’s liturgy.
From The Forge:

By a process of assimilation we should make these words of Jesus our

own: Desiderio desideravi hoc Pascha manducare vobiscum, I have longed and

1
longed to eat this Passover with you. There is no better way to show how great
is our concern and love for the Holy Sacrifice than by taking great care
with the least detail of the ceremonies the wisdom of the Church has laid
down. This is for Love: but we should also feel the need to become like Christ, not
only inside ourselves but also in what is external. We should act, on the wide
spaciousness of the Christian altar, with the rhythm and harmony which obedient
holiness provides, uniting us to the will of the Spouse of Christ, to the Will of Christ
himself. (#833)
We should receive Our Lord in the Eucharist as we would prepare to receive the great
ones of the earth, or even better: with decorations, with lights, with new clothes…
And if you ask me what sort of cleanliness I mean, what decorations and what lights
you should bring, I will answer you: cleanliness in each one of your senses,
decoration in each of your powers, light in all your soul. (#834)
I understood you very well when you confessed to me: I want to steep myself in
the liturgy of the Holy Mass. (#644)
From Furrow:

A great response to the urge, the fever, the panic almost, to modernize and be
relevant — a fool’s errand which always ends with a path of destruction in its wake:

Is the idea of the Catholic Liturgy of old and therefore unacceptable? The
sun is older and has not lost its light; water is more ancient and it still
quenches the thirst and refreshes us. (#937)

ADDENDUM

Here are some statements of eerie relevance to the past three years:

Although it seems a paradox, those who call themselves sons of the Church may often
be precisely those who sow greater confusion. (Furrow, #360)
Always have the courage — the humility, the desire to serve God — to put forward the
truths of the faith as they are, not allowing any concessions, or ambiguities.
(The Forge, #580)
The conversion of a soul cannot be made easy at the risk of many others possibly
falling away. (Furrow, #966)