The Way (Camino) by Josemaría Escrivá: The 1934 Book of Spiritual Points That Became a Worldwide Bestseller
By 1933, Josemaría Escrivá had long experience of spiritual direction. His words had led many people to live a Christian life in the middle of the world, remaining what they were and had always been. That is how The Way (Camino) was born.
Author: St Josemaría Escrivá (1902–1975), founder of Opus Dei
Title: The Way (Camino; first edition 1934 as Consideraciones espirituales, 1939 as Camino)
Format: English paperback (Image / PRH Christian Publishing), 225 pages
Scope: Short points for prayer and meditation
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0385518293 (ASIN 0385518293)
Notes From a Life of Prayer
The author gathered a small part of his notes: considerations that arose in prayer or spiritual reading, fragments of letters he wrote or received, thoughts born from reading and meditating on Sacred Scripture. The result is a book of short, numbered points, each one a few lines long, meant to be read slowly and taken into prayer.
An Unexpected Bestseller
It was first published in 1934, and its undeniable success has made it a book translated into dozens of languages. No one could have foreseen that a book about spiritual matters and prayer would become a worldwide bestseller, but its direct, personal tone has kept it in print for nearly a century.
How to Read It
The Way is not a book to read from cover to cover in one go. Most readers keep it at hand and read a few points a day, which is exactly how it was written: brief, pointed reflections for ordinary people in ordinary life.
Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Points
The book contains 999 numbered points, grouped into short chapters with titles such as Character, Prayer, Work, Humility and Perseverance. Some points are a single sentence; others run to a short paragraph. Many are written in the second person, as if the author were speaking directly to the reader, and the tone can be strikingly blunt: encouragement mixed with challenges to laziness, vanity or half-heartedness. That directness is a large part of why it reads so differently from most devotional books.
From Cuenca to the World
A first version, Consideraciones espirituales, was printed in Cuenca in 1934. Escrivá expanded it in the following years, partly during the Spanish Civil War, and the definitive book appeared as Camino in Valencia in 1939. It soon spread beyond Spain along with Opus Dei itself, and translations followed into many languages. Escrivá died in 1975 and was canonised by John Paul II in 2002; two further collections of points in the same style, Furrow and The Forge, were published after his death.
The Core Message
What links the points is the idea at the heart of Opus Dei: that holiness is not only for priests and religious, but for anyone, in the middle of ordinary work and family life. The book asks the reader to turn daily duties, small sacrifices and professional effort into prayer. Whatever one’s view of the institution, the text offers a clear window onto a spirituality that has influenced millions of Catholics.
A Practical Suggestion
Many readers find it helpful to choose one point in the morning and come back to it during the day. Others read a whole chapter on a particular theme when they need it. Because each point stands alone, it also works well as a source of short texts for personal reflection or group discussion.
A pencil helps: many readers mark the points that speak to them and return to those.
Who Is It For?
Christians looking for a short daily text for prayer, and anyone curious about the spirituality of Opus Dei. The Image edition is a compact, affordable English translation.
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