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| St. Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises: History & Background | The Spiritual Exercises Welcome Page, Guide & Introduction |
| SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK ONE | SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK TWO |
| SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK THREE | SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK FOUR |
| St. Ignatius and the Spiritual Exercises: History & Background | The Spiritual Exercises Welcome Page, Guide & Introduction |
| SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK ONE | SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK TWO |
| SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK THREE | SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR WEEK FOUR |
FOURTH WEEK
Life After Suffering and Death
Life After Suffering and Death
WEEK 4 : DAY 1
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE OBJECT OF THE FOURTH WEEK &
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE OBJECT OF THE FOURTH WEEK &
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
OBJECT OF THE FOURTH WEEK, AND WHAT IS PECULIAR TO IT
In the fourth week, the soul occupies itself entirely with the love of God, and the desire of a blessed eternity, of which a pledge is given in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The following are the directions proper to this week:
1. In the first, second, and third points of the meditation, you must contemplate the persons, the words, and the actions, as in the preceding week.
In the fourth point, you must consider how the divinity of Jesus Christ, which was as it were hidden during the time of His passion, is manifested in His resurrection, and afterwards declares itself by all kinds of miracles.
In the fifth point, you must remark with what promptitude, what tenderness, and what effusion of heart Jesus Christ deigns to console His faithful followers.
To meditate with fruit on each of these points, you must recall to yourself that we shall participate in the victory and happiness of the Son of God in proportion as we have partaken of His sufferings, as has already been said in the contemplation on the reign of Jesus Christ. It is for this purpose that St. Ignatius proposes to us:
(a) Jesus Christ as glorious and triumphant after His resurrection, in proportion as He had been cast down and humiliated in His death;
(b) The Apostles and disciples as consoled by our Savior, in proportion to their past trials and sufferings.
(2) During this week some change must be made in the “additions” observed during the preceding weeks. Thus:
(a) As soon as you awake you must, in recalling the subject of the meditation, endeavor to unite yourself to the joy of our Savior after His resurrection with His disciples.
(b) You must occupy yourself with all the thoughts that can excite you to spiritual joy, such as celestial glory.
(c) No longer deprive yourself of light or of the sight of Heaven, but profit by whatever the season offers of agreeable, that we may rejoice with our Creator and Savior: in spring, with the appearance of verdure, the flowers, and the fresh rich fields; in winter, with the warmth of the sun or the fire; in a word, with the innocent pleasures of nature. Abstain also from corporal mortifications, and be satisfied with temperance in your repasts, unless there should be some fast or abstinence prescribed by the Church, of which the precepts must always be observed, unless some legitimate reason should dispense with them.
FIRST EXERCISE ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
MEDITATION
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. When our Lord had breathed His last sigh, His body, taken down from the cross, was placed in the sepulcher: His soul descended into Limbo to deliver the souls of the just; then returned to the sepulcher the third day, and withdrew from it His body, which was then united to it never more to be separated. The risen Savior appeared, first, to His blessed Mother, then to the holy women, and at different times to the disciples and Apostles.
Second prelude. Represent to yourself the sepulcher from which Jesus Christ arose, and some of the places that witnessed His apparitions―for example, the road to Emmaus, etc.
Third prelude. Beg the grace to participate in the joy of Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother.
FIRST POINT
The glory of Jesus Christ in-His resurrection
Consider the glory of the Savior in His resurrection, and how faithfully His Father rewards all the sacrifices of His suffering life.
(1) In His passion Jesus Christ had made the sacrifice of His body. We have seen this sacred body scourged and on the cross, only offering to the eye one bleeding wound, and scarce allowing the features of the Son of man to be recognized: “From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein” (Isaias 1:6); “There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness; and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness” (Isaias 53:2). In the resurrection the body of Jesus Christ takes a new life-an immortal life. He is raised in a manner to the nature of spirits; like them He is endowed with agility and impassibility. In the place of that beauty destroyed by His executioners, He is clothed with a splendor surpassing that of the sun. This glory of the body of Jesus Christ is promised to our body also, but on the condition that, after the example of Jesus Christ, we offer up ourselves by penance: “Yet so if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). Let us courageously embrace Christian mortification, of which the following are the three principal degrees:
(a) to suffer patiently all the trials that are independent of our will―for example, sickness, infirmities, the inclemencies of the seasons, etc.;
(b) not to allow our senses any criminal enjoyment;
(c) to resist our senses, whether by imposing voluntary afflictions on them or by refusing them allowable enjoyments.
(2) In His passion Jesus Christ had made the sacrifice of His honor and glory. Before the tribunals and on Calvary we have seen Him, according to the oracle of the prophets, treated as the lowest of men, with the reproach of mankind: “The most abject of men” (Isaias 53:3); “The reproach of risen” (Psalm 21:7). Classed with the wicked: “And was reputed with the wicked” (Isaias 53:12). Loaded with ignominy; trodden under foot like a worm of the Earth, “A worm and no man” (Psalm 21:7). Now, in the resurrection, all is repaired: Jerusalem is filled with the news of His triumph; the judges who condemned Him are confounded; the soldiers, who insulted Him as a seducer and a madman, are the first witnesses of His glory; His disciples and Apostles, who had abandoned Him everywhere, proclaim His resurrection; the angels and the holy souls He has delivered from Limbus bless Him as the Conqueror of death and Hell: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood, and hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests. The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity” (Apocalypse 5:9-12). Conceive a holy contempt for the opinion and esteem of men; place your honor in the hands of God, and know how to make the sacrifice of it to Him when He requires it, being assured that He will faithfully return it to you a hundredfold: “I also suffer; but I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
(3) In His passion Jesus Christ had made the sacrifice of His interior consolations. His soul was steeped in bitterness: in the Garden of Olives we have heard Him cry out, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Matthew 26:38); and on the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34.) Now the time of desolation is passed never to return; His soul enters into possession of a happiness without end; it is inundated with the delights of Paradise, with all the joys of the divinity which is united to Him. Animate your hope by your faith. Recall to yourself that you are called to share this felicity of the Son of God one day in Heaven. And when sacrifices alarm you or trials depress you, say to yourself with the Apostle, “For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
SECOND POINT
The apparitions of Jesus Christ after His resurrection
Consider to whom Jesus Christ appeared, how He appeared, and why He appeared.
(1) To whom Jesus Christ appeared. He appeared:
(a) According to the general opinion, to His blessed Mother; not only on account of the incomparable dignity of Mary, but above all, because no one had participated so much in His sorrows and in the opprobrium of His passion. So Jesus Christ teaches you that you will only participate in His consolations in proportion to your constancy in suffering after His example and for His love.
(b) He appeared next, not to the Apostles, but to Magdalen and the holy women. And why to these holy women? To reward their simplicity and fervour, and to teach you that it is to simple and fervent souls that He is pleased to communicate Himself: “His communication is with the simple” (Proverbs 3:32).
(c) Lastly, He appears to the Apostles; but it is after Peter and John have been to the sepulcher and have merited the grace of seeing our Savior by the zeal of their search. Learn from this that to find Jesus Christ we must seek Him long by prayer and desire. Happy they who know how to draw Jesus Christ to them! Happy they who know how to retain Jesus Christ with them! “It is a great art to know how to converse with Jesus, and to know how to retain Jesus is a greet prudence” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 8).
(2) How Jesus appeared.
All the apparitions of the Savior brought joy and consolation to their souls. He appeared to Mary; and who can express with what a torrent of spiritual delight He inundated her heart? He appeared to Magdalen, saying to her, “Mary;” and this word alone, making Him known, transports and ravishes the soul of Magdalen. He appeared to the Apostles, saying to them, “Peace be with you; and He said to them again, Peace be with you” (John 20:19, 21). And the sight of Him and these words filled all their hearts with joy: “The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20).
Let us learn to recognize by these signs the presence of Jesus Christ, and the characteristics which distinguished the action of His spirit in our souls from the action of the evil spirit. The one announces himself by obscurity, trouble, depression, and agitation; the other, on the contrary, announces Himself by light, peace, interior consolation. Above all, let us know how to profit by the visits of Jesus Christ; and let us not forget that to lose His sensible Trace and the consolation of His presence, it suffices only to bestow too much of our thoughts on exterior things: “You may easily banish Jesus and lose His grace if you give yourself too much to exterior things” (Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 8).
(3) Why Jesus Christ appeared.
For three reasons, which the Gospel indicates to us;-to strengthen the still hesitating faith of the Apostles; to prepare them for an approaching and long separation; to animate them to the sacrifices He is going to ask of them. The interior visits with which Jesus Christ favors souls are for the following purposes. If He honors us with lights and consolations, it is always to impress a greater liveliness on our faith―to prepare us for interior desolation and trials―to animate us for the sacrifices He will soon ask of us in the practice of virtue.
COLLOQUIES
(1) With the holy Virgin. Congratulate her on her happiness, and join in her joy.
Regina Coeli.
(2) With our Lord Jesus Christ. Adore Him in the glory of His resurrection, and consecrate yourself anew to Him as to your Savior and your King.
Prayer―Suscipe
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am, all that I have, Thou hast given me, and I give it back again to Thee, to be disposed of according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace: with these I am rich enough.
WEEK 4 : DAY 2
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE OBJECT OF THE FOURTH WEEK &
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE OBJECT OF THE FOURTH WEEK &
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
SECOND EXERCISE ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
CONTEMPLATION
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. When our Lord had breathed His last sigh, His body, taken down from the cross, was placed in the sepulcher: His soul descended into Limbo to deliver the souls of the just; then returned to the sepulcher the third day, and withdrew from it His body, which was then united to it never more to be separated. The risen Savior appeared, first, to His blessed Mother, then to the holy women, and at different times to the disciples and Apostles.
Second prelude. Represent to yourself the sepulcher from which Jesus Christ arose, and some of the places that witnessed His apparitions―for example, the road to Emmaus, etc.
Third prelude. Beg the grace to participate in the joy of Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother.
FIRST POINT
Contemplate the persons
Represent to yourself Jesus Christ rising gloriously from the tomb; the angel seated on the stone of the sepulcher, of whom it is said in the Gospel, “His countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow” (Matthew 28:3); the guard terrified and taking to flight; the holy women, then the Apostles Peter and John, coming to the sepulcher; Jesus Christ appearing to the holy women; the disciples refusing to believe; Jesus Christ appearing to them several times.
SECOND POINT
Listen to the words
Listen to the angel saying to the holy women: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth; He is not here; He is risen, as He foretold,” etc. To Jesus Christ, appearing to His disciples and addressing words of consolation to them: “Peace be to you. It is I; fear not,” etc.; then explaining to them the mysteries of His passion and of the redemption of men: “Thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again. . . . Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost. . . . All power has been given Me in Heaven and on Earth. . . . Whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth shall be loosed also in Heaven. . . . Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28; Luke 24).
THIRD POINT
Consider the actions
Jesus Christ, after having delivered the souls of the just from Limbus, rises from the tomb through the massive stone which closes up the entrance. The Earth trembles. An angel dazzling with light descends from Heaven, and seats himself on the stone of the sepulcher after having overturned it; the terrified guards run to tell the priests, who bribe them to say that the disciples have carried off the body of their Master. The holy women arrive at the sepulcher, and are seized with terror at the sight of the angel; the celestial spirit reassures them. The Savior appears to them as well as to Peter; soon He shows Himself to His Apostles to console them, instruct them, strengthen them: He bestows upon them His peace.
FOURTH POINT
Consider the Hidden Divinity
Consider how the divinity of Jesus Christ, which was, so to say, hidden during the time of His passion, manifests itself in His resurrection, and is declared by all kinds of miracles.
FIFTH POINT
Consider the tenderness of Jesus
Consider with what loving tenderness, what effusion of heart, Jesus Christ deigns to console His Apostles―like a friend who, knowing the affliction of a friend tenderly loved, hastens to console him. Finish by practical reflections, and say to yourself: If I am now raised to grace, I must, like Jesus Christ, make my resurrection shine for the glory of God and the edification of my brethren. Jesus Christ risen dies no more; I must, then, die no more to grace by sin. Jesus Christ risen made only short apparitions of Himself; I must, then, only appear in the world through necessity, through charity, through courtesy, etc.
COLLOQUIES
(1) With the holy Virgin. Congratulate her on her happiness, and participate in her joy.
Regina Coeli.
(2) With our Lord Jesus Christ. Adore Him in the glory of His resurrection, and renew your consecration to Him as your Savior and your King.
Prayer―Suscipe
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am, all that I have, Thou hast given me, and I give it back again to Thee, to be disposed of according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace: with these I am rich enough.
Pater. Ave.
CONTEMPLATION
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. When our Lord had breathed His last sigh, His body, taken down from the cross, was placed in the sepulcher: His soul descended into Limbo to deliver the souls of the just; then returned to the sepulcher the third day, and withdrew from it His body, which was then united to it never more to be separated. The risen Savior appeared, first, to His blessed Mother, then to the holy women, and at different times to the disciples and Apostles.
Second prelude. Represent to yourself the sepulcher from which Jesus Christ arose, and some of the places that witnessed His apparitions―for example, the road to Emmaus, etc.
Third prelude. Beg the grace to participate in the joy of Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother.
FIRST POINT
Contemplate the persons
Represent to yourself Jesus Christ rising gloriously from the tomb; the angel seated on the stone of the sepulcher, of whom it is said in the Gospel, “His countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow” (Matthew 28:3); the guard terrified and taking to flight; the holy women, then the Apostles Peter and John, coming to the sepulcher; Jesus Christ appearing to the holy women; the disciples refusing to believe; Jesus Christ appearing to them several times.
SECOND POINT
Listen to the words
Listen to the angel saying to the holy women: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth; He is not here; He is risen, as He foretold,” etc. To Jesus Christ, appearing to His disciples and addressing words of consolation to them: “Peace be to you. It is I; fear not,” etc.; then explaining to them the mysteries of His passion and of the redemption of men: “Thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again. . . . Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost. . . . All power has been given Me in Heaven and on Earth. . . . Whatsoever you shall loose upon Earth shall be loosed also in Heaven. . . . Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28; Luke 24).
THIRD POINT
Consider the actions
Jesus Christ, after having delivered the souls of the just from Limbus, rises from the tomb through the massive stone which closes up the entrance. The Earth trembles. An angel dazzling with light descends from Heaven, and seats himself on the stone of the sepulcher after having overturned it; the terrified guards run to tell the priests, who bribe them to say that the disciples have carried off the body of their Master. The holy women arrive at the sepulcher, and are seized with terror at the sight of the angel; the celestial spirit reassures them. The Savior appears to them as well as to Peter; soon He shows Himself to His Apostles to console them, instruct them, strengthen them: He bestows upon them His peace.
FOURTH POINT
Consider the Hidden Divinity
Consider how the divinity of Jesus Christ, which was, so to say, hidden during the time of His passion, manifests itself in His resurrection, and is declared by all kinds of miracles.
FIFTH POINT
Consider the tenderness of Jesus
Consider with what loving tenderness, what effusion of heart, Jesus Christ deigns to console His Apostles―like a friend who, knowing the affliction of a friend tenderly loved, hastens to console him. Finish by practical reflections, and say to yourself: If I am now raised to grace, I must, like Jesus Christ, make my resurrection shine for the glory of God and the edification of my brethren. Jesus Christ risen dies no more; I must, then, die no more to grace by sin. Jesus Christ risen made only short apparitions of Himself; I must, then, only appear in the world through necessity, through charity, through courtesy, etc.
COLLOQUIES
(1) With the holy Virgin. Congratulate her on her happiness, and participate in her joy.
Regina Coeli.
(2) With our Lord Jesus Christ. Adore Him in the glory of His resurrection, and renew your consecration to Him as your Savior and your King.
Prayer―Suscipe
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am, all that I have, Thou hast given me, and I give it back again to Thee, to be disposed of according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace: with these I am rich enough.
Pater. Ave.
WEEK 4 : DAY 3
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN
EXERCISE ON THE BLESSED LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Represent to yourself Our Lord seated on His throne at the right hand of His Father; beside Him the Blessed Virgin; around the throne the angels and the elect.
Second prelude. Beg for an ardent desire of Heaven, and the courage to suffer on Earth with Jesus Christ, that you may one day reign with Him in eternity.
FIRST POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven suffers no more
Consider that Our Lord in Heaven is free from all the trials and pains which He experienced in His mortal life. His body, since His resurrection, is withdrawn from the empire of weakness and death. His soul, inundated with the delights of the divinity united to Him, is henceforward a stranger to sadness and desolation.
In Heaven the Christian, like his Divine Head, will be for ever freed from all bodily pains and from all afflictions of the soul.
(1) In Heaven there are no more infirmities. The body, clothed with the glory of Jesus Christ, will be raised, like that of the Savior, to a state of impassibility: “Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21). In this abode of perfect beatitude the blessed no longer know what it is to suffer and die: “And death shall be no more” (Apocalypse 21:4).
(2) In Heaven there is no more grief or sorrow. “Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more” (Apocalypse 21:4). Here below, what is life but one long unceasing affliction? In Heaven all tears are dried: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:17). They remember past sorrows, but this memory is for the elect a part of their beatitude. Each one of them, like the prophet, applauds his past trials. Each one of them says, Happy tribulations, which are now repaid by an immense weight of glory: “We have rejoiced for the days in which Thou hast humbled us; for the years in which we have seen evils” (Psalm 89:15).
(3) In Heaven there are no more separations. Here below, to poison the sweets of friendship, this thought alone suffices: “How long will the society of these friends, of these relatives so tenderly loved, continue?” But once in the bosom of God, the elect meet to part no more. What joy for a Christian family to meet again, after the long and sad separation of the grave! What joy to be able to say with confidence, “We are again united, and it is for eternity! “
(4) In Heaven there are no more temptations. Here on Earth is for the Christian a struggle of every day and every moment; and in this struggle a continual danger of losing the grace of God, his soul, and eternity. Hence the groans of the saints, who never cease crying out with the prophet, “Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged” (Psalm 119:5); or with the Apostle, “Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24.) The lament of the exile is never heard in this country. There is no longer anything to fear from the world, which has no more illusions; nor from hell, which is conquered; nor from our own hearts, which only live for Divine love. There everything says, as did formerly holy King David, “He hath delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will please the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 114:89).
(5) In Heaven, above all, there is no more sin. Recall what you have meditated on the malice of sin. It is the supreme evil, the one only evil of time and eternity; the sole evil of the creature, the great evil done against God. Banished into hell, sin cannot penetrate into the kingdom of charity. Oh, the happiness of that day, when, entering into Heaven, the elect shall say, My God is now mine, and I am His! “My beloved to me and I to Him” (Canticles 2:16). I am united to Him for ever, and sin can never separate me from Him: “I held Him, and will not let Him go” (Canticles 3:4).
SECOND POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven has no longer anything to desire.
What Our Lord asked of His Father is accomplished: “And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee” (John 17:5). The holy humanity of our Savior is glorified, and His glory is this blessed possession of God, in which His soul loses itself in the plenitude of all good.
To possess God, and in God to possess all good-such is also the bliss which awaits us in Heaven; a sovereign and universal beatitude, which will be the full satisfaction of the entire man.
(1) Beatitude of the senses. The body raised up at the last day and united to the soul, whose servant it was, will partake of its felicity. The ear will not weary of hearing the sacred songs of the elect; the eye will never tire in contemplating the light of Paradise, the splendor of the glorified saints, the sweet majesty of Mary on her throne, the luster of the adorable humanity of Jesus Christ; all the senses will be inebriated with these pure and spiritual pleasures, which appear to belong only to the celestial intelligences: “They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure” (Psalm 35:9).
(2) Beatitude of memory. With what joy will the saints recall the graces they have received from God, the virtues they practiced on Earth! How will a martyr congratulate himself on his sufferings, an apostle on his labors, a confessor on his sacrifices! How each one of the elect will return thanks to God for His mercies! With what an effusion of gratitude and happiness will they say to themselves, On such a day God inspired me to serve Him alone; and it is this inspiration that has led me to Heaven: on such a day God preserved me from this temptation, withdrew me from this occasion or habit of sin! What care His providence took for my salvation! And what had I done to merit that He should save me in preference to so many who are lost for ever?
(3) Beatitude of the intellect. Closely united to God, the intelligence of the elect sees all truth in Him as in a mirror. Suppose the rudest man in the world, the most ignorant of science, enters Heaven; that moment his soul is inundated with lights so vivid that before them the lights of the greatest geniuses are but darkness: it sees God without veil and face to face: and in God sees all things―the wonderful laws that govern the world; the mysteries of providence; the secrets of the redemption of men and of the predestination of the elect; the attributes of the Divine nature―wisdom, power, goodness, immensity, eternity; the Three Persons of the Trinity, with their relations and ineffable operation. The soul sees God, and this sight, in a manner, transforms it into God Himself, according to the words of St. John: “We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him; because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
(4) Beatitude of the will. This beatitude will be to love and possess God. To love God is the true object of our heart. But here below how weak is this love, how it is mingled with lowness and imperfections, how subject it is to change and inconstancy! In Heaven, scarcely does God show Himself to the soul before He subjugates it and ravishes it for ever―sovereign love which rules all the affections; love so pure that the blessed forget themselves to be lost in God; love so ardent and so strong that it absorbs and exhausts all the power of loving; love so ecstatic that the soul goes out of itself and passes entirely into God to be consummated in unity with Him. It is the expression of Our Lord: “The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, as We also are one” (John 17:22).
“O God! When shall it be given to me to see the glory of Thy kingdom? When will the day arrive that Thou shalt be all in all to me? When shall I be with Thee in the mansions which Thou hast eternally prepared for Thy beloved?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 48).
THIRD POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven has no change to dread
The reign of Jesus Christ in Heaven is safe from all vicissitudes: it will have no end. He will reign eternally at the right hand of His Father, always triumphant, always sovereign, always the object of love to the saints and angels, as of the sweetest approbation of His Father: Cujus regni non erit finis, “Of whose kingdom there shall be no end.”
The beatitude of the saints is immutable, like that of the Son of God. It is the inseparable condition of worldly goods to be accompanied by fear or distaste, sometimes by both at once: fear, because each moment they may escape; distaste, because we cannot long enjoy them without recognizing and feeling their vanity. It is not so with the goods of eternity. These are unchangeable, and therefore have no end or diminution. Add ages to ages; multiply them equal to the sand of the ocean or the stars of Heaven; exhaust all the numbers, if you can, beyond what the human intelligence can conceive, and for the elect there will be still the same eternity of happiness. They are immutable, and this immutability excludes weariness and disgust. The life of an elect soul is one succession, without end, of desires ever arising and ever satisfied, but desires without trouble, satiety, or lassitude. The elect will always see God, love God, possess God, and always will wish to see Him, love Him, and possess Him still more.
This beatitude is the end destined for all; God has given us time only in order to merit it, being and life only to possess it. Reflect seriously on this great truth, and ask yourself these three questions at the foot of the crucifix.
What have I done hitherto for Heaven? What ought I to do for Heaven? What shall I do henceforward for Heaven?
Colloquies with the Blessed Virgin and Our Lord glorified in Heaven.
Anima Christi. Pater. Ave.
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Represent to yourself Our Lord seated on His throne at the right hand of His Father; beside Him the Blessed Virgin; around the throne the angels and the elect.
Second prelude. Beg for an ardent desire of Heaven, and the courage to suffer on Earth with Jesus Christ, that you may one day reign with Him in eternity.
FIRST POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven suffers no more
Consider that Our Lord in Heaven is free from all the trials and pains which He experienced in His mortal life. His body, since His resurrection, is withdrawn from the empire of weakness and death. His soul, inundated with the delights of the divinity united to Him, is henceforward a stranger to sadness and desolation.
In Heaven the Christian, like his Divine Head, will be for ever freed from all bodily pains and from all afflictions of the soul.
(1) In Heaven there are no more infirmities. The body, clothed with the glory of Jesus Christ, will be raised, like that of the Savior, to a state of impassibility: “Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21). In this abode of perfect beatitude the blessed no longer know what it is to suffer and die: “And death shall be no more” (Apocalypse 21:4).
(2) In Heaven there is no more grief or sorrow. “Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more” (Apocalypse 21:4). Here below, what is life but one long unceasing affliction? In Heaven all tears are dried: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:17). They remember past sorrows, but this memory is for the elect a part of their beatitude. Each one of them, like the prophet, applauds his past trials. Each one of them says, Happy tribulations, which are now repaid by an immense weight of glory: “We have rejoiced for the days in which Thou hast humbled us; for the years in which we have seen evils” (Psalm 89:15).
(3) In Heaven there are no more separations. Here below, to poison the sweets of friendship, this thought alone suffices: “How long will the society of these friends, of these relatives so tenderly loved, continue?” But once in the bosom of God, the elect meet to part no more. What joy for a Christian family to meet again, after the long and sad separation of the grave! What joy to be able to say with confidence, “We are again united, and it is for eternity! “
(4) In Heaven there are no more temptations. Here on Earth is for the Christian a struggle of every day and every moment; and in this struggle a continual danger of losing the grace of God, his soul, and eternity. Hence the groans of the saints, who never cease crying out with the prophet, “Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged” (Psalm 119:5); or with the Apostle, “Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24.) The lament of the exile is never heard in this country. There is no longer anything to fear from the world, which has no more illusions; nor from hell, which is conquered; nor from our own hearts, which only live for Divine love. There everything says, as did formerly holy King David, “He hath delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will please the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 114:89).
(5) In Heaven, above all, there is no more sin. Recall what you have meditated on the malice of sin. It is the supreme evil, the one only evil of time and eternity; the sole evil of the creature, the great evil done against God. Banished into hell, sin cannot penetrate into the kingdom of charity. Oh, the happiness of that day, when, entering into Heaven, the elect shall say, My God is now mine, and I am His! “My beloved to me and I to Him” (Canticles 2:16). I am united to Him for ever, and sin can never separate me from Him: “I held Him, and will not let Him go” (Canticles 3:4).
SECOND POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven has no longer anything to desire.
What Our Lord asked of His Father is accomplished: “And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee” (John 17:5). The holy humanity of our Savior is glorified, and His glory is this blessed possession of God, in which His soul loses itself in the plenitude of all good.
To possess God, and in God to possess all good-such is also the bliss which awaits us in Heaven; a sovereign and universal beatitude, which will be the full satisfaction of the entire man.
(1) Beatitude of the senses. The body raised up at the last day and united to the soul, whose servant it was, will partake of its felicity. The ear will not weary of hearing the sacred songs of the elect; the eye will never tire in contemplating the light of Paradise, the splendor of the glorified saints, the sweet majesty of Mary on her throne, the luster of the adorable humanity of Jesus Christ; all the senses will be inebriated with these pure and spiritual pleasures, which appear to belong only to the celestial intelligences: “They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure” (Psalm 35:9).
(2) Beatitude of memory. With what joy will the saints recall the graces they have received from God, the virtues they practiced on Earth! How will a martyr congratulate himself on his sufferings, an apostle on his labors, a confessor on his sacrifices! How each one of the elect will return thanks to God for His mercies! With what an effusion of gratitude and happiness will they say to themselves, On such a day God inspired me to serve Him alone; and it is this inspiration that has led me to Heaven: on such a day God preserved me from this temptation, withdrew me from this occasion or habit of sin! What care His providence took for my salvation! And what had I done to merit that He should save me in preference to so many who are lost for ever?
(3) Beatitude of the intellect. Closely united to God, the intelligence of the elect sees all truth in Him as in a mirror. Suppose the rudest man in the world, the most ignorant of science, enters Heaven; that moment his soul is inundated with lights so vivid that before them the lights of the greatest geniuses are but darkness: it sees God without veil and face to face: and in God sees all things―the wonderful laws that govern the world; the mysteries of providence; the secrets of the redemption of men and of the predestination of the elect; the attributes of the Divine nature―wisdom, power, goodness, immensity, eternity; the Three Persons of the Trinity, with their relations and ineffable operation. The soul sees God, and this sight, in a manner, transforms it into God Himself, according to the words of St. John: “We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him; because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
(4) Beatitude of the will. This beatitude will be to love and possess God. To love God is the true object of our heart. But here below how weak is this love, how it is mingled with lowness and imperfections, how subject it is to change and inconstancy! In Heaven, scarcely does God show Himself to the soul before He subjugates it and ravishes it for ever―sovereign love which rules all the affections; love so pure that the blessed forget themselves to be lost in God; love so ardent and so strong that it absorbs and exhausts all the power of loving; love so ecstatic that the soul goes out of itself and passes entirely into God to be consummated in unity with Him. It is the expression of Our Lord: “The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, as We also are one” (John 17:22).
“O God! When shall it be given to me to see the glory of Thy kingdom? When will the day arrive that Thou shalt be all in all to me? When shall I be with Thee in the mansions which Thou hast eternally prepared for Thy beloved?” (Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 48).
THIRD POINT
Jesus Christ in Heaven has no change to dread
The reign of Jesus Christ in Heaven is safe from all vicissitudes: it will have no end. He will reign eternally at the right hand of His Father, always triumphant, always sovereign, always the object of love to the saints and angels, as of the sweetest approbation of His Father: Cujus regni non erit finis, “Of whose kingdom there shall be no end.”
The beatitude of the saints is immutable, like that of the Son of God. It is the inseparable condition of worldly goods to be accompanied by fear or distaste, sometimes by both at once: fear, because each moment they may escape; distaste, because we cannot long enjoy them without recognizing and feeling their vanity. It is not so with the goods of eternity. These are unchangeable, and therefore have no end or diminution. Add ages to ages; multiply them equal to the sand of the ocean or the stars of Heaven; exhaust all the numbers, if you can, beyond what the human intelligence can conceive, and for the elect there will be still the same eternity of happiness. They are immutable, and this immutability excludes weariness and disgust. The life of an elect soul is one succession, without end, of desires ever arising and ever satisfied, but desires without trouble, satiety, or lassitude. The elect will always see God, love God, possess God, and always will wish to see Him, love Him, and possess Him still more.
This beatitude is the end destined for all; God has given us time only in order to merit it, being and life only to possess it. Reflect seriously on this great truth, and ask yourself these three questions at the foot of the crucifix.
What have I done hitherto for Heaven? What ought I to do for Heaven? What shall I do henceforward for Heaven?
Colloquies with the Blessed Virgin and Our Lord glorified in Heaven.
Anima Christi. Pater. Ave.
WEEK 4 : DAY 4
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LOVE OF GOD
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LOVE OF GOD
EXERCISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD
First remark. True love consists in fruits and effects, not in words: “My little children,” says the beloved disciple, “let us not love in word, nor in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Second remark. The effect of true love is the reciprocal communication of all good things between the persons who love each other; whence it follows that charity cannot exist without sacrifice. Do not, then, content yourself with tender and affectionate sentiments; “For,” says St. Gregory, “the proof of love is in the works: where love exists, it works great things, but when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.”
CONTEMPLATION
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Place yourself in spirit in the presence of God, and figure to yourself that you are before His throne in the midst of saints and angels, who intercede for you with the Lord.
Second prelude. Ask of God the grace to comprehend the greatness of His benefits and to consecrate yourself without reserve to His love and service.
FIRST POINT
Recall to yourself the benefits of God
These benefits are of three principal orders: benefits of creation, benefits of redemption, particular benefits. In the first order are comprised all the natural gifts―the soul with its powers, the body with its senses, life with the good things which accompany it. In the second are comprised all the supernatural graces, the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, etc. In the third are all the graces that we receive every day and every hour from Divine Providence.
Consider attentively these three orders of the Divine benefits, and in each one meditate on these three circumstances in which St. Ignatius shows us the characters of true charity. In each you will find:
(1) A love which acts and manifests itself by works. What more active than the charity of God in the creation, preservation, and redemption of man?
(2) A love that gives, that lavishes its goods. Has God anything of which He has not given part to man? Has He not given Himself on the cross for an example, and in the Eucharist, His body, His blood, His divinity, His life, and all His being?
(3) A love never satisfied with what it has given, and that would always give more. Is not this the love of God towards us? Is it not true that His greatest gifts have not been able to exhaust the prodigality of His heart? Is it not true that there is in Him a desire to do us good which will never be satisfied until He has given Himself to us entirely and for ever in Heaven?
After having meditated on these characters of Divine charity, return to yourself and ask yourself what gratitude and justice require in return for such marvelous generosity. You have nothing of yourself: you hold all from God; what else, then, can you do but offer Him all that you have and all that you are? Say to Him, then, with all the affection of your heart: Suscipe, Domine, etc.: “Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am, all that I have, Thou hast given me, and I give it back again to Thee, to be disposed of according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace: with these I am rich enough.”
Or, as the prayer may be paraphrased: “Take, O Lord, for it is Thine―receive as an offering, for I would give it were it not Thine―all that I value; all my liberty, all my memory, will, and understanding. All that I am, all that I have, is Thy free gift to me; this I give back to Thee, that Thou mayest dispose of all according to Thy good pleasure. And now, O Lord, bestow upon me a gift. Give me Thy love, and Thy grace, without which I cannot persevere in that love. With this I am rich enough, and I desire nothing more.”
SECOND POINT
Consider that God, your Benefactor, is present in all creatures and in yourself.
If you look at every step of the visible creation, in all you will meet God. He is in the elements, He gives them existence; in plants, He gives them life; in animals, He gives them sensation. He is in you; and, collecting all these degrees of being scattered through the rest of His creation, He unites them in you, and adds to them intelligence. And how is this great God in you? In the most noble, the most excellent manner. He is in you as in His temple, as in a sanctuary where He sees His own image, where He finds an intelligence capable of knowing and loving Him. Thus your Benefactor is always with you; He is more intimately united to you than your soul is to your body. You ought, then―and this is the second degree of love, you ought as much as possible not to lose sight of Him. You ought to think and act in His presence, to keep yourself before Him like a child before a tenderly loved father, studying the slightest sign of His will and wish. Finish this second point by a renewed offering of yourself, and one, if possible, still more affectionate and unreserved.
THIRD POINT
Consider not only that God your benefactor is present, but also that He acts continually in all His creatures.
And for whom is this continual action, this work of God in nature? For you. Thus, He lights you by the light of day; He nourishes you with the productions of the earth; in a word, He serves you by each one of the creatures that you use; so that it is true to say that at every moment the bounty, the wisdom, and the power of God are at your service, and are exercised in the world for your wants or pleasures. This conduct of God towards man should be the model of your conduct towards God. You see that the presence of God in His creatures is never idle; it acts incessantly, it preserves, it governs. Beware, then, of stopping at a sterile contemplation of God present in yourself.
Add action to contemplation; to the sight of the Divine presence add the faithful accomplishment of the Divine will. Meditate well on the two characters of the action of God in the world, so as to reproduce them as much as possible in your own deeds. What more active than God, and at the same time what more calm and tranquil? He is incessantly occupied with the care of His creatures; and yet He is never distracted from the interior contemplation of His essence and of His attributes. Learn in the exercise of the presence of God, to unite movement and repose, work and recollection. Think always of God, but in such a manner that you do not cease to act; act, but in such a manner that you do not cease to think of God. And to arrive at this high degree of perfection, endeavor to seek only one end even in the diversity of your occupations; that is, the good pleasure and holy will of God. End by offering yourself as in the preceding points.
FOURTH POINT
Seeing the Beauty of God in Other Creatures
Recall what you meditated on the first point; that is, that there is in God an ardent desire, and as it were a need, to communicate all His perfections to you, as much as the infinite can be communicated to the finite. Consider that you find the weak and rude image of these perfections in created things. All that there is good and beautiful in creatures, what is it but an emanation of the Divinity? The power, wisdom, goodness of men, from whence do they come if not from God, as the rays come from the sun and the stream from the fountain?
From this consideration arises a double consequence, which is the fourth and last degree of the love of God: detachment from creatures, and detachment from ourselves.
(1) Detachment from creatures; because they have only very limited perfections, and those lent to them; while God possesses all perfection and in an infinite degree.
(2) Detachment from ourselves; because all our being and all our happiness depend, not on us, but on God, as the light of the ray depends on the sun, the water of the stream on the fountain. According to the words of our Lord, to find ourselves is to lose ourselves, because in us and of ourselves there is only nothingness: “He that loveth his life shall lose it” (John 12:25); and, on the contrary, to hate ourselves, leave ourselves, lose ourselves is to find ourselves, because then we find ourselves in God, who alone is our life, our happiness, and our being: “He that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).
From this double detachment springs true liberty of spirit, which consists in no longer being bound either to creatures or to ourselves, and in reposing perfectly and solely on the love of God. In this state the soul is absolutely indifferent to all that is not God. For it there is only one thought-to please God in all its actions; only one desire-soon to quit this earth, in order fully to possess God in Heaven.
Finish as in the preceding points.
Sum up, in order to profit better by them, the four degrees of the love of God, as they are proposed to us by St. Ignatius.
(1) A God from whom I hold all; I ought, then, to render Him all. Hence entire oblation of myself.
(2) A God who is present in every creature and in myself; I ought, then, to live in God by a constant and happy remembrance of His presence.
(3) A God who acts in every creature and for my service, but without losing anything of His infinite repose; I ought, then, to act in God and for His service without ever losing sight of His presence.
(4) A God who wishes to communicate all His perfections to me, and who beforehand shows me the image of them in a faint degree in His creatures; I ought, then, to leave both creatures and myself, in order to attach myself only to God, in whom I find, as in their source, and in an infinite degree, all perfections.
Colloquy according to the accustomed method.
Suscipe or Pater. Ave.
First remark. True love consists in fruits and effects, not in words: “My little children,” says the beloved disciple, “let us not love in word, nor in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Second remark. The effect of true love is the reciprocal communication of all good things between the persons who love each other; whence it follows that charity cannot exist without sacrifice. Do not, then, content yourself with tender and affectionate sentiments; “For,” says St. Gregory, “the proof of love is in the works: where love exists, it works great things, but when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.”
CONTEMPLATION
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Place yourself in spirit in the presence of God, and figure to yourself that you are before His throne in the midst of saints and angels, who intercede for you with the Lord.
Second prelude. Ask of God the grace to comprehend the greatness of His benefits and to consecrate yourself without reserve to His love and service.
FIRST POINT
Recall to yourself the benefits of God
These benefits are of three principal orders: benefits of creation, benefits of redemption, particular benefits. In the first order are comprised all the natural gifts―the soul with its powers, the body with its senses, life with the good things which accompany it. In the second are comprised all the supernatural graces, the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, etc. In the third are all the graces that we receive every day and every hour from Divine Providence.
Consider attentively these three orders of the Divine benefits, and in each one meditate on these three circumstances in which St. Ignatius shows us the characters of true charity. In each you will find:
(1) A love which acts and manifests itself by works. What more active than the charity of God in the creation, preservation, and redemption of man?
(2) A love that gives, that lavishes its goods. Has God anything of which He has not given part to man? Has He not given Himself on the cross for an example, and in the Eucharist, His body, His blood, His divinity, His life, and all His being?
(3) A love never satisfied with what it has given, and that would always give more. Is not this the love of God towards us? Is it not true that His greatest gifts have not been able to exhaust the prodigality of His heart? Is it not true that there is in Him a desire to do us good which will never be satisfied until He has given Himself to us entirely and for ever in Heaven?
After having meditated on these characters of Divine charity, return to yourself and ask yourself what gratitude and justice require in return for such marvelous generosity. You have nothing of yourself: you hold all from God; what else, then, can you do but offer Him all that you have and all that you are? Say to Him, then, with all the affection of your heart: Suscipe, Domine, etc.: “Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am, all that I have, Thou hast given me, and I give it back again to Thee, to be disposed of according to Thy good pleasure. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace: with these I am rich enough.”
Or, as the prayer may be paraphrased: “Take, O Lord, for it is Thine―receive as an offering, for I would give it were it not Thine―all that I value; all my liberty, all my memory, will, and understanding. All that I am, all that I have, is Thy free gift to me; this I give back to Thee, that Thou mayest dispose of all according to Thy good pleasure. And now, O Lord, bestow upon me a gift. Give me Thy love, and Thy grace, without which I cannot persevere in that love. With this I am rich enough, and I desire nothing more.”
SECOND POINT
Consider that God, your Benefactor, is present in all creatures and in yourself.
If you look at every step of the visible creation, in all you will meet God. He is in the elements, He gives them existence; in plants, He gives them life; in animals, He gives them sensation. He is in you; and, collecting all these degrees of being scattered through the rest of His creation, He unites them in you, and adds to them intelligence. And how is this great God in you? In the most noble, the most excellent manner. He is in you as in His temple, as in a sanctuary where He sees His own image, where He finds an intelligence capable of knowing and loving Him. Thus your Benefactor is always with you; He is more intimately united to you than your soul is to your body. You ought, then―and this is the second degree of love, you ought as much as possible not to lose sight of Him. You ought to think and act in His presence, to keep yourself before Him like a child before a tenderly loved father, studying the slightest sign of His will and wish. Finish this second point by a renewed offering of yourself, and one, if possible, still more affectionate and unreserved.
THIRD POINT
Consider not only that God your benefactor is present, but also that He acts continually in all His creatures.
And for whom is this continual action, this work of God in nature? For you. Thus, He lights you by the light of day; He nourishes you with the productions of the earth; in a word, He serves you by each one of the creatures that you use; so that it is true to say that at every moment the bounty, the wisdom, and the power of God are at your service, and are exercised in the world for your wants or pleasures. This conduct of God towards man should be the model of your conduct towards God. You see that the presence of God in His creatures is never idle; it acts incessantly, it preserves, it governs. Beware, then, of stopping at a sterile contemplation of God present in yourself.
Add action to contemplation; to the sight of the Divine presence add the faithful accomplishment of the Divine will. Meditate well on the two characters of the action of God in the world, so as to reproduce them as much as possible in your own deeds. What more active than God, and at the same time what more calm and tranquil? He is incessantly occupied with the care of His creatures; and yet He is never distracted from the interior contemplation of His essence and of His attributes. Learn in the exercise of the presence of God, to unite movement and repose, work and recollection. Think always of God, but in such a manner that you do not cease to act; act, but in such a manner that you do not cease to think of God. And to arrive at this high degree of perfection, endeavor to seek only one end even in the diversity of your occupations; that is, the good pleasure and holy will of God. End by offering yourself as in the preceding points.
FOURTH POINT
Seeing the Beauty of God in Other Creatures
Recall what you meditated on the first point; that is, that there is in God an ardent desire, and as it were a need, to communicate all His perfections to you, as much as the infinite can be communicated to the finite. Consider that you find the weak and rude image of these perfections in created things. All that there is good and beautiful in creatures, what is it but an emanation of the Divinity? The power, wisdom, goodness of men, from whence do they come if not from God, as the rays come from the sun and the stream from the fountain?
From this consideration arises a double consequence, which is the fourth and last degree of the love of God: detachment from creatures, and detachment from ourselves.
(1) Detachment from creatures; because they have only very limited perfections, and those lent to them; while God possesses all perfection and in an infinite degree.
(2) Detachment from ourselves; because all our being and all our happiness depend, not on us, but on God, as the light of the ray depends on the sun, the water of the stream on the fountain. According to the words of our Lord, to find ourselves is to lose ourselves, because in us and of ourselves there is only nothingness: “He that loveth his life shall lose it” (John 12:25); and, on the contrary, to hate ourselves, leave ourselves, lose ourselves is to find ourselves, because then we find ourselves in God, who alone is our life, our happiness, and our being: “He that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).
From this double detachment springs true liberty of spirit, which consists in no longer being bound either to creatures or to ourselves, and in reposing perfectly and solely on the love of God. In this state the soul is absolutely indifferent to all that is not God. For it there is only one thought-to please God in all its actions; only one desire-soon to quit this earth, in order fully to possess God in Heaven.
Finish as in the preceding points.
Sum up, in order to profit better by them, the four degrees of the love of God, as they are proposed to us by St. Ignatius.
(1) A God from whom I hold all; I ought, then, to render Him all. Hence entire oblation of myself.
(2) A God who is present in every creature and in myself; I ought, then, to live in God by a constant and happy remembrance of His presence.
(3) A God who acts in every creature and for my service, but without losing anything of His infinite repose; I ought, then, to act in God and for His service without ever losing sight of His presence.
(4) A God who wishes to communicate all His perfections to me, and who beforehand shows me the image of them in a faint degree in His creatures; I ought, then, to leave both creatures and myself, in order to attach myself only to God, in whom I find, as in their source, and in an infinite degree, all perfections.
Colloquy according to the accustomed method.
Suscipe or Pater. Ave.
WEEK 4 : DAY 5
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Part 1)
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Part 1)
ADDITIONAL EXERCISES
ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
FIRST EXERCISE
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Salute Mary, Mother of God, with the angel Gabriel.
Second prelude. Ask of Jesus Christ a high esteem and great veneration for His Mother.
Consider
(1) What union the Divine maternity established between Jesus and Mary.
(2) What virtues this august title presupposes in her.
(3) What authority it confers on her.
FIRST POINT
Mary is not only the privileged daughter of the Father, the beloved spouse of the Holy Ghost,
she is also the Mother of the Son of God.
(1) In this quality, she is united to Jesus in the eternal decrees and in the promises of the Savior made in the beginning of all time. It is by her that the head of the serpent is to be crushed (Genesis 3:13). She is united to her Divine Son in the oracles of the prophets. Isaias announces this branch of Jesse, and the blessed fruit she is to bear (Isaias 11:1); the Virgin Mother and the Emmanuel her Son (Isaias 7:14) ; Jeremias predicts this marvelous woman, Mother of a perfect Man (Jeremias 31:22); David sings of this Queen seated on the right hand of the heavenly King (Psalm 44:10). The book of Wisdom describes the wonders of the temple that Wisdom had chosen for its dwelling (Wisdom 9, etc.).
(2) She is united to Jesus in the figures of the ancient law. Eve, says St. Augustine, was, in more than one point of resemblance or opposition, a figure of Mary. Eve was drawn from Adam's side; Mary draws all her merits from her Divine Son. Eve, seduced by an angel of darkness, was the first cause of our ruin; Mary, persuaded by an angel from heaven, began the work of our redemption. Her intercession and power are figured by Esther obtaining grace for her people, by Judith victorious over Holofernes; her Immaculate Conception by the burning bush which the flames surrounded without touching, by that wonderful fleece which alone in a vast plain received the dew of heaven.
(3) She is united to the Son of God, above all, at the moment of the incarnation. Then her Creator became her Child (Ecclesiasticus. 24:12). The blood of Mary became the blood of Jesus; Jesus is flesh of her flesh; He lives with her life, breathes with her breath; He is in her, to her, of her entirely. Thus the angel says: “The Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28). Elizabeth says, “Behold the Mother of my Lord” (Ecclesiasticus. 24:44). And the Church, in the third General Council, declares: “If any one refuse to call Mary Mother of God, let him be anathema” (Act of the Council of Ephesus).
(4) But, above all, the holy soul of Mary is united to the adorable soul of Jesus. She conceived Him in her heart before receiving Him in her bosom, says St. Bernard. She unites herself to Him by the most lively faith, the most ardent charity, by the consent, the memory of which we revere in the “Angelus” three times a day, and which associates her with her whole destiny. So Mary is found with Jesus at Bethlehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, in Jerusalem, and, above all, on Calvary, where the sword of sorrow pierced her soul when the lance opened the heart of her Divine Son.
(5) Jesus ascends to heaven, and Mary is soon placed on His right hand, that is, associated with His glory and His all-powerful action in the salvation of the world; united to the King of Heaven by an ineffable union. Here on earth the Son and the Mother are united in the praises of the Fathers, in the prayers of the Christian Liturgy, in the definitions of councils, in the solemnities of the Church. We see Christians honoring, always in union, the Incarnation of Jesus, the Conception of Mary; the birth of Jesus, the nativity of Mary; the presentation of Jesus, the presentation of Mary; the baptism of Jesus, the purification of Mary; the sufferings of Jesus, the dolors of Mary; the ascension of Jesus, the assumption of Mary; the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the holy heart of Mary. The names of Jesus and Mary live always united in the hearts and the songs of the faithful; their temples and their altars are always near together, and nothing is more inseparable in their pious remembrances, their confidence, their invocation, their love, than JESUS AND MARY.
SECOND POINT
And what creature was more like to Jesus than Mary?
The laws of nature ordain that the son should resemble the mother; the laws of grace ordained beforehand that the Mother should possess all the characters suitable to the Son. Here recall with profound respect:
(1) Her Immaculate Conception; which renders her a stranger to sin and its consequences, and to all the occasions leading to sin. This privilege alone, which separates Mary from the mass of iniquity out of which we have all come, raises her above all the saints as much as the heavens are above the earth.
(2) Her celestial virginity; which the approach of an angel alarms; that would shrink from the Divine maternity, if the Mother of God could cease to be a virgin; which the Holy Ghost renders fruitful and a mother by an ineffable miracle.
(3) Her profound humility; which, says a holy Father, made her merit the Divine maternity: “Behold,” said she, “the handmaid of the Lord. He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid. He hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:38, 48, 52, 53).
(4) Her perfect charity; which made her so prompt in visiting Elizabeth, so faithful in preserving in her heart the words of life, so attentive at the marriage of Cana, so devoted, so heroic during the labors and sorrows of her Son, so useful to the Apostles, so dear to the infant Church.
THIRD POINT
What authority does not this Divine maternity give to Mary?
(1) Jesus Christ the Son of God, and Himself God, obeyed her thirty years; thirty years He executes her will, consults and forestalls her wishes. What a lesson does the docility of this true Son give to us sons by adoption; to us sons of Adam the docility of the Son of God! (St. Bernard).
(2) Jesus Christ on the cross gave her to us for our Mother. The Mother of God is, then, our Mother, exercising over us the maternal authority in all its meaning and extent.
(3) Jesus Christ in heaven, say the holy Fathers, still obeys the humble prayers of Mary. He has made her intercession all-powerful; He has established her the distributor of graces, the succor of Christians, the defense of the Church against infidelity and heresy. Giving us Jesus through Mary was to give us all through Mary. From the conception of Jesus the way was thus traced: “We receive all from her who gave us Jesus” (St. Bernard).
(4) How great, then, is the authority of the Queen of Heaven, how extensive is the power of the Mother of God! In what peril are those who forget her or insult her! How safe are those she protects!
COLLOQUY
Say to her, with the angel, “Hail, Mary, full of grace,” etc.; or, with St. Cyril, the oracle of the Ecumenical Council, “Glory be to you, holy Mother of God, masterpiece of the universe, brilliant star, glory of virginity, scepter of Faith, indestructible temple, inhabited by Him whom immensity cannot contain. Virgin mother of Him who, blessed for ever, comes to us in the name of the Lord, by you the Trinity is glorified, the holy cross celebrated and adored throughout the universe, the heavens are joyful, the angels tremble with joy, the devils are put to flight, man passes from slavery to heaven. Through you idolatrous creatures have known incarnate truth, the faithful have received baptism, churches have been raised over all the world; by your assistance the Gentiles have been led to repentance. Finally, through you the only Son of God, Source of all light, has shone on the eyes of the blind, who were sitting in the shadow of death. But, 0 Virgin Mother, who can speak your praises! Let us, however, celebrate them according to our powers, and at the same time adore God thy Son, the chaste Spouse of the Church, to whom are due all honour and glory now and through all eternity. Amen” (St. Cyril's Homily against Nestorius).
ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
FIRST EXERCISE
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. Salute Mary, Mother of God, with the angel Gabriel.
Second prelude. Ask of Jesus Christ a high esteem and great veneration for His Mother.
Consider
(1) What union the Divine maternity established between Jesus and Mary.
(2) What virtues this august title presupposes in her.
(3) What authority it confers on her.
FIRST POINT
Mary is not only the privileged daughter of the Father, the beloved spouse of the Holy Ghost,
she is also the Mother of the Son of God.
(1) In this quality, she is united to Jesus in the eternal decrees and in the promises of the Savior made in the beginning of all time. It is by her that the head of the serpent is to be crushed (Genesis 3:13). She is united to her Divine Son in the oracles of the prophets. Isaias announces this branch of Jesse, and the blessed fruit she is to bear (Isaias 11:1); the Virgin Mother and the Emmanuel her Son (Isaias 7:14) ; Jeremias predicts this marvelous woman, Mother of a perfect Man (Jeremias 31:22); David sings of this Queen seated on the right hand of the heavenly King (Psalm 44:10). The book of Wisdom describes the wonders of the temple that Wisdom had chosen for its dwelling (Wisdom 9, etc.).
(2) She is united to Jesus in the figures of the ancient law. Eve, says St. Augustine, was, in more than one point of resemblance or opposition, a figure of Mary. Eve was drawn from Adam's side; Mary draws all her merits from her Divine Son. Eve, seduced by an angel of darkness, was the first cause of our ruin; Mary, persuaded by an angel from heaven, began the work of our redemption. Her intercession and power are figured by Esther obtaining grace for her people, by Judith victorious over Holofernes; her Immaculate Conception by the burning bush which the flames surrounded without touching, by that wonderful fleece which alone in a vast plain received the dew of heaven.
(3) She is united to the Son of God, above all, at the moment of the incarnation. Then her Creator became her Child (Ecclesiasticus. 24:12). The blood of Mary became the blood of Jesus; Jesus is flesh of her flesh; He lives with her life, breathes with her breath; He is in her, to her, of her entirely. Thus the angel says: “The Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28). Elizabeth says, “Behold the Mother of my Lord” (Ecclesiasticus. 24:44). And the Church, in the third General Council, declares: “If any one refuse to call Mary Mother of God, let him be anathema” (Act of the Council of Ephesus).
(4) But, above all, the holy soul of Mary is united to the adorable soul of Jesus. She conceived Him in her heart before receiving Him in her bosom, says St. Bernard. She unites herself to Him by the most lively faith, the most ardent charity, by the consent, the memory of which we revere in the “Angelus” three times a day, and which associates her with her whole destiny. So Mary is found with Jesus at Bethlehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, in Jerusalem, and, above all, on Calvary, where the sword of sorrow pierced her soul when the lance opened the heart of her Divine Son.
(5) Jesus ascends to heaven, and Mary is soon placed on His right hand, that is, associated with His glory and His all-powerful action in the salvation of the world; united to the King of Heaven by an ineffable union. Here on earth the Son and the Mother are united in the praises of the Fathers, in the prayers of the Christian Liturgy, in the definitions of councils, in the solemnities of the Church. We see Christians honoring, always in union, the Incarnation of Jesus, the Conception of Mary; the birth of Jesus, the nativity of Mary; the presentation of Jesus, the presentation of Mary; the baptism of Jesus, the purification of Mary; the sufferings of Jesus, the dolors of Mary; the ascension of Jesus, the assumption of Mary; the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the holy heart of Mary. The names of Jesus and Mary live always united in the hearts and the songs of the faithful; their temples and their altars are always near together, and nothing is more inseparable in their pious remembrances, their confidence, their invocation, their love, than JESUS AND MARY.
SECOND POINT
And what creature was more like to Jesus than Mary?
The laws of nature ordain that the son should resemble the mother; the laws of grace ordained beforehand that the Mother should possess all the characters suitable to the Son. Here recall with profound respect:
(1) Her Immaculate Conception; which renders her a stranger to sin and its consequences, and to all the occasions leading to sin. This privilege alone, which separates Mary from the mass of iniquity out of which we have all come, raises her above all the saints as much as the heavens are above the earth.
(2) Her celestial virginity; which the approach of an angel alarms; that would shrink from the Divine maternity, if the Mother of God could cease to be a virgin; which the Holy Ghost renders fruitful and a mother by an ineffable miracle.
(3) Her profound humility; which, says a holy Father, made her merit the Divine maternity: “Behold,” said she, “the handmaid of the Lord. He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid. He hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:38, 48, 52, 53).
(4) Her perfect charity; which made her so prompt in visiting Elizabeth, so faithful in preserving in her heart the words of life, so attentive at the marriage of Cana, so devoted, so heroic during the labors and sorrows of her Son, so useful to the Apostles, so dear to the infant Church.
THIRD POINT
What authority does not this Divine maternity give to Mary?
(1) Jesus Christ the Son of God, and Himself God, obeyed her thirty years; thirty years He executes her will, consults and forestalls her wishes. What a lesson does the docility of this true Son give to us sons by adoption; to us sons of Adam the docility of the Son of God! (St. Bernard).
(2) Jesus Christ on the cross gave her to us for our Mother. The Mother of God is, then, our Mother, exercising over us the maternal authority in all its meaning and extent.
(3) Jesus Christ in heaven, say the holy Fathers, still obeys the humble prayers of Mary. He has made her intercession all-powerful; He has established her the distributor of graces, the succor of Christians, the defense of the Church against infidelity and heresy. Giving us Jesus through Mary was to give us all through Mary. From the conception of Jesus the way was thus traced: “We receive all from her who gave us Jesus” (St. Bernard).
(4) How great, then, is the authority of the Queen of Heaven, how extensive is the power of the Mother of God! In what peril are those who forget her or insult her! How safe are those she protects!
COLLOQUY
Say to her, with the angel, “Hail, Mary, full of grace,” etc.; or, with St. Cyril, the oracle of the Ecumenical Council, “Glory be to you, holy Mother of God, masterpiece of the universe, brilliant star, glory of virginity, scepter of Faith, indestructible temple, inhabited by Him whom immensity cannot contain. Virgin mother of Him who, blessed for ever, comes to us in the name of the Lord, by you the Trinity is glorified, the holy cross celebrated and adored throughout the universe, the heavens are joyful, the angels tremble with joy, the devils are put to flight, man passes from slavery to heaven. Through you idolatrous creatures have known incarnate truth, the faithful have received baptism, churches have been raised over all the world; by your assistance the Gentiles have been led to repentance. Finally, through you the only Son of God, Source of all light, has shone on the eyes of the blind, who were sitting in the shadow of death. But, 0 Virgin Mother, who can speak your praises! Let us, however, celebrate them according to our powers, and at the same time adore God thy Son, the chaste Spouse of the Church, to whom are due all honour and glory now and through all eternity. Amen” (St. Cyril's Homily against Nestorius).
WEEK 4 : DAY 6
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Part 2)
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
INSTRUCTIONS ON DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (Part 2)
SECOND EXERCISE ON
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OUR MOTHER
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. See Mary at the foot of the cross; hear Jesus saying to you, “Behold thy Mother!”
Second prelude. Ask of Jesus a filial love for Mary your Mother.
Consider
(1) That Mary was given you for your Mother.
(2) That she has really shown herself a Mother to you.
(3) That you ought to be a confiding and devoted son to her.
FIRST POINT
Mary has been given you for a Mother.
Consider, then, in your heart all the circumstances of this gift.
1. She was given to you by Jesus Christ, God and Master of all creatures, from whom emanates all power, paternal and maternal; by Jesus Christ the God-Savior, who had already sacrificed for you the body and lavished the blood He derived from Mary. Having nothing more to give you but her, He bestows her on you as a complement of all His gifts.
(2) She is given to you in the clearest terms, the strongest, the most precise, to enable you to realize what they signify: “Behold your Mother.” Jesus said, in showing the bread, “This is My body;” and the bread became His body. Pointing to His Mother, He says, “Behold thy Mother;” Mary immediately became our Mother.
(3) She was given to you under the most serious and solemn circumstances. Jesus, dying, makes His last dispositions and signifies His last will. Alone of all the disciples the beloved John is present to receive in the name of all Christians the last gift which their Divine Master makes to them. Thus all the fathers and doctors of the Church have understood it.
(4) She is given you “for your Mother.” Feel these words at the bottom of your heart. Recall to yourself that man does not live only by bread; that his soul as well as his body has a life to receive and support. It is in this supernatural order that Mary is your Mother; if you live to grace, it is through her. The principle of this spiritual life is in Jesus; but Mary's is the bosom that bore you, the milk that nourished you, the maternal heart that always loves its children even when ungrateful.
(5) Why was a mother according to grace given to you? And why was this mother the Mother of God? Interrogate Jesus in profound recollection of heart. He wished to become your brother both by father and mother; He wished that all should be in common between you; He wished that if the infinite height of His divinity terrified you, a creature, His mother and yours, should serve as your advocate, your refuge, and your Mediatrix with Him; He wished to encourage the most timid, open the hearts most oppressed by fear, offer to all the sweetest motive for trust, always well founded, never too great; for a mother always loves her child; and Jesus, Son of Mary, will always love His mother.
SECOND POINT
Mary has always shown herself your Mother
(1) She received you to her heart when Jesus gave you to her for her child; so the Scripture calls Jesus Christ her first-born (Matt. i. 25). You ought to be born in her and by her, after Him.
(2) She has nourished you, not only by the graces her prayers have obtained for you, but also in a real manner by the Body and Blood of her Son given to you in the Eucharist.
(3) She has anticipated you, cared for you, loaded you with favors. All the graces you have received from the Lord have been solicited and obtained by her. So, your call to the faith, the grace of a Christian education, of a first communion; the grace of conversion and retreat, the grace that now leads you to give yourself entirely to God,-all come to you from Jesus through Mary (St. Bernard).
(4) At need, Mary obtains for the defense and salvation of her children extraordinary graces and wonderful miracles. What prodigies have caused, sustained, spread everywhere, confidence among Christian people! What striking proofs of her protection the Church recalls to our memory by solemn feasts and pious practices, enriched by precious indulgences! What titles Christians give her to testify their gratitude: “Help of Christians, health of the sick, comfort of the afflicted, refuge of sinners, gate of heaven, our life, our sweetness, our hope!” What a concourse of people to the places where she is most honored, where she obtains the most succors to those who invoke her! What prayers and acts of thanksgiving at the foot of her altars! and in our days what conquests made by Our Lady of Victories! What favors bestowed on all hearts devoted to the heart of Mary!
(5) Her protection, “strong as an army” (Cant. vi.), preserves her faithful children from all dangers; she is for them an assured pledge of predestination. So the doctors of the Church believe, who assure us “that a servant of Mary cannot perish.”
THIRD POINT
We then owe to our Mother love, confidence, imitation, zeal to spread devotion to her.
(1) Love for her who is the beloved of our Lord; gratitude towards her who has loaded us with benefits, filial affection for our Mother.
(2) Confidence. Her power and her title of Mother were given to her that our trust in her might be unlimited, that we might know that she would always be able and willing to help us.
(3) Imitation. She expects from us this proof of true love. Does not the child naturally resemble the mother? Let this resemblance in us be the fruit of our efforts, of a careful study and practice of her virtues. Sons of a virgin, let us be pure; sons of the Mother of sorrows, let us be faithful to Jesus, even unto the cross.
(4) Zeal to spread her devotion. A sincere love will produce this zeal. We must praise and defend all the practices authorized by the Church; her images must be venerated and distributed; we must love to wear her livery, to visit the places where she is honored; take pleasure in singing her praises, in preceding her feasts by penance, and in sanctifying them by the reception of the holy Eucharist. Let us honor the sacred heart of Mary, and honor it by a particular devotion.
COLLOQUIES
Let us recite the Magnificat in union with Mary, or else address these words of St. Bernard to ourselves : “O thou who feelest thyself tossed by the tempests in the midst of the shoals of this world, turn not away thine eyes from the star of the sea if thou wouldst avoid shipwreck. If the winds of temptation blow, if tribulations rise up like rocks before thee, a look at the star, a sigh towards Mary. If the waves of pride, ambition, calumny, jealousy, seek to swallow up thy soul, a look towards the star, a prayer to Mary. If anger, avarice, love of pleasure, shiver thy frail bark, seek the eyes of Mary. If horror of thy sins, trouble of conscience, dread of the judgments of God, begin to plunge thee into the gulf of sadness, the abyss of despair, attach thy heart to Mary. In thy dangers, thy anguish, thy doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary. Let Mary be on thy lips, in thy heart, and to the suffrage of her prayers lose not sight of the example of her virtues. Following her, thou canst not wander; whilst thou prayest to her thou canst net be without hope; as long as thou thinkest of her thou wilt be in the path; thou canst not fall when she sustains thee; thou hast nothing to fear while she protects thee; if she favor thy voyage, thou wilt reach the harbor of safety without weariness.”
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OUR MOTHER
Preparatory Prayer.
First prelude. See Mary at the foot of the cross; hear Jesus saying to you, “Behold thy Mother!”
Second prelude. Ask of Jesus a filial love for Mary your Mother.
Consider
(1) That Mary was given you for your Mother.
(2) That she has really shown herself a Mother to you.
(3) That you ought to be a confiding and devoted son to her.
FIRST POINT
Mary has been given you for a Mother.
Consider, then, in your heart all the circumstances of this gift.
1. She was given to you by Jesus Christ, God and Master of all creatures, from whom emanates all power, paternal and maternal; by Jesus Christ the God-Savior, who had already sacrificed for you the body and lavished the blood He derived from Mary. Having nothing more to give you but her, He bestows her on you as a complement of all His gifts.
(2) She is given to you in the clearest terms, the strongest, the most precise, to enable you to realize what they signify: “Behold your Mother.” Jesus said, in showing the bread, “This is My body;” and the bread became His body. Pointing to His Mother, He says, “Behold thy Mother;” Mary immediately became our Mother.
(3) She was given to you under the most serious and solemn circumstances. Jesus, dying, makes His last dispositions and signifies His last will. Alone of all the disciples the beloved John is present to receive in the name of all Christians the last gift which their Divine Master makes to them. Thus all the fathers and doctors of the Church have understood it.
(4) She is given you “for your Mother.” Feel these words at the bottom of your heart. Recall to yourself that man does not live only by bread; that his soul as well as his body has a life to receive and support. It is in this supernatural order that Mary is your Mother; if you live to grace, it is through her. The principle of this spiritual life is in Jesus; but Mary's is the bosom that bore you, the milk that nourished you, the maternal heart that always loves its children even when ungrateful.
(5) Why was a mother according to grace given to you? And why was this mother the Mother of God? Interrogate Jesus in profound recollection of heart. He wished to become your brother both by father and mother; He wished that all should be in common between you; He wished that if the infinite height of His divinity terrified you, a creature, His mother and yours, should serve as your advocate, your refuge, and your Mediatrix with Him; He wished to encourage the most timid, open the hearts most oppressed by fear, offer to all the sweetest motive for trust, always well founded, never too great; for a mother always loves her child; and Jesus, Son of Mary, will always love His mother.
SECOND POINT
Mary has always shown herself your Mother
(1) She received you to her heart when Jesus gave you to her for her child; so the Scripture calls Jesus Christ her first-born (Matt. i. 25). You ought to be born in her and by her, after Him.
(2) She has nourished you, not only by the graces her prayers have obtained for you, but also in a real manner by the Body and Blood of her Son given to you in the Eucharist.
(3) She has anticipated you, cared for you, loaded you with favors. All the graces you have received from the Lord have been solicited and obtained by her. So, your call to the faith, the grace of a Christian education, of a first communion; the grace of conversion and retreat, the grace that now leads you to give yourself entirely to God,-all come to you from Jesus through Mary (St. Bernard).
(4) At need, Mary obtains for the defense and salvation of her children extraordinary graces and wonderful miracles. What prodigies have caused, sustained, spread everywhere, confidence among Christian people! What striking proofs of her protection the Church recalls to our memory by solemn feasts and pious practices, enriched by precious indulgences! What titles Christians give her to testify their gratitude: “Help of Christians, health of the sick, comfort of the afflicted, refuge of sinners, gate of heaven, our life, our sweetness, our hope!” What a concourse of people to the places where she is most honored, where she obtains the most succors to those who invoke her! What prayers and acts of thanksgiving at the foot of her altars! and in our days what conquests made by Our Lady of Victories! What favors bestowed on all hearts devoted to the heart of Mary!
(5) Her protection, “strong as an army” (Cant. vi.), preserves her faithful children from all dangers; she is for them an assured pledge of predestination. So the doctors of the Church believe, who assure us “that a servant of Mary cannot perish.”
THIRD POINT
We then owe to our Mother love, confidence, imitation, zeal to spread devotion to her.
(1) Love for her who is the beloved of our Lord; gratitude towards her who has loaded us with benefits, filial affection for our Mother.
(2) Confidence. Her power and her title of Mother were given to her that our trust in her might be unlimited, that we might know that she would always be able and willing to help us.
(3) Imitation. She expects from us this proof of true love. Does not the child naturally resemble the mother? Let this resemblance in us be the fruit of our efforts, of a careful study and practice of her virtues. Sons of a virgin, let us be pure; sons of the Mother of sorrows, let us be faithful to Jesus, even unto the cross.
(4) Zeal to spread her devotion. A sincere love will produce this zeal. We must praise and defend all the practices authorized by the Church; her images must be venerated and distributed; we must love to wear her livery, to visit the places where she is honored; take pleasure in singing her praises, in preceding her feasts by penance, and in sanctifying them by the reception of the holy Eucharist. Let us honor the sacred heart of Mary, and honor it by a particular devotion.
COLLOQUIES
Let us recite the Magnificat in union with Mary, or else address these words of St. Bernard to ourselves : “O thou who feelest thyself tossed by the tempests in the midst of the shoals of this world, turn not away thine eyes from the star of the sea if thou wouldst avoid shipwreck. If the winds of temptation blow, if tribulations rise up like rocks before thee, a look at the star, a sigh towards Mary. If the waves of pride, ambition, calumny, jealousy, seek to swallow up thy soul, a look towards the star, a prayer to Mary. If anger, avarice, love of pleasure, shiver thy frail bark, seek the eyes of Mary. If horror of thy sins, trouble of conscience, dread of the judgments of God, begin to plunge thee into the gulf of sadness, the abyss of despair, attach thy heart to Mary. In thy dangers, thy anguish, thy doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary. Let Mary be on thy lips, in thy heart, and to the suffrage of her prayers lose not sight of the example of her virtues. Following her, thou canst not wander; whilst thou prayest to her thou canst net be without hope; as long as thou thinkest of her thou wilt be in the path; thou canst not fall when she sustains thee; thou hast nothing to fear while she protects thee; if she favor thy voyage, thou wilt reach the harbor of safety without weariness.”
WEEK 4 : DAY 7 (FINAL DAY)
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE RETREAT
St. Ignatius calls each of the four periods of his retreat a "week" but some "weeks" are longer than others.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE RETREAT
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE LAST DAY OF THE EXERCISES
(1) Beware of Losing Your Fervor.
He who goes from a warm place to a cold or damp one is, if he is not careful, readily affected by the change of air. So he who passes from a retreat to ordinary life is in danger of losing in a short time the lights and fervor of the Exercises. For the impressions of grace not yet being strengthened by habit, it is almost certain, unless great precaution be used, that they will soon be weakened, and finally dissipated altogether.
(2) Be Grateful For and Profit From the Retreat.
In coming out from the Exercises, do not fail to thank our Lord for the graces of the retreat. Recall in His presence all the lights, all the inspirations you have received, and look on them as so many testimonies of the special love of our Lord for you. Renew your resolution to adopt all the necessary means to accomplish what you know of His Divine will towards you. Fear lest so great a grace, if it does not make you better, should make you more guilty, and serve to draw down on you a more severe condemnation at the tribunal of God.
(3) Be careful on re-entering the world to be on your guard against sin and the occasions of sin.
On the one hand, you must expect that the spirit of darkness will neglect nothing to draw you away; on the other, you must not conceal from yourself that you have everything to fear from your own weakness: for you have in the depths of your heart inclinations like a tree that has been cut, but whose roots still live; or like a torch just extinguished, but which lights again as soon as it is brought near the flame. You require, then, both a spirit of fear lest you allow yourself to be deceived by the demon and by your own heart, and at the same time great courage to combat both.
(4) Do Not Become Discouraged At Failure.
If, after the retreat, you fall even into some serious fault, do not think that the fruit of the Exercises is lost, and so give way to discouragement. It is the ordinary artifice of the evil one to draw the soul again into its old faults, and from these faults into dejection and despair; he thus endeavors to make perseverance appear impossible; and finally, to withdraw the soul for ever from the service of God. After each fault, humble yourself before the Lord, repair as soon as possible to the Sacraments, have full confidence in the Divine mercy, and begin again with new ardor to walk in the path of virtue.
(5) The following are the most efficacious means of preserving the fruits of the retreat:
(a) Devote each day half-an-hour, or if possible an hour, to meditation, and a quarter of an hour to a particular and general examination according to the method traced in the Exercises.
(b) Approach the Sacraments of penance and communion every week.
(c) Fix a rule for your daily actions, keep to it carefully, and in each action study as much as possible to sanctify it by purity of intention, which consists in proposing to ourselves no other motive but the glory and good pleasure of God.
(d) Choose an enlightened confessor, who will be a guide to you in the ways of virtue, and with whom you may speak of all that concerns your soul.
(e) Often read pious books, frequent the company of good men, and carefully avoid the conversation of the wicked.
(f) Apply yourself with perseverance to the acquirement of some solid virtue, above all, of humility and charity.
(g) Place yourself under the protection of Mary, have a tender piety to this good Mother, and never allow a day to pass without offering her some homage.
(h) Finally, every year devote a week, if possible, to a spiritual retreat; and if this be impossible, at least at Easter make a review or general confession of all the faults of the past year.
(1) Beware of Losing Your Fervor.
He who goes from a warm place to a cold or damp one is, if he is not careful, readily affected by the change of air. So he who passes from a retreat to ordinary life is in danger of losing in a short time the lights and fervor of the Exercises. For the impressions of grace not yet being strengthened by habit, it is almost certain, unless great precaution be used, that they will soon be weakened, and finally dissipated altogether.
(2) Be Grateful For and Profit From the Retreat.
In coming out from the Exercises, do not fail to thank our Lord for the graces of the retreat. Recall in His presence all the lights, all the inspirations you have received, and look on them as so many testimonies of the special love of our Lord for you. Renew your resolution to adopt all the necessary means to accomplish what you know of His Divine will towards you. Fear lest so great a grace, if it does not make you better, should make you more guilty, and serve to draw down on you a more severe condemnation at the tribunal of God.
(3) Be careful on re-entering the world to be on your guard against sin and the occasions of sin.
On the one hand, you must expect that the spirit of darkness will neglect nothing to draw you away; on the other, you must not conceal from yourself that you have everything to fear from your own weakness: for you have in the depths of your heart inclinations like a tree that has been cut, but whose roots still live; or like a torch just extinguished, but which lights again as soon as it is brought near the flame. You require, then, both a spirit of fear lest you allow yourself to be deceived by the demon and by your own heart, and at the same time great courage to combat both.
(4) Do Not Become Discouraged At Failure.
If, after the retreat, you fall even into some serious fault, do not think that the fruit of the Exercises is lost, and so give way to discouragement. It is the ordinary artifice of the evil one to draw the soul again into its old faults, and from these faults into dejection and despair; he thus endeavors to make perseverance appear impossible; and finally, to withdraw the soul for ever from the service of God. After each fault, humble yourself before the Lord, repair as soon as possible to the Sacraments, have full confidence in the Divine mercy, and begin again with new ardor to walk in the path of virtue.
(5) The following are the most efficacious means of preserving the fruits of the retreat:
(a) Devote each day half-an-hour, or if possible an hour, to meditation, and a quarter of an hour to a particular and general examination according to the method traced in the Exercises.
(b) Approach the Sacraments of penance and communion every week.
(c) Fix a rule for your daily actions, keep to it carefully, and in each action study as much as possible to sanctify it by purity of intention, which consists in proposing to ourselves no other motive but the glory and good pleasure of God.
(d) Choose an enlightened confessor, who will be a guide to you in the ways of virtue, and with whom you may speak of all that concerns your soul.
(e) Often read pious books, frequent the company of good men, and carefully avoid the conversation of the wicked.
(f) Apply yourself with perseverance to the acquirement of some solid virtue, above all, of humility and charity.
(g) Place yourself under the protection of Mary, have a tender piety to this good Mother, and never allow a day to pass without offering her some homage.
(h) Finally, every year devote a week, if possible, to a spiritual retreat; and if this be impossible, at least at Easter make a review or general confession of all the faults of the past year.