Mini Retreat

Thoughts of Blessed James Alberione

7/17/2017

"The soul that unites itself to God speaks only the language of love. All of its prayers are expressions of the love of God. Should it ask a temporal grace, it asks it to the extent that it coincides with God's glory. Love is at the base of its every prayer. If it adores, it is out of love; if it thanks, it is out of love; if it asks pardon for sin, it is out of love."

"In our moments of contemplation, an intimate process happens in us by which, little by little, the human-I is substituted by the divine-I. In this way, we acquire the best personality that can be conceived, together with an independence and freedom of spirit in regard to this created world."

"At times, piety is a bit empty, but one who reads the Bible has a piety that is always nourished and well fed."

On Loving God and Reading the Bible:
. . .with our mind: the Bible sets out God's truth and thus we can think as God thinks
. . . with our heart: it stirs up feelings of love for God and neighbor, in accordance with the heart of Jesus
. . . with our will [strength]: it roots our life in God's will, right up to achieving the highest perfection

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Thoughts of Blessed James Alberione

4/15/2016

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The secret of greatness is to model oneself on God, by living in Christ. Therefore, let the thought of living and working in the Church and for the Church always be clear; grafting oneself, like a wild olive tree, onto the living olive, the Eucharistic Christ, reflecting on and nourishing oneself with each phrase of the Gospel according to the spirit of St. Paul.

Charity consists in two flames: one directed towards God and the other towards neighbor.

If we want to reach the Father, to understand the mind of God, to experience the love of God and to see the Father's attitude toward us, then we must look at Jesus. We must study Jesus. In his lifetime, his teaching made an impression on the people because he taught them with authority and not like their own scribes (cf. Mt 7:28-29). Jesus therefore becomes the center of our lives and our only goal.

Mary is Queen of Apostles because she possesses and accomplishes what the apostles together possess and accomplish and will accomplish. She possesses and accomplishes the duty of forming, guiding, sustaining and giving fruits and compensation to all apostles.

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Meeting the Almighty with Mary of Agreda

2/8/2016

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What follows here is an excerpt from the spiritual writings of Venerable Mary of Agreda who compiled many experiences and intimations of the Most High God in a 4-volume set titled Cuidado di Dios (or Mystical City of God in English). This installment brings the reader to consider the dispositions necessary to meet God in prayer.

Volume 1, Chapter 1 continued

Still remaining in that secure retreat of which I have spoken, I saw on a certain day six angels, whom the Almighty had appointed to assist and guide me in this undertaking and in other dangers. Coming toward me, they purified and prepared my soul, and then presented me before the Lord. His Majesty gave to my interior being a new light and, as it were, a participation in glory, by which I was made capable and desirous of seeing and understanding the things which are above the powers of a mere terrestrial creature.

Soon after, two other angels of a higher order appeared to me and I felt within me the power of the Lord by which they called me. I understood that they were most mysterious envoys and that they wished to reveal to me high and hidden sacraments. Eagerly I responded, and desirous of enjoying the blessing which they pointed out to me, I declared to them how ardently I longed to see what they wished to show me and yet so mysteriously concealed from me. Then they at once answered with great serenity: "Restrain thyself, O soul." I turned to the great princes of heaven and said: "Princes of the Almighty and messengers of the great King. Why do you now detain me contrary to my will and why do you defer my joy and my delight after you have called me? What force is this of yours and what power which calls me, fills me with fervor, which allures and yet detains me, which attracts me to follow after the odor of my beloved Lord and of his ointments, and yet restrains me with strong bonds? Tell me the cause of this!

They answered: "Because, in order to be instructed in all these mysteries, thou must needs, O soul, come with bare feet and despoiled of all thy desires and passions; for these mysteries do not accommodate or lend themselves to disordered inclinations. Take off thy shoes like Moses (Exodus 3,5), for such was the command given to him before he could see the wonderful bush." "Princes of heaven and my lords," I answered, "much was asked of Moses when he received the command to perform the works of an angel while yet living in mortal flesh; but he was a saint, and I am but a sinner full of miseries. My heart is disturbed and I am in conflict with the slavery and the oppression of sin, which I feel in my members and which are opposed to the law of the spirit" (Rom 7,23).

To which they rejoined: "Soul, it would indeed be for thee a most difficult enterprise if thou hadst to execute it merely with thy own power; but the Most High, who wishes to see in thee this disposition, is powerful, and He will not deny to thee his help, if from thy heart thou ask his assistance and thou prepare thyself to receive it. And his power, which caused the bush to burn and at the same time prevented it from being consumed, can prevent also the fire of the passions which encompass and beset your soul, from consuming it, if it truly desires to be saved. His Majesty asks for that which He desires, and can execute what He asks. Strengthened by Him, thou canst do that which He commands (Phil 4,13); take off thy shoes and weep in bitter sorrow, call out to Him from the bottom of thy heart, in order that thy prayers may be heard and thy desires fulfilled."

Reflections

Have you ever felt called to remove your shoes in prayer before the Almighty? What was that experience like? Recall it and return to it -- if only in your heart -- coming before the Lord with humble reverence and childlike love.
Can you recall a situation which required of you enormous restraint? Ponder whether restraint is the foundation of the spiritual life. Resolve to look for ways in your daily life to practice restraint as a preparation for receiving and being able to handle higher spiritual gifts.

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A Mini-Retreat with Mary of Agreda

1/27/2016

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Venerable Mary of Agreda was a 17th-century Spanish nun (1602-1665) who saw in ecstasy the events recorded in the 4-volume history of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary which Our Lord and Lady instructed her to write. The title of the work, Cuidad de Dios or (Mystical) City of God, refers to Mary, the unique City of God whose treasures of wisdom for the spiritual life cannot be overestimated. Here we set upon the hill-top for you excerpts from this monumental work for your edification. Each installment speaks for itself.

Volume 1 "The Conception" - Chapter 1

1. I confess to Thee (Matth 11,25) and magnify Thee, King Most High, that in thy exalted Majesty Thou has hidden these high mysteries from the wise and from the teachers, and in thy condescension hast revealed them to me, the most insignificant and useless slave of thy Church, in order that Thou mayest be the more admired as the omnipotent Author of this history in proportion as its instrument is despicable and weak.

2. After I had overcome the above mentioned reluctance and disorderly fears which caused so much timid hesitation, lest I suffer shipwreck in that sea of marvels, the most exalted Lord caused me to feel a virtue from on high, strong, sweet, efficacious and gentle; an enlightenment which illumined the intellect, subjected the rebellious will, tranquilizing, directing, governing and attracting the whole range of interior and exterior senses, thus subjecting my entire being to the will and pleasure of the Most High and directing it in all things toward his honor and glory alone.

Being thus prepared, I heard a voice from the Almighty, which called me and raised me up toward Him, exalting my dwelling-place on high (Ecclus. 51,13) and strengthening me against the lions, that hungrily roared about me in order to snatch my soul from the enjoyment of great blessings in the boundless mysteries of this holy Tabernacle and City of God. Surrounded by the sorrows of death and perdition (Ps 17, 5) and beset by the flames of Sodom and Babylon, in which we live, it liberated me from the portals of sorrow, into which I was enticed to enter. My enemies, forming visions of fallacious and deceitful delights for the misleading of my senses and the capture of them by pretended pleasures, set their allurements about me, in order that I might blindly turn toward these flames and be consumed by them. But from all these snares laid for my footsteps (Ps 56,7), the Most High has delivered me, elevating my spirit and teaching me by the most efficacious admonitions the way of perfection.

He invited me to a life spiritualized and angelic, and obliged me to live so cautiously that in the midst of the furnace, the fire touched me not (Eceli 51,6). He often liberated me from the impure tongue, when it sought to communicate to me its earthly fables (Ps. 118,85). His Majesty invited me to rise from the dust and littleness of the law of sin, to resist the defections of sin-infected nature and to restrain its disorders, combating them by his enlightening inspirations and raising myself above myself (Lam. 3,28). He called me repeatedly, sometimes by the power of his omnipotence, sometimes with the correction of a Father, and at others with the love of a Spouse, saying: Arise, my dove, creation of my hands, make haste and come to Me (Cant. 2,10), who am the light and the way (John9,12); he that follows Me walks not in darkness. Come to Me, who am the secure truth, and unchangeable holiness, to Me, who am Powerful and the Wise, and the Teacher of those that follow wisdom (Wis 7,15).

These words were like arrows of sweet love, which filled me with admiration, reverence, knowledge and dread of my sins and of my vileness, so that I retired from his presence, shrunken and annihilated in the knowledge of my nothingness. And the Lord spoke to me: "Come, O soul, come to Me, who am thy omnipotent God, and although thou has been a prodigal child and a sinner, arise from the earth and come to Me, thy Father; receive the stole of my friendship and the ring of spouse."

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Editor's Note:
More information about Mary of Agreda can be found here.

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A Mid-day Mini-Retreat

Thoughts of Blessed James Alberione

Thoughts of Blessed James Alberione

Meeting the Almighty with Mary of Agreda

A Mini-Retreat with Mary of Agreda

Maria Christi

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