Writings of St. Peter Julian Eymard
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Our Lord must be happy with us.pdf I wish that the Good Lord may always be happy with you, and that you may always be happy with the Good Lord. These are the two ideas that we will develop. First, I want our Lord to be pleased with you, so happy that he will remain with you willingly. Our Lord can be forced to stay with people even if he’s not happy. Certainly. In the Blessed Sacrament, our Lord belongs to mankind. He can be forced to stay there, although not happy because he is despised, blasphemed, and crucified. M Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Our Lord Wants You Completely for Himself.pdf Our Lord wants you completely for himself. In the Church, there are many vocations, many orders, and many graces. Each one has its work, and its mission. Most Christian vocations are mixed, that is, partly for our Lord and partly for the neighbor. There are very few that are purely contemplative, completely at the service of God. Some few communities, however, are purely contemplative, like the Carthusians, men and women, the Capuchins, the Carmelites. They practice their charity towards t Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Poverty.pdf To become a true Servant of the Blessed Sacrament, a sister must love poverty, honor it by the way she dresses, by what she eats, by her room, by her entire life. It must be like the royal virtue of Jesus Christ, her master. The vow of poverty is necessary in the religious life in order to live this life perfectly. Human nature finds poverty difficult, because the heart can easily become attached. We see this in religious, men or women, who have left everything, all the pleasures of the wo Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Preserving Grace and Making It Bear Fruit. Recollection.pdf It is good and right to receive graces, but that’s not enough; we must care for them. And there’s still more: we must let them bear fruit. You have received many graces, and you will receive them every day. In his goodness, God wants to honor you among the daughters of Israel. Your gratitude should also be very great, because his goodness is infinite. Sometimes you tell me: I don’t know what to say. You know how to say thank you; say thank you like poor people do. You don’t need m Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection in Our Lord Through a Spirit of Love.pdf The month of Mary is moving on, my good Sisters; we must do something [special]. Be careful to keep silence. In your work, if you must speak, speak softly and only when necessary. Silence is the soul of recollection, the soul of the presence of God. It is hard to keep it when we are bearing some suffering and when we are distracted. Take a good resolution. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection of Contemplation. Recollection of Union..pdf Let us continue the subject of our last meeting. I spoke only about going out of self; now I will speak about the rest. To go out of yourself is both difficult and easy. Why? Because we know ourselves, we feel ourselves, and we can grasp ourselves. It is difficult because we must divest ourselves of the self, even though we still hold on to something. There is a satisfaction there, even in suffering, in spiritual death. What is difficult is to go towards our Lord. We see nothing, feel no Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection of Silence.pdf Recollection is absolutely necessary. The devil will try to preoccupy us with external things – even good and excellent ones – in order to draw us away when our soul is taken up with God. Satan does not want to lose us. Like a kidnapper who draws a person out of her house, away from the presence of her mother, to the countryside to make her his slave, the devil tries to take us out of ourselves, away from the presence of our Lord, in order to daze us and remove us from our center. Then o Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection our Life in God.pdf Today, we will meditate on the life of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It would be useless, my good Sisters, to prepare a beautiful dinner, if you did not eat anything, if you could not digest it well. It would be useless for you to hear spiritual words, if you don’t digest them. What do we mean by digestion? This is recollection. Digestion takes place when internal heat produces the transformation of food. It follows that recollection, the interior grace of our Lord, produces this tr Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection. Definition.pdf You have the mission from God to live from him and for him. For this, you need recollection. This is the principal science that you must learn. It is a grace, and also a virtue. Acquire this science – we will teach you – and, with the help of grace, you will do it on your own. To recollect oneself means to draw from the outside to the inside, to offer oneself to our Lord within us, as in a tabernacle where he receives the homage of heart, mind, will, and senses. This is how to continue Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection. Different ways of Placing Ourselves in the Presence of God.pdf We said that recollection is loving attention to God within us. We must be recollected within ourselves. There are several ways of placing ourselves in the presence of God within us, according to these words of our Lord: Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him (Jn 14:23). Our Lord says that the Father and the Holy Spirit come to us. They do not come in order to leave, but to make their dwelling there. That’s h Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection. Uncommon Today. Virtue and Grace of God in Us.pdf Let me return to my subject, recollection. Here, there are two things, or rather there are three: science, virtue, and grace. First, science. What is the meaning of recollection? When a teacher wants to emphasize a point, he says: Pay attention, my children. Then they become attentive. This kind of attention is what we call recollection. In the same way, we focus on a subject. Recollection means to go from the outside to the inside, keeping the mind attentive. The more attention ther Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Recollection. Watching and Resting.pdf Recollection is the grace that preserves all virtues, nourishing and perfecting them. Recollection makes us always present to God for him to guide us, and present to ourselves so as to belong to him and to be in him. Without recollection you cannot be humble, mortified and obedient, you cannot practice prayer, since you would be outside yourself. Isn’t it recollection that preserves all virtues? Not only that, but a recollected person always at the disposition of God, ready to leave when h Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Religious Life. A Means not an End.pdf Our Lord said to a young man, If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and come, follow me – you will have treasure in heaven (cf. Mt 19:21). When this young man heard these words, he became sad, because he held tightly to his goods and his wealth. He was holding on to glory, and he went away sad. He did not do what our Lord had asked of him; he kept his goods. He did not follow our Lord. […] Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Renouncing the Mind the Heart and the Will.pdf What is this self-denial? It means to crucify oneself by dying to the old self. To better understand this, let’s go into some details. When my mind wants something that is not according to my vocation, grace will say: You must make a sacrifice; it’s useless. There is a conflict: the interior self who wants to please our Lord renounces what the mind wants. It costs – it always does, but grace will be victorious over self- love. I could propose something – a good action – but the o Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Reparation. The Words of our Lord on the Crossdocx.pdf Do not forget the role of reparation, especially on Friday, or whenever you adore on the other days, in the morning or evening. Actually, the evening is the best time for reparation and propitiation, as you recall the crucifixion of our Lord, our priceless redemption. One is better disposed through union with our Lord. One has a special grace that speaks to the soul and senses; there is something easier and more touching, while the topics under consideration become more striking. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Second Anniversary of Foundation.pdf When a grace is first given, at the beginning of a society, things are very simple. As it grows, it takes on importance and the grace becomes more demanding, because it seems that, without decreasing, it becomes a grace of virtue rather than a grace of gift and mercy. Humans want to intervene. The first grace is like a ray of the sun. Human effort is nothing compared to God’s gift. You received that first grace without being aware of its height, its width and its length; only God knows. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Self annihilating Love.pdf In the Eucharistic life there are two distinct elements: the goal and the means. The goal is our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, and his good and adorable service. You came here to commit yourselves to this goal, just as we did, to fulfill the first commandment: You shall adore the Lord your God and love him alone. (cf. Mt 4:10) Adoration includes many parts, even all the virtues. Besides adoration there is canonical office in choir as a style of adoration, the pr Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Self-love.pdf We will reflect on the principal enemy to the love of our Lord, since this love must be your life, your perfection, and your crown some day. What is this enemy, my dear Sisters? For us it is not mortal sin or venial sin. What is it? It is self-love, two loves fighting each other – the reign of one necessarily destroys the reign of the other. God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8), and man is love – God wants to be loved royally [above all]. Man wants to love royally, but the two loves are always i Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Silence.Direction.pdf To live an interior life, we must be silent. The Holy Sprit said: The Lord does not dwell in the storm (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11-12). God speaks with a soft voice, in a gentle manner, and we must pay careful attention to hear him. In one of the psalms he also says through the mouth of the prophet: Listen, my daughter, turn your ear to my voice (cf. Ps 44:11). Our Lord does not speak in cities and in public places (cf. Is 42:2), but in deserts (cf. Hos 2:16), on mountain tops (cf. Mt 5:1); he did no Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Simplicity Goal of Your Relationship.pdf Simplicity must be the goal of your relationships. True love, real charity makes all our relationships very simple, because it destroys self-love. Where there is love, there is no self-love. Self-seeking will lead to embarrassment or loud behavior. A child is simple, without self-love. God is simple; he comes to us because he loves us. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Simplicity.pdf Follow the common and ordinary way of life. Something that has been approved by an entire group is better than what comes from only a few. A common law, a common rule is better than a personal rule. Therefore, love the simple and common life; the name community says clearly that your life should be such. Do not strive after virtues that are externally unusual. Keep anything extraordinary to yourself. Externals must be simple and common. In our day, people are fond of anything extraordi Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Sins Against Charity.pdf We must be very careful and strict in avoiding all sins against charity. These offend our Lord much more than other sins, because our Lord is love and the command of charity is closer to his heart than all others. This precept contains the entire law. Our Lord said: If you are merciful, I will show mercy to you (cf. Mt 5:7). His rule of conduct towards us will be taken from the way we treat others. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Spirit of Love and Sacrifice.pdf Make your first meditation on this subject, examining the sacrifices you should make toward God, your neighbor and yourselves. Sacrifice is love in practice. 1° Toward God. I cannot tell you what these sacrifices are; there are no general rules. Each one should follow her grace; discern the characteristic of God’s love within you. Then you will be sure of the sacrifice God is asking from you. The goal of love is a perfect union with God. You have to be like a drop of water poured in Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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St. Joseph Servant. Adorer. Disciple. and Our Model.pdf This feast of St. Joseph is so beautiful and consoling for us! I must offer him special honor and give him to you as protector and model. That’s why I will speak to you about St. Joseph: apostle, prophet, servant, adorer, disciple and model of the coenobitic life. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Suffering and Joy. Fraternal Charity.pdf […] As soon as we give ourselves to God, we give ourselves to the cross, to sacrifice. It will be death in order to have life. God crucifies us and gives us life. He crucifies the old self who is always with us. Crushed at night, it revives in the morning even stronger than the night before. Our life is a constant struggle, says Job. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Supernatural Charity of the Heart, of Respect, Affection and Action.pdf We must build our perfection on charity, for this is the Lord’s commandment. He based all holiness on the love of God, and charity towards our neighbor as its expression. This is the greatest and first commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (for the love of God) (cf. Mt 22:37-39). Our Lord also told his apostles: Keep my precept, my new commandment Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Annunciation.pdf The angel found the Blessed Virgin alone. She had no witnesses, because the house in Nazareth was divided into two parts. It lay against a cliff. There was a part that was more withdrawn, where the Blessed Virgin prayed. Then there was the front part of the house, judging from what has been said. What was she doing? Surely, she was at prayer. When God wants to give any grace, this happens during times of prayer. So also with the Blessed Virgin. We always picture her in silence and praye Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Ascension.pdf the feast of the Ascension. This feast continues for ten days, until Pentecost. Ascension is the end, the last feast of our Lord on earth; it is the triumph, the harvest. Our Lord Jesus Christ certainly deserved this triumph, since his poor body suffered much to enjoy glorification and to be seated at the right hand of the heavenly Father. He had suffered such bodily humiliation, he was crushed as under a press (cf. Is 53:5), as the prophet Isaiah says, his appearance like that of a leper ( Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Attraction of Eucharist.pdf I told you that we must serve our Lord according to our internal state,2 because this state is the positive indication of the will of God. Moreover, we must follow the attraction of the grace that then becomes the motivation of all the actions of our life, because that’s why it is offered. The attraction of grace for you can only be a Eucharistic attraction. If you had a different one, it could be a movement of grace, but not an attraction. God cannot contradict himself. He cannot give y Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Attraction. We Must Serve God by Our Interior State of Grace in our Vocation.pdf We must serve the Good Lord according to the attraction of grace, because the attraction of grace is the will of God manifested in us. What is an attraction? How shall I say it? I don’t know. This is how it is defined: An extraordinary movement of grace in us that draws us strongly and gently to God or to one of his mysteries; to something that comes from God, that really draws the soul very gently and powerfully. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Complete Gift of Self.pdf We will begin meditating on the gift of self. You must give yourselves totally to God. Everything depends on that, all the rest is nothing. Giving what we own has value, but it means merely giving back to God what already belongs to him. To give our work entails giving only part of ourselves, the fruit of our labors; but we hold on to “the self”. To give ourselves little by little is not possible, and is an insult to God. He made the world for us and us for himself (cf. 1 Cor 3:21-23). Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Dominant Virtue of a Servant of the Blessed Sacrament.pdf My Sisters, I have to leave next week, and so I cannot give your retreat. You have enough things to read, and the Good Lord will do the rest. I2 think that you had a good Christmas season. Very often these great feasts are times of trial; we suffer more than we rejoice. In the past, we had this experience – it’s true that we are engaged in some ministry: we would go to God through our neighbor rather than through ourselves, through charity rather than through our own piety. What could Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Essence of Love Is Suffering.pdf What is the essence of love? How do we know that we love God? And how does God perfect this love? This is a good question: what is the essence of the love of God on earth? The answer is this: suffering – by suffering we unite ourselves to God, and God perfects his love in us through suffering. I must explain this well. The essence of love is suffering. Without suffering there is no true love – we cannot say that we love God if we don’t suffer. What is divine love, or even natura Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist. My Only Good.pdf 1. The adorable Eucharist will be my starting point, my rule for judging all creation. No object, science, art, person will be esteemed unless they have some connection of service, virtue, love with the divine Eucharist. What is outside of this will be indifferent to me. What is contrary to his service, his glory, or his love will be my bitter enemy. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist. My Rule of Life.pdf Jesus said: The one who feeds on me will have life because of me [will live for me] (cf. Jn 6:57) It is only right that the servant will work for the master who nourishes her, that the slave will work for the one who ransomed him, the creature for its God, the Christian for Jesus Christ. Here in the Eucharist, Jesus nourishes me, feeds me with his body, blood, soul, and divinity. I don’t change this divine nourishment into myself, as happens when I eat ordinary bread because the bread is ma Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist. Purpose of the Servants of the Most Blessed Sacrament.pdf We are going to meditate on this truth: the Eucharist must be your life2. Our life is shaped by our purpose. In the natural order, when aiming for a certain profession, we direct all our work and studies to this goal – in order to become fit to attain it. That is our end purpose. It’s the same in the spiritual order. When we have a goal, we must direct all our efforts towards it. All our thoughts, our desires, and our entire self are geared to attain a goal that sanctifies everything. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist. Source of Life.pdf Jesus Christ communicates his life by his grace, by his spirit, and by his truth which (is) Himself. He does this by his grace, not only as all Christians receive it, but in a special way by our Eucharistic attraction. This attraction is at first through sentiment. We feel happiness and devotion in the Eucharist, but this sweet attraction and consolation will pass. For an attraction to be true, everything must lead to it. Our thoughts, our actions, have no other goal but to see the Eucha Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist. The Aim of Everything.pdf Education is not a way of being; it is a preparation for arriving at a way of being. All our studies are necessary means for arriving at the state to which we aspire. Likewise, my Sisters, the practice of the virtues, of prayer, penance, and charity are not your state, your center; they are but means, preparations for becoming Eucharistic servants. Therefore, all that you do must be done in view of the Eucharist, for love of the Eucharist. Nothing must occupy you outside of the divine Euchar Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharist.pdf When Our Lord was on earth, he was only passing through, as we see in the Gospel, going about doing good, curing those whom he met along the way, the blind, the crippled, those possessed, etc. (cf. Mt 4:23- 24) […] Now, Jesus no longer walks about, he remains (with us), waiting night and day, and will do so until the end of the world. He remains waiting for us, to heal our wounds, to dry our tears, comfort our infirmities. What love! Poor soul, you can come to visit me whenever you wish, Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharistic Passion.pdf During this holy Lenten season only one thought should occupy your mind, namely, the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It must become your major focus, your great devotion. Your love of God will not be great or strong, unless based on the Passion. You will not understand our Lord’s love, since one understands love only through sacrifices. Our Lord’s greatest proof of love was the passion itself. For this reason St. Paul says that he loves only Jesus and Jesus crucified (cf. 1 Cor 2:2). Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharistic Thought.pdf My good Sisters, may you have only one fundamental idea, only one thought, only one center. When this royal thought, this fundamental idea weakens and becomes indolent, strengthen it through recollection, through penance, through every means, so that it will always remains central. What must this thought be? That of the service of our Lord in the most Blessed Sacrament. It must be central, so as to guide your perfection. This is the reason for your being around the Holy Eucharist: to serve Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Eucharistic Work. Rule Drawn from the Tabernacle.pdf May God be blessed for everything! My poor Daughters, providing that God’s will be done, and that we allow him to work, all the rest makes no difference to us. We would have liked to go very fast. It didn’t happen! Our Lord seems to stop everything, but only because he wants to do something better. The devil is working furiously against the work, and he uses all his malice to fight it and crush it, if that were possible. And so we need only undertake something for the Eucharist to come Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Four Ends of the Sacrifice. Adorationdocx.pdf We honor the entire Eucharist by the four ends of the sacrifice: not by only one; we take all four of them. These four are: adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, and intercession. Some communities have chosen only one or two of these fruits, one or two of these ends; some have only adoration and thanksgiving, such as in Brittany, and as Fr. Hermann does. This is a work of thanksgiving, not an order. I don’t know any order of thanksgiving2. These are associations that could become orders / Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Gift of Self.pdf Giving is a good thing – it means making a donation, a gift. It involves returning what we have received; but this is not the same as giving oneself. Our Lord requires giving as a condition for evangelical service: Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, then come, follow me; and you will have treasure in heaven (cf. Mt 19:21). Abandon everything, come, give yourself in your poverty as my follower, and I will give you everything. Our Lord says that this is a big sacrifice, for he adds Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Good Lord Unites Us to Himself by Gentleness.pdf The Good Lord unites us to himself by gentleness; it is through the gentleness of this union that he leads us to strength. I often spoke to you about sacrifices, virtues, and everything that you should do; but you should not center in these sacrifices, in that state of death that I spoke of. This is not your center. The Good Lord does not unite us to himself through sacrifice, but through the experience of his goodness. He makes us feel a great sweetness, a sign of the grace of God in us, be Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Grace of Consolation.pdf Surely God knows what we need much better than we do. If he gives a grace of consolation, of sweetness in his service, a grace of devotion, it’s because we need it, or we will need it. And so, in his mercy, he sends it to us. Why should we refuse it? It would be like saying that the Good Lord doesn’t know what he’s doing. It would also be acting like a beggar who has nothing, yet refuses to accept what is given to him. Perhaps one might object: that God is treating me like a child a Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Grain of Wheat.pdf My Sisters, it is necessary that you should become like the grain of wheat, the substance of which is totally transformed. We will consider the grain of wheat reaching its condition as a host, becoming Jesus Christ. That will give you an idea of what you need to do to attain eucharistic life. The grain of wheat is cast on earth and there it dies and its life springs from its death. From this death comes forth a seed. The grain becomes a plant. It becomes the wheat. Then we gather the ear, Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Health of the Soul.pdf What I desire is the health of your soul. When do we know that we have it? When we are faithful to his grace. The body is healthy when it has strength in its organs; the soul that is faithful to grace has interior health: it has strength and the love of God. When we are sick, work will exhaust us: everything is tiring; food is not digested by the stomach. When a soul is sick, nothing will be beneficial to her, or will benefit only slightly – she has not the strength to carry out her work: Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Hidden Holiness of Jesus Christ.pdf Let us return to the subject of our hidden life. Be satisfied with the holiness of Jesus Christ, who is hidden. Jesus Christ has two kinds of holiness. There is one that is external, in great things, in his glory, in his heroic virtues. Don’t seek the holiness of the grandeur of Jesus Christ. That one is less perfect, less esteemed by Jesus. Consider his hidden life, where there is more love. There was more love in Nazareth than on Tabor. In Nazareth he deferred his miracles. Jesus is g Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Hidden Life of Jesus.pdf Our Lord preferred to choose the hidden life, from his birth to the time when he began his public life. For thirty years, he lived unknown to the world, but his love for the hidden life shines in all its brilliance in the most Blessed Sacrament. In fact, nothing appears there – all is veiled: his beauty, his majesty, and his glory are not seen. The divine gentleness of his words is not heard; only one thing is evident, the virtue he cherishes – humility. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Humility of Love.pdf You will make your meditation on the humility of love. A king wanted to get married. He was a perfect king, with all the qualities that make great kings. He had a large kingdom and he was honored by his subjects. He wanted to espouse someone worthy of him. All who were part of a princely family were hoping to catch his eye and please him, but everyone was surprised when his choice landed on the least girl in his kingdom. Everyone was saying: How could the king have taken someone whose pare Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Humility of Mind Heart and Body.pdf I think you were attentive to your short meditation this morning – it fits you well. Humility is your dowry as spouses of Jesus Christ, to be Servants of the Most Blessed Sacrament. You have no other. If the Good Lord asked you for another dowry, you could not give it to him. Examine all the virtues, and you’ll find them impossible. You may practice them a little, but their perfection is impossible for you. It’s the same with the virtues of the mind, those that come from the working Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Interior Attraction of Recollection.pdf We said that you must serve God through your attraction of grace. We gave some preliminaries; now let’s continue. It is clear that we must serve God as he wants to be served – the will of God becomes the norm for good works. We will experience great consolation and encouragement, once we have established this principle! Who knows whether the Good Lord is pleased when I practice this specific virtue, when I enter this vocation? Who knows if God is happy? As soon as I start doubting when Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Last Days of Holy Week.pdf This week we celebrate the mysteries of the Passion. They are great and solemn; meditate on them. You must enter into their spirit, and follow the grace of each day. Tomorrow, we recall the betrayal of Judas. The Church has always considered Wednesday as a day of sadness. It is a day of penance in many religious orders. When permission is given to eat meat, Wednesday is excluded. On that day, our Lord was sold. This crime is often repeated through bad Communions, and the Church remembe Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Life of Love.pdf Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will have their fill (Mt 5:6). This is not said in today’s world, where these people are called unfortunate. If you are hungry, you must eat. If you are thirsty, you must drink. Our Lord Jesus Christ considered happiness to consist in satisfying hunger and thirst. In heaven, the saints always live of the Good Lord; they never exhaust him. Their hunger and thirst are always satisfied, and yet they al Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Life of Our Lord in Us.pdf Recollection means pouring ourselves into God – that’s the first part. The second part is making room for God to live in us – our Lord in us. At first, we are the ones going into God. We go there by choice and out of love, renouncing everything along the way. That’s fine! Once a soul resides in God, the reverse occurs, as I told you frequently in the past. These truths are not easy to grasp. Our Lord says: Whoever eats me remains in me (cf. Jn 6:56). First we go, then there is Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Life of the Blessed Virgin in the Cenacle.pdf Let us reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin in the Cenacle. Everyone has a center of life that gives stability. For example, a child’s center of life is the affection of its mother, its family home. A merchant’s center of life is his business, he thinks only of that, and dwells there. A scholar’s center of life is knowledge, etc. Every person has a center of life, in which to rest, recreate, and find pleasure. A young man may work the entire day far from his family; he is happy Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Loving Sacrifice of Our Lord in the Eucharist.pdf What is a sacrifice? Renunciation. There are two kinds: suffering of the body and renunciation of the soul. The greater the sacrifices are, greater is the love; the less perfect they are, the more love decreases. This is the rule: there is no love without sacrifice. While the love of God is perfect, when he wants to show it to us, he shows it by sacrifice Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Mercy of Love.pdf My dear Sisters, we spoke about the love that our Lord gives us; now let us see how he forgives us. We need his forgiveness more than his gifts; we have more guilt than virtue; we do more harm than good. My poor Daughters, we miss out on many graces! We render so many graces barely effective, if not sterile, by our own fault! What touches me more deeply about the love of God for us is his mercy; it touches me more than his gifts. When he gives, he is so good that he cannot help but give; an Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Mission of the Holy Spirit.pdf Let us reflect on the mission of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit has a mission, since he is sent. You know what is written in the Gospel, that he is sent by Jesus Christ who says, If I do not go, the Advocate (Holy Spirit) will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (cf. Jn 16:7). Clearly, then, the Holy Spirit has a mission. The eternal Word has a mission as Savior, while the Holy Spirit has one as Sanctifier of souls. Alone, Jesus is not sufficient. The Father give Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Month of Mary.pdf here comes the month of Mary; we will begin it tonight, as we end the final day of April. Our men will do the same. We have prepared our chapel that is even more beautiful than yours. Although we are Religious of the Most Blessed Sacrament, we must not for that reason have a lesser devotion to the Blessed Virgin. It would be offensive to say, Jesus is enough for me. Where do we find Jesus on earth, if not in Mary’s arms? We cannot separate Jesus from Mary, for isn’t she the Gate of He Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Mystery of Suffering.pdf God surrounds suffering with mystery – especially the sufferings of love that we can call the sufferings of sanctification. He wraps them up, he hides them from us. He has to wrap them as in a veil of mystery, so that we will not recognize them. We can have a foreboding of sufferings, and, no doubt, know them in advance, and we can say: I will suffer. But the spiritual man does not see the suffering until the time of God has come. God does not manifest it. Each of us has a sum of sufferi Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Presentation of our Lord.pdf The Presentation of our Lord and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin is a great feast both in heaven and on earth. Heaven has never received so great a victim as our Lord offered by the hands of his mother. And earth has never possessed so great a gift as this fruit of the earth, the flower of Jesse (cf. Is 11:1), the fruit of the virginity of Mary. The earth was so rich that the angels in heaven could never equal a gift in any way comparable to that offered by Mary. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin.pdf God was drawing her with his love. David, the ancestor of the Blessed Virgin, said: I rejoiced because they said to me, “We will go up to the house of the Lord.” (Ps 121:1) She rejoiced, as we will, when we go to heaven. In her visit, she preceded her parents; love has wings. Everyone must have noticed this little girl, so good and pure, especially when she climbed the stairs of the temple, built on a mountain, Mt. Mello. Why did she run ahead? To arrive sooner, to be the first to kiss Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Purity of Love.pdf 1866 God loves you with an infinite, perpetual, and eternal love, that is my hope, since he has given you sufficient signs of that love. Now, you should want to love him as much as you can. In order to love the Good Lord well, my Sisters, you must be pure and not offend him. You must avoid everything that displeases him, that’s the one and only proof that you love the Good Lord. To love him perfectly, you must give yourself in religious life. Try to be good religious. If you want to Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Purpose of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.pdf The purpose of man is to know, love, and serve God in this world and to possess him in the next – that is the catechism. The purpose of the Christian changes one word: to know, love and serve Jesus Christ, God and man, in this world, and to share his glory in heaven. As for you, my Sisters, your purpose is the know, love, and serve Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament of the altar in this world, and reign with him in heaven. That is your entire law; that is your purpose. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Qualities of Eucharistic Service.pdf How shall I serve Jesus in his loveable sacrament? With all my mind, with all my heart, with all my will, and with all my strength. (Mt? Mk 12:29) 1º With all my mind. The Holy Eucharist will be my dominant thought; his better service will be my ambition; his perpetual service will be my most glorious bond with him. I will be indifferent to whatever cannot be related to the service of the adorable Eucharist, because it is not my task, not my duty as a servant. I will consider as an exerc Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Recollection of Love.pdf Recollection means going from outside to inside, paying attention to God in us. I deliberately avoided using a word that would have surprised you; namely, loving attention to God in us. Whoever speaks of attraction, speaks of love, since that is its character. Perfection is just that. The desire to make him our center means to desire life, joy, and well-being. One who centers on a friendship will find happiness; whatever pleasure one centers on will also bring happiness. In the same way, t Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Recollection of Study. of Contemplation. of Attention. Center.pdf As a science, recollection comes through a learning process, and through practice. It is a natural act and is done like any natural act. It consists in giving attention which is more or less sustained, on a thought, a truth. One can work on recollection. When it has the characteristic of study, then it is a recollection of study, and the mind works. If it is a discovered truth that we contemplate, then it is the attention of contemplation; the soul remains in the silence of contemplation. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Resurrection. We Must Rejoice with the Blessed Virgin.pdf Now, we focus on the Resurrection. You would not enter into the spirit of this feast if you wanted to weep and return to Calvary. If that were your particular grace, I would say nothing, but you would not be following the flow of Gods graces. Rejoice with the Church; you have found your lost treasure. There is great joy and happiness in recovering a treasure that had been lost (cf. Lk 15:6, 9, 24). Here is our Lord, our Friend, our Father, and our Spouse. Let us not lose him again. We mus Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Science of Love.pdf My Sisters, I think you understood clearly what I told you this morning2, and you made your meditation on the life of love. These are truths that dazzle us ordinarily when we hear them for the first time. We see their beauty but not their depth. These truths are not new in themselves, because they are as old as God. As they are new for us, we should not get discouraged if we don’t understand them at once and don’t grasp them fully. God does not enlighten us as he did Saint Paul. Even Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of Eucharistic Faith.pdf St. Paul said: The just lives by faith. (Rm 1:17). The spirit of faith inspires all his actions… […] To have the spirit of Eucharistic faith means to find joy in the service of the God of the Eucharist, to search for any occasion that gives honor and glory to Jesus Eucharistic. To live the Eucharistic spirit means, then, to make the Holy Eucharist the loving thought of our mind, the royal love of our heart, and the supreme good of our will. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of Love and Sacrifice.pdf Your rule says that you should have the spirit of love and sacrifice. Why do we always speak about sacrifice, come back to it? Isn’t there any true love without sacrifice? No, my dear Sisters, there is no true love without sacrifice, I mean for us who are journeying as exiles on earth. Heaven is the reward of the sacrifices of love on earth. In heaven, love will be rewarded according to our sacrifices. There is a greater glory for those who bore many sacrifices, little glory for little Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of Nature and the Spirit of Grace.pdf My Sisters, today we shall talk about the spirit that should move you and various other spirits. I will try to complete what I said about the attraction of grace, since I did not have time to finish. Right away, I am informing2 you that it is a difficult subject.[…] It is not something palpable and accessible to the senses. We shall examine the movements of the soul. I will not talk about the movements of the evil spirit – spare me that. I will not talk about them, since everyone knows Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of Sacrifice.pdf You must not run after sacrifices, as sacrifices in themselves. This would be like a servant who is unwilling to remain next to his master; worried and impatient, he prefers to go out and work for him, rather than remain with him. That’s what happens when we love our sacrifices as sacrifices, when we place our life in them, when we make them our center – preferring to work for God, rather than work with God. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of the Foundation.pdf My goal, in all that I do, is always to make you go alone to the Blessed Sacrament. You have a lot of need for direction, for priestly guidance, but as far as I am concerned, to be wise, I must imitate St. John the Baptist. He had disciples: and you, you are my disciples. The Good Lord gave me the grace to gather you. He instructed them and kept them for a long time. When the time came, he sent them all to2 our Lord (cf. Jn 3:26), and he disappeared (cf. Jn 3:30), like the stars do when th Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit of the Society.pdf Let us explain the spirit of the Society.2 First, what is a spirit; what do we mean by spirit? Each person has her own personal spirit, distinguishing her from any other, her own way of seeing things, talking, and acting. This is what forms her character. A person with a good spirit will be gentle and charitable; if the contrary is true, she has a bad and terrible spirit. We judge a person by her spirit, the written letter brings death but the Spirit gives life. (cf. 2 Cor 3:6) Our good Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Spirit. Serving with Devotion and Abnegation.pdf My Sisters, I want to talk to you about the spirit. It’s important to continue on this topic of the spirit of love and sacrifice. The question is, When will I know that I have the spirit of the Society, the spirit of love and sacrifice? This is very important; can you know it by yourself? Of course, it’s easy to know if one is dead or alive. Life manifests itself. We give proof by acts of virtue, and by the spirit of love within us. The first proof is to fulfill our vocational dut Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Three Degrees of Love(Continuation).pdf Once again , Father chose to talk about the spirit of love. My Sisters, it is very important to form the spirit of love in yourselves. I already explained what it is to have the spirit of a thing and what rules to follow. An act of love is an isolated deed with its own reward. An act of holiness, of virtue, is more than that, because a habit is developing in the soul. When the soul has a dominant virtue, she acts by that virtue and it becomes a habit. A person who is kind on occasion h Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Three Degrees of Love.pdf What do we mean by the spirit of love? The word spirit means more than love. Love has three degrees: [First], an isolated act of love. This is a particular love, a natural attraction toward a person. The second degree, a preferential love. This is a dominating, sovereign love beyond all others, a love that triumphs over everything. It presupposes a battle, because we cannot dominate what we did not fight for; but it is not yet the end of our life. To have the spirit of a thing is Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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The Transfiguration.pdf Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration. In Rome this is a first class feast, feast of the patriarchal church of St. John Lateran, the Pope’s church. We have also celebrated this feast, full of very consoling truths. I will try to explain. Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Third Anniversary of the Foundation.pdf [Today is] the feast of St. Ignatius. The Good Lord permitted this anniversary to fall on the feast3 of such a great saint who used to say: All for the greater glory of God. This is how he began his order. There were nine at Montmartre, what is surprising is that these hidden underground passages have been left untouched since the time they were buried during the Revolution. Men change, things remain the same. This saint did so much good. His liturgical prayer says: Lord, you sanctified St Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Three Kinds of Life.pdf There are three kinds of life. The first is the life of the senses, or the life of the passions. Many people live that kind of life – they are in the majority. In that kind of life, everything ends with pleasure: the miser earns money to enjoy himself; others desire honors in order to have wealth. This life of the senses is found throughout the world. This is what our Lord meant with the words: The gate is wide that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many and it le Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Three Kinds of Peace.pdf […] My Sisters, there are three kinds of inner peace. There is peace of conscience, which you surely have. Peace of conscience consists in having nothing to accuse oneself of before God. I’m not talking about mortal sins, but about venial sins. This peace is a sign that all is well with God. It is not lost by the intrusion of the senses; nor from our evil nature which is not premeditated. These are mere odors from a dunghill – excuse the word. It does not disturb our peace if w Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Three Kinds of Recollection.pdf My Sisters, there are three kinds of recollection. The first recollection, if I dare say it, is the most imperfect: it is recollection through conscience. Let me explain. Our conscience is like the mirror of God in us. Conscience discloses to us the law of God, tells us what is right and what is wrong. God inspires us through our conscience, giving us a sense of the holiness and truth of God, such that recollection is needed to know one’s duty. Then the law is within. This recollect Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Three Obstacles that Prevent Us from Enjoying.pdf I said that many people don’t enjoy our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, for three reasons. First, because they approach our Lord with their senses, limiting themselves to using only their senses. Since our senses cannot grasp the most Blessed Sacrament, since our Lord does not allow himself to be seen and touched, the result is that these people experience nothing. They think, and speak, and act only through their senses – they have a rather languid faith that proceeds well only wit Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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To Live with Jesus Christ.pdf You must honor our Lord, his interior and Eucharistic life; you must honor him by your life – and this includes three ideas. 1º You must live with Jesus Christ. In the Apocalypse, St. John says: On Mt. Zion, I saw the Lamb that was slain, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand virgins, singing the song of love, and who never leave the presence of the Lamb that was slain. (cf. Rv 14:1-4) You, too, are meant to live always with him: a servant lives with her master, a spouse with h Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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To Recollect Oneself in the Goodness of Our Lord.pdf Now, my Sisters, be recollected; develop the habit of recollection, of living in our Lord, as I told you, because as long as you have not done this, you will be useless. You will not enter into God, into his love; you will be affected by all the vicissitudes of the times. You will not be at peace, but on a troubled sea agitated by stormy winds. If you remain with our Lord, if you sit at his feet (cf. Lk 10:39), you will understand the depths of his truth, become instructed in his truth and lo Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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Vocation. The Hidden Eucharistic Life.pdf My Daughters, I see that the Good Lord is increasing your number. Surely, when the Good Lord acts in that way, he has plans of grace and mercy. What are they? Time will tell: “Where the body is, there also the eagles will gather”,2 said our Lord (cf. Lk 17:37). In the Church what is Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament? He is the body. Our Lord’s feast is called Feast of the Blessed Sacrament. The eagles are souls. The Blessed Sacrament is everything that is most needed for thes Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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We Must Begin Our Adoration Well.pdf In our last instruction, we mentioned how to make adoration when already in a moment of fervor; but in general the problem with our meditations, with our adorations, is the very beginning. If we begin well, the rest will follow. I know that human weakness can arise, but we continue the way we had begun. The essential thing is to begin our work well, energetically from the first. If we begin badly, in a lukewarm way, there is much to fear that we’ll have a hard time to return to where we Click below to view the whole content continue reading |
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