A Retreat From 2004

A Retreat As we are completing our exercises, we should all be realizing that our priorities are not straight. We are putting our own personal interests above God and above our other duties. If we are sincere, we want to lock ourselves away in a retreat house for a week in order to set things straight. However, we know this is not possible, so we dismiss the whole idea altogether as impossible. And this is our main problem, we consider that pious practices are impossible, so we do nothing, not even what we can do. God has given us certain devotions for these times, either personally, through the Blessed Virgin M ary or through others over the past centuries. Reread They Have Taken Away My Lord by Fr. Demaris. He was writing to people in a situation similar to ours. How many of our own ancestors suffered some form of subtle persecution. In Fr. Demaris’ time, the French government coerced many of the clergy into schism. Centuries before Henry VIII in pursuit of his own interests coerced many of the clergy into schism, a schism that soon led to outright heresy. To be a Catholic was to risk loss of property and even loss of life. The Japanese survived well over a century without priests, after all of their priests gave their lives in defense of the Faith. Devotion consists in being ready to accomplish in ourselves whatever God demands of us. Saint Thomas Aquinas. God has commanded, we obey. God has given us all of the help we need, not necessarily what we want. All of us would love a large church to assist at M ass on Sundays, and we want a retreat house right now to retire to to lament our sins, during this time of penance and recollection. We have neither, so what can we do. Saint Alphonsus gave the following advice to someone: On the other hand, I am very much in favor of those exercises when performed in solitude, as I know it is to such I owe my own conversion and my resolution to leave the world. To this man, he recommends several days away in another house that is available to him. Further on he relates: St. Bernard says that he learned to know God among the beechtrees and oaks better than in all the learned books he had ever read. And then: The Venerable Vincent Caraffa said that if it had been free to him to wish for anything in this world, he would have asked for nothing but a little grotto with a piece of bread and a spiritual book; … (Read more in The Great M eans of Salvation and Perfection. We have the spiritual books, but we do not have the peace and quiet we need to create for ourselves and our own salvation. Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart. 1 If we cannot go to the wilderness, let us create it where we are, as much as possible. They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart. 2 We are not considering in the heart, because we distract ourselves from this holy and necessary practice. One day our Lord said to St. Teresa: “Oh, how willingly I would speak to many souls, but the world makes so great a noise in their hearts that My voice cannot be heard!

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Osee 2:14 Jeremias 12:11

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Oh, if they would but separate themselves a little from the world! 3 Saint Alphonsus continues later: The inclination of worldlings is to be in company with friends, to talk and divert themselves; but the desire of the saints is to be in solitary places, in the midst of forests, or in caverns, there to converse alone with God, Who in solitude familiarly converses with souls, as a friend with His friend. We clamor for distractions, amusements, recreation, but Christ and his Church are ignored. 4 Why do we clamor for distractions, when we have seen that saints want solitude? Worldly-minded people shun solitude, and it is quite natural for them to do so; for it is in retirement that they are troubled with qualms of conscience. 5 We can shun solitude and keep distracting ourselves, only to wake up at the judgment seat of God and hear those terrible words to Hell with you, which we have been asking for all of our lives. Or we can be sensible, wake up and smell the coffee, then contemplate our lives over the first few cups. Saint Jerome advises a lay woman: Choose to thyself a suitable place, remote from the noise of the household, whither thou mayst betake thyself as a haven. Let there be there so much care in divine readings, such frequent turns of prayers, such steadfast thought of things to come, that thou mayest redeem the occupations of other hours by this vacation. We do not say this to withdraw thee from thine own: nay, rather we say it that thou mayst learn there and meditate how thou shouldst show thyself to thine own: nay, rather we say it that thou mayst learn there and meditate how thou shouldst show thyself to thine own. 6 To summarize, we make a retreat in order to learn how to live the rest of our lives, when we must be in the world and not of it. 7 We must take a vacation as Saint Jerome says, but not in the way the world does. We retire for a day, a week or whatever we can in order to devote ourselves to prayer. 8

How Can We Accomplish This? That we need to make time and opportunity to devote ourselves to spiritual things is without question. The question is HOW. This is where true charity will come in. We must be charitable to others in order to make sacrifices to make it possible for them to devote a day to prayer, and then charitable to ourselves to find a day for ourself to do the same. Think of some pleasure that you desire. How much trouble and how much would you encourage others to make it possible for you to give yourself a day to indulge in this pleasure. And for what? For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? 9 In the movie A M an for All Seasons, Saint Thomas M ore confronts a witness against him, who had just perjured himself and asks: What symbol of office is that? When he finds it is that of Wales, then he replies with this quote, then says to the man: But for Wales? This man sold himself for Wales, whereas we will move heaven and earth for less than that. Since we will 3

The Great Means of Salvation, pages 269-270 Will that Catholic Church Survive the Twentieth Century?, page 22 5 From The 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation Page 154 6 Epistle 148 quoted by Pope Pius XI in Mens Nostra 7 This is the basic advice given to all of us, who are not in monasteries, but who must transact business in the world. 8 I Corinthians 7:5 9 Matthew 16:26 4

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move heaven and earth for our own indulgence, shouldn’t be willing to move heaven and earth in order to obtain heaven, eternal pleasure? So we must find a way to make this happen. We strongly recommend a whole day be devoted to spiritual exercises aimed at setting our souls in order, so that we can return to our worldly cares and be more recollected and charitable. This day should see no distraction from the world. Pull the plug on the phone, unplug the TV, go into the mountains or woods, if necessary. Take a piece of bread and a spiritual book as Vincent Caraffa wanted to. And this day should start the evening before at home in silence and preparing the morning’s meditation prior to bed. In the morning, rise, take care of necessities, then off to your place of solitude for meditation, prayer, recollection and rest. Devote the whole day to solitude, silence and recollection. Think of holy things as you drift off for your siesta. And end the day by retiring in quiet at least. Some may be able to retire to a separate building or house for these exercises, if so, this is praiseworthy, others may have to retire to separate room of their own home. Your true friends and faithful family will cooperate on your day of prayer, as you will on theirs, by keeping silence in your presences and not asking you anything. 10 If we truly love each other, we will make this time of recollection happen for all. There may be someone, who simply cannot devote a day to prayer. For you, We recommend a series of Holy Hours, and taking the Holy Hour day as a day of semi-solitude, by refraining from all voluntary distractions, while discharging your duties with extra zealousness. Offer the sacrifice of being unable to have a day of recollection by taking hours of recollection and offering up the rest.

Conclusion Lent is a good time to focus on spiritual things and set our spiritual house in order with a spiritual spring cleaning. While we fast, let us also fast from amusements and devote more time to prayer, meditation, spiritual reading and contemplation. Let us get with our family and friends and arrange to make these days of recollection happen. There are several good books that can be started on the day of recollection and continued in Holy Hours weekly afterwards. The Great M eans of Salvation and of Perfection on page 285 (of the reprint) begins an eight day retreat. This is why We recommend beginning with a day of recollection and then continue with a weekly Holy Hour. M ost retreats in books are arranged for more than a day. If you can wait, We can prepare a series of meditations. Also you can design your own retreat. To do this a few days before write down a letter to God, outlining your failings. Then go into the spiritual books and the Catechism and find advice on curing these faults to take with you on retreat. On retreat, study this and resolve to go and sin now no more. 11 We shall send more information soon. Start planning your retreats, there are less than 40 fast days until Easter! Pope M ichael 10

One can make an exception, if the house is on fire and about to invade your solitude, since you shall be disturbed anyway. 11 John 8:11

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