I have long had the feeling that, since the world is growing so rapidly worse and worse and God has lost His hold, as it were, upon the hearts of men, He is looking all the more earnestly and anxiously for big things from those who are faithful to Him still. He cannot, perhaps, gather a large army round His standard, but He wants every one in it to …
Jesus
November 24, 2024
We can never sufficiently thank Him for so completely showing us in the Garden that He was a man by praying to escape the storm. COMMENT: Jesus showed us His humanity on many different occasions, but perhaps nowhere more movingly than during the Agony in the Garden. As Fr Doyle tells us in today’s quote, there is nothing wrong with asking God to relieve our sufferings and to spare us …
November 19, 2024
Lord, You know I love You less than any others, but I long and desire to love You more than all the rest. Take my heart, dear Lord, and hide it in Your own, so that I may only love what You love and desire what You desire. May I find no pleasure in the things of this world, its pleasures and amusement; but may my one delight be in …
November 12, 2024
A great desire to know our Lord better, His attractive character, His personal love for me, the resolve to read the life of Christ and study the Gospels. I feel also a longing to love Jesus passionately, to try my very best to please Him, and to do all I think will please Him. I see nothing will be dearer to Him than my sanctification, chiefly attained by the perfection …
October 28, 2024
Following straight on the heels of the meditations on the Two Standards and the Three Classes of Men, we will today consider the Three Kinds of Humility. This is even tougher than the previous meditations! Fr Doyle completed this meditation on this day in 1907. Once again, we must remember that we are not necessarily expected to have the third degree of humility; or at least not just yet. As Ignatius …
October 25, 2024
We come today to the famous meditation on the Two Standards. This is one of the high points of the Spiritual Exercises. St Ignatius, the soldier, presents before us the battle between Christ and Satan. We must decide who we will follow. Here is St Ignatius’ text. It is worth paying particular attention to the tactics of the enemy, how he leaves no city or state of life unmolested, and …
October 23, 2024
Fr Doyle wrote the following notes on the “hidden life” of Jesus as a young boy and man in Nazareth. These reflections from the second week of the Spiritual Exercises which Fr Doyle completed around this time in 1907 are so direct and readily applicable to our own lives that they do not require any further comment or elaboration. During the reflection on the Hidden Life I got a light …
October 22, 2024
As part of the Second week, St Ignatius recommends a meditation on the early life of Christ. Here are his points for meditation on the Flight to Egypt. OF THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT First Point. First: Herod wanted to kill the Child Jesus, and so killed the Innocents, and before their death the Angel warned Joseph to fly into Egypt: “Arise and take the Child and His Mother, and fly …
October 21, 2024
As part of the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises, retreatants meditate on the early life of Christ. One of these meditations is on the Nativity. Here is the text of St Ignatius: THE SECOND CONTEMPLATION IS ON THE NATIVITY Prayer. The usual Preparatory Prayer. First Prelude. The first Prelude is the narrative and it will be here how Our Lady went forth from Nazareth, about nine months with child, …
October 20, 2024
Meditating on the Particular Judgement, God gave me great light. I realised that I should have to give an exact account of every action of my life and for every instant of time. To take only my seventeen years of religious life, what account could I give of the 6,000 hours of meditation, 7,000 Masses, 12,000 examinations of conscience, etc.? Then my time how have I spent every moment? I …
October 16, 2024