Fr Doyle struggled to give up butter on his bread at breakfast Your desire for penance is an excellent sign…But have a fixed amount to be done each day and do not be doing it in fits and starts. Anything like what you call “frenzy” ought to be suspected and resisted. COMMENT: Fr Doyle’s life of penance has been a stumbling block for some people. It is true that he …
Self-conquest
November 18, 2010
“I should have to give an exact account of every action of my life and for every instant of time” 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 …
November 17, 2010
Holiness and perfection depend on yourself, not on the actions of others. COMMENT: How easy it is for us to blame others, or the circumstances of our lives, for our own lack of holiness. Yes, we may live or work with annoying and frustrating people, but there is always a choice on our part to control our annoyance or frustration. Fr Doyle’s life and example shows us one way of …
November 16, 2010
The Ladder of Divine Ascent, based on the writings of St John Climacus The reason I find it so hard to love God, why I have so little affection for Him, is because of my attachment to venial sin and my constant deliberate imperfections. I have, as it were, been trying to run with an immense weight round my feet; I have tried to reach the unitive way without passing …
November 10, 2010
Our Lord is displeased only when He sees no attempt made to get rid of imperfections which, when deliberate, clog the soul and chain it to the earth. But He often purposely does not give the victory over them in order to increase our opportunities of meriting. Make an act of humility and sorrow after failure, and then never a thought more about it. He sees what a “tiny …
November 9, 2010
The greatest thirst of Jesus on the Cross was his thirst for souls. He saw then the graces and inspirations He would give me to save souls for Him. In what way shall I correspond and console my Saviour? The thought has been very much in my mind during this week that Jesus asks from me the sacrifice of all the pleasures of the world — such as summer …
November 6, 2010
Today we continue with some of Fr Doyle’s reflections on the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises and his resolutions aimed at achieving the Third Degree of Humility. Once again, Fr Doyle’s words are very direct and succinct and there is little requirement for commentary and elaboration. The reformation of one’s life must be the work of every day, I should take each rule and duty, think how Jesus acted, …
October 27, 2010
What account shall I give of this resolution when I stand before my God for judgement? PRACTICE OF THE THIRD DEGREE. I. Accepto. I will receive with joy all unpleasant things which I must bear: (a) pain, sickness, heat, cold, food; (b) house, employment, rules, customs; (c) trials of religious life, companions; (d) reprimands, humiliations; (e) anything which is a cross. II. Volo et Desidero. I will wish and desire …
October 26, 2010
“He chose want of all things, suffering and a hard comfortless life” 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! Once again, we must remember that we are not necessarily expected to have the third degree of humility; or at least not …
October 25, 2010
St Ignatius Loyola We come now to one of the other great moments of the Spiritual Exercises – the Meditation on the Three Classes of Men. This is tough! It is likely that most of us would be happy enough to belong to the second class of men. After all, the Second Class seem quite reasonable to us, but only because we judge the matter from our own perspective, not …
October 24, 2010