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“Quite content, I undertook the journey to Barcelona…. Shortly before my arrival at Barcelona, a hurricane came up, so dreadful that I was terrified. I had studied so much that year that I was a little weak in the chest, and as we ran for cover from the great sheets of rain, the strain of running and the clouds of dust that rose from the parched earth began to suffocate me severely. I thought, Perhaps God doesn’t want you to join the Carthusians”. This thought alarmed me greatly. What is certain is that I didn’t have the will to go on, and so I returned to Vic.”

(Aut. 89).

SEARCHING FOR GOD’S WAY

Thus Claret finished his first stage on the path towards his vocation (more…)

“I also had good parents who cooperated with my teacher in moulding my understanding in truth and nurturing my heart in the practice of religion and all the virtues.”

(Aut. 25)

BE GRATEFUL

How well Fr. Claret expresses the team work of his parents and teachers in the formation of his whole person! Today we would call it “integral formation”.

Indeed Fr. Claret refers to the formation of his understanding, his affectivity and his will, especially in the religious dimension, which had so much importance in his life, and has in the life of each one, (more…)

“Mary is a full moon for the sinners [to them]; she shines in the night of sin, so that they do not fall into hell. She is a dawn for the newly converted, therefore, with her help they go from the darkness of sin and its occasions, and they are growing from virtue to virtue as the light of the dawn. Mary is sun for those who are perfect [to the]; and  she illuminates with her special grace and arouses in them her  most ardent charity.” (Reglas de los Clérigos Seglares que viven en comunidad. Barcelona 1864, p. 3)

PRESENCE OF MARY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Mary knew very well what it was to live only by faith, trusting in a promise. Her son, Jesus did not have (more…)

“Oh Virgin and Mother of God, I offer myself as your son, and in the honour and glory of your purity I consecrate to you my soul and body, strength and feelings, and I beg you to grant me the grace never to commit sin again. Amen. Mother, behold your son. In you, my dearest Mother, I have put all my trust; let me never be put to shame. Amen.” (En Camí dret i segur per arribar al cel. Vich 1843 p.7 [and in all successive editions, in the various languages]).

CONSECRATION TO MARY

What does sin mean for me today? Does it have any resonance in my life and my relationships or decisions? And, grace? This passage reminds us that there are certain things in life – the most important, absolutely – (more…)

“If you saw your father being beaten and stabbed, wouldn’t you run to defend him? Wouldn’t it be a crime for you to look on indifferently at your father in such a plight? Well then, wouldn’t I be the greatest criminal in the world if I didn’t try to prevent the outrages that men are perpetrating against God, who is my Father? My Father, I shall defend you, although it should cost me my life.”(Aut. 204).

GOD IS MY FATHER

Once I read this phrase: “It is relatively easy for a father to forgive his son. But it is very difficult for a child to forgive his own father”. There exists a sense rejection of the paternal figure poured out in the environment. The current situation transmits through (more…)

“I surrender all as son and priest of Mary. She will be my Mother, Teacher and Director and everything I do and suffer in this ministry is for her, because the fruit must belong to the one who has planted the tree.” (Resolutions of 1843, AEC p. 652).

SURRENDER TO MARY

I surrender myself entirely…” To surrender oneself is much more than surrender. Surrender is to give something, anything; and it is very good; but that is little. Most beautiful is to donate oneself, the whole being, from the deepest identity. From the source of affections, desires, emotions, ideas, memories and decisions: body, soul and spirit, as Paul would say (1Thes 5.23). The totality (more…)

“The Heart of Mary was not only a living member of Jesus Christ by faith and charity, but also the origin and source from where the humanity was formed.” (Letter of a devotee of the Heart of Mary, in EC II, p. 1500)

HEART OF MARY, SOURCE OF GIFTS

Mariologists, when contemplating Mary in the mystery of salvation, recognize a tight knit branch of relationships, and so many links obliged to display her as a woman open to reciprocity, as an expert in encounters, as a model of communion. It has been written accurately that “Mary is the woman of harmony who brings together in herself the sacred symbol of the universal relationships and integration of everything created in the mystery (more…)

“A farm without cultivation produces nothing either for the owner or farmer. Religion without worship serves nothing, neither to God nor to man; it is useless. Therefore, it is an essential obligation for us to practice religion […] listening with eagerness and docility to his divine word which we must keep faithfully in our hearts and practice by works; receiving devoutedly  and frequently the holy Sacraments instituted for our good; offering with the Mass, the sacrifice of praise, prayer and submission to His divine will”

(El ferrocarril. Barcelona 1857, p. 59s).

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CELEBRATION

The playful dimension is (more…)

“[In the Jesuit novitiate] “I had something to learn from everyone, and in truth I learned it, with the help of God’s grace. I was deeply embarrassed at seeing everyone else so advanced in virtue and myself so backward.”

(Aut.142).

YEARINGS FOR HOLINESS

Already as priest in the novitiate of the Jesuits in Rome, when Claret saw himself “so backward in virtue” –as he confesses- in front of “everyone else so advanced”, he was nurturing in himself a great sense of humility. Claret valued always humility as something essential for his mission to be effective and fruitful. He valued it and nurtured it keenly because (more…)