March 29

“Humility is like the root of a tree, and meekness is the fruit” (Aut 372).

ROOT AND FRUIT OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

Actually a lot is said about self-esteem which is necessary for some minimal mental health; it is not healthy to depreciate oneself.  The Gospel, with its known paradoxes, is capable of combining self-esteem and modesty. Jesus praised the simple, invited us to feel like children, but not getting depreciated.

He didn’t make anybody feel inferior; rather he was a bearer of psychic health affirming the dignity of son of God that all human being possesses. To public sinners, despised and without any hope of salvation, he assured them (more…)

March 292024-03-08T09:38:53+01:00

March 28

“One of the means that experience has taught me to be more powerful for good, is the press, the same way that firearm is more powerful for bad when it is used abusively”

(Aut 310).

TO BE LIGHT OF THE WORLD TODAY

In the epoch of Claret the press in Spain was at its heyday; the XIX century made it possible that the masses stopped being analphabets and had access to reading. It was one of these epochs of “threshold”, that is, when the limit is surpassed and you get to a higher level.  In this case, it was the overcoming of the threshold that maintained the people in a serious cultural limitation. (more…)

March 282024-03-08T09:38:36+01:00

March 27

“Oh my God, who can help so that nobody can offend you! Alright, who can help me to let you be known, loved and served by all creatures! This is the only thing I want; nothing else draws my attention” (Aut 641).

THAT I MAY LOVE YOU AND LET YOU BE LOVED

“From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12,34). This maxim of Jesus can be applied perfectly to Claret. Reading and re-reading his writings, there appears spontaneously these expressions from the good treasure of his heart where he expresses his intense filial relationship with God the Father, and his profound desire that He may be known by all, loved and served. (more…)

March 272024-03-08T09:38:15+01:00

March 26

“I, many times, each day I ask Jesus to help me understand what he wants me to do with regard to our Project, because I am ready to work and to die for his love.  Sometimes he has said to me internally that it was not yet time, I have consulted with zealous persons of my confidence and they tell me the same thing”

(Letter to V. M. Antonia París, 2.12.64, en EC II, p.838).

DISCERNING THE WILL OF GOD

“Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 22,10). The question of Paul on the road to Damascus is repeated in my crossroads of life.  Claret formulated it when, in his youth, he questioned the possible success in the textile industry: (more…)

March 262024-03-08T09:37:55+01:00

March 25

“I, in these seven years, I was only walking from one town to another.  I was trekking alone.  I had a map of Catalonia wrapped in cloth which I brought folded, and from the map I was carrying, I measured the distances and marked the shelters.  In the morning I used to do five hours travelling, and another five in the evening; sometimes under the rain, other times under the snow, and in summer under burning sun”  

(Aut 460).

HOW BEAUTIFUL THE LEGS OF THE MESSENGER!

The Jesus that captivated Claret is the Jesus of the synoptic gospels: itinerant preacher surrounded (more…)

March 252024-03-08T09:37:13+01:00

March 24

“The soul that deosn’t fly with meditation, in the wings of faith till it gets to the Creator of all things, and which is more beautiful than all these things… the soul to which prayer has never given it (because he has not done it) the anticipated relish of the infinite delights of heaven, this defenselessness against the attractions of the earthly beauty; passing from one idol to another, will end up adoring all except God as it is noted by the experience of all centuries and it is read also in history. Fruit of the flesh, when it is not the beginning of the deviation of understanding, it is always its consequence” 

(Ascetic letter… to the president of one of the choirs of the Academy of Saint Michael. Barcelona 1862, p. 25). (more…)

March 242024-03-08T09:37:07+01:00

March 23

“What narrow and depressed is the human heart to receive that which is opposing and painful in his inclined terrain!  How unfit he feels with his works…! How impatient he receives them, how unbearable he judges everything that opposes his pleasure! How easily he forgets that his Master and Lord suffered them first and passed them and sanctified them in himself!” (Intentions of the year 1864, en AEC pp. 674-675).

THE SCIENCE OF THE HEART

Claret took up these thoughts of M. Agreda, a spiritual writer of the XVII century for his personal reflection. But being only a young missionary he himself wrote in 1844 a brief treatise with another key and with advice for whoever (more…)

March 232024-03-08T09:36:42+01:00

March 22

“I will think that God is looking at me. I will think that God is talking to me with inspirations and dispositions… I will reply Him with short prayers.  I will offer Him everything I do or that which I will abstain from.  I will accept the chalice of the passion when it comes to me with some pains or works”. (Intentions of the year 1859, in AEC p. 687).

PERMANENT REFERENCE

The God of the Bible is a living God. He lives in relation with humanity, speaks to His people, reveals His name to them, that is to say, His being, and He shares in their suffering (Ex 3, 7). He wants to live in dialogue with His people: “listen oh Isreal”,  He is the kind God, who is called Father and has features of Mother (“hearts”), (more…)

March 222024-03-08T09:36:08+01:00

March 21

“Jesus Christ instituted the Blessed Sacrament so as to stay with us until the end of the world.  What a love! For the sake of love and gratitude we must go to Mass, visit the Sacrament and receive communion with fervor.  Love is paid with love” (Clock of passion, in EE p. 198).

LOVE WITH LOVE IS PAID

Prophet Isaiah sees the presence of God in the midst of his people through Emmanuel; the evangelist Matthew sees fulfilled in Jesus the “God with us” (Mtt 1, 23), the one who will accompany us till the end of the world (Mtt 28, 20).  From this point of view the Eucharist should be understood, the lively presence of Jesus: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22, 19) (more…)

March 212024-03-08T09:35:50+01:00

March 20

“Here I am completely tied down in an archdiocese, when my spirit is really for the whole world: even in this little point of the globe I cannot preach how I wished, because I have seen with my proper eyes the many things that an Archbishop can dedicate his time to.  I think the best bet will be to elect another and, if you like me to go anywhere,in the company of other colleagues to preach the mission for a period, we shall go.” (Letter to the Apostolic Nuncio, 12th of august of 1849; EC  I, p. 305s).

FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

Claret formulates one of his objections after his election as archbishop with these characteristic phrases: “my spirit is for the whole world”. (more…)

March 202024-03-08T09:29:38+01:00
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