Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Fervent Atmosphere Of This Way Of Life

Bl. Peter Faber recalls the end that must determine all the actions and the order that must be present in them so that they remain regulated according to God. He indicates various practices for a new life that the exercitant ought to take up: [to dedicate] a quarter hour daily of examination of conscience before retiring “into perpetuity,” to devote a determinate time to prayer, to set for oneself fixed dates for confessing and receiving communion.  He insists that they continue educating themselves religiously, recommending to them that they do it with a Catechism.  He stimulates in them a desire for the salvation of souls.  The important thing is that, for the whole length of their life, they try to “walk along the way of salvation, ordering the spiritual life according to your state” (de grado vuestro).  So that the exercitant can more easily continue living in the practice of this ideal, he proposes in his “Instruction” various principles of perfection–a lovely bouquet of the fundamental truths of the Exercises.  By refreshing these principles through reading about “this way of life” and, above all, by assimilating them in prayer and holding them as a norm for the practice of daily life, they will keep themselves easily in the “fervent atmosphere” 
Link (here) to Fr. Aaron Pidel, S.J. and his blog post, On The Feast Of St. Francis Borgia

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If Blessed Peter Favre had been elected superior general of the Society of Jesus rather than St Ignatius, the future of the new Order would have not only been more humane but more apostolically effective. St Ignatius owed everything to him when he was studying at Paris yet later treated him shamefully by a harsh and crippling imposition of the vow of 'obedience'. In the end it killed him.

Of the original group that made their vow on Mont Martre only Rodrigues outlived the rest, including St Ignatius. Among many other things he accused him of being a bully and you see this manifested in his treatmented of Blessed Peter Favre. The founder of the Jesuits was a deeply unattractive character and his characteristics have been inherited by some of his successors.