FATIMA RETREAT HOUSE
FR MULLERS ROAD, JEPPU, MANGALURU 575002
Date: 23 – 04 - 2021
Dear Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters
We are happy to present to you, together with this letter, the programme of Ignatian Retreats also known as Spiritual Exercises at our Retreat House.
We could also arrange special retreats, of eight or thirty days, for groups such as: Novices, Juniors, Finally Professing Religious, Silver and Golden Jubilarians, Superiors etc, either in our premises or yours.
Besides that we could arrange courses for you, relevant to religious life, at our premises or yours, on the following topics: Religious Leadership for Superiors, Prayer and Discernment of Spirits, Taking Individual or Group decisions in Religious Life, How to Conduct Provincial, or General Chapters, How to Conduct Provincial or General Council Meetings etc.
Number of Popes have appreciated and recommended Ignatian Spiritual Exercises to all faithful, especially to priests and religious. As you perhaps know, Pope Pius XI in 1929, constituted St. Ignatius Loyola “the heavenly Patron of all Spiritual Exercises.
For your information, we are sending you extract form Papal Documents, which tell you what some of the Popes, have said about the Spiritual Exercises.
Kindly visit our website www.fatimaretreathouse.org for information.
With kind regards,
Yours in Jesus Christ,
Director
Fatima Retreat House
Fr Maxim Misquith sj
EXTRACT FROM THE PAPAL BULL OF POPE PAUL III “PASTORALIS OFFICII CURA” 31 JUJLY 1548
“Our beloved son, Francis de Borgia, Duke of Gandia, has lately brought it to our notice that our beloved son Ignatius of Loyola, General of the Society of Jesus, has compiled certain Spiritual Exercises drawn from Holy Bible and from experience in spiritual life, and has reduced them to an order which is excellently adapted to move piously the souls of the faithful and they are very useful and wholesome for the spiritual consolation and profit of the same.
We approve praise and favour the aforesaid Spiritual Exercises and all and everything contained in them, and we earnestly exhort all and each of the faithful of both sexes everywhere to be instructed by them.”
EXTRACTS FROM “MENS NOSTRA” ENCYCLICAL BY POPE PIUS XI 1929.
“The Spiritual Exercises, properly so called were given to the world by the work of the illustrious servant of God St. Ignatius of Loyola, a treasure which God has set open for his Church in these last ages, and for which abundant thanksgiving should be rendered to Him” [6]
“From these Spiritual Exercises, whose fame spread very rapidly in the Church, many drew a stimulus to make them run with more alacrity in the paths of sanctity”. [7]
“For this reason we earnestly exhort all priests of the secular clergy to let the faithful see them following the Spiritual Exercises, and let them approach and fulfill the exercises with an ardent desire of their own perfection, in order to secure the spiritual advantage of their flock.” [10]
“Nor should the clergy, secular and regular, think that the time spent on the Spiritual Exercises, tends to the detriment of the apostolic ministry.” [10]
“Now it is recognized that among all methods of Spiritual Exercises which very laudably adhere to the principles of sound Catholic asceticism one has ever held the foremost place and adorned by the full and repeated approbation of the Holy See, has borne abundant fruits of holiness during the space of well nigh four hundred years; we mean the method introduced by St. Ignatius of Loyola, whom we are pleased to call chief and peculiar Master of Spiritual Exercises, whose admirable book of Exercises stood forth and conspicuous showing the way to secure the amendment of morals and attain the summit of the spiritual life. “[16]
“When at the beginning of our Pontificate satisfying the most ardent desires and vows of Sacred Prelates of almost the whole Catholic world from both Rites in the Apostolic Constitution, “Summorum Pontificium”, given on July 22, 1922, we declared and constituted St. Ignatius Loyola the heavenly Patron of all Spiritual Exercises we did little else but sanction what was already proclaimed by common feelings of Pastors and of faithful”. [16]
EXTRACT FROM THE ADDRESS OF POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE DELEGATES OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IN 2008.
“The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola are fountain of your spirituality and the matrix of your Constitution, but they are also a gift that the Spirit of the Lord has made to the entire Church. In a time such as today when it is particularly difficult for our contemporaries to put their lives in order and respond with joy to the call of the Lord He makes to every one of us, the Spiritual Exercises represent a particularly precious method to seek and find God in us, around us and in everything to know his will and put it into practice.”
EXTRACT FROM THE INTERVIEW POPE FRANCIS GAVE TO THE POLISH JESUITS 0N 25 AUGUST 2016
“The Church today needs to grow in the ability of spiritual discernment. You must teach this above all to priests, helping them in the light of the Spiritual Exercises in the dynamic of pastoral discernment, which respects the law but knows how to go beyond. We need to form future priests not to general and abstract ideas which are clear and distinct, but to this keen discernment o f spirits so that they can help people in their life. We need to truly understand this: in life not all is black and white . NO! The shades of grey prevail in life. We must teach them to discern in this grey area.
