REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY
INTRODUCTION
Specific Redemptorist Formation
1. Redemptorist Spirituality
2. Redemptorist Spirituality in Practice: Lifestyle
3. History of the Congregation
4. Preaching in the Redemptorist Tradition
5. The Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Redemptorist Tradition
6. Spiritual Direction and Discernment in the Redemptorist Tradition
7. Formation for Apostolic Work in Community
8. Moral Theology in the Redemptorist Tradition
9. Partnership in Mission and Lay Collaboration
�FORMATION IN REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF FORMATION SHOULD INCLUDE
WRITINGS OF ALPHONSUS,
(SPIRITUAL & ASCETICAL WORKS)
&
WRITINGS ON ALPHONSUS
(ALPHONSIAN SPIRITUALITY)
REFLECTIVE STUDY OF THE LIVES
OF REDEMPTORIST HEROES
(SAINTS, BLESSEDS, BEATI)
Also include reflection on the spirit of the
Congregation as lived in the Community.
Eg: Study, reflection and discussion on
Const & St., Communicanda and others
THE MANNER IN WHICH
ALPHONSIAN SPIRITUALITY
LIVED IN ONE’S OWN UNIT
FOUR ELEMENTS
IN
ALPHONSIAN SPIRITUALITY
General Overview
The Apostolic Church
A Church “in waiting”
The Church of Witness
In a Roman World
Virginity
Decadence
Martyrdom
Hostility
St. Augustine
Transcendent: “anti-flesh”
Apologists
Intellectual
Monasticism
From Benedict to Alphonsus�
St. Benedict
Dark Ages
Scholastics
St. Thomas
St. Bernard
(1153)
Dark Ages
Carthusians
St. Bruno
Franciscans
A light in darkness
THE BLACK DEATH
Devotio Moderna
Spanish School
St.Teresa of Avila
St.John of the Cross
St.Ignatius
Italian School
St. Philip Neri
French Oratorian School
(Quietism/Jansenism)
St Francis de Sales
ALPHONSUS LIGUORI
Jansenism
Jansenist tendencies
Response of Alphonsus
a. Foundational virtue of Christian life
JANSENISM
Heretical Teachings:
Consequences
DEVOTIO MODERNA
Redemptorists have traditionally summarized that in the four symbols of :
Crib, cross, altar, Mary:
Incarnation, redemption, Eucharist, Mary.
He redeemed us by emptying himself, becoming a servant (crib), and accepting all the consequences of human life - including a dishonorable death (cross). He continues to make his loving and saving grace available to us in the Eucharist (altar). And he consoles us through the intercession of Mary (his mother), to whom Jesus entrusted us from the cross.
REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY
THE CRIB - INCARNATION
LIVING IN COMMUNITY
St. Francesco Geronimo S.J
(1642-1716)�
Julien Back, the meticulous Jesuit historian of Father Francesco Geronimo wrote:
“In the year 1696 a child was born who was later to render the Church illustrious and whose cradle was to stand out honorably in the history of Saint Francis Geronimo. From time immemorial the noble families of the kingdom of Naples practiced a very touching ceremony. Three days after the birth of a child a great reception took place…
The saint went in, offered his congratulations, and paused in prayer by the side of the baby. Then he took little Alphonsus into his arms and said to the mother: ‘This child will live to be very old and will not die before he is ninety. He will be a bishop and will do great things for Jesus Christ.’”
On May 26, 1839, Pope Greory XVI raised them both to the ranks of the saints.
Excerpt from Theodule Rey-Mermet’s
St. Alphonsus Liguori: Tireless Worker for the Most Abandoned, pp.38-40
INCARNATION
(CRIB)
Crib: My dearest Jesus, if it is true that ownership is acquired by gift, then you are truly mine since the Father has given you to me. You were indeed born for me; you were given to me. As Scripture says: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us” (Isaiah 9:6). Therefore I can justly say to you: “My God and my all!” And since you are mine, everything that belongs to you is also mine (see Romans 8:32). Therefore your precious blood is all mine, your grace is mine, your paradise is mine; and since you are mine, who can ever take you away from me? Amen.
“Meditation for the Novena of Christmas,”
The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ
INCARNATION�IDENTITIFY CHRIST THE INCARNATED
1. Those for whom the Church has not yet been able to provide sufficient means of salvation
2. Those who have never heard the Church’s message
3. Those who do not receive the Church’s message as ‘Good News’.
4. Those who suffer harm because of division within the Church.
5. The Poor, the Oppressed and the Deprived.
IMITATE THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST
Our Redemptorist Consecrated Life has as a goal:
Community
We are a community of persons:
REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY
THE CROSS - REDEMPTION
APOSTLES OF CONVERSION
&
WITNESSES OF HOPE
REDEMPTION
(CROSS)
“My brothers, by the grace of God we perform wonders wherever we go on mission. People say they have never before experienced a mission like ours. Why? Because we go by obedience, we go in poverty, and we preach Christ crucified.”
a letter of St. Alphonsus dated November, 1751
REDEMPTION
(CROSS)
Cross: Was it possible that God, the creator of all things, would have been pleased to die for love of his creatures? Yes it is through faith that he has done so, “as Christ loved us and gave himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2). The earth, the heavens, and all nature with astonishment witnessed Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the Lord of the universe, die in intense pain and anguish, like a criminal on a disgraceful cross. Why? For the love of humanity! Lord, I have known your Passion and not only have I not loved you, but I have frequently offended you. Pardon me, I beg you, and remind me continually of the death you have suffered for love of me, so that I may never again offend you, but may always love you.... My crucified Jesus, I want to be yours alone now and forever, and I will love no one else but you. Amen.
“Meditation for the Octave of Corpus Christi,”
The Holy Eucharist
REDEMPTION
(CROSS)
The Redemptorist Shield
APOSTLES OF CONVERSION
The Redemptorist Shield
The first symbol of the Redemptorists was the shield (coat of arms), which was created by brother Vito Curzio in 1738, six years after the foundation of the
order.
The seal of the Congregation consists of a cross with a lance and sponge mounted on three hills; on either side of the cross are the abbreviated names of Jesus and Mary; above the cross is an eye sending forth rays; over all a crown. Around the seal is the motto:
With him is Plentiful Redemption.
THE WITNESSES OF HOPE: CROSS AS SIGN OF HOPE
Father Lucas Emanuel, the vocation explains what the Redemptorist cross contains:
“In it, we do not have Christ on the cross, because it is the Cross of Redemption. In addition to the cross, we have the instruments of the Passion, the spear, the sponge, and also the representation of Mount Calvary, present in the Redemptorist coat of arms. The dove above the cross symbolizes the Holy Spirit.
In the verse, we have the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a devotion that accompanies the congregation since Pope Pius IX handed it to the Redemptorists and asked to make her known to the whole world.”
REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY
THE ALTAR - EUCHARIST
EXCERCISING MINISTRY
EUCHARIST
(ALTAR)
Altar: My loving Jesus, you can give us no greater proofs of your love than those which you have already given us. You have given your life for us - and you have bequeathed yourself to us in holy Communion, that we may be nourished with your own flesh and blood. How can we see all these testimonies of your love and fail to love you in return? I thank you for giving me the time and opportunity not only to regret the offenses I have committed against you but also to love you for the rest of my life. Help me, my Jesus, to reject and expel from my heart each and every affection which is not directed toward you, so that from this day forward I may not desire, nor seek, nor love anyone but you alone. My God, whom shall I love if not you, who are my supreme good? Amen.
“Meditation for the Octave of Corpus Christi,”
The Holy Eucharist
Eucharist �and Community Prayer
EUCHARIST
(ALTAR)
EUCHARIST
(ALTAR)
EUCHARIST
(ALTAR)
Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament
Saint Alphonsus prepared a series of thirty-one prayers, one for each day of the month, to use when visiting the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary. We include here a sample of the visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the words of St. Alphonsus.
EUCHARIST
(ALTAR)
My Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are really here in this sacrament. Night and day you remain here, compassionate and loving. You call, you wait for, you welcome everyone who comes to visit you. Unimportant though I am, I adore you. I thank you for all the wonderful graces you have given me. But I thank you especially for having given me yourself in this sacrament, for having asked your own Mother to mother me, for having called me here to talk to you.
I am here before you today to do three things: to thank you for these precious gifts, to make up for all the disrespect that you receive in this sacrament from those who offend you, to adore you everywhere in the world where you are present in this living bread but are left abandoned and unloved.
My Jesus, I love you with all my heart. I know I have displeased you often in the past—I am sorry. With You wonder what I do in the presence of my God? I marvel, I love, I thank, I beg. What does a tramp do when he meets a millionaire? A sick man when he sees a doctor? A starving man when he sees food? What does a dry-throated hiker do at a drinking fountain?”
My Jesus: You are my life, my hope, my treasure, my soul’s only love. A cruel death was the price you paid to be here in this sacrament today. Even now you suffer insults from those who ignore you, yet you re- main because you want our love.
Come, my Lord, implant yourself in my heart. Lock its door forever. I want nothing cheap to enter it and take away the love that belongs to you. You alone must run my life. If I swerve from you, steer me straight once more. Make me search for one pleasure: the plea- sure of pleasing you. Make me yearn for one joy: the joy of visiting you. Make me crave one delight: the de- light of receiving your body. So many people chase after such hollow things! But all I care about is your love, and I am here to beg it from you today. Let me forget myself and keep you ever before my mind. Amen.
REDEMPTORIST SPIRITUALITY
DEVOTION TO MARY
PERSEVERANCE IN RELIGIOUS LIFE
MARY
(THE MOTHER OF JESUS)
Mary: O most beautiful Lady, I rejoice in seeing you so dear to God because of your purity and beauty. I thank God for having preserved you from every stain of sin; and since you are so loved by the Holy Trini- ty, do not refuse to look with love upon me, a sinner. Obtain for me from God pardon for my sins and eter- nal salvation. Look down upon me and change me. Draw my heart to you so that from now on I may truly love your Son and you. You know that I have placed my hopes in you, my dear mother, so do not abandon me! Help me in life through your powerful interces- sion, and come to my aid, especially at the hour of my death. Amen.
“Meditation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,”
The Glories of Mary
THE FOUNDER’S
MARIAN EXPERIENCE
THE EAR. THE EYES. THE MOUTH
The HANDS. JESUS holding my hand, ME pointing to Jesus. It moves me like MARY to give away what I have found – to love and to freely give away love.
THE SLIPPED SANDAL: Though HE was in the form of God. Jesus chose to dwell among us. He choose to be poor that we might be rich. We too choose to live simply – so that what we have been given can in turn be given away. This is at the heart of ALPHONSUS – Distaccio.
It is sad to see religious who are bitter: closed up in complaining about things that never go right, in a rigidity that makes them inflexible, in attitudes of supposed superiority . .
Pope Francis
MARY
(THE MOTHER OF JESUS)
CONCLUSION
THE CRIB - INCARNATION
LIVING IN COMMUNITY
DEVOTION TO MARY
PERSERVERANCE IN RELIGIOUS LIFE
THE ALTAR - EUCHARIST
EXCERCISING MINISTRY
THE CROSS - REDEMPTION
APOSTLES OF CONVERSION
&
WITNESSES OF HOPE