CFP Retreat 2011 Recordings

Four talks by Father Pio Mandato, FMHSJ

 

Two talks by Sr. Veronica Nugent, CN

 

Plus Mass of Pledging and talks by CFP members.

 

Excerpts from Fr. Pio's and Sr. Veronica's talks follow:

 

Fr. Pio

 

We have been born into this time. The seeds of our vocation are planted in our heart at baptism.

 

Fire always burns. Before it gives light, it burns away the chaff.

 

Francis was a spiritual genius. We follow St. Francis in his holy Gospel.

 

We need the Spirit in the spiritual life; the law strangles.

 

Reform means going back to the original charism of the founder.

 

The people of reform are people of charity and character. The heart of reform is love. If reform is genuine, love deepens.

 

Reform is always ecclesial if it is genuine.

 

Francis was THE Catholic man. He was right in the heart of the Church. Francis went back to the sources, the Scriptures. With reform, you are always at the beginning.

 

What do I desire? For an examination of conscience, we ask, “What did I desire today?”

 

The more I get in touch with the darkness within myself, the more I go into the depths and let the work of the Holy Spirit purify me.

 

Legislation never works. You can’t impose the Gospel on anyone. It is always my free will to accept it. We propose the Gospel, never impose it.

 

Balance is a hallmark of genuine reform.

 

St. Bernardine of Siena moved people to action. He preached on the Holy Name of Jesus. He said to make the devil a castle of all that he uses to lead people into sin, and then to burn these things.

 

Our language must be the language of love.

 

Invoke the name of Jesus over anyone as a prayer. St. Bernardine of Siena fostered reform at the cost of division. Humility is greater than poverty.

 

“How many ways are there to God? As many ways as there are people.” “Authentic reform shows love.” --Cardinal Ratzinger.

 

St. James of the March was a man of prayer and silence.

 

Pope Benedict the 16th said we should have a heart of fire for God, our heart of flesh for others, and a heart of steel for myself. 

 

We have an encounter with God and we follow Him with fear and trembling. Jesus is always our Lord and master, and we always fall with our face to the ground before Him. Jesus drove seven demons out of Mary Magdalene. The more we get closer to the Lord, the more they show their ugly head. Mary Magdalene underwent a lifetime of purification. The seven demons correspond to the seven deadly sins. She had a great desire to find God and was panting for her lover. 

 

Mourning is a beautiful gift if done in the Lord. Tears of joy are connected with sorrow and repentance. The Saints were men and women of diehard fidelity. Wisdom begins at 50.

 

We live in the crucible of contradictions. If you do God's will, the kingdom of God just shows up. We need to have a lifelong long fidelity. When you taste one drop of the kingdom, nothing else satisfies.

 

Jesus always comes to us disguised.

 

The fire of resurrection is the fire of the risen Lord.

 

He always says your name and He hears your prayers. We know we are known because Christ recognizes us. He knows me by name. I know you by yourself. No one can know you as Jesus does. Jesus knows me as he knows himself.

 

Mary Magdalene said “Rabboni,” my master.

 

Sr. Veronica

 

 

 

Most High 

glorious God,

enlighten the darkness

of my heart.

 

Give me

right faith,

sure hope

and perfect charity.

 

Fill me with understanding

and knowledge

that I may fulfill

your holy and true command.

 

May the power of your love

O Lord,

fiery and sweet as honey,

wean my heart from all that is under heaven,

so that I may die for love of your love,

You who were so good as to die for love of my love.

 

Amen (both written by St. Francis of Assisi)

 

Family means ‘Forget about me. I love you.”

 

God is the only one who can initiate a relationship. He has to call us first. "You would not have been calling for me unless I had been calling for you." God thirsts for the day when we will thirst for him. "May the power of your love, fiery and sweet as honey, wean my soul from all that is under heaven." Agape is a discerning love. I love you no matter what. God only has love for us, the love of desire, of Union. He desires to be united with us. Penance is a way to  wean ourselves from ourselves and from sensual desires. God weans us through suffering. 

 

The first stage of love is infatuation. We fall in love with an image of the person. Then we have a crisis moment when we encounter the real person. We can walk away from that person or we can stagnate in the relationship and grow weak or we can go deeper into the relationship and love the person for who they are. On the third level both partners sacrifice for each other.

 

The moments following communion are the most precious in our lives. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said "God is worth everything." I will to love You, God, because You are worth it. I choose to love You. We keep a relationship with God and communicate on a deep level. 

 

In our morning offering we practice the presence of God. We live in the presence of God. Would you be doing what you are doing if Jesus was sitting next to you? Talk to Jesus throughout the day. Speak to God and listen to him. He whispers. Say "Jesus" over and over again. "Jesus, I trust in you." These are small words that go to Jesus' heart. They are like darts or little arrows. "Jesus." Another word to say is the word "mercy" over and over.

 

We need a relationship with God to serve him and not to serve ourselves. The Saints helped others because other people were Christ to them. We need people to pray for the world. God has not shown many people His life. We don't see the results from our prayers. We don't know what our prayer is doing. But we keep praying. God knows. 

 

St. Veronica Giuliani was humble, joyful, and obedient. She asked for all the love of which creatures are capable. She wanted a real relationship with God. She chose to love God's will above her own. If you do all for the glory of God, you can intercede for the whole world.

 

Fr. Pio

 

Jesus says, "Come and follow me," and when you come, he tells you to go! Reform is the desire to go deeper into God, into the Commandments. The reformer is willing to put God first. The diabolical influence is “I get time.” Reform is a recognition that I don't have time. You put other things first. Give God the primetime. Put God first and everything else falls into place.

 

Reform is not in externals. The heart of reform is always in meditation. Whatever you ask of Christ, St. Peter of Alcantara said, will be given to you.

 

Francis and his companions lived by faith, not by holy prudence. They wanted to absorb their Rule of Life to the letter. The deeds of love make us holy not just aour actions. Francis's expression of prayer is fired with love. Let the Holy Spirit run away with your heart. "The Spirit praising you, my God."

 

God wants us and what is in our hearts. The primacy of a contemplative life was what St. Francis sought. When St. Francis prayed, "My God and my All," that was the Holy Spirit praying in Francis. "Lord, I offer you a sacrifice of praise."

 

A great obstacle to our prayer life is impatience.

 

Women need to teach men how to be receptive to God. People are men or women to the depth of their soul. The complementarity of the sexes is essential. We stand and contemplate. When you're angry, bored, or frustrated, stand before the Lord. Stand before him in your social place. Watch Jesus. Don't babble prayers like the pagans when they talk to God. Live a simple, frugal lifestyle. God is greater than our dead ends and our frustrations.

 

Never be surprised by your sins. Move through your sins and put first things first. Love God and serve Him is the heart of reform. Achieve it and love. See God above all things. 

 

Francis's goal was to adore God, to offer to God a sacrifice of praise, to always give thanks to God. One friar made a vow that he would always give thanks to God for the first hundred years of his life. He said that, through all those years, the devil and Satan never touched him. "People all around me were complaining and I decided that I would never do that and give praise to God instead." We give satan permission to enter our hearts when we sin. Satan is a chained. Don't get close to the doghouse!

 

We never come to the Lord alone. We touch everyone. 

 

Religious life is living on the Mount of the Transfiguration. Married life is living on Calvary. Padre Pio said this to his spiritual daughter. "That man needs you," he told her, "in marriage or to help your spouse get to heaven." Don't sow your desires in someone else's garden.

 

Few people like what is according to their duty. You can't run away from yourself. You have to let go and let God take the reins. We can't go outside of God's permissive or active will. Everything you do should be for the common good in service and charity. Faith should deepen our union with our spouse.

 

The difference between Mother Teresa and Jane the social worker is that Mother Teresa sought Christ in every suffering person. We see the deed and believe that Christ still is in the person who committed a mortal sin. You love Christ as much as the person you love the least.

 

We need the support of others to keep us on the right path. Spiritual friendship makes us accountable to someone. Friends are to help us to grow in virtue. Friends should offer fraternal correction. We must be vulnerable to one another. Vulnerability between friends fosters a relationship. Spiritual friendship teaches us how to be open to God and to love God. The two souls lift each other up and inspire each other.

 

Sr. Veronica

 

Be careful of over volunteering. If the devil can't make you sin, he will make you busy. Getting busy distracts you from your true vocation which is to get to heaven.

 

In a story of Martha and Mary, Jesus said it was better for Mary to be where she was. Do you serve the Lord after work or do you serve the work of the Lord? Prayer is not a waste of time. Without prayer, our works are a waste of time. Sunday should be a day of rest, of holy leisure. 

 

Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. We have a superior in a convent who helps us know what we don't know.

 

We are called to be a saint within our own gender. A woman is receptive. Women are more apt to be contemplative. Women deal with the world as mothers. 

 

Man gives love in order to receive love. Man is the initiator, the provider, the protector. Then women must teach self-control. Man has a stronger desire. When a man has self-control, it is such an example to a woman. A man on his knees is so effective to the world. Men teach women to be detached, to let go. 

 

Fr. Pio

 

The heart of reform is to enter into the heart of Christ. The men and women of love are in service to the world and the Church. Reform always discovers something new. Man and woman stand in Christ and are always free. To stand in the truth makes you free. The Holy Spirit is not frozen in time. He is above time. Contemplation is a long look at the real. Truth is the conformity of the mind to reality. We can never exhaust the depth of who someone is. It is always hard to embrace what really is. If we experience love from the Lord, that brings healing. 

 

Adam failed in fortitude. Only when man committed sin did it affect his progeny. Adam failed to protect Eve from the serpent. Man fell into silence. This is one of the great sins of man. 

 

The fruit of prayer is love. Be still and know that I am God. Francis would go before the Lord and not move until God spoke to him. He would stand there and lie there before the Lord, waiting for an answer. 

 

If you want to see Jesus, you must become Jesus. You must become bread that people can eat and chew. You must become wine that people can sit and swallow. 

 

In all things, give thanks. Deo gratias. Thanks be to God. 

 

Thomas Merton said that we never see ourselves as Jesus does. On judgment day we will see what he did in our lives. Will rejoice in what he did to our sins. Sanctity is knowing Jesus Christ, being conformed to him, knowing him as the God-man, as my spouse, friend, lover. The saints who are lovers hide their secrets of the King. The secrets of the King are kept in your heart. People who receive authentic revelations do not share them readily. You have to pull their secrets out of them. We disguise our acts of asceticism. We underscore the ordinariness of our lives. 

 

St. Theresa said, "To ecstasy I prefer the monotony of daily sacrifice." Let your greatest sacrifice be the embracing of your ordinary life. Marriage is one dialogue that is always too short. Jesus talks to us in all our ways and dreams.