Editorial news
The Manresa Center is launching this year a series of formative cards, inspired by Ignatian spirituality and intended for its concrete exercise in everyday life.
Saint Ignatius could tell me about this Exam:
how it unites me more and more with God;
how it reveals God's perspective on my daily life;
how it urges me to give thanks for the countless gifts of God that have appeared in my day and even to perceive his presence in it;
how it gives me the opportunity to acknowledge and ask for forgiveness for my mistakes, to mourn my failures and hurts, and to receive healing;
how it brings me insight into what is really going on behind my thoughts, words and actions - my subconscious;
that it helps me discern how to manage the more difficult aspects of my life;
that it helps me know what inner gifts I need from God to do what I need to do.
"Liberation from Illusion (Vanity)" is an allegorical work.
A winged angel frees a fisherman caught in a fishing net. But it is not a net for catching fish, but a net of life, which keeps the soul blind and shackled. The way the angel opens the net to let the man trapped in it out seems like a birth. The angel helps the man to free himself from worldly passions, from vanities, frees his soul from the complicated net of worldly and petty things and calls him to another world. The angel has a flame on his forehead. At his feet he has the earthly globe, which he points to with his hand. His gestures seem to say: "You came to earth to learn to live in the body, but learning life on earth is an art of dealing with material things, without losing your soul for them!"
On the globe there is a Bible open to the Gospel with Jesus restoring sight to the blind, meaning us!
" I'm glad he took my net! "
In the unexpected vision of Bulgarian artist Ivan Dimitrov, the Child of Bethlehem is more interested in the beard of the Magi than in his Gift. He pulls it off like an adult mask to reveal the child of God behind it. And we often prepare to give Christmas gifts, forgetting that God asks us first of all to receive Him, as a child, and to receive Him as a child, like Him.
In this sense, the EVO path taken in 12 steps, begun in Lent and continued now - of liberation from Altered Attitudes (AA) - has a lot in common with the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem. Only by receiving Jesus can we hope again for the Above and for the renewal of our lives, without hiding behind our adult gifts the inability to free ourselves.
By the birth of His Son, God wants us to be children again...
INTRODUCTION
To date, there are 208 Jesuit saints and blesseds, of whom 155 are blessed and 53 are saints. Of these, 180 are martyrs, people who confessed their faith and love for Christ, to the point of shedding blood.
In terms of their geographical origin, the countries where they were born are: France, 44 Jesuits: Portugal, 39; Spain, 35; Japan, 29; England, 24; Italy, 12; Poland, 4; Ireland, 3; Wales, 2; Germany, 2. All other countries listed below were the birthplaces of a Jesuit: Albania, Belgium, Chile, Korea, Ecuador, Haiti, Kosovo, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Romania, San Salvador, Scotland, Switzerland.
Regarding the type of membership in the Jesuit Order, 129 are fathers, meaning priests; 47 brothers, meaning temporal coadjutors; 29 scholastics, meaning students of philosophy and theology, on their way to the ministerial priesthood; 1 novice; 1 candidate, 1 indifferent, meaning still unsure whether to enter the Society of Jesus as a scholastic or as a temporal coadjutor.
"What shall we bring as a gift to You, Christ,
that you appeared on earth as a man?
Each one brings you contentment from the creatures
those created from You:
the angels the song, the heavens the star,
the magi the gifts, the shepherds the miracle,
the earth the cave, the desert the manger,
and we the Virgin Mother."
(Tropar to the Nativity of the Lord)
Dilexit Nos
A few fragments to meditate on from Pope Francis' encyclical, Dilexit Nos, about the spirituality that is built on the certainty that we are loved beyond measure, beyond our merits and beyond our mistakes...
We hope that they will be steps to enter into a relationship with the open and wounded heart of Jesus.
The family is the place where we live the Paschal Mystery daily as a Resurrection from "me" to "we", carrying the saving Cross of Love for God and neighbor.
The creed of the Christian family is in one God, but who is not alone, but One and Triune!
That's why the Family Prayer cards are divided into 3 sections:
FAMILY PRAYER MENU
PRAYER WITH THE WORD OF GOD IN THE FAMILY
WHAT DO WE PRAY FOR AS A FAMILY? 8 ESSENTIAL POINTS
These prayers may express different feelings, but they spring from a common fundamental experience - each of us was born to a mother. Our mothers may be part of our daily lives or they may live far away. Sometimes our communications may be strained. Maybe our mother is no longer alive.
Perhaps we know of a young mother, living in the chaos of a newborn, who needs our prayers. Or one living in the darkness of depression. Whatever their situation, all of these prayers are offered from the heart for mothers everywhere.
Eternal Father,
Thank you.
for the incomparable gift of my children.
I pray that my children's feet
to always walk with Jesus,
so that He may always be
their companion.
Through the arms of my children,
always do your work.
Strengthen them, and guide them
to do everything you want them to do.
I pray for my children's hands.
so that they may gather them in prayer.
Make them strong in prayer.
I pray for the character of my children,
that You may make him strong and pious.
Grant that, by Your grace,
their conscience be clear.
I pray for the hearts of my children,
so that you can keep it clean
and let them see you as you are.
By Your power,
protect their bodies.
I pray for the minds of my children,
to be filled with wisdom in Christ
and ignorant in sin...
Brighten the eyes of my children
with the light of Christ,
filtering through it everything they will see.
Father, put Your Word daily
in the ears of my children
and in their hearts.
I pray for the mouths of my children,
because praise and prayer
to always be on their lips.
May they see Your power
beyond the strength of my arms!
May I perceive beyond my shoulders the shadow of Your wings!
To hear Your voice
through my words,
May I feel Your love through my heart!
Through Christ, our Lord.
Amen!
Jesus' practices are observable patterns in His life. He is the perfect example of a fulfilled life. The good news for us is that each of these habits can be copied; they can be put into practice in our daily lives.
"Blessed" means "to be happy." Happiness comes through a set of exercises: The Jesus Exercises.
What is it, why and how to do it? This set of cards answers the questions above, helping us first to discover and then to live daily in the Presence of God, through the most cherished Ignatian prayer.
The greatest joy, but also the greatest pain of life, comes not only from what we experience, but more from how we think and feel about what we experience.
Pray to truly live while you work for a living!
A game that is not at all "for play", but which offers the Ignatian criteria and biblical benchmarks for making vital and not deadly choices, for salvation and not "for salvation". A very concrete application of the rules of spiritual discernment.
Under this title are grouped an unsuspected variety of prayers inspired by the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, reformulated and repurposed for the situations and sensitivities of contemporary man: an "alphabet" that teaches us to pray, that is, to speak with God, as from friend to Friend.
Daily Ignatian spiritual itinerary from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, walking the path of Lent as an accompaniment alongside the Friend who remains with you even after he knows you!
Events that will take place
in the year 2025
Exercises in Ordinary Life (EVO)
Easter Lent • Christmas Lent
Living stones
guided tours to the Piarist Church
Missionary School
every Wednesday
Sunday of the Soul for families and young people
every Sunday
Spirituality of the Mountains
monthly
Faith Leadership for Youth
MONTH
The Center's patron saint
July
Jesuit school
July
For registration or other details, you can contact us at phone number 0771 081 624 , from Monday to Friday, between 10:00 and 18:00, or write to us at centrulmanresa@iezuiti.ro . Thank you!