Ballermine Hall Retreat Center Barrington, Il.

Feast of Saint Robert Bellarmine --Bishop & Doctor of the Church (1542-1621)

9-17-13

Born in Italy, he entered the Jesuits and was ordained in 1570. He became a teacher in Louvain and then professor of Controversial Theology at the Roman College (1576), where he wrote his famous 'Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith against the Heretics of this Age (1586-93), which was appreciated even by Protestants because of its balanced presentation. He helped revise the Latin Bible (Vulgate), prepared two catechisms, directed the Roman College, supervised the Vatican library, and was the pope's theologian. Appointed cardinal (1599) and archbishop of Capua (1602), he was greatly loved as a pastor. May we learn that "Charity is that with which no one is lost and without which no one is saved."

From a treatise ON THE ASCENT OF THE MIND OF GOD  by Saint Robert Bellarmine

"May you consider truly good whatever leads to your goal and truly evil whatever makes you fall away from it.  Prosperity and adversity, wealth and poverty, health and sickness, honors and humiliations, life and death, in the mind of the wise man, are not to be sought for their own sake. But if they contribute to the glory of God and your eternal happiness, then they are good and should be sought. If they detract from this, they are evil and must be avoided.

Prayer

God our Father,
you gave Robert Bellarmine wisdom and goodness
to defend the faith of your Church.
By his prayers
may we always rejoice in the profession of our faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Notes:
I made my first Jesuit Retreat at Bellarmine Hall in Barrington, Il. almost 40 years ago. My most recent one was a 31 Day "Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola in Everyday Life"-- titled My Vacation with God. In between I made retreats on my own, with my wife and with men from our local parishes. ---- I thank John, my neighbor back min the 70's who first told me about Bellarmine Hall.

Here's a few words about the Spiritual Exercises:

"The Spiritual Exercises are activities that we choose to do to help us to BECOME ONE WITH THE GOD WHO CREATED US. Some examples include the work of praying, meditating, journaling, contemplating, drawing, body movement, Scripture reading etc.

 The Exercises are designed in such a way to engage us at every level of our being. They invite us to THINK, to FEEL, to OBSERVE, to REFLECT, and to ACT. They engage our whole person.

The Spiritual Exercises are often compared to physical exercises. Just as physical exercises condition our body, the Spiritual Exercises condition our SOULS, our HEARTS, and our MINDS so that we become ready to RECEIVE the incredible love of Our Creator and God, and then to RETURN that love to him. We are created in LOVE for Love.

Amen