Synopsis "Sacerdotal Retreat (in English)"
"I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?" Our Savior sent His Apostles to the four corners of the earth to spread the fire of God's love throughout a pagan world of hatred and ignorance. The Holy Ghost was also given to the Church to keep this flame burning until the end of the world. But Our Lord warned, "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold," and asked whether when He comes again, "He shall he find faith on earth?"To rekindle this fire in our neo-pagan world, the Sacred Heart appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the seventeenth century at Paray-le-Monial. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Sacred Heart, again at Paray-le-Monial, gave an apostolic mission to Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey to spread the devotion of Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart. Additionally he was an outstanding apostle of priestly sanctity throughout the world. What better way to rekindle the fire of charity in God's Church than by preaching retreats, especially to priests, drawing from his profound faith and ardent zeal?This book contains some conferences of a retreat preached by Father Mateo. In them he instructs priests that sanctity can be attained simply through the fulfillment of their duties of state, yet only when performed with a supernatural spirit of union with Christ crucified. He also underscores the sublime dignity of the priesthood as well as the tremendous value of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the priest's primary means for his own sanctification and apostolate. These teachings are a needed remedy to Protestant and Modernist attacks upon both the priesthood and the Mass, causing thereby an identity crisis for the modern priest.As Father John d'Elbee, SS.CC., former Superior General of the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts, remarked, "How many bishops and priests have told us, 'My interior life, in fact my whole life, was transformed as a result of an unforgettable retreat preached by Father Mateo. What a debt of gratitude I owe him!"
