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9 August In the afternoon: preparation for the retreat: (a) Holy Mass, penitential psalms; (b) reading notes from previous retreats; (c) searching for the topic (Myst. SS Trinit., myst. Ecclesiae: sacerd. populi regal., mysterium iniquitatis: triplex concupisc. [The mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of the Church: the priesthood of a royal people,² the mystery of evil: the triple concupiscence³]); (d) apart from that – a glance at the Church that the Holy Spirit has entrusted to me.

10 August

Intentions; Preparation for Holy Mass; Lauds; Holy Mass; Thanksgiving and prayers; Prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit

Meditation 1: Vatican II and, in particular, the Constitution on the Church, takes for its starting point God’s eternal love for man (‘philantropia divina’). The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is seen from the perspective of this love (missiones Div. Person. [the divine Persons’ mission]). This starting point, which reveals above all God’s immanence (‘God for man, for the creation’) needs to be considered in more depth, in the direction of God’s transcendence. God’s eternal love ‘for man’ is explained by and stems from the fact that ‘God is love’.⁴

(Contemplation of the mystery of deity.) We think of God through creatures and on the basis of creatures. Although we ascribe to Him to an infinite degree (per viam eminentiae [by way of eminence]) all types of perfection that we find in the created world, deity, God’s nature – which the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit possess – is not only a summation of these perfections inferred from the world. Deity is transcendent in relation to everything that is created. Despite the similarity and ‘per viam eminentiae’, God is ‘completely different’ from the world.

A special point of this contemplation of deity – ‘God in Himself’ – is the mystery of good. It seems that within the world good is always connected to some need, it responds to some need – and this is how one can discover and verify it. Human thought and human sensitivity to values move towards ‘bonum in se’ [‘good in itself’] with much difficulty. However, the contemplation of good beyond the structure of our needs, longings and desires is the deepest need and yearning of the human soul, which reflects the trait of divine likeness, characteristic of the human soul.

God Himself as good is – if one may say so – beyond any need. He is the Absolute, or the fullness of good, and also the fullness of glory. He does not need any of the creatures nor man to add anything to His divine perfection, happiness and glory. And this is why God’s ‘philantropia’, the love of man and creatures in general – beyond any need or usefulness – introduces us into the correct order of good. And it alone constitutes and guarantees this order.

If we were left with the worldly dimension, where good is to a large extent explained by need, benefit and usefulness – and this interpretation is the main trait of the materialistic axiology – man would be doomed to an almost hopeless search for ‘bonum in se’. And by the same token he would be doomed to dampen the deepest desire that lives in his soul, the desire for selfless good – and the selfless desire for good.

God determines and at the same time releases this desire – and through this He creates the foundations for love in the human world. ‘I came to bring fire to the earth’.⁵ For love presupposes good in itself, ‘bonum in se’.

Adoration: Glorification of God coming out of the depth of my heart, God as the good which exceeds everything else and which came close to man – and through the sacrament of its presence – the Eucharist – is still among us. Sacramentally, but in a way personally.

prandium [lunch]

Reading: Fr Jaworski, ‘On the philosophical and pre-philosophical knowledge of God’

Reading: Fr Macharski, ‘Remarks on the organisation of pastoral units’ – and a reflection on the tasks of the diocese

At the same time, the retreat is to help me deepen my love for the Church, which the Eternal Bridegroom has entrusted to me. In the margin of these reflections I make notes on the topic of the implementation of the Council and the diocesan structures.

Rosary; Vespers

Meditation 2: ‘The Church has been seen as “a people made one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”’ (L[umen] G[entium] 4).

A continuation of the meditation on the mystery of God oriented towards the reality of the Church (Myst. Ecclesiae [The mystery of the Church]) in accordance with my own plan for the retreat (‘philantropia’). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Godhead and the inexpressible mystery of the personal union in the Trinity simultaneously carry out this wonderful mission which shapes the divine reality of the Church. The Church is born and lives by the principle of this mission; it is the Church’s foundation, so to speak. Through this mission and in this mission humankind partakes in the divine unity, which brings about the unity of people in the Church and through the Church. First, it is an inner unity of man established by truth and love, and then the principle of communality among people.

The entire Church – and its every part – receives this unity from the mission of the divine Persons. The mystery of the universal Church and the particular Church.⁶

The divine mission is shared by people in the Church in various ways.

Matins of the following day; The Way of the Cross; Rosary; Compline; Examination of conscience

11 August

Morning intentions; Lauds; Prime; Holy Mass; Thanksgiving (and Rosary)

Reading: (Catechism); (Congr. pro Clericis [Congregation for the Clergy])

Prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit

Meditation 3: ‘If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.’⁷

The human ‘I’– the dignity of the person, and the human body, and all flesh, and all material goods are from the Father, from God. And the entire order of ends and needs to which these goods correspond is also from God. The triple concupiscence, however, comes from the world. Father–God guarantees (as was said yesterday) good, the value of every creature (bonum in se [good in itself]). The creature which follows the proper needs assigned to it does not lose its proper value. The three forms of concupiscence – each of them differently – lose sight of this value (e.g. the value of the human ‘I’ or the body or other visible creatures). At the same time, they lose the correspondence of values to real needs; they lose the order of ends. The tragedy of concupiscence (including the pride of life) lies in the very fact that – when losing this order – it diminishes the value of creatures for whom it strives blindly.

This is fostered by the human sensual energy (disordered) and the limitation of the thought horizon, which has something in common with the ‘fallen spirit’ when it comes to the pride of life. However, it (pride) is also ‘of this world’. In summary: the lack of possibility to see creatures and oneself, the body, material goods from God’s perspective. Seeing them from this perspective enhances their value and ennobles the striving for them; it balances the needs and desires for created goods.

The analysis has proved that the ‘triple concupiscence’ constitutes a strictly theological category characteristic of revelation. It cannot be equated with psychological or other similar categories, e.g. ‘the lust of the flesh’ cannot be identified with ‘sex appeal’ nor the pride of life with the drive for importance.

Adoration: The glorification of the One who is ‘Primogenitus omnis creaturae … in Quo omnia constant …’ [‘the Firstborn of all creation … in Him all things hold together …’].⁸ The fixing of our eyes on Him will entirely revise our attitude to creatures and help us leave the limiting perspectives of the triple concupiscence, and enter into God’s perspective.

Reading: Gilson, ‘The concept of God in the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas’;⁹ ‘The Implementation of the Council and the diocesan structures’ (cont.)

The Way of the Cross (according to the psalms); Rosary

Prandium [lunch]

Meditation 4: In the light of the reflection on the triple concupiscence – self-reflection and inner judgement.

(a)‘the meaning that the Lord God will give to me’ – trust, a desire to serve, but … restlessness

(b) once again the judgement of conduct (experimentum) in se and quoad alios [in oneself and in relation to others]

(c) the implementation of the ‘Church of the poor’, how to work for it?

(By the way, matters such as the evaluation of character: reflexivity, complementarity, the question of ‘personality’, etc.)

Matins of the following day (memorial of St Clare); Rosary (of the day); Penitential psalms

Imploratur sinceritas conscientiae et rectum de omnibus iudicium (de Dom. XI: … ut dimittas, quae conscientia metuit, et adicias, quod oratio non praesumit) [Prayer for honest conscience and right judgement on everything (from the eleventh Sunday: … pour forth your mercy upon us, so that you set aside those things which our conscience fears, and apply what our prayer dares not)]¹⁰

Veni S. Spiritus [Come, Holy Spirit]; Compline

12 August: Memorial of St Clare

Morning intentions; Lauds; Prime; Holy Mass; Thanksgiving (Rosary)

Reading: (S. Congr. pro Clericis respons. [Response from the Congregation for the Clergy])

Meditation 5: God – the world. Love is of God; lust is of the ‘world’. Love refers to the relation with ‘bonum in se’ [good in itself] of every single thing, and the situating of it in its true order of ends and needs. Lust changes this order into an order of pure ‘usefulness’ (utility) and in this way diminishes ‘bonum in se’ (value) of the human being and every created thing. It is against this background that the work of salvation undertaken by the Church as the work of God can be explained. Salvation consists in the bringing of love into the ‘world’. Because, if only lust remained in the world and in the creation, then the world, and man in it, would be doomed to a kind of ‘self-destruction’ of value – their own value, the value of all creatures.

This tension on the one hand, and the work of salvation on the other, constitute the deepest principle of conjunction: the Church and the world.

Salvation is the work of God carried out by the Man who was the Son of God, that is, by Christ. The fact that Christ was a prophet, priest and king is not only a historical accumulation of attributes and functions, but it also points to the relevant aspects and characteristics of the work of salvation. And this is why these characteristics still have to abide in the Church as the people of God, since it is the sign and the sacrament of the salvation of the ‘world’ (above all, the salvation of humankind).

Prophecy is the expression of God’s truth. It is the truth about God Himself and about creation. The ‘axiological’ truth which defines values. The work of salvation is based on this truth; thanks to it, the work of salvation can introduce love and overcome lust in the world.

Priesthood is the returning (the offering in sacrifice) of all that is created to the Creator. It also involves a double ‘prophetic’ function – revealing the relationship of values: God – creation, and bringing all the passing values closer to the eternal value, and all creation, above all man, to God. Priesthood has an eschatological sense.

Kingship comes from this service to God, and it is the inner order in man, that is, self-control; and it is the reign over the world of creatures through man.

These three features of the work of salvation are at the same time – in man – the features of the living faith.

(Prophecy = knowledge; priesthood = the consecration of oneself to God; kingship = deeds that follow from this.)

The work of salvation has its meaning and ‘eschatological’ direction: It consists in the final union with God, but it also has a ‘cosmological’ meaning and direction, since it is the ‘salvation of the world’. Besides, the former meaning and direction is realised through the latter.

Adoration: All this predisposes one to glorify the Eucharistic Saviour ever more passionately, and this glorification is connected to a petition to take part in His work in as fruitful a way as possible.

lunch

Reading: Fr Kamiński, Methodological questions relating to the philosophy of God;¹¹ ‘The Implementation of the Council and the diocesan structures’ cont.

Rosary

Meditation 6: (Re-evaluation of all the recent and, in a way, all previous retreats.)

I see my task as participating in the work of salvation, and this task consists in the implementation of aspects of this work both in myself and in other people. In other people – in a different way than I used to, when I could do it in a direct way (direct priesthood). Today it needs to be done in a more indirect way (with exceptions), but also with a broader scope. Here a reference to certain specific matters (‘community’). One needs to take care and learn to do it effectively, and to act in the right direction, to work together with others who do it in the best spirit.

And here my thoughts turn to Mary. ‘The Work of redemption’ began with ‘Totus Tuus’ [‘Entirely Yours’] – from the 1962 retreat.¹² At this stage of my participation in the work of salvation, and in these circumstances and in the face of these tasks, I need to repeat this. To find the way, solutions, patience, resilience, courage and unity in the principle of ‘Totus Tuus’.

The Lord Jesus hid His Mother in His work – but He hid Her in such a way that everyone who really wishes to take part in it can find Her.

The Way of the Cross (prayer of the heart); Matins of the following day

13 August

Holy Mass; Thanksgiving