1

1899
2
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Document 1
[The Following document is in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.. On the front side of
the page Mother Lurana White, s.a., wrote, "1st Retreat in St. Francis House, Nov. l899" and on
the reverse side, "1st Retreat in St. Francis House All Saints l899". The envelope in which the
original document is contained has written on it in the handwriting of Mother Lurana,
"Conducted By V. Rev. Fr. Founder, S.A. These notes written by himself. Signed Mother
L.M.F."]

ALL SAINTS' RETREAT FOR THE

2nd ORDER OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ATONEMENT

[November 1899]

Beginning after 2nd Vespers of All Saints Day

Thursday, Nov. 2nd, St. Francis' Day

Theme of Meditation: Preparing "the ground of the heart" by detachment from creatures =
Poverty

Friday, Nov. 3rd., St. John Baptist Day

Theme of Meditation: Laying the Foundation for the "Building made without hands", i.e.,
Repentance.

Saturday, Nov. 4. St. Paul's Day

Theme: Rearing the superstructure, "Growing unto a holy temple in the LORD." Obedience

Sunday, Nov. 5. Our Lady of the Angel's Day.

Theme: "An Habitation for Himself." Chastity

Monday, Nov. 6. The HOLY SPIRIT'S Day

Theme: Love, joy and peace in the HOLY GHOST

Tuesday, Nov. 7, Our Beloved's Day

Theme: JESUS and His Atonement

 4

Wednesday, Nov. 8. GOD, the FATHER'S Day

Theme: Our FATHER and the Children of the Atonement

Hours of Meditation: 12 N., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

1900
Document 2
[The document is written on a small card in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., on one
side and that of Mother Lurana White, s.a.,on the other. She initialed it at the end. It appears that
Fr. Paul fasted for seven days.]

[after Easter Octave 1900]

[on one side written by Wattson:]

p.m.

Send over the Reflection today after the Angelus instead of at noon and send my mail
over at the same time. The retreat will end (D.V.) with Mass of devout thanksgiving tomorrow
morning. I have "kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy." Blessed,
praised and adored be JESUS CHRIST on His Throne of glory in the Blessed Sacrament. Glory
to the FATHER also and the Paraclete. Hail Mary.

[on other side written by White:]

Rev. Father Private Retreat in St. John's directly after Easter Octave l900. He would not
eat after 6 p.m. and then only bread. L F

Document 3
[The original of this document is typed. At the top of the first page is, “All Saints Retreat
1900," written in pencil in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. The capitalization of each
letter in words referring to the Divinity, e.g., GOD, LORD, also indicates Wattson to be the
author, since that was his style. Easter Sunday was Apr. 15 in 1900. Hence, the twenty first
Sunday after Trinity in 1900 appears to have occurred on Nov. 4.]

ALL SAINTS RETREAT 1900

Ephes. 6:l0. Twenty first Sun. after Trinity.

My brethren, be strong in the LORD, and in the powers of His might. Put
on the whole armour of GOD that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of GOD,
 that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with righteousness, truth and
having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of GOD, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with
all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be
given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of
the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak
boldly, as I ought to speak.

We have said that as Children of the Atonement we would have to fight for the Church
Militant here on earth. We are not merely fighting flesh and blood, not merely persons who are
opposed to the Catholic religion, but the devil and the evil spirits who are not alone seeking to
destroy our vocation but who are trying to drag us down to the low estate to which they are
fallen. They are not an open adversary, but lurk in dark places. They fight from ambush, and are
very subtle, and they may enter in and take possession of the citadel of our minds.

We cannot fight these alone, but GOD helps us do so. It is only when we sin or are weak
that Satan gets a lodgment in our hearts and minds, and says things of GOD which are not true
and tells us that black is white. Hence, the only safe ground on which to fight the adversary is
humility. They are the principalities and powers of this world. They practically govern and
control all mankind. But as the elect of GOD we must become humble and have no converse
with devils, but live outside of ourselves and continually in union with GOD. Thus may we be
rid of these devils. When one feels he is strong in himself, then the devil makes mockery of his
strength. The soul which clings only to God, union of the soul with GOD, thinking little of
himself, that soul is constantly in position to call down from heaven that grace to fight and beat
our enemy.

"Put on the whole armour of GOD." Oh, we should be so careful to be perfectly truthful,
not to appear to [be] something to ones's face and to say things behind one's back which are
opposite to what we say to their faces. To slur over things in Confession, to deceive ourselves as
to the real condition of our lives, is to play into the hand of the devil, and so long as we do this
we are giving a foothold to the devil. "Having the breastplate of righteousness." The breastplate
covers the vital parts. To be pure and just and upright in the sight of GOD is to have the vital
parts covered from the attacks of the devil.

"Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Your sandals are the
preparation of the gospel of peace. "Atonement" means reconciliation, and reconciliation means
peace with GOD. Strive for the truth and then for peace. Our Fr. Francis was wonderfully shod
with the gospel of peace for wherever he went he taught peace. GOD'S angels sang, "Peace on
earth, good will to men" at CHRIST'S birth. We shall rejoice always in our gospel of peace, and
we are to be those who are willing to live always in peace with all men and to share with all men
this blessed heritage which is from God. Let us pray that we may be always kind and gentle
with each other, taking to the world the message of peace, "Be at peace with GOD". Yes, let us
be at peace with GOD Himself. Keep your conscience at peace by being without sin. Love all
men.

"Taking the shield of faith." We must have this with us always, a faith strong, firm,
rock-like. It is as we have this measure of faith that we will stand secure, and that we will
realize, that "though the storm rages and CHRIST is in the ship, though He sleepth" we will not
go down, that the ship will not sink. Oh, never lay aside this shield!

God has put five stones into our hands by which we must resist the adversary, five stones
to put into our shepherd's bag, and we must guard them very carefully. First our Habit, which
tells to the world that we are the new seed of the old stock. 2) the abiding Presence of our Lord
in the Blessed Sacrament, which is the living keystone of the whole Church. 3) the
Ostensorium. "I if I be lifted up will draw all men unto Me." 4) the Rosary. This is the fourth
precious stone. This we will never give up for we believe our Blessed Lady did give it to St.
Dominic, and it has been the chain which has bound and led man to the Rock of Peter.
Thousands and tens of thousands through it everywhere have been brought back to the faith by
saying the Rosary. How it teaches us not alone to love our LORD but of the Communion of
Saints! 5) last but not least, and probably the stone over which we will have to fight more than
over any of the others, the See of Peter. From St. Peter we take the completion of our faith.
"And behold I John saw a great company of men, true and faithful."
The foundation stone the Jasper, red, Peter. He who was to give the faith to all the rest
of the eleven. They took their completion from the Jasper-Peter. It is the living voice of Leo
today who tells us what the Catholic faith is. These five stones held by us ever will be the stones
which will kill our Goliath. Pray GOD to make us very faithful of His gift, and that we may
never lose one of our five stones. Hymn 20, (S.A.)
1903
Document 4-l
[The original of the following retreat conferences is handwritten in pencil on ledger paper. The
handwriting is neither that of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., nor Mother Lurana White, s.a. The
conferences were given to the Sisters of the Atonement. The speaker at this early date (l903) is
presumed to be Fr. Paul Wattson. It appears that the recorder of the conferences took them down
in longhand. Consequently, there are numerous words missing and unclear sentences. The
conjectured words have been supplied in brackets. Of note is that he at this time is using the
meditation method of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The “Catholic Church” that Fr. Paul refers to is
most likely in his mind the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches, since at this
time, 1903, he held to the Branch Theory.]

ALL SAINTS RETREAT

Nov. 9-14, l903

Monday. [Nov. 9, l903] 8:30 a.m. First Meditation.

Subject: the Atonement as set forth in the first chapters of the Book of Hebrews.

Heb. l. Subject: the Heavenly Bridegroom, i.e. our glorious Spouse to whom we shall be joined
eternally.

Prelude l. Picture three scenes: 1st. the Bridegroom in counsel with the Father and the Holy
Spirit regarding the creation of the universe, of men and of angels. 2nd. the Bridegroom [as a] a
babe in Mary's arms. 3rd. ascending into Heaven.

Prelude 2. Ask the assistance of the Holy Spirit to contemplate with profit the majesty of our
Lord.

Point l. Consider His divinity, majesty and power as the Son of God.

a) "the brightness of the Father's glory"

b) "the express homage of His Person"
c) "by the Word (the Second Person of the Trinity) all things not only created but sustained."

Point 2. Consider the exaltation of the Bridegroom's sacred humanity.

a) the son of Mary,

b) our redeemer,
c) rapidly review in thought His birth as man, public ministry, private life, Atoning Sacrifice
by which He re-created to Himself a peculiar people, His elect, the Catholic Church
d) having triumphed, He ascended in the sacred humanity and sits at God's right hand.
 It was to our Jesus in the Flesh that God said, "Thy throne is forever and ever" and again,
"Let all the angels of God worship Him".

Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, "Thou art exalted." etc.

Point 3. Contemplate the Lamb surrounded by the saints and angels.

Resolution: to love the heavenly Bridegroom with all my heart and learn in the school of this
earthly life to be filled for the glorious destiny which awaits me, using each means and event to
that end.

Pater Noster. Anima Christi.

(The above is a bird's-eye view of the scheme of our whole Retreat)

***********

[Note: there is another manuscript for this document. It is longer than the above document and
is handwritten in a script resembling calligraphy–perhaps that of Sr. Mary Anna Walker, s.a. Of
note is the monogram of the Tau cross with S A flanking it at the top of the page. The
manuscript follows.]

STA

THE ALL SAINTS' RETREAT l903

The Heavenly Bridegroom.

1st. Chapter of Hebrews.

1st. Prelude. l. the Son of God in counsel with the Father and the Holy Ghost, planning the
creation of the universe, the angels and of men. 2. The same Son of God a babe in the arms of
Mary in Bethlehem on the first Christmas morning. 3. Jesus ascending into heaven to take His
seat at God's right hand.

2nd. Prelude. Ask the Holy Spirit's help to contemplate with profit the might, majesty and glory
of the Son of God.

lst. Point. Our Saviour's divinity. The majesty and power of the Son of God: a) the brightness
of the Father's glory, b) the express image of His person, light of light, and God of God, c) by
the Word of His power were all things made and are continually sustained.
2nd. Point. Consider the exaltation of our Bridegroom as the Son of Mary and our Redeemer.

Rapidly review in thought His birth as man, His public ministry, His private life, His
atoning sacrifice. When He atoned for our sins, thereby purging unto Himself a peculiar people,
the Catholic Church.

It was to our Jesus that the Father spoke, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." At
His birth, He charged the angels concerning the Son, "Let all the angels of God worship Him."
Jesus hated iniquity but loved righteous[ness]. Wherefore God anointed Him with the Holy
Spirit.

3nd. Point. Consider the Lamb of God surrounded by His Saints and Angels in Heaven.

Resolution: to love the heavenly Bridegroom with all my heart and to use every effort while I
am on earth to prepare myself to be worthy of Him.

Pater Noster. Anima Christi.

Document 4-2
First Day. [Nov. 9, l903] Monday 4:00 p.m. Second Meditation.

An instruction upon self examination after the method of St. Ignatius.

Remember the word about which our Retreat revolves is ATONEMENT. As sin once
destroyed and still destroys the unity of man with GOD, we must first deal with it before we can
go on to meditate upon the state of union with God resultant upon the elimination of evil.

Therefore, you are during your Retreat to glance back on your life, even back on this past
year, so that looking over it from the vantage point of distance you can take a bird's-eye view of
your present condition. Consider what sins have been battled with and conquered. Are there
any which still exist after the lapse of years? Are they stronger or weaker? Mention in your
coming Confession any particular sin or fault which is shown you in a new light now or which
you entirely overlooked hitherto.

(A suggestion after St. Ignatius for the particular examen by which a besetting sin is
more easily conquered was here illustrated.)

Sins of thought, three kinds:

l. from within, i.e. my own

2. from without: a) suggested by evil spirits and bad companions
 b) suggested by _____spirits

Two ways of gaining merit out of temptations from without: lst. prompt and immediate
resistance, 2nd. repeated resistance.

Sins following temptations of thought may be:

l. venial when the evil suggested is listened to and pleasure taken from it, although finally
rejected.

2. mortal when a) the suggestion is accepted by the will with the intention and the desire when
possible and if possible to carry it out in action.

[point b) is missing]

Sins of Word

l. Idle words, all words which do not profit anyone.

2. Defaming words: a) we sin mortally by making known an unknown sin of another, b) we sin
venially by revealing a venial sin of another, c) we reveal our own defect in the act of revealing
the defect of another.

If the intention be pure we do not sin in speaking of another's sin, lst. if it be an open
and well known fault of the sinner and we speak with cause righteously, 2nd. or we may without
sin tell a third person of the fault in order that the telling may directly or indirectly be intended
to assist in the fault or sin being overcome.

Sins of Deed--(not gone into fully)

In self examination we should:

lst. give God thanks for his many mercies to us

2nd. ask for grace to see and root out..[words missing]..our lives
3rd. review the space of time the examen is meant to cover
4th. ask pardon of God
5th. purpose [of] amendment

Document 4-3
 Monday. [Nov. 9, l903] 7:00 p.m. Third Meditation

In the next four evening meditations we will meditate upon the FOUR LAST THINGS.

Subject: Death.

The Compline Hour is a fitting time for these subjects.

Death in all its hideous aspects was meant by GOD to be all of that. It was the penalty
when He said, "Of this tree ye shall not eat." It must needs be dark and awful for sin is dark and
awful. Think of the joy and light of our parents before death entered in. Then their banishment
and the slow realization that they were slowly dying, that new strange experience. Think of
Eve's agony and wonder at the first experience of death. She soon found that even dead the
beautiful body of Abel must be put away from sight and smell.

Think how down through the whole history of our race death has stalked all-round.
Death by war, famine, pestilence and all the fearful forms of wasting and ravaging disease.
None may escape. It is the one thing certain. Could we lift the curtain, the veil this night and
behold the Monster Death striking right and left his victims? Man struck down by his fellow
man, the hospital wards where lie consumptives and little crippled children.

Death taken by itself is, oh, how fearful, how horrible. How earth's inhabitants flee,
stricken as we remember plague stricken Florence, Milan and many another.

How the devil lives to avenge himself on our poor bodies, beginning with the cruelties
upon the crucified Son of God, and the martyrs and the saints down to our own day, as witness
the sufferings of the Macedonian Christians.

Now look at death from the aspect of Calvary, "O death where is thy sting", etc.

Ever since our High Priest stretched Himself upon the cross, Christians have counted it,
their greatest joy, their bliss to lay down their lives. Yes, from the blessed proto-martyr Stephen,
there have been others, Martyrs in will, many a holy Religious who in her convent "dies daily"
and rendering up this oblation to God, has swelled the treasury of the merits of the saints. She
fears not the Monster Death, but puts her trust in Him "Who hath the keys of Hell and of Death".
Therefore, let us resolve that no matter how Satan may in the future have power to scourge our
body, let us I say never be overwhelmed with discouragement or unhappiness, but bear it
courageously and cheerily.

Just as summer gradually fades into autumn, then the cold strengthening [word missing],
finally the winter is upon us, so let us take all the preparatory signs of weakness in our body as
foreshadowing with certainty our death which certainly is close to us. Oh, may it be a [Bona
Mass?]. Let us realize that our manner of death depends upon the deeds done in the body
during the little of this life. If we were actors upon a stage for one night, we would strain every
nerve to score a success to win applause from the multitude of spectators but St. Paul tells us we
are encompassed by the great company of the saints and angels. Oh, let us strive to win their
loving approval, not the transient shouts of a few pleasure seekers, but more even than the praise
of the saints, let us long to hear His most joyful voice saying, "Well done good and faithful
servant." Yes, verily we can say, "O Death where is thy sting, where Grave thy victory?"

Document 4-4
Tuesday. [Nov. l0, l903] 8:30 a.m. First Meditation

Subject: UNION WITH CHRIST. Heb. 2 chap.

Prelude l. Behold JESUS on the cross that by death He might destroy death.

Prelude 2. Pray for grace to be in death and in life united with Him.

Point l. Consider how He made Himself one with us in all things even death, "Behold He that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all one," and so He calls us "brethren." Because sin
had deluged the world with suffering, He has to cry, "Behold all the waves and storms...", etc.
He had to be "made perfect through...", etc. Consider also how the saints who in this world were
most united with Him have been also "made perfect by suffering". It is the Unitative [sic] Way.

The saints did not shrink back from following the Crucified. They did not try to shirk
the cross. This is the way of triumph and joy.

Point 2. Consider Him like unto His brethren.

a) that He might be our merciful High Priest. Consider how ever since we were born we have
sinned and have over and over again needed to be cleansed by the Blood of Sprinkling which
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Deepen your gratitude.

[Original has no part b)]

Point 3. Consider that Jesus not only reconciles us by His Blood but He also justifies us by
uniting us to Himself. Contrast those in the world and their inability to resist temptation with the
triumphs of the saints over every form of trial and tempest, by their union with Christ. "He is
able to succor them that are tempted."

Resolve. Ever press on toward the Unitative [sic] Way by striving to remain united with Him
moment by moment. Resolve to be recollected.

Document 4-5
 Tuesday. November l0, [l903] 4:00 p.m. Second Meditation.

Subject. We begin today upon the MYSTERIES OF OUR LORD'S LIFE.

Prelude l. Consider the history of the Incarnation, the council of the Blessed Trinity and the plan
of the Incarnation by means of a pure virgin.

Prelude 2. Picture the scene of the world as it awaited that event, especially beloved the home
and the room of the Blessed Virgin.

Prelude 3. Consider what you want, namely the knowledge of God.

Point. l. See the persons, the inhabitants of the world, some with some black, [meaning of
previous words ?]some in health, some ill, some happy, some weeping. The Blessed Trinity
upon Their divine throne, beholding the whole earth in blindness, seeing them dying and
descending to hell. Next see our Lady and the angel saluting her. Meditate upon this so as to
derive profit.

Point 2. To hear what people are saying in the face of the earth, how the..[word unclear]..to
gather..[word unclear].. Also consider what the Three Divine Persons are saying, "Let us work
out the redemption of the human race." Listen what the angel and our Lady are saying. Reflect

Point 3. Consider what the people are doing--buy and sell, marry,..[word unclear]..kill, go to
hell. Also what the Three Persons are doing, namely working on the most holy Incarnation.
What our Lady and the angel are doing. The angel fulfilling the offer of legate. Our Lady
humbling herself and doing reverence to the divine majesty. Reflect. End. Colloquy. Petitions.
Pater Noster. Anima Christi.

Document 4-6
Tuesday [Nov. l0, l903] 7:00 p.m. Third Meditation.

Subject: JUDGEMENT

Prelude 1. the necessity of realizing that GOD is a Judge.

Prelude 2. We have many illustrations among men of the exactness with which accounts are
kept, especially in the mercantile world. And God is no less an accountant.

Point l. Note in the Holy Scripture how swift and righteous are God's judgements, how Adam
and every sin of his since had to be in the penalty.
 Cain's judgement.

The judgement of God by the _________

The descendants of Ham

Pharaoh and his hosts

Not less when meted out to His own elect ones as witness His dealings with the children
of Israel, with his elect ones Moses and David, Solomon, upon the Jews when they crucified the
Christ.

Profane history also full of examples of the vengeance of God: Henry VIII and these
families who accepted the spoils of the Church extinct.

Judgements are temporal also, not only eternal.

Notice how sin is its own punishment, also how even when the sin is forgiven the penalty
follows.

Sin in Religious especially grievous.

We should never consider a violation of Rule or one breach a small matter. Roman
priests taught that neglect to say their Office is a mortal sin, hence their great pains to say it.

There is a very fanciful belief abroad regarding the laxity of God's Judgements. Let this
all have its effect in your self-examination. Come to the confessional to-morrow with an
intensely quickened sense of sin.

We are each, elect souls. God expects much of each one. Let us judge ourselves without
mercy, that we be not judged. O, the awfulness of the majesty of God.

Another thing about the Judgements of God, that is, "All that is covered shall be
revealed", "the Babylonish Garment and the Wedge of God". Achan's one sin demoralized the
whole army of God, until the sinner had his punishment meted out. Each sin like a seed has its
potentialites and its consequences.

And how not only the thought of God's judgements should move us to righteousness, but
the joy of God's reward to righteousness. "Are ye blessed of My Father?"

There is a judgement which God is passing upon us every day. There is also the
particular judgement, meted out to us at our death but the culmination of all the special
judgements is the Final Judgement of the Last Day.

Let us pray that the fruit of this meditation may be to intensify our realization of God's
judgements. Let our penitence be of David's sort, "Against thee only have I sinned, O Lord."
(Ps. LI)

Document 4-7
Wednesday [Nov. l0, l903] Morning. First Meditation

Subject: "FAITHFUL UNTO THE END." Heb. 3.

Picture three death scenes.

Prelude l. a) Our Lord on the cross, b) St. Paul turning his head to the axe, c) St. Martin over
80, surrounded by his weeping children.

Prelude 2. Pray for the grace of final perseverance.

Point l. Consider Jesus the High Priest of our Profession. How He was faithful to Him who
appointed Him. Think how there never was assigned to any other so difficult a work to do and
how there never was any one who did his work so well. Hear Him saying on the cross, "It is
finished", not one jot or tittle unfulfilled. Consider how I am a partaker of His calling and how I
too should strive to be found faithful.

Point 2. Contrast with the faithfulness of Jesus, the unfaithfulness of the Children of
Disobedience. Think of the Children of Israel, how God was grieved with their generation and
said, "They always do err in their hearts and do not know my way. So I swear in my wrath," etc.
Think how awful it would be did I [unclear word]..God's wrath to pass sentence upon me. "She
shall not enter into my rest." There is no rest save Heaven. The restlessness of this world, of the
damned.

Take heed lest there be in any of you "an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the
Living God." Bring to mind your former companions who fell away from the Religious Life
because of an evil heart of unbelief, how they became..[word missing].. through the
deceitfulness of sin.

Point 3. Consider how we are partakers with Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. Call to mind how at the beginning of your life at Graymoor you are full
of enthusiastic hope and the sweet joy of these days, how it behooves us to hold fast the
beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Consider how the two keys which unlock
the door of Heaven are Faith and Obedience and how they are chained together for to whom
swear He that they should not enter into His rest but they who believed not we cannot obey
without faith. [previous sentence unclear]. They wait one upon the other. In order that we fulfil
our vocation, therefore, resolve to believe and obey and remember that faith is the gift of God
and to be earnestly sought in prayer.
Resolution. To be found faithful unto death and to finish my work.

Document 4-8
Wednesday. [Nov. ll, l903] 4:00 p.m. Second Meditation

[missing words]..mighty power of prayer in our intercession. Another thought: as the

example of our Lord's life has inspired millions to struggle for eternal life, so ought in its little
way our lives to be full of inspiration to help keep faith and courage in other souls.

Let us realize that souls are to be saved and once saved are saved. How much greater to
save a soul than to save a mortal life.

God help us to be saved and to save others.

[words missing]..and affronts. He may die on the cross and all this for me. Then by
reflecting to derive spiritual profit.

Finish with a colloquy with our Lord, our Lady, and St. Joseph. Pater Noster. Anima
Christi.

Document 4-9
Wednesday. [Nov. ll, l903]. [7:00 p.m.] Third Meditation

Subject: THE HOLY NATIVITY

Prelude l. The history. Our Lady with child 9 months, seated on an ass, left Nazareth together
with St. Joseph and a servant maid loading an ox in order to go to Bethlehem to pay the tribute
which Caesar had imposed.

Prelude 2. Confirmation of place. It will be necessary to see with the eyes of the imagination,
the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem considering its length, breadth; whether level or over hill.
Likewise seeing the cave of the Nativity, large or small, high or low, now repaired.

Prelude 3. Pray for grace to realize more vividly the Nativity.

Point l. See the persons, our Lady and St. Joseph and the servant maid, also the Infant Jesus
after His birth, trying to conceive myself a poor and unworthy servant looking at and tending
them in their necessities, as though I were actually present, behaving myself with all possible
homage and reverence. After that to reflect inwardly so as to derive profit.
Point 2. To see and contemplate what they are saying and profit by their holy conversation.

Point 3. To see and consider what they are doing, i.e., the journey, the labor they undergo in
order that our Lord may be born in extreme poverty and in order that after such toils, hunger,
thirst, heat, cold, insults...[incomplete sentence.]

Document 4-10
[Of note is the appearance of the Tau cross flanked by S and A.]

Thursday. [Nov. 12, l903]. 8:30 a.m. [First Meditation]

STA

Heb. 4. "The rest that remaineth...." etc.

Prelude l. Picture three scenes: l) God resting from the creation of the world, 2) our Lord's rest
in the grave, 3) the rest of the people of God.

Prelude 2. Pray for grace to enter into that rest

Point l. Let us fear lest a promise being given of entering into that rest any of us should seem to
come short of it. Distinguish between the fear that distrusts God, the fear that has torment, the
devil's weapon, and the holy fear which is that of true humility. Beware of presumption that has
slain its thousands. Remember Braddock's splendid army which ten "red devils" demolished
because the Br. General had underrated their strength.

Point 2. "Laborer to enter into that rest," "My father worketh hitherto and I work," "Work while
it is yet day" etc. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling". We must cooperate
with divine grace. When our Father Francis saw one who had come to be a friar and yet would
not work he said to him, "Depart, Brother Fly." If men will not work to save their souls neither
shall they eat of an heavenly manna.

Work of two kinds:

l) the external tasks and duties assigned us which we must discharge faithfully as good servants.

2) the fraternal works of sanctification, i.e. the building of the likeness of Christ within the soul.

Point 3. I must give heed and obey the overseer of the work, that is Christ, Who corrects,
rebukes, and instructs the workmen by means of His Holy Spirit, principally through conscience.
 "The word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two edged sword," etc. (Heb.
4:12)

Point 4. Trust in Jesus, for He is our High Priest..[word unclear].. with the feeling of our
infirmities, who was in all points tempted like as we are yet," etc.

When I fail through sin and am rebuked by the Holy Spirit I must seek Christ in the
tribunal of Penance and seek deliverance and pardon and hear the sweet command, "Go in peace.
Sin no more," and I must by constant prayer, i.e. recollection, look unto Jesus and find grace and
help in time of need.

Point 5. Contrast the unrest of hell which is a lake of fire on whose waves are tossed perpetually
the souls of the damned. "There is no rest for the wicked," saith my God. Contrast with this the
rest of the saints who sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. Read
hymn, "O What the Rest and the Joy must be, those endless sabbaths."

Resolve. To use all diligence to enter into the rest of Christ and His saints.

Document 4-11
[Of note is Fr. Paul Wattson’s acceptance of the Branch Theory: Roman Catholic, Orthodox and
Protestant Churches all equal branches of the “Catholic Church.”. Of interest is that he calls the
sanctuary lamp, the red star over the tabernacle, like the star over the birthplace of Christ.]

Thursday. [Nov. 12, l903]. 4:00 p.m. Second Meditation.

Subject. THE EVENTS CLUSTERING ABOUT THE BIRTH AND HOLY

CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

Prelude l. Picture to yourselves the creche and the house to which later the Holy Family
removed.

Prelude 2. Pray for a deeper love of the little Christ Child and graces of the holy childhood.

Point l. Consider the beauty of that mother and child, the first word piercing her soul with
Simeon's prophesy. See also Holy Anna.

Point 2. Consider the visit of the Magi, the prophesies of the Jewish..[wording unclear]..even to
the Far East. They were familiar with the words, "a star shall rise out of Jacob", the first of the
gentile world. They [are] typical of the unity of the Trinity. We may think of them also as
typical of the Church in its three present divisions, Roman, Greek and Anglican, all worshiping
the Christ Child, the Son of God.
 Think of the splendor of the wise men, the beauty of their robes and camels, their
precious offerings of gold, frankincense, myrrh and doubtless beautiful jewels. Think of their
profound homage, Herod's fear and anxiety. But the Magi are warned in time of his strategy and
return home by another way. Let us imitate their love and adoration for we too have a red star
of Bethlehem hovering over the manger of the Blessed Sacrament.

Point 3. Joseph's warning and the hasty flight into Egypt. Their poverty and advantage. So
should the Children of the Atonement realize the joy, the advantage of their blessed poverty.

They made this journey in a short time, led and guarded by the holy angels, though the
Children of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness but they were hampered by sin. The fruit
of this consideration should be an increased desire and love of holy detachment.

Pater Noster. Anima Christi.

Document 4-12
[Could sick Mrs. Gregory, mentioned below, be the mother of the brothers Edgar and Gordon
who resided at Graymoor for a while?]

Thursday. [Nov. 12, l903]. Evening. [7:00 p.m. Third Meditation]

Subject: HEAVEN.

We are told in the Word of God in its beginning of the first state of man in a garden
called Paradise [that] all things are in perfect harmony. All this becomes marred, ruined, devas-
tated like a beautiful palace burned to the ground with the exception of a bit of the charred ruins.
We read very little in the Old Testament of Heaven, and to search out the obscure references,
we have to throw upon them the searchlight of the strong New Testament passages. With our
Lord's coming this is changed. He begins to tell about Heaven. Christianity revealed as a ..
[unclear word].. of Heaven.
The martyrs' lives and deaths open wide to view the gates of Heaven as St. Stephen saw
and saw for others.

St. John's wonderful vision crowns and completes the..[incomplete sentence].

It is all like a wonderful story. Things begin all right in the beginning, then begin the
exciting currents of events: evil and then good, evil and good again and finally after a desperate
struggle the good wins and the story ends with the singing and bells, shouting and rejoicing.
Heaven has triumphed!

Passing on in the history of the Church we have the glad testimony of the saints living
and on their dying beds.
 St. Clare's vision of the Virgin and her train coming to receive her parting soul. St. Peter
of Alcantara's message after his death to St. Teresa wherein he told her of the joy of the Heaven
won to him by Christ's merits and his correspondence ..[unclear word].. by means of blessed
penance. The two globes of fire mingling seen by a Religious after the death of St. Francis de
Sales and St. Jane de Chantel.

Then we have our own experimental glimpses of Heaven and we ought to expect such to
be repeated and intensified. We have grown nearer to GOD. In our Retreat we have purged our
souls somewhat of sin. We have renewed our resolutions after holiness and we must expect to
see new and greater things. Ours need not be like the raptures of St. Teresa and St. John of the
Cross or our Blessed Father Francis.

There are deep sanctified lives in this world which foreshadow the undimmed bliss of
Heaven for Heaven is where God is and God is love. Could we recall some few moments of
most perfect though fleeting ecstasy that would be but the broken reflection, the fleeting shadow
of what the glorious reality of Heaven is? "In His presence is fulness of joy." That which alone
all else constitutes the joy of the elect is what is called the Beatific Vision of God. The
profoundest experiences of the bliss the saints have been in many cases from a heavenly vision
of visions: Daniel's vision, Ezechiel's, our Lady's joy in the Annunciation.

We shall stand like the Queen of Sheba with no strength in us because the half news
never been told us. [unclear sentence.]

We need not fear death even though we may have to stand on the brow of Calvary and to
struggle with agony and conflict and darkness at our last moment. Remember over Calvary we
pass to the Mount of Ascension and with Bernard we sing, "For thee, Oh, dear, dear ..[word
unclear].. mine eyes their vigils keep." In a little while we shall be home. Can we not this little
while hang on our cross or else watch like our Lady and St. John beside the cross? It is such a
little while. And then our eternal bliss our so easily, after all...[incomplete sentence].

HELL

Not only because of our souls but because of the souls of others, let us meditate upon the
horrors of Hell. Hell [is] a necessity because the Devil is. Heaven is where God is and there
must be a Heaven for there is a God.

Hell is eternal because the malice of the Devil and his angels will always exist.

As to people going to Hell that is a necessity for they begin to go in its direction even in
its present time of earth. [unclear sentence.]

Think of New York at night and its antechambers of Hell.

 Think of the centuries of Mammon getting, and the lust for inordinate gain and the way
that gain is spent.

Think of the wills set against God. The slow or rapid descent from one wickedness to
another.

The slaves of evil habits, the drunkard, morphine eater, murderer, robber, adulterer.

Let us in thought descend into the Pit and what does the sense of sight perceive? Surely
we should see sights which we cannot put into language. To hear the sounds of Hell. Sometimes
in this world one hears something of the endless quarreling, backbiting, faultfinding and
complaining which alas finds place in many a home. Even worse oaths and obscene language.
Hell is the cesspool into which all this is poured.

And the smells! All that is vile, putrefying, moral and physical corruption and fire,
smoke and brimstone, such as real as the celestial odours that play in Paradise.

The sense of touch. Souls that feel fire as does the flesh. Oh, the pain. Oh, the misery of
those writhing in the torments of the damned. And this is not fanciful. We have our Lord's
words again and again descriptive of it.

Not necessary to think of God as tormenting these souls. Sin is its own misery, agony
and punishment in this world. We see the result of sin: sickness, physical pain, the agonies of all
diseases are the result of pain. Hell is but the intensified continuation of all this with all hope
gone, all light extinguished. [word unclear].. everlasting.

O, God, help us to realize that all about us, souls are rushing down to this fearful place,
eternal souls, for man came from God and must live eternally. O, for the love of our Lord's
Passion, for His Incarnation with its eternal benefit to us, let us unite with the struggle of His
earth--Life for souls. With the desire this moment of His Sacred Heart, let us unite. O, if we
realized all this with what new zeal would we lay hold of the [incomplete sentence].

[under Thur. Nov. 12, l903, are the following notes:]

You have made your Confessions now and strive to dwell in the Illuminative [sic] Way.
This is the day of the Blessed Sacrament. So try and think [of] His marvellous operations of
love in you and for you.

*****

Nov. 12, St. Didachus Day. A great Franciscan lay brother and saint who healed many
sick. Pray for the healing of Mrs. Gregory next week.

*****
 Before the end of your Retreat I will give each of you an opportunity of making before
your Confession your Retreat resolutions. At the same time you will receive the Father's
blessing.

Document 4-13
[The salvatio in the S.A.’s motto: Omnia pro Christo et salvatio hominum would later be
changed to salute.]

Friday [Nov. 13, l903] Morning. [First Meditation]

Subject: Heb. 5. UNION WITH OUR HIGH PRIEST JESUS

Prelude l. Make three pictures: l) our Lord surrounded by the Twelve institutes the Sacrifice of
the Mass, 2) our High Priest in an agony of prayer in Gethsemane, 3) Jesus both priest and
victim on altar of the cross.

Prelude 2. Pray for grace to be united with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in His Passion and in
His Death.

Point l. Contemplate Him as High Priest in Heaven and as the Lamb of God slain before the
foundation of the world, perpetually pleading His Atonement on behalf of sinners.

Consider how He is also represented by His priest at altar on earth. Reflect upon my own
priesthood in union with His, for there is truly a Priesthood of the Laity. St. Peter was writing to
such when he said, "Ye are a royal priesthood." How am I to realize my priesthood? Answer: by
hearing Mass and in my Communions uniting myself thereby with the divine will and the Sacred
Heart with the intention for which each Mass is offered by the celebrant.

Point 2. Contemplate Jesus agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemani, as He offered up

supplication with strong cries and tears of blood unto Him that was able to save Him from death
and yet willed Him to taste death for every man. Let me ask my own soul whether it is willing
to drink of the cup that He drank of in His Passion and to be baptized with the bloody sweat
should the Father so will it. Am I willing to bear even these in order to be more perfectly
At-one with the High Priest of my Religious Profession?

We should not expect to have our prayer go easier. We are not in the Society of the
Atonement to play, but with our Lord to offer up supplications with strong crying. Our
vocation, women's especially, [is] to suffer in desire to help.

Point 3. Contemplate the Prince of the Atonement stretched upon the altar of sacrifice, offer
Himself to God the Father to reconcile sinners unto God by the price of His blood that He might
"sprinkle many nations."

Resolve: to be united with Christ even on the cross by daily dying unto self by a cheerful
acceptance of every mortification and [to] ask for the love that burned in the hearts of the noble
army of martyrs that so I may be found worthy to bear the Name of the Atonement and to
represent Christ crucified and His dying [word unclear].. here for the souls of men.

Resolution: To be true to the motto of the Society of the Atonement: Omnia pro Christo et
salvatio hominum which means not only to surrender all things but to be ready to suffer all
things.

Document 4-l4
Friday [Nov.13, l903] 4:00 p.m. [Second Meditation]

Subject: THE CHILDHOOD AND BOYHOOD OF JESUS.

Prelude 1. Picture the home at Nazareth and the temple at Jerusalem.

Prelude 2. Pray for the proper dispositions to meditate with profit upon the above.

Point l. Contemplate the Holy Family making preparation to leave Egypt and remember how
some 2,000 years previous the Children of Israel left Egypt. Think of our Lord mystically
crossing the same wilderness and desert of Sin on to the Promised Land, how vividly He must
have realized the scenes of Moses and, etc.

Think of their turning to Nazareth, St. Joseph securing a little house with a carpenter
shop adjoining it. Try to picture the life of the Child Jesus until He was twelve years old and
His joy and zeal in preparing to go up to the great Feast at Jerusalem. Think how they had to
journey south through Samaria. See the ever increasing crowds converging, all going toward
Jerusalem, some from far distant cities doubtless even Alexandria and Rome. Imagine the holy
conversations of St. Joseph and our Lady with the pilgrims, perhaps our Lord's sweet voice
joining in, how they reach the city of David and behold the fair beauty of Mt. Zim. We are told
they went up every year. So this journey when He was twelve years of age was probably not His
first visit.

Picture the progress of the Feast, the innumerable sacrifices mingled with the incense and
the prayers of priests and people. Think of our Lord's deep thoughts as He gazed upon these
things knowing that all these sacrifices of hundreds of years back up to that very day symbolized
Himself, the Lamb of God.

The Return Journey

 The crowds again this time turned toward their homes and our Lord chooses to remain
behind. At the end of the day Mary and St. Joseph discover that He is not with them. Try and
picture their fearful anxiety and distress and how it increased as another twenty-four hours
rolled by and still no trace of the lost child. Then another day and still no trace. Tears drop
from our Lady's face as at last foot sore and weary and probably fasting too for they did not
alone pray, when behold in the temple they found Him. Try to understand the motives of our
Lord in His remaining behind. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Putting
behind Him His ardent longing to begin at once His active mission of preaching, without one
word of protest, He submits to His parents' wishes.

Picture the sweetness and poverty of that ideal home at Nazareth. Such a small place.
Picture too the carpenter shop and our Lord handling the tools. He must have thought how ages
before He the Word had but spoken and the sun sprang into being and the earth was clothed with
its verdant [word missing], the great beasts wandered through jungles, cattle pastured on the
plain, mountains reared their crest, valleys nestled in their feet and man was created in God's
image. Still He was..[unclear word]..for a..[unclear word].. to labor until the sweat poured from
His brow to support His beautiful mother.

Think of the religious observances of that home, how daily seven times they sang the
psalms of David, how people must have stopped as they passed by to listen, how the angels
must have hovered near with muted breath. What meditations they must have had!

Picture St. Joseph's transitus, what [a] wonderful death scene it must have been, and how
[our] Lord, after St. Joseph was laid to rest, [was] consoling His mother in her loneliness. How
tender and thoughtful He must have been, how holy their conversation.

Resolution: to do, each of you, all that lies in your power to make St. Francis House like the
holy house at Nazareth.

Document 4-15
[Of note is the symbol of the Tau cross flanked by S and A above the first page at this early
date.]

STA

Friday [Nov. 13, l903] Evening [7:00 p.m. Third Meditation]

Subject: PURGATORY
 All souls do not go to Purgatory, only those who die in the faith of our Lord. This place
is a merciful provision of God for His children too imperfect for the Vision of Himself, but still
saved souls, a place of purging or purification and, therefore, a place of suffering for them. The
penance for sin is exacted. This [is] a state of temporal punishment as opposed to eternal
punishment which is the state of Hell. The state of a lost soul after death is like a prisoner in
[tentative?] of local custody but the deeper Hell, the final place of His imprisonment comes after
the final sentence when he is cast down in everlasting chains.

The Church does not state explicitly of what..[word unclear].. is the pain of Purgatory,
whether fires or the anguish of desire for God and contrition for the past. By the power of the
Mass and by personal acts of mortification and charity we can alleviate their pain, for instance
by denying ourselves a cup of water. By faith we believe God will apply that degree of allevia-
tion to some suffering soul. Here the Father read the account called "Patrick's Purgatory."

There are testimonies of holy men and women to whom have been made revelations of
the intermediate state and surely we know enough to desire that by the mercy of God our time be
short there. And we know too that by the merits of Christ and a life spent in prayer, service and
mortification we may be permitted to enter into the joy of Heaven.

Let us resolve to do all we can to aid the souls in Purgatory.

Document 4-16
[Of interest is that Fr. Paul Wattson’s account of the happenings of Covenant Day (Oct. 7, 1898)
is only five years after the event. It appears that a Mass was said, or a Communion service took
place, with Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana White, the only ones present, on Covenant Day. In this
reflection he interprets the meaning of each set of verses in Hebrews 6. ]

Saturday [Nov. 14, l903] 8:30 a.m. [First Meditation]

Subject: OUR COVENANT CHAPTER. Heb. 6.

The Danger of Apostasy

The Reward of Fidelity

Prelude l. Picture two scenes: 1) God appearing in vision to Abraham, saying, "Fear not
Abraham. I am thy shield and thy exceedingly great reward. Thy seed shall be as the stars for
multitude and the sands by the seashore which cannot be numbered."

2) a tiny oratory in a private residence. A priest standing by a tiny altar on which lay two
pectoral crucifixes brought from Rome and Assisi. One Sister was the sole congregation.
Picture the priest going to his room after the Mass and in an agony of doubt in fear lest what had
been done was presumptuous and against God's will, falls on his knees and beseeches God [to
con]firm or condemn this consecration of two souls to the Society of the Atonement. The result
is the Sixth Chapter of Hebrews, God's Covenant Promise to the Children of the Atonement.

Prelude 2. Pray for grace to be true to your vocation.

Point l. Read over 4,5,6,7, and 8th verses and meditate upon the inevitable hurt to our souls if
for any motive whatsoever we should be untrue to our vocation.

Point 2. Read verses l0-l7 and reflect upon the sure guarantees God has given to us as to the
mission of the Society of the Atonement.

Point 3. Read verses l9-20 and meditate upon the rewards of fidelity.

Document 4-l7
[Of note is that Fr. Paul says the “vocation” of the S.A. is “Atonement with God.”.He calls
himself, “your weak, little Father.” ]

Saturday [Nov. l4, l903] 4:30 p.m. Last Meditation

We will end as we began with the Atonement in all the various chances and changes of
this mortal life, through good report and evil report, for better or worse. Forever keep true to the
Atonement. Your vocation is Atonement with God.

Let nothing ever separate you from the holy habit you wear, the holy habit of the
Atonement. What a wonderful name! How marvellous that through all the ages of the Church
that name has been kept for us.

I trust the fruit of this Retreat will be to stamp upon you everlastingly the blessed
vocation bound up in that name. Whatever darkness, deep waters, mental or spiritual conflicts
may pass over your souls, let nothing separate you. Be true, be true. And so shall you be true to
the Prince of the Atonement, true to His Blessed Mother, our Lady, true to St. Francis and all the
Saints. And pray for me, your weak, little Father that I too may persevere to the end.

Now you may each come separately to make before me your Retreat resolutions and to
receive the priest's blessing which is to only foreshadow our Lord's own blessing which you are
shortly to receive in the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
1905
Document 5-1
[The original of the following document is in the handwriting of Mother Lurana White, s.a., and
was written in a boughten notebook with a brown cover. On the cover is written, "St. Francis'
House-- Retreat Addresses". The title identifies the speaker as Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. On
numerous occasions Fr. Paul spoke about the war with the Amalekites and the prayerful example
of Moses during it.]

COMMUNITY RETREAT 1905

Monday, October 23--Saturday 28th

Director: The Father Minister

lst Day--Oct. 23 St. John Capistran

lst Meditation--10 A.M.

Introduction: Under the patronage of the lowly Franciscan lay Brother, St. John
Capistran, we will begin our retreat. The collect for this week prays that we may be able to
resist "the world, the flesh and the devil." We must never forget that the Religious Life is a
Spiritual Combat, and as Moses and the Chosen People were in the Wilderness, constantly in
conflict with their foes, so must we be also in the wilderness of this world.

Let us think of ourselves as fortresses, once in possession of God's Enemy but now our
Lord's own strongholds against His adversary and ours--the common foe--the Devil. This wily
One is ever prowling about our citadels seeking a weak point of entrance. We have need to take
utmost care lest by our carelessness, our neglect of means GOD has given us, he finds his way
in and binding us hand and foot we fall into the power of our Enemy. We have also two other
foes and one, the Flesh is already within our fortress, the other, the World, is also close to us,
and so we will take for the subject your retreat meditations. THE WAR UPON AMALEK.

Meditation I.

The host of GOD'S Israel on its journey toward the Promise Land. The Enemy attacks
the rear portion, i.e. the lagging weary ones of their company. This is still Satan's way. Let us
see to it that we grow not listless or careless or drop behind in the march. Joshua the
Commander engages the enemy in the plain while Moses the leader goes up to the Mount to
pray. Let us make the Mount representative of Mt. Calvary, Moses of Our Lord, his rod of the
CROSS. O, the marvellous might of Prayer. Is not the victory always ours when we are
prayerful in spirit, that is, recollected? And alas, when we are not stretching our arms toward
Heaven, what an easy victory has our Enemy!

During this retreat we must pray much and hard. Moses grew weary, for prayer is an
effort, for it takes mental exertion and concentration. To pray with intensity of purpose is
nothing less than strenuous exertion, work. Now we must make this effort or our retreat will be
a superficial one. So let us now make up our mind that we are going to labour hard to break
through the physical or mental lassitude and the first is as really to be overcome.

You remember how Moses needed Aaron and Hur to hold up on either side his falling
arms, and so we will let our bodies have sufficient amount of food and of sleep, not for selfish
indulgence but merely as a means toward the desired end of this retreat--union with God through
prayer. So we will gird up the loins of our minds and our bodies for God's blessing is upon
labour, and let us know that what we gain we may retain so this week may be the beginning of a
new start towards God.

Let us consider Moses' rod. It is a very wonderful one, the same that he held before
Pharaoh, the same that divided the Red Sea. Our rod is the Holy Cross. Oh, let us have
unbounded faith in its power to work marvels. Oh, well we know that apart from it, we are no
match for our enemies and were it not for the symbol of our Redemption we should not be heard
even when we pray. Actually we have no power of our own, but the Cross in our hands stands
for the glory and the majesty of Jesus Christ. It is our standard which [when] firmly and
lovingly embraced will enable us to go forward knowing that we must prevail. But have we an
unbounded faith in this rod? Are we always turning aside from our own weaknesses and placing
our trust in it? Are we not often defeated just because we depend, even if unconsciously, upon
our own natural qualities? Is not this form of self love the explanation of many a fall?

Why when Moses' hands were uplifted did Israel prevail and when his hands dropped did
the enemy have the advantage? Was it not because when God looked upon these outstretched
arms He beheld in a figure the Crucified, saw a vision of the Atonement, but when the hands
dropped the similitude vanished and Ameliak prevailed? We must ever appear before God as the
Children of the Atonement and we should often pray as our father Francis used [to] with arms
outstretched, so will we appear to God as pleading for ourselves and others the Sacrifice of
Calvary.

But God looks also or rather first upon the interior. So let us take care that our hearts be
in their degree as the heart of Jesus Our Lord. And what was the disposition of the Sacred Heart
but that of a Victim? So shall we be accepted of Him when we come to appear before Him.

Remember that Moses was not praying for himself alone. Or even first, let us see to it
that like Moses we love deeply and pray fervently for our own family of the Atonement. We
must grow in the spirit of our Order, esprit de corps, and then, reaching out, remember that we
are Franciscans and ever pray that the ideals of St. Francis may more and more prevail among
his children. So on reaching out into the whole Catholic Church and the world, let us include all
in our prayers, but, oh, above all let us pray even for the peace of Jerusalem, then for our own
individual wants and needs. They will lose nothing by being submerged in the wider compass of
our Order and our Society's vocation. And like as the devoted Jesuit stands first for the spirit of
his Order with self entirely subordinated, so must the Children of the Atonement sacrifice and
offer for the body. There is no room here for an easy giving type of holiness. Oh, no, the issues
are too great. "For their sakes I sanctify Myself". Let us come out of this retreat like trained
athletes.

Moses by himself was unequal to the great tension of the conflict and it is written they
placed a stone and he sat upon it. Let us make that stone represent sacrifices, and let Aaron and
Hur represent the arms of the Cross that sustained the weight of Jesus' arms. Let us learn from
this figure not to set out upon the great life of sustained sacrifice in our own strength. Our arms
must be upborne by the arms of the Cross. Then we may trust surely that God will always
supply every need by means of grace. We have need to magnify grace, for it is by grace God
gives first the desire for holiness and then this same marvellous grace supplies also the necessary
power of attainment. By the sacramental grace of the Blessed Sacrament and assisted by the
ministry of the holy angels we shall prevail.

God grant us as a fruit of this meditation a greater realizing sense of grace as the gift of
power of God to us. And let us remember always that when we have reached the limit of our
own sanctified powers, when our arms are about to drop from weariness, then at the critical
moment there will always be provided some help to sustain and carry us through. Surely it will
come the _______ either of men or of angels. So let us go on with a good courage, without a
show of fear, on to the gates of the New Jerusalem, marching with songs and everlasting joy
upon our hearts.

lst Day--October 23, l905

SECOND MEDITATION (4 P.M.)

We will begin the afternoon series of meditations with the consideration of the first great
Commandment of the Lord, "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God" etc. Above all others, the
fulfilment of this law is incumbent upon the Religious. They above all others are bound back
unto God with cords and ligaments, as the very word Religious signifies. What are those cords
and ligaments that bind us to God, but the cords of love? The love of David and Jonathan were
types of it--faint shadows. Read in the Canticles the mystical portrayal of the heavenly
Bridegroom and His Bride the Church. Oh, the wonderful depths of love there portrayed. And
God expects this love to be responded to as the Bride in the Canticles responded. And where in
its highest form should He receive it if not from His brides in Holy Religion?

The Religious has turned aside from the espousal loves of this world in order that she
may be united to the altogether lovely One, and because the object of her love transcends in
beauty all others so should her love transcend the love that others give the object of their
affections.

Our Baptismal vows were ratified and developed by our free choice of the Religious
vocation and we chose to dwell in a Religious house where the heavenly Bridegroom dwells
there in His tiny cell within the tabernacle, hidden, except when exposed to our admiring view in
the monstrance. But that is not all. We again and again and often meet Him at our tripting
[trysting?] place, the Holy Communion. Ah, even more, we receive Him into our inmost being.
As we go about our household duties we should always carry about with us the sense of
His Presence under the same roof with ourselves. Let us be gravely fearful lest we grow so
familiar with the reality of this dwelling with Him that he be betrayed into even a shadow of
unattention, disrespect or coldness. Ah, rather let us burn with the desire to render to Him
continually some such love as His heart bears toward us, remembering that this love of His is an
individual love for each one of us as much as though no other soul than ours existed in all the
world.

He said, "upon these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Why does
love fulfil all Law? Because "the love of Christ constraineth me." It is thus a motive power and
that motive power acts as a compelling force in proportion to its intensity. For example, we
know how love for any human or material object is in itself an energy. How much of cold and
hardship will men endure in their search for gold? Now if such an object can impel to heroism
and endurance, toward how great things should the most sweet love of Jesus inspire us?

In the Religious life we must fail in the great things of our holy Rule, in the little things
of our daily life unless the great motive power within us be the love of Christ. But if we have it,
what wonders we are able to perform! Everything is easy to perform. Everything is easy to
endure for it is true as it is written, "Many waters cannot quench love." So let us use every
possible means to increase to a great flame any spark of divine love we may find within us. Oh,
let the prayer of our retreat be "More love, O God, more love."

*******

(Notes given out for the community's morning self-exam from the exercises of St. Ignatius)

lst Prelude Prayer

2nd Prelude Composition of place. Subject: the soul in prison and exile, held captive by sin.

lst Point The fall of the angels (note: Use well the memory, understanding and will.)

2nd Point Consider the fall of Adam and Eve

3rd Point Consider how some one person for one unrepented mortal sin has eternity to spend
in hell, as for instance Judas. Consider my own great peril, how perchance I might fail to attain
final perseverance and lose my holy vocation.

a) Colloquy with Our Lord. Acts of humility, love and contrition.

b) Colloquy with myself

Resolution
Document 5-2
[Of note is Fr. Paul Wattson,’s mention of the Threefold Salutation to Mary. Hence, the prayer
already existed at this time, 1905.]

Second Day

First Meditation

Subject: l Saml. XV. Samuel rebukes Saul for sparing Agog and the goods of
Amalekites.

First Consideration: Our Vocation

a- Samuel said unto Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over Israel." We have been
anointed kings and priests unto God to wage unending war against H is enemy-- a life long
struggle.

b- Holy Poverty

How Saul performed the word of God: He left alive King Agog and kept the spoils of
the Amalekites, his subtle explanation that it were a pity to destroy all these good things and that
he and the people intended to offer them to the Lord.

Here was the sin of covetousness, all the more terrible because indulged in under the
cloak of religion. Herein lies a great lesson for those under the threefold vow. Alas, the history
of many great Religious Orders shows us that too often they have lapsed from the first love,
added land to land and house to house, heaped up material wealth of almost every kind and for
what? Why then came almost inevitably the drastic dealing of the State and lo, their wealth is
stripped from them, not even, it often happens--when the faintest show of justice and much suf-
fering comes and the good bear their shame with the guilty and most serious of all is the loss of
the holy influence that bowed in deep reverence the people's hearts toward the houses of prayer
in the days of their early fervor and poverty.

Let us, children of St. Francis, never forget our Father's oft repeated words of warning.
Let us see to it that we are not beguiled by any such subtle reasoning as Saul's that, "It is all
intended to be to the glory of God and is a sacrifice to Him." Oh, let us see to it that we have the
Society esprit de corps of Holy Poverty. Saul made excuses that he feared the people and had to
yield to them. Let us learn the necessity for the individual and the mass of the Community to
love and be deeply loyal to this great counsel of St. Francis our Father, for it is impossi ble for
the Founders and Guardians, unaided, to keep up the tone of Holy Poverty for all, and any
member who desires an unnecessary thing or requests an indulgence under guise of necessity, is
pulling down the tone of the Community. Much rests with the Guardians, much also with the
rank and file.
 II Obedience
In this narrative of Holy Scripture we have also emphasized the necessity of Obedience.
Samuel said to Saul, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." Were we to build a magnificent
Church, inlay it with the choicest marble, incrusted in gold, and by so doing disobey our strict
Rule of Poverty, could we imagine that the sacrifice offered to God therein would be pleasing to
Him? Let us remember that the offering most pleasing to our God is the yielding of an entire
and whole hearted obedience: obedience to God, to the Catholic Church, to our Rule, to our
Guardians. And this obedience must not be merely external. Were it that only, we should find it
rejected by God no matter how accurately preserved. It must rather be the joyful, willing ren-
dering of the heart and will.

III The King's Sin

Saul kept alive Agog the chief of the enemy. Each one of us has a King Sin, an Agog. It
behooves us, therefore, to search out in a time like this the great fault that hinders our advance-
ment. If after prayer God shows us our Agog, we will be sure to find associated with it a
company of men and cattle. "That is, the lesser sins clustered about it, for every king has his reti-
nue." Then when found, we must set about hacking our Agog to pieces with the sword of the
Spirit, that we may run unhampered in the way of perfection. Therefore, pray now to be shown
Agog and his followers within the soul.

Second Meditation

Subject: the 2nd Commandment of the Law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

The law of the love of God involves the love of our neighbor. We must according to the
degree of our love for God, love what He loves. It is Our Lord's Will that the bond of love that
binds together the Blessed Trinity, should bind us one to another in a love of which that of the
Godhead is the pattern.

The most terrible defacement upon the form of His Mystical Body is the want of charity
that exists among brethren. From the beginning this sore has been upon the Body and as love
waxes colder the awful scandal grows more evident and today His Mystical Body is rent with
heresies and schisms all of which spring from this lack of charity. And alas, Our Lord still
pleads his prayer for unity. We, as Children of the Atonement, have taken upon us the burden of
that prayer. How great should our perfecting in love! [sic]

"As I have loved you, so ought ye to love one another." And that love was nothing short
of dying for us and He means nothing less than that same willingness, at least, from us. How are
we in practice in our everyday life fulfilling that ideal of love one towards another? Charity
does begin at home. See how perfect was Our Lord's own love in the tiny circle of the Holy
Family, then how its stretching out embraced ever endearing circle. God and his angels expect
great things of us and there are yearning and expectant eyes bent upon us of those still in the
world. [unclear sentence]
 As St. Francis, our Father, prayed that his Portiuncula might ever exemplify charity and
the perfection of the evangelical counsels, so in this our Little Portion (Portiuncula) must those
things be, else where shall men look for them? Sins against charity, therefore, because of our
vocation, are far more grievous in this spot than in the world, or even, may we not say it, than in
other Religious houses? Therefore, examine yourselves carefully during the past year in this
matter. Look at your outward conduct. How about patience, unnecessary judgement? Have you
thought about the comfort of your Sisters? Then the interior, has there been a deep, loyal love
for each other? Has the natural affection of members of a family been transcended among you?
Oh, let us all tear the mask from our souls and behold all the ugly reality!

Remember that natural likes and dislikes must be put away from us. They can be
overcome when self love dies, for it is self love that causes them to be. And as we die to it, the
love of Jesus will obliterate all such unworthiness, for then we must love what He loves, as He
loves. When we look up to our Blessed Father Francis, oh, what a furnace of love we behold.
How he loved the brethren! Our Lord said, "They that have left houses or lands, brothers or
sisters for My sake, shall receive a hundredfold in this present life." Oh, if we have failed to
realize this promise, the fault is not God's. His promises never fail. No, the failure has been in
ourselves.

******

Notes for Evening Self Exam

lst Prelude: Veni Creator, Pater, Ave.

2nd Prelude: Composition of place: viz: our desert exile

3rd Prelude: Desired request, viz: deeper contrition

lst Point: In memory recall the sins of the past year. Go over any list you my have kept
and add to it any added faults that came to your mind esp. sins against your neighbor.

2nd Point: Weigh your sins, consider their special hideousness and deformity, their
peculiar awfulness in us who have rec'd much grace.

3rd Point: Consider what you are.

a) Consider the past number of persons in the world and in comparison your own insignificance.
b) Compare man and powers and attributes with those of the angelic creation.
c) Men and angels with God, weigh self
d) Consider any especial deformity

4th Point: Consider what God is, His wonderful attributes, among them,
His Wisdom; your ignorance
His Power; your weakness
His Righteousness; your sins
His Charity; your lack of it

5th Point: Affections:

a) Consider how you have been permitted to live, guarded by the holy angels instead of being
thrust into hell by their might.
b) How the saints have prayed for and aided you.
c) The elements, fruits of the earth, food, grains etc. have ministered to you.

Colloquy: Pour out your heart in thanksgiving for God's __ towards you, His mercy and
patience. Like Magdalen, forgiven much, love much.

Act of love:

Resolution:

Conclusion: Pater, Anima Christi, Threefold Salutation said with uplifted hands.

Document 5-3
[Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., refers to his Church unity stance on the Rock of St. Peter, made Oct. 28,
1900, and the outcry that it caused in the Episcopal Church. Christ’s words in St. John’s gospel
(Jn. 12:24) “Except a corn of wheat fall...” were used by Fr. Paul on numerous occasions. He
prophesies the success of The Lamp, started two years before, because of his and other’s sweat
and tears.]

III Day

First Meditation

Subject: Judges VI & VII chapters: the Amalekites and Midianites come up against
Israel, God permitting them as the latter had sinned against God.

The lst part of our chapter in Joel (II chap.) is similar to the above in Judges VI & VII.

How often have the children of God and the Church herself suffered from the very things
which it has desired with and desired. [meaning?] Anglo Israel suffered thus from physical and
spiritual desolation in the days of the great apostasy. After came the Oxford revival and as in the
last half of the 2nd chap. of Joel, all is plenty and joy. So now we believe our beloved Church is
at the beginning of joyful reunion and plentiful refreshment.
*****

The angel of God appears to Gideon and says, "Go in thy might and thou shalt save
Israel." Gideon replies that "wonders and mercies have for a long time ceased in Israel," also
that he was the least of his family and nation. He offers to the angelic messenger. [previous
sentence incomplete] Let us think of the kid as representing the sacrifice of Calvary, the cakes
the Blessed Sacrament and the fire that came down from heaven and consumed them as the fire
of divine Love. Then Gideon believed, knowing that he had seen an angel of the Lord, but first
he feared greatly until he was reassured by the answer, "Peace, fear not." Let us also rejoice in
the angelic ministry. We can almost hear their dear word of peace in our hearts, when having
been cleansed by the word of absolution, we once more turn our steps toward heaven.

Gideon then built an altar and named it Peace. So we too in our holy Society of the
At-one-ment have reared an altar of peace. He then commanded to tear down the groves and
altar of Baal and to rear up the altar and sacrifice of the God of Israel. Let us to be iconoclasts.
We have reared many idols in our hearts and raised up many altars that must be pulled down.
We know too that the world has set up many false gods.

There is also a pseudo Catholicism resting upon the externals of religion, content not to
go deeper and practice the essentials of our holy faith, self-denial and mortification, humility and
penance. It takes tremendous moral power to overthrow the world's much lauded gods or even
just for ourselves to set out upon the old road travelled by the saints. It is curious how interested
friends and foes alike become in our personal practices. "You cannot endure nowadays the
mortifications of old times." "You will destroy your health." And all this outcry raised at our
very modest and harmless attempts at self-denial!

Ah yes, the world would fain keep us from any preparation for the work God desires to
begin by us and at our own door. And doctrinally too, what a hue and cry was raised when we
too up our portion on the Rock of Peter. [previous sentence unclear] But God watched over us
and the saints and angels protected us and wonderfully were we protected!

GIDEON'S SIGN

"The fleece wet with dew while all the ground about was dry." This was we know
symbolical of the virgin birth of Our Blessed Lord. God has from time to time given us, here in
our Portiuncula proof of the reality of our mission. They have also related to the Blessed
Mother. In all there have been five apparitions of her to five witnesses. It is hardly likely that
they were all mistaken and untrustworthy. And we have had other signs and wonders. God
seeing how weak was our faith has mercifully strengthened it as He has so often done in days
gone by.

GIDEON'S CHOICE

"But three hundred men," God said, "should go to deliver Israel and they were to be
picked out by the manner of their drinking at the river. Those who lapped, that is showed self
restraint and mortification on the eve of the battle, Gideon should take with him. The others
remained behind.

Our little company, numbering many less than three hundred also represents the nucleus
of a deliverance. God so often begins by units over again commencing, so to speak, before new
movements and revivals. Great things have a way of beginning very small. The Oxford
Movement began with a handful. God's glory is better shown by the minimum, else the victory
might be to the power and the prestige of the multitude. Let us have no anxiety about our
growth. He is even now picking out the chosen three hundred for our reunion movement.

Going down quietly to the camp of the enemy as God had directed him, he hears a dream
and its interpretation which inspires him with renewed courage.

He divides his three hundred into three companies. Let us liken this division to our own
three Orders. The concerted action and spirit of our Order should be like unto the volume of
sound that issued from these three hundred trumpets. It was a signal, a call to Israel to drive the
enemy from their borders. The trumpet has sounded in our midst. It cries to away with worldly
softness and all the maxims of the kingdom of darkness. It is a call to put on sackcloth and
ashes, to live in tents, enduring hardness as good soldiers, lest our trumpets give an uncertain
sound.

The broken vessels are the bodies of God's soldiers, broken by penance, oft times by
martyrdom, or the virginal sacrifice that brings forth abundantly, "Except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit." Behold our
dear Father St. Francis beautiful in his youth and gaiety, roses of health in his face, the crown of
young manhood upon his head. Behold him a few years after, worn, emaciated, the vessel of his
life broken upon the wheel of love.

And so it will be our Lamp, that is, our teaching, will shine forth and give good light just
in proportion as we are vessels broken in sacrifice, however God's method may be. And let Him
choose, be it labour, sickness or voluntary mortification. Let us see to it that our bodies are
wholly yielded and the fire within of divine love will surely scatter the hosts of Midian. O, the
fearful responsibility upon us as upon that brave company of three hundred! We too are called
to do battle for God's Israel, the Catholic Church, for the restoration of the ___ and the wine and
the oil, for the breaking off her of the shackles of her Erastian captivity to the State and the
power of Mammon.

"They came to Jordan, faint yet pursuing." Jordan typical of death. Yes, every nerve and
muscle was tortured by strain and weariness, yet they pressed on. O, may we pray earnestly
always for the grace of final perseverance. After his splendid victory, Gideon said, "A request I
desire of you. Give me the golden earrings of each man's prey." And Gideon made of that
golden heap a gorgeous Ephad and placed it in his own city. And "all Israel went thither, a
whoring after it which thing became a snare unto Gideon and unto his house."
 In the day of our victory when the spoils are divided and men pour out material gifts
upon us, may God give us grace to turn aside from them, remembering the "deep poverty of
Calvary and the little poor man of Assisi."

Third Day

Second Meditation

Subject: Work

(note: no more is written in this document)

1906
Document 6-1
[The title identifies the speaker as Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. The original of this document is in the
handwriting of Mother Lurana White, s.a., and was written in a “boughten” notebook with a
brown cover. On the cover is written "St. Francis' House - Retreat Addresses". It is the second
retreat recorded in the book. Poetically Fr. Paul refers to the Church Militant as stones “being
polished and fitted for their place in the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem.”]

Retreat Addresses - October 23 to 27, l906

Conductor: the Rev. Father Minister. S.A.

Subject: "THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS"

Preparatory Address: Tuesday Evening (7 o'clock) October 22

Subject: "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph. II.l9

The dominant thought during this retreat will be the Communion of Saints. We are
approaching that great festival and one of the fruits of our retreat should be to make us able more
understandingly to enter into its significance, for we are indeed no more foreigners or strangers
but truly fellow citizens with the saints. We know that generated from Adam we are members of
a sinful race but by the Incarnation we were grafted onto the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that
body which is mystically set forth in Daniel's vision of the stone not made with hands, cut out of
the mountain and growing until it fills the whole world, and this extension of the Body of Christ
is the Company of the Saints, comprised of those elect stones, which cut out of an earthly quarry
have been and are now being polished and fitted for their place in the walls of that great city, the
heavenly Jerusalem.

Our knowledge and even our thoughts of what that place is we are to occupy may be,
must be, very vague, but it is not so with the heavenly Architect. Every stone for Solomon's
temple as it was cut out of Hiram of Tyre's great quarries was at once numbered and known as
fitted for a certain place in God's house.

What is a saint? A holy one, and holiness means conformity in all things to the will of
God. Sanctity may well be and often is inherent in the plainest exterior and humblest position.
Dignity of place and ornate adornment belongs rather to the excellence of the spot the stone is to
occupy, and all that find a place in the "house not built with hands" are holy and well tried stones
whether an exquisitely carved capital or an unembellished bit placed in an inconspicuous place.

Let us yield ourselves in all things, holding ourselves ready for any experience or any
treatment God may have ready for us, at once or when we come out of retreat, remembering that
"many a blow and biting sculpture fashioned well those stones elect", and the Master of the
house knows well, when a severe knock or a trying mental experience will be of benefit in per-
fecting His handiwork.

But let us remember that we are lively stones and so not merely long suffering and
patience are required. Passive submission will not be sufficient, but there must be on our part
active cooperation. We are "workers together with Him." We shall find that in our practice of
mortification as for instance in abstinence from food, the deliberate action of the will is
necessary. It is no less so if we are to have any diligence in our self examination and other
spiritual exercises.

We have here no continuing city. We must never forget that this earth is to us but the
quarry whence we are hewn or the shop of the sculptor wherein we are perfected and as soon as
the work is completed we will be removed and placed in the spot for which we were made ready.
And so, realizing that we are now in a transition stage, let us strive to raise our souls by means of
prayer and meditation to a closer walk with God and those blessed ones about His throne. Let us
turn our thoughts more and more toward that mysterious but very real edifice slowly rising to its
majestic completion. So shall we too walk even now in heavenly places and to that end we shall
give all diligence to labour for the perfecting of our own souls and, as God shall give us oppor-
tunity, work also for our neighbor's upraising.

To think that we no less than the blessed saints are even now part of the Body of the
Lord! Nothing short of that being our calling and election, existent now in our present state of
exile, to be perfected when, among our brethren, we too by the same grace of God shall be
glorified. Let us be very thankful that we are chosen stones, now under the hands of the Holy
Ghost. Alas there are stones that have been rejected, crumbling bits of rubbish material
impossible for the Builder to utilize. And too we should especially rejoice in the vocation God
has given us, the first Children of the Atonement, of being foundation stones in our holy Society.
O, may each one of us realize at the end of this retreat that a distinct step on has been taken
toward the fulfilment of our holy vocation.

Collect for All Saints....

Document 6-2
[Of interest is Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., stating he wants to throw off “every shred of
Protestantism” the S.A. might have. This talk is perhaps the only commentary extant on Joel II
by Fr. Paul . As he notes, Mother Lurana White, s.a., received the passage when she opened up
the Scriptures to see whether or not she should go to Graymoor to make a foundation.]

First Day

First address - l0:45 A.M.

"I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy." Joel II 28

This text from the lesson for the Feast of St. Francis (as it falls on October 4th and the
above is appointed to be read in the Prayer Book for the lst lesson in evening prayer.) is as we
know, one of the two remarkable portions of Scripture given our Rev. Mother when she asked
guidance regarding making the foundation at Graymoor.

As Franciscans we come of a family of prophets or preachers. We know how our holy

Father feeling himself drawn by desire toward the contemplative life knew his vocation not
withstanding to be the work of preaching. St. Clare's voice, though cloistered, may also, in a
different though very real sense, be said to have gone into all lands.

We will think today of St. John Capistran, with us a son of St. Francis. Turned from an
active military and administrative career by a vision of St. Francis himself appearing to him, he
was after the trial of a very real testing professed in the Order of Friars Minor. He showed great
ability and holiness in governing houses of the Order. Later he was sent out to fight the
prevailing heretical sects of his day and now his real vocation began to be manifest. He was
most successful in confounding the Flagellants and in resisting and concerting [sic] the Jews,
multitudes of whom he converted to the Faith. He did a great and important work for unity in his
attempts to reconcile the Armenians and Greeks to reunion with Rome, the former returned to
reunion and have persevered to this day; the latter again fell away from the short lived unity he
did much to establish at the Council of Florence.
Probably the greatest of his prophetic works was the Crusade he preached and took an
active part in against the Turks. He undoubtedly saved Europe from being submerged by the
Moslems. His death resulted for he contracted an incurable disease but even on his death bed he
continued to preach the Catholic Faith. After his demise as during his life, he shone brightly by
many miracles.

The text with which we began our instruction is very dear to us from its bearing was we
believe upon the past and future of our Society's foundation. In every age its prophesy has had
its fulfilment nor does that prevent our believing--rather it increases our hope--that upon us also
it will especially come to pass as has been promised. "I will pour out my spirit upon your
daughters." Yes, women as well as men have been given the spirit of prophesy [sic]. There are
many examples in Old Testament history and in the Gospel we read among others of Anna the
prophetess. St. Mary Magdalen, tradition tells us, was tireless in her preaching journeying hither
and thither in Gaul where she with others are said to have gone after the dispersion from
Palestine. St. Katherine of Sienna was a notable example in later Church history.

Let us remember that preaching is not only by word of mouth, it first is by the example
and then maybe by the written word as well as by means of speech. Just now the latter seems
especially our method. Each one of us whether of those who beg the alms which pay the printer
or the others who are immediately employed in editing The Lamp and Rose Leaves, one and all
are helping to carry on our special mission of prophesying. Let us be fearless prophets, caring
not at all for the opinions of men, and let us be loyal prophets seeking to cast from us every
shred of Protestantism and to clothe ourselves with the beautiful garment of the Catholic Faith.

But mere words or cold type will not convert men nor transform their minds. The Holy
Spirit must be behind the message, must be in the heart of the prophet. O, let us rely more
entirely, more trustingly upon His assistance and if He wills to work with us, "confirming the
words with signs following", as was the case so frequently with our ancestors in the Franciscan
religion. Why then our faith must not halt even at miracles. God can do as great things by us if
our faith be as great. He is entirely able to make a Friar of the Atonement cross the Hudson on
no other raft than his outspread cloak as he enabled St. John Capistran and others to do in their
journeys more than once.

Let us pray during our retreat for the outpouring upon us of the most Holy Ghost that He
may enable us to fulfil in every particular the work we have been given to do, and let us also
pray that our retreat may result in the consuming of much dross that still remains in our nature
and the refining and polishing of the gold.

Document 6-3
lst Day

2nd Address - 7:30P.M.

Subject: THE PROPAGATION OF THE SAINTS

"And when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater he
swore by Himself saying, 'Multiplying I will multiply thee, and blessing I will bless thee.'" Heb.
VI l4.l5

The object of preaching is the propagation of the saints, the continuation of the New
Creation. The Apostles were commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature and to baptize
all nations.
 In the natural order, God when He had seen the creatures He had made laid upon them
the word, "Increase and multiply." After the Fall, the propagation of the species still went on and
ofttimes we shudder at the thought of that continuation in the class we call animal. On the other
hand we rejoice at the birth of those who, sheltered & guarded in Christian homes, will be
perfected in the Catholic Faith and one day people Heaven. Consider the Blessed Mother's
blessing and the continuous multiplication of her holy seed. Think too of the wonderful fertility
of the Franciscan family, from it (especially from its Third Order) have sprung the Founders of
most of our latter day founders of Religious Orders & Congregations. Its missionaries in the
First and Third Orders have been the greatest known.

There is the marvellous growth of the Catholic Church herself, when certain branches
were cut off or ceased for the time to bear fruit at the Reformation. Nowise disheartened she
proceeds to colonize new worlds and convert new peoples, catching in the net of Peter
multitudes of great fish. Even now she is making conquests of the Asiatics especially the
Chinese and Japanese and they have already shown in recent persecutions that they are of the
material that makes saints and martyrs.

As for our own little Family of the Atonement, let us not be discouraged because as yet
we have wrought no very great deliverance, or because our growth has been a slow one. We
have but to remember the long patient waiting of Abraham for his only son and remember too
how he one day heard the awful command, "Take thy son, thine only one and offer him to me
upon the altar of burnt sacrifice." But now in Heaven he, the Father of the Faithful, stands day
by day receiving out of this world multitudes of his children.

Consider also the joy of St. Francis our [Abraham] of the New Covenant as he too greets
with open arms his children thronging up the heights of Heaven, ___ own his beautiful ones
whom he has watched so lovingly as they conquered in the spiritual combat, as they were true to
Lady Poverty, and best lived of all his "red roses", his martyrs, prophets. Oh, how he watched
over them all and how he now rejoices with joy unspeakable!

The prophesy [sic], "She that was barren hath born seven and she that is a widow hath
many more children than her that hath an husband" is especially dear to the Religious, for they
who have given up the joys of fatherhood and motherhood after the natural order shall by the
operation of the Holy Spirit be very fruitful in souls. Pray that it may be especially so with us.

St. Paul's sermon on Mar's Hill seemed not very fruitful but there were two or three who
heard and were convinced and these became in turn propagators of the New Seed.

We have only to be faithful, for God's promises to the Children of the Atonement will
never fail and let us joy in this assurance as St. Francis, our Father, joyed in the reality of his
hope. God knows how to multiply and increase us. It remains for us to be passive in His hands
and perfectly still under the touch of the Holy Spirit until it is all fulfilled, "Blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee." Then in the Heavenly City we too shall joy over our
dear children as we watch them gather, a vast company, all Franciscan and yet every one bearing
the distinctive mark of the Child of the Atonement.
 Then followed the giving out of our evening exercise. Over.

Evening Exercise - For Self Exam

7 P.M.

Subj. THE SUCCESSION OF THE PROPHETS:

I God the Father the first Prophet, hear His prophesy [sic], "Of all the fruit of the garden ye
shall eat save one." Consider the consequences of man's disobedience.

II Consider Noah the Prophet, preaching while the people mocked.

III Consider Moses, leading the chosen people out of captivity and declaring unto them,
"Whosoever is on the Lord's side let him come unto me."

IV Consider Joshua, saying unto that same people, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. As
for me and mine, we will serve the Lord."

V Consider Samuel: As a child crying out in the night, "Lord, here am I" and in old age faithful
unto death.

VI Consider Elizah [sic] and the prophets of Baal and consider Elisha upon whom his mantle
fell.

VII Jeremiah the prophet of love

VIII Isaiah the prophet of joy, he who so clearly and so plainly foretold the coming of the Son
of God.

IX Consider Joel who foretold the coming of the Holy Ghost. The very passage clear to us is
quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost.

X Consider Malachi the last of the prophets closing the pages of the Old Testament with the
prophesy [sic] of Reconciliation.

XI Consider St. John Baptist, standing between the prophets of the Father, and the prophets of
the New Dispensation, the preachers of the Spirit.

XII Consider Our Lord Himself, who spoke as man never spake, preaching from the Pulpit of
the Cross with His holy Mother standing by.

XIII Consider the Holy Spirit under whose dispensation we live.

Consider the wonderful succession of the Holy Ghost's prophets from St. Paul down
through the Christian centuries. Think of the millions of sermons preached every year in the
churches.

Follow the prophets of the mission field. Let your mind travel up to the frozen north and
out to Equatorial Africa and the Poles [?] of the sea, consider their labors, their sufferings, their
deaths. Then offer yourselves to God to use for the prophetic office as He may choose and may
He grant the increase.

Document 6-4

2nd Day

lst Address

Subject: THE PENANCE OF THE SAINTS:

Our blessed Lord said, "Except ye take up your cross daily ye cannot be my disciples.
The Saints have understood by this, "Do Penance."

Our special illustration: St. Peter of Alcantara

There is a temporal penalty for sin that must be worked out either in this world or in
purgatory, the eternal punishment as we know done away by the Atonement. To do penance
then for their own sins or vicariously for those of others, being God's will, the Saints have ever
[been] examples of mortification in their lives and have taught the same by word of mouth and
in writing.

It is one of the chief fallacies of Protestantism that it denies the whole principle of
penance. It says there is no need of such. All we have to do is to throw over our sins the cloak
of Christ's righteousness. He paid the penalty and we are saved and justified. This was Luther's
teaching: commit adultery, lie, steal fifty times a day. Only believe in Christ's righteousness as
awaiting to cover your sin and all is well: faith without works.

Certain types of heresy have always hated the setting forth of the suffering of the Cross
as an Atonement. The proud intellect of unregenerated man hates above all to acknowledge the
need of a Redeemer. Like Lucifer he would be equal with God. Of this character is Christian
Science.

Mahomet, an example of the Protestant denial of penance of which we spoke a moment

ago, taught that Our Lord had no such command for his disciples, but that St. Peter grafted onto
the Gospel a new rule, that of self-denial and by holding up mortification and penance as a duty,
turned Christianity into a hypocrisy, demand of human nature what it was unable to fulfil. On
the other hand the Catholic Church and the Saints have always lifted before the eyes of the world
the Crucifix and their lives of self-denial for love's sake, the imitation of the Son of God's self
immolation.

St. Peter of Alcantara entered the Order of Friars Minor at l6 years of age. From the first
days of his novitiate he was an example of the prefect life. While still very young, he was sent
forth to preach. Taking as his special theme penance, he drew many to its practice. He reformed
his Order founding many monasteries or rather friaries, each contracted in size and excelling in
the practice of the strictest poverty. Of his personal austerities we have many details for among
the ascetics he was of those who excelled.

Suffice it to say that he made a "compact" with his body that giving it no rest on this
earth, it should in heaven enjoy everlasting felicity. As a result St. Peter was a master of the art
of prayer, reverenced even by St. Theresa [sic] whose director he became and whom he assisted
and encouraged in her reform of the Carmelite Order. Appearing to her at the moment of his
death in a distant city, he said these words, "O, happy penance that hath gained for me so great
glory."

Let us love penance. We have many opportunities, if we have the right dispositions,
opportunities presenting themselves everyday, that would in no wise go contrary to our Rule or
the will of our superiors. Of course, we must seek to be hidden and unnoticed in such acts and it
is in small ways and in interior mortifications that we may be on the lookout for continual occa-
sions. For instance, if the day be very cold that you go out to beg, take the discomfort joyfully
as something God has given in the course of your ordinary duties, to be offered Him by way of
Penance. So if He sees you desire to suffer for Him, He will give you increased opportunities.
Count any day lost in which you have not consciously performed an act of self mortification.

Let us consider the basis of penance from the parable of the Prodigal (St. Luke XV ll)
tracing its several stages.

lst. The Penance of the Mind. He began to come to himself. So with us the beginning of
penance is when the mind is mortified of the things of the world and sense. Not only have they
become distasteful, they have become as though they were not. We are dead to them. Then the
intellect seeing the excellency of heavenly things desires them and them only. By this
recollection of the mind, its elevation to holy things, we are preparing it for deeper meditation
and in its highest form, contemplation. And in striving to keep our minds upon our Father's
House we must take care lest we drag it back to earth again by a spirit of criticism and sitting in
judgement upon the acts of our superiors and our Sisters. Such is fatal to any real progress and
the tendency must be ruthlessly mortified.

2nd The Penance of the Heart. "At home there is plenty and to spare". The detachment
of our senses from earthly things frees the heart so that, like a bird unweighted, it is free to soar
upward and to exercise its affections in the delight of supernatural joys, for that is our true
atmosphere. Here we are exiles.
 3rd The Exercise of Will in Penance "I will arise and go to my father." The prodigal's
third wrong step had been his resolve to leave the father's house, but now his sad experience and
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit changes his will and he makes ready to return. Is our will yet
toward the Father's House? Do we welcome everything that urges us onward? Let us be sure that
whenever we feel upset or stirred up at an obedience given us or the rebuke of an equal, let us be
sure to say that our will needs setting straight. Self love must have a new bridle upon it.

4th The Penance of the Tongue "I will say I have sinned." Oh, how often we have sinned
by means of that "little instrument that no man can tame." By Confession we must strive to
control it and make it do hard penance. Another way to rule the tongue is by silence. Oh, how
hard that is. How the tongue tries to break through and have its own way, if only to talk for the
sake of being heard or even to sing or hum anything rather than to be bridled in silence!

Then when the Prodigal returned home he had to remodel his entire life. No more
riotous living; rather he must make an expiation or atonement for the past. And if he even
redeemed his past sin, then he must continue his penances for other souls, remembering how
Job fasted while his sons feasted lest they sin against God. The mortification will now
touch--nay, lay hands heavily--upon each of his senses: sight, hearing, smelling, touch and
taste--the two last probably the most difficult for us to control.

Religious by their vow of chastity have renounced even the innocent embraces of family
life. As for taste are we using little ways of marking this sense with the sign of the cross? The
refectory presents us three times a day with the opportunity. O, may we live the life of the
Saints, mortified to the things of sense but alive to God, for right dear in the sight of God is this
lifelong death of His Saints.

2nd Day

2nd Address

Subject: THE PRAYER OF THE SAINTS:

"And when he was come into the house they asked him saying, 'Why could not we cast
him out?' He answered them saying, 'This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.'" (St.
Mark IX 28.29)

We will take as our especial illustration of the life of prayer the great Carmelite, St.
Theresa of Jesus, not forgetting those other two masters of prayer closely associated with her, St.
Peter of Alcantara, who we have just considered, and St. John of the Cross, the latter we will
only name however.

There may be lesser things capable of being overcome by lesser methods than our Lord's
two weapons of prayer and fasting, but by these only can we accomplish great things or cast out
great evils and so today we are considering together both the Penance and the Prayer of the
Saints.

St. Theresa when a wee child feels her heart so inflamed with the desire of martyrdom
that in company with her little brother she steals out of the house intent upon running away to
preach to the Moslems and win the crown of everlasting joy. Of course the children were caught
and brought home again. At 12 years she leaves [?] her mother and then begs the Blessed Virgin
to be her mother, and she tells us that all through her life she was conscious of her loving
protection. When a young girl and after when in the cloister, she nearly wrecked her vocation
by association with worldly relatives and old companions, who would visit and converse with
her by the hour. One day she heard a heavenly voice say unto her, "Converse henceforth with
angels."

A great part of her prayer was intercession for she was consumed with the love of souls.
She shed tears abundantly over sinners and those who were separated from the unity of the
Church. Many visions were vouchsafed her and with them great joy and great suffering. So
marvellous were many of her experiences that even her confessors at various times were unable
to believe that they were from God. She was even threatened with the Inquisition, but she bore
all patiently and even prayed for more suffering. "To suffer or to die" was her continual prayer.

Finally God made clear the source of His servants' prayer and sent to guide her His
chosen servants, one a Saint (St. Peter of Alcantara) to aid in the reform of the Carmelites. She
was also aided by those whom God sent to her, notably another Saint St. John of the Cross. She
founded many houses in strictest poverty and was once encouraged and commanded by a vision
of St. Clare to whom with St. Joseph she [had] a great devotion.

However, above the high modes of prayer, her visions and her ecstasies, beyond even the
reforms she established, we must place first her life of faith and union with God from which all
the rest sprung, apprehending Him in the depths of her soul by faith and holding unceasing
converse with Him, by and by faith became lost in sight and sufficient grace was given her to,
according to the promise, remove mountains. Let us resolve that we too will persevere in prayer
and penance, for what is penance but the mortification of self-love and when self is disciplined
then the soul is able to be taken up with God in prayer, be the prayer mental or vocal.

Penance or mortification is the handmaid of contemplation that stands at the door of the
soul to guard it from distraction while it holds converse with God. St. Theresa laid great stress
upon abstinence from meat as one form of penance that the carnal nature might be more easily
controlled. She was very strict in her law of silence, for she desired her Sisters to be mistresses
in the art of prayer. She used to encourage skipping as a manual exercise which from its
mechanical nature was as a work conducive to prayer.

After long years of labor and suffering she died consumed like our Father St. Francis
with the ardent desire to behold and enjoy God everlastingly. Our Lord Himself came to her
bedside to take her to Himself and breathing out her soul in His arms she rested.
 She once made a heroic resolution for which our Lord commended her. "So upon every
occasion choose the most perfect way." Let us according to our ability endeavor to follow this
her example, even though the great things in prayer granted to her be not vouchsafed to us.

Evening Exercises for Self Examen

This evening try to follow step by step the Prodigal as step by step he took his journey
into the far country and then again step by step found his way back to the Father's House. For,
after all, we sin by the same digression if not in the same manner and our repentance must be [?]
by that selfsame return.

The stages of his downfall were a series of steps in the wrong direction:

The first was the alienation of the mind. He began to think about the world and its
attractions.

The second, the alienation of the affections. His heart was now drawn toward the world
and away from the dear home. Its attractions had become shadowed as seen through darkened
and unloving eyes. All its joys were become insipid and commonplace.

The third, the alienation of the will. He resolves that he will ask for his portion of the
goods.

Then the Sinful Act. He goes out into a life of sin.

Let us consider perhaps not too much in detail but briefly the state of such worldly and
carnal life: grumbling drunkenness, riotous living. Consider the word, "He that soweth to the
flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." Oh, the misery of it--all even when the apparent
enjoyment is at its height! Then the beginning of the end and the dishonorable poverty, disease
and misery. Picture him in the last stage of it all: his degradation, clothed in rags, feeding upon
the food of swine, soul and body starving, almost dying. And there are poor creatures in that
fearful state now at this moment, abandoned ones upon the streets or filling our asylums, their
passions inflamed by long courses of sin, burning with the very fires of hell, the foretaste of their
hereafter.

His Repentance

lst The Penance of the Mind: he came to himself, the scales fell from the eyes of his
intellect. He began to consider his condition. Pray that your understanding may be illuminated
and the eyes may be opened to realize your sins, that henceforth you may behold heavenly
things. St. Bridget of Sweden used to say that as the man in a deep well can behold in the
daytime the stars which are hid from those walking on the earth, so she had come into the
enclosure of the cloister that earthly lights being shut from her gaze she might, looking upward,
behold things of the Heavens hidden from the world.
 2nd The Penance of the Heart: his affections are now set upon home. He thinks
yearningly and suffers as he thinks of the plenty there "enough and to spare."

3rd The Penance of the Will: he resolves, "I will arise and go to my Father." Fortify
your will to arise and go to the Father. We are still in the far country. The citizens of heaven
are enjoying the Beatific Vision but we are in the desert of our exile.

4th The Penance of the Tongue: "I will say unto him, 'I have sinned.'" Resolve to make a
good Confession.

The Journey Home. It is a long and wearisome one, unlightened by the delights of the
way but footsore and weary he trudges on. The way of amendment and reparation is an uphill
road all the way, aye, to the very end. Temptations throng about him, within from his nature
long given over to sin; without from the perception of his senses and the enticements of his old
companions, those with whom he had sinned, it may be on the way out. O, the memory of
those past sins. Now they call him and the next moment how they lash him. Everything seen
and unseen appears dragging his steps, trying to turn him back, but the Father does not forget
him and while yet a long way off he goes to meet him.

So Jesus meets us in the Sacraments of His grace. So He counsels us by sweet glimpses

of His presence, "Sweeter than the honey far." And the joy of the homecoming, for the Prodigal
and us other Prodigals. There shall be music and dancing. "Joy all joy far excelling when the
ransomed soul, earthly toils forgetting, finds its promised goal."

Resolution for the day.

Document 6-5
[Of note is Fr.Paul Wattson’s defense of his “double witness” while outside the Roman Catholic
Church.]

3rd Day

lst Address

Subject: THE PASSION OF THE SAINTS

"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving an example that ye should follow His steps." I St. Peter II 21
The Church today keeps the Feast of SS. Crispin and Crispinian, two Roman nobles
martyred for Christ in the early ages of persecution. St. Augustine tells us that in celebrating the
solemnities of the Saints who were martyrs we are exhorted to follow their examples, for it
would be strange not to desire their example whose festival we keep, and if we do not desire to
so follow them we shall have no share in their glory, for our Lord says, "If ye suffer with me, ye
shall reign with me." So, if we refuse to suffer, we separate ourselves from Him who is our
Head.

The Passion of the Saints is the prolongation of Christ's Passion. St. Paul says, "I fill up
what is wanting...for His Body's sake which is the Church." If this be set forth as the vocation
not alone of St. Paul but of the ordinary Christian, it must be peculiarly that of the Children of
the Atonement, for the Atonement was the propitiatory act of the Son of God to reconcile an
erring race to the Father. In other words to make peace. We, therefore, cannot preach this
reconciliation to men except we be willing to share in its work, and the work of the Atonement
has the red mark of Calvary across it.

The Passion of our Lord and that of the Saints was due to "the contradiction of sinners
against Himself" and against them. The word martyr means witness and it is the bearing witness
which brings down the wrath of the world. In reading the Church's history we find that it was
fidelity to the Faith and the principles laid down by Christ that made the passion of the martyrs.
This is being exemplified now though not yet unto blood in the persecution of the Church in
France. If the Bishops would compromise with the State when a principle is involved there
would be no deprivation of revenues and from the world's point of view all would go well. But
the Holy Father may not so compromise when so to do would involve the betrayal of a sacred
trust.

We read yesterday in our martyrology of the account of the martyrdom of a great

company of men, women and children in Arabia, headed by Aretas, all of whom chose death
rather [than] to deny for an instant that our Lord Jesus Christ is God.

Doubtless, the Passion of the Society of the Atonement will be effected by those who,
opposed to our vocation, will use our twofold witness as a two edged sword against us. But we
must
be true under all circumstances and we cannot be respecters of persons.

If tomorrow we should haul down our flag and declare through the columns of The Lamp
that we have discovered we were mistaken regarding the See of Peter and that we have decided
that, after all, the Anglican Church is all right in her present position, doubtless we should be
immediately welcomed by many smiles where now we meet stern and uncompromising
disapproval. Many doors would probably be opened to us which are now inexorably closed in
our faces.

On the other hand were we to proclaim that we have decided to lay down our witness for
Anglican Orders and submit to re-ordination, re-confirmation and re-baptism, our path would
very likely be for the moment strewn with flowers. Instead, "Hereunto are we called that as
Christ suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps." So, remaining
steadfast in our mountain fastness, we pray for the grace to persevere to the end in the vocation
of our double witness.

Let us consider the meaning of the Atonement. In the center of time God offers His son
a sacrifice upon the Cross. We look away behind Calvary to the captivity of Egypt and there see
the institution and continuation of a propitiatory sacrifice of lambs to be offered upon an altar of
oblation. And each one of these little lambs was intended to point forward to that Lamb of God
from whose coming Atonement they alone derived efficacy to wash away in their blood the sins
of the people. But with that great Atonement in the fullness of the time does all sacrifice cease?
By no means, but it is no longer the spilt blood of unconscious and unwilling lambs and heifers.
It is a long succession, willing and joyous holocausts, men and women, members of His own
Mystical Body, for there is an extension of the Atonement as well as an extension of the
Incarnation. First St. Stephen and then St. James--the great procession moves down the
Christian centuries, men, women and little children, happy victims, carrying aloft their branches
of palm.

How many little lambs were offered before He came, the Lamb of God, we know not.
Better can we count the number of the martyrs that followed and shall follow until the word goes
forth for His Mystical Body, "It is finished."

With such a vocation as ours we must expect that sooner or later if not by the actual
shedding of our blood at least in much pain we too must have our Passion. So let us "offer
ourselves, our souls and bodies", an oblation to God for union by means of suffering with His
Passion. Let us make our offering, fearlessly knowing that He will give the grace when it is
needed to carry us through. This is after all but the fullest expression of our yesterday's subject
of meditation--Penance. Ever more and more swayed by the Spirit of God within shall we be
able increasingly to set before men as martyrs or witnesses for the Faith, the truth of those things
for which we stand and if He gives the grace can also die.

3rd Day

2nd Address

Subject: THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS

"Wherefore seeing we are encompassed about by so great a cloud of

witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the
Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. For
consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye
be wearied and faint in your minds." [Heb. 12: 1-4]

We meditated this morning upon the Passion of the Saints whom our Lord called in the
mystery of the extension of the Atonement to partake of His sufferings. This afternoon we will
think about Patience as the means by which we with them may enter into so great a vocation.
Some persons take sorrow and suffering patiently, the majority impatiently. Some
complainingly, others with resignation, but few gladly. Now it has been a characteristic of the
Saints that they have endured pain joyfully. It is very remarkable how in the history of the
Church our Lord has raised up certain souls to exemplify some special characteristic of His
Passion. We will take Sister Katherine Emmerich as one so chosen to set forth the Patience of
Christ in His agony.

Born in Germany at the close of the l8th century on Sept. 8, the Feast of Our Lady's
Nativity, of poor parents, she was frequently at work in the fields doing all the sorts of hard
labor which was in those times the lot of women to perform. But in the midst of that toil, from
her earliest years her companions were angels and the Saints in visible appearance to her. For
many years she thought that everyone saw and conversed with their Guardian Angel. Our Lord
himself and the Blessed Mother were frequently with her. She had a very keen perception of the
suffering of the souls in Purgatory whose pains she was always carrying in prayer and penance,
so laboring for their release. She took upon herself also the physical and mental pains of those
who she knew to be suffering from special diseases.

Entering a convent, our Lord permitted her to find there a new sort of suffering for she
was wrongly accused many times by her superiors and misunderstood by her Sisters. She was
even thought by some of them to be a hypocrite. Redoubling her penances, she endured all
patiently and gladly and our Lord comforted her by a series of very wonderful spiritual
experiences.

She was very happy, therefore, in her Religious life and it was a frightful blow to her
when in common with many other Religious foundations her convent was closed in the time of
Jerome Bonaparte. As an act of charity a poor widow gave her a horrible room on the ground
floor of her house and here confined to her bed she continued her living martyrdom for the
Church and the souls of sinners.

She had a remarkable vision of the Body of the Church. It appeared as a horrible trunk
terrible in its discolorations and ghastliness, scarred with deep wounds, covered with horrible
sores, whole parts would be missing as fingers and toes, the last representing portions cut off by
schism, the bruises and other wounds representing heresies and the mortal sins of individual
members of the Body. She was then told that she should continue her work of expiation in
union with our Lord's sufferings for His Body's sake.

We too should feel that we have been called in our own more hidden way to labour, pray
and do penance for the Church. Our Lord said to His disciples, "As my Father hath sent me,
even so send I you." If as we know our holy Father St. Francis mourned over the sins and
unfaithfulness of some of his friars when they became greatly multiplied, how much more does
our Lord suffer in His Sacred Humanity (the Godhead cannot suffer) from the sins and sorrows
of His members. He bears the knowledge of each and every wound in His Sacred Heart. And us
He has called by a very special vocation to work with Him to heal the schisms made by sin.
We know how in the natural body the system labors to cast off the dead as refuse. So we
must assist in replacing, renewing and healing the spiritual body. Let us in a humble way do
what we can, beginning with our own selves. There are diversities of gifts, but in whatever way
is pointed out to us, we are to follow close behind Him. Let this principle govern us always and
remember that the motive power behind all that He did and suffered was Love. How patient it
made Him, how long suffering it still compels Him to be. Think of the indignities he suffers
every day in the Blessed Sacrament and yet His Presence is never withdrawn and as the Cure of
Ars and Katherine Emmerich said of themselves, he too for life’s sake would gladly suffer a
thousandfold more torments.

I do not wish as a result of this retreat that anyone of you should in an unreal and
impossible manner strive up to something never intended for you, but I do hope as a fruit of it
that you will enter more comprehendingly into the meaning and practical working of your
vocation as a member of the Society of the Atonement. Begin your exercises of patience and of
penance very humbly, very simply. Do and suffer lovingly little things and then it may be going
on to a higher stage. God will give you even greater opportunities of exercising this great grace.

I also desire that as another fruit of this retreat that the tone of the Community be higher
than it has ever been before and that this week alone with God shall mark the point of a distinct
advance for each and every one of us. And now let us be sure to do all with a pure intention,
just for love, love of God and His glory.

The old poem Excelsior is somewhat of a jingle in verse but very beautiful in the idea it
conveys. It may be used as a figure of the soul's struggle up to God. Like the youth in the poem
we must struggle on up toward the height, dying it may be before it is accomplished, and the
world will cry out at us "another failure", but we know better, for what the soul imprisoned in
the body could not accomplish, that same soul released by death will mount up to, easily and
swiftly, and as it hears the plaudits of the Saints and their dear welcoming voices and above all
beholds His Face, the soul will praise God through all eternity that it chose as its objective point
the top of Mount Calvary.

Evening Exercise for Self Exam

Picture to yourself in your spiritual exercise this evening another journey on the earth
and back to the Father's house again, not the prodigal's but that of the well beloved and sinless
Son of God.

We know that in His Divinity our Lord never left the bosom of the Father in Heaven and
yet in a mysterious but real sense he did [leave] the joys of Heaven and became an exile among
us.

Consider very briefly then the various events of that sojourn:

the manger, its poverty and humiliation

the flight into Egypt, its hardships, fears and loneliness
the return to Nazareth, the toils and labors of these hidden years
the forty days in the wilderness, the fast and the combat
the three years of ministerial life, its preaching, labours, healing the sick by day, and by night the
long hours in prayer and vigil, the struggle against weariness and sleep

Consider the drawing near of the end, the machinations of his enemies, how they wound
their coils ever more closely around Him until Holy Thursday night

Think of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament

the betrayal
the mockery of a trial
the brutal scourging, think of the patience through it all
the crucifixion, the Atonement of the Lamb of God
the death, the consummation

Then after

His glorious Resurrection

preaching to the holy souls in limbo, how the Patriarchs and prophets must have welcomed
Him! The Ascension, "Lift up your heads oh ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors
and the King of Glory will come in."
His eternal session at the right hand of the Father, but now He stands day by day greeting His
dear children, His perfected ones, who also by great tribulations are entering into Glory.

Consider His joy. Consider their joy and remember that it will be yours really, without
doubt, certainly, if patiently enduring all suffering for His sake we persevere unto the end.

Make an oblation of yourself for suffering in all patience whatever He may permit you to
bear in union with Himself for His Bride's sake, the Church.

Read over to yourself hymn 658

Document 6-6
4th Day

lst Address

Subject: the Poverty of the Saints

As our patron in this meditation we will take our Seraphic Patriarch St. Francis.

Now if we were to ask him to instruct us in holy Poverty without doubt he would point
us back to our Lord. There were many reasons why our Father loved Lady Poverty. But first
and chiefest because she was so loved by Jesus Christ and so exemplified in His entire life.

In St. Luke XII and XIII we see them coming to Him to decide a dispute concerning
some property. Our Lord made short work of the matter with his sorrowful rejoinder, "Man,
who made me a judge or a divider over you?" Then He went on to warn them against earthly
goods, "Beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
that he possesseth." Then He tells them the parable of the "certain rich man whose ground
brought forth plenteously" who considered how he would build new barns and therein bestow all
his fruits and goods. Think of the man's selfishness. He had no thought for the poor, no
gratitude towards God who had made his ground bring forth. Then he intended "to eat, drink
and be merry", live a life of carnal ease and indulgence. Upon such a career our Lord passes the
scathing sentence, "Thou fool!"

Then follows from our Lord's lips those wonderful praises of Poverty and exhortation
thereto, "Consider the lilies...the raven." "See what ye have and give away." "For where your
treasure is there will your heart be also." But that is not enough. After must come vigilance,
"Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning" "Blessed are those servants whom the
Lord when He cometh shall find watching."

Satan knows the great value of our jewel of Poverty and will lose no opportunity to rob
us of it. It is easy to make the profession of Poverty, but in the heart to be lusting after the flesh
pots of Egypt. Let us see to it then that our loins be girt with the mortification of all such desires
and our lights burning in unceasing vigil over that most sublime treasure Holy Poverty.

Let us hear what St. Paul says, for it is wonderful how St. Francis reached and
exemplified the words and principles of St. Paul to whom he had a great devotion.

"Moreover, brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God, bestowed on

the churches of Macedonia: how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality for
unto their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of
themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take
upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the Saints. And this they did, not as
we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of
God" II Cor. VIII l-5. [King James version]

St. Paul praises this church for its Poverty. Let us beware of becoming Pharisees. How
our Lord scourged them during his ministry. It would be easy for us to go about with patched
habits and our Poverty be only habit deep, something not at all reaching down into our lives, or
as it should, the very marrow of our bones.

Now this church of the Macedonians was enduring great afflictions and at the same time
abounded in joy and in deep poverty. Probably the latter had much to do with the joy. And not
only was it conducive to joy but to greater riches. What a seeming contradiction, but St. Paul
clearly says so, "Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality". Why riches?
Because that very poverty was the result of their charity and because God has linked material
poverty to spiritual riches and the greatest of the latter is charity. So "beyond their power" they
gave and gave and became more and more enriched with the gifts of the Spirit.

The motive power of St. Francis' poverty was the poverty of His Lord, but looking
behind the mere fact of that poverty, St. Francis apprehended its cause. It was for men and for
their salvation and so the disciple of poverty first giving himself to God, then never wearies of
continual giving to the brethren. See him overcoming the natural repugnance of his delicately
constituted and beauty-loving nature to embrace and tend the lepers. Or if he met any poorer
clothed than himself he must strip off his cloak or his very tunic and put it upon the needy one.

Deep poverty is nothing less than the principle of self sacrifice, impelled by the love of
God to go forth in unwearied and selfless ministrations to men for whom in His insatiable love
the Son of God made an Atonement and desires in the persons of His followers to continue.

The deep poverty of Christ was the stripping of Himself on the Cross, draining the
substance of His life, the blood, every drop from the heart until having nothing more to give, He
could cry, "Consumatum est." Ah, yes, as St. Francis said, "Lady Poverty was a very exacting
Mistress." She was not satisfied until He lay dead in the direst poverty upon the hard bed of the
Cross.

In our Covenant Chapter, the sixth of Hebrews, we read, "God is not unrighteous to
forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward His name in that ye have
ministered to the Saints and do minister," not just denying ourselves superfluities but giving of
ourselves, our time, our strength, our lives, our prayers, and then making to ourselves friends of
the Saints, those dear friends of God. They will one day receive us into heavenly habitations.

Let us turn to the Book of Revelations and read the message of the Spirit to two of the
churches. (Rev. II 8.9 and III l4.l5.l6)

To the Laodiceans: a church neither cold nor hot, a very rich church, the condition
generally of those with great wealth. "I will spew thee out of my mouth." Terrible sentence and
one that has been fulfilled.

To the church of Smyrna (II 8.9 of Rev.) "I know thy works and tribulation and poverty
(but thou art rich)..." There we have again the emphatic teaching of our Lord in His holy Word,
that real poverty is in the sight of God great riches.

Let us close with what our holy Father St. Francis says in the sixth chapter of his Rule of
the Friars Minor.

"The brethren shall appropriate nothing to themselves, neither house nor

place, nor anything, but as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord
in Poverty and Humility, let them go for alms in confidence. Nor ought they to
 be ashamed since our Lord made Himself poor in this world for our sake. This is
the sublimity of the highest poverty, which has constituted you, my beloved
brethren, heirs and kings of the Kingdom of Heaven. It has made you poor in
earthly things and has exalted you in virtue. Let this be your portion which will
lead you into the land of the living, to which, beloved brethren, strictly adhering,
never desire to have anything else under heaven, for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ."

Ah yes, "Nothing else under heaven" but our poverty. So we will hold as possessing not
our houses for others, that they may be places of rest and inspiration for weary ones, light houses
to warn men of the shoals and rocks of material things. And we will be first the keepers, those
who trim the lights. Deep poverty is the oblation of self for others in union with His offering on
the Cross. Deep poverty is the Atonement and the Crucifix is its embodiment.

4th Day

2nd Address

Subject: The Purity of the Saints

Let us place ourselves beside the Cross at the moment when our Lord lay dead upon it.
"It is finished." The two thieves are still writhing in their death agony. The soldiers have just
appeared and now they pierce His most holy side with the spear and blood and water are gushing
forth. Our Blessed Lady kneels there with the holy women, St. John and Nicodemus. S. [ sic]
Joseph of Arimathia has received the gift of the Body. We will take henceforth as our examples
of purity the spotless Lamb first offered and the Blessed Mother.

At the Last Supper our Lord declared, "I am the vine ye are the branches. Every branch
that beareth fruit is purged that it bear more fruit. " (St. John XV) O how unspeakably thankful
we should be that we are in the Vine in spite of our sins and our past unfaithfulness. There have
been branches that had to be broken off. Let us remember that and pray for the grace of final
perseverance. "Now ye are clean," He goes on to say, "by the word I have spoken unto you." So
you, my children, are clean. You have just made your Confessions and by the word of your
spiritual Father you have received absolution. Now you are going back into the common life,
the everyday routine. There you will meet the same opportunities of falling, the same trials
perhaps greater, the same temptations. How are you to maintain the purity of your soul? He
Himself tells us, "Abide in Me."

It is wonderful how like unto our Lord's words are St. John's, "Beloved, how are we the
sons of God...and when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
That is by the indwelling Presence of God. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure." "Every man that sinneth transgresses the Lord," etc. Yes, as long
as we keep before us his indwelling as the hope of our future glory and abstain from sin, He is
able to continue His abiding but when we sin we drive Him from us and for the time being it is
Satan that rules us. That it might be with us, as St. John goes on to say, "Whosoever abideth in
Him sinneth not."

Now to return to our Lord's own words in the l5 chapter of St. John, "For without Me, ye
can do nothing." Ah, right here is the secret of the wonderful lives and accomplishments of the
Saints. It was not they who did; it was their indwelling Lord.

"If ye abide in me and I in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done onto you."
Marvellous promise. Let us enter into it at once. We feel that at this moment He is in us and we
in Him. So let us ask great things and feel sure that He will perform them.

"Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."

"These things I command you, that ye love one another."

Here our Lord tells us plainly what is the highest form of purity, His love. He sits over
His elect as a refiner and purifier and nothing remains in His flame but the gold of love. It is
very interesting to the process of making glass to see the sand transformed by the white flame of
heat into a substance the very opposite of what it is by nature, a substance perfectly clear,
smooth and translucent, of the utmost purity. So we must be cast into the fire of divine Love in
order that all dross may be consumed and the highest form of purity, charity may be burned into
us.

So we must dwell with Him and learn of Him by means of our Communions. Oh, that
our love of the Blessed Sacrament might be increased and that mark of the Saints be upon us, a
hunger and a thirst to receive Him sacramentally. But there must be much purifying
continually. The way of purgation is not all past.

Now we should love purity! These minute ceremonial cleansings of the Mosaic Law,
what a burden they must have been. Indeed we read how when Moses read that portion of the
Law to them that they cried out in their anguish. The burden seemed greater than could be
bourne [sic]. What was it all for? Why I think to set before the chosen people the great holiness
of their God. The men of Israel could not approach in purity of living to that required of them,
for Christ was not yet given the principle of the Incarnation, had not yet entered into humanity.
So God provided symbolic purifications, outward and visible signs, to remind the people of what
they should represent of purity before they approach God. And to us, it should all be a continual
reminder of how we too must labor for cleansing, for purity, for that actuality which was before
Christ's coming set forth in symbol and ceremonial.

But purity of Love is supplemented if I may so speak when the greater contains the less,
by purity of faith and purity of hope. It is absolutely necessary that we have a right faith in
God's revelations, in every article of the Catholic Faith. Let us never cease to praise God for the
Church, the fruitful Mother of Saints. Whatever Protestantism may pharisaically set claim to of
a superior morality, ungrounded as we believe such a claim to be, it is a demonstrable fact that
only Catholicism is able to produce a St. Francis, a St. Theresa, a St. Peter of Alcantara and an
innumerable company of others, souls raised up to the most perfect state of union with God,
whose souls burned with an unquenchable ardour for self immolation. O, the marvellous power
of our Most Holy Faith! Let us love the Church, let us believe in her with the unquestioning
trust of a little child.

Now about Hope. "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul." Hope can find its
fruition only in God and in Heaven. Woe unto us if we set our hope upon any creature apart
from God. But we can hope all things for any soul no matter how destitute, if beyond them, we
put our trust in God's grace.

I have great confidence in the apparition given us in St. Paul's Friary a year ago last
winter--the vision of the Atonement. One evening I was taking the two little Gregory boys into
the chapel for their night prayers as was my custom, when little Gordon whispered to me that he
saw something. Inquiring closely I gained from the child that he beheld a tall white Cross in
front of the sanctuary, stretching from the ceiling nearly to the chapel floor. Upon the Cross was
our Lord and kneeling at His left side, our Lady. Between them lay a white globe. I like to think
that one of the meanings hid in the fact of the Cross and the globe being white was the purity
that must characterize the Children of the Atonement and be their message to the world.

And this law of purity which in its highest form we have found to be the purity of love
finds its fulfilment in love of our neighbor. In holy Religion the Cross of our obedience, the
Cross of our Common life, all are transformed if love be behind the commands of the superiors
and behind the obedience yielded. All becomes a joy, all is done with great purity of intention,
for all is done for love. So a Religious house becomes as it is meant to be a little portrayal of
Heaven, where all is joyous obedience in glad love.

So let us, we who are here today, love one another with a holier and deeper love. Let us
see in one another henceforth our Lord and our Bl. Lady. For the sake of our dear ones, for the
sake of those to who some day we shall minister in the missionary life, let us sanctify ourselves
in purity and love and strive after purity of love, purity of faith and purity of hope.

Evening exercise: the Stations of the Cross

Document 6-7
[Of interest is Fr. Paul’s vision of future S.A. at Graymoor: first the Friars at the top of the
Mount of the Atonement, secondly the Sisters down hill, and then to the left, where later Mt. St.
Clare would be erected for contemplative Atonement Sisters, and thirdly at the bottom the
Mount of the Atonement where the “Third Order, Conventual and Secular” members of the
Society of the Atonement would be. His vision is very ambitious. He also notes in this
conference the Oct. 28, 1900 happening when he proclaimed that the S.A. would take its unity
stand on the Rock of Peter.]

Closing Meditation

5th Day Sat. A.M. at Mass

Subject: The Passing of the Saints

St. John III iv "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up."

Picture our Blessed Lord lifted up on Mt. Calvary, "a light to lighten the gentiles." The
world is in darkness except for the light that centers on the top of Calvary, the Mount of the
Atonement. Those who desire the light must press toward that summit from every part of earth's
remotest bound.

The passing of the Saints is their struggle, who seeing that light, desire to pass onward in
it from stage to stage. The Resurrection may take place over the brow of its summit. Sooner or
later all must endure the Cross. Timid souls, fearful of mortification try to escape it, but if they
do not receive [the] full extent of penance due their sins in this life, there is Purgatory,
mercifully provided for them. There the expiation shall be paid to the uttermost farthing and at a
greater cost. But braver souls who have seen and grasped the plain teaching of Holy Scripture
and the Catholic Church that all who are baptized are baptized into His death, press on toward
the fulfilment of their vision while in the flesh.

On our Mountain of the Atonement in the chapel (St. Francis) of St. Paul's Friary was
given the vision of the Atonement * (See Chap. "The Purity of the Saints.")--the Victim on the
Cross and the Immaculate Mother kneeling at the left of the Cross not on the right as is usual in
representations of the Crucifixion. And I see in mind the fulfilment of that vision when on the
top of our holy mountain there shall be a tried army of holy friars, veterans of prayer and
preaching and penance. And down the mountain toward the left there will be the Convent of
Our Lady of the Atonement, wherein holy Religious, daughters of St. Francis and St. Clare, shall
lift hands in ceaseless supplication before the Most Holy Sacrament. Then further down the
mountain and at its foot the light will reach out and surround the works of mercy of our Third
Order, Conventual and Secular. Not even there will it fade away but extending itself far out into
the world even to distant heathen lands, many shall walk in its light.

But let us not refuse even to see the good in those who walk not with us. We must
remember that the condition being such since the terrible upheaval of the Reformation, the
greater number of our fellow countrymen are non-Catholics and their Protestant ministers
represent to them those who are their teachers in the things of God. They reverence them having
none others and we must not despise. True we must protect our own, our postulants and novices
from contact with heresy, but our tried prophets, our mission priests and workers, trained and
instructed, are to go to them in the spirit of love and comprehension, bearing the message of the
full light of our Catholic Faith.

Hear St. Jerome's beautiful figure of the wounded foot into which a thorn has entered.
He tells how the whole body suffers and how it pities the wounded member. The head bends
over it. The eyes bend loving compassionate glances and the hands gently minister to its relief
with tenderest care, extracting the troublesome thorn. In that spirit we must go to suffering or
erring members of the Body of Christ. There is always the temptation to feel that this or that
case is "hopeless", but very often when in this spirit we come to know them better, we shall find
that there is every cause to hope and that God has been there before.

The real Catholic doctrine, that of the Council of Trent, is that all baptized Christians are
members of the Church. This is not the teaching of many, alas! but it ought to be. So I repeat,
let those who are separated from us feel that we have this knowledge of our kinship, and they
will say, "Let us go unto the Mount of the Atonement and find that fuller light of knowledge
which we have not."

Our Lord said by His servant St. John, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
We know that we have passed from death to light. Why? Because we love the brethren."
Standing by the Cross St. John had learned the lesson well. Ah, yes, she, the Blessed Mother,
and he the first born son, had entered deeply into the meaning of Calvary. It had one explana-
tion--it was for the brethren. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." St. John
never forgot that.

We remember the story of him and the robber. Now he once entrusted to a neighboring
bishop a young man convert very dear to his apostolic heart. Revisiting the place years after, St.
John inquired after the spiritual welfare of his son in the Faith. To his grief and dismay the
bishop told him that he had sad news. The young man, turning a deaf ear to godly counsel, had
given up himself to a wild career and was at that moment a robber chief, terrorizing the
surrounding country. With tears of sorrow upon his cheeks, heeding no remonstrances, the
apostle set out to find his son. After journeying some time into the wildest part of the country,
he came upon the robber's camp and with loving words and outstretched arms made himself
known to the robber. Grace subdued him and overcome by his Father's great love he returned
with St. John, a willing captive. The Shepherd and his sheep. "My little children, let us love not
in word, neither in tongue but in deed and in truth."

Let us not think it enough to pass on the temporal goods of which we may be made
almoners but with bowels of compassion, yearning to bestow upon our brethren spiritual goods,
there shall be going out from here a continual Passing of the Saints, the passing on of our trained
workers and after them by means of them, the passing of souls out of their darkness, at first into
varying shades of light. And we must be patient here, for little by little we shall see them pass
out of all their darkness up the summit and over the brow of their Calvary. O, how long it has
taken God to train us and we are still at the foot of our mountain, very imperfect--still.
 But let us and they go on, on in the life of penance and mortification, heeding not the
voices that tell us our work and our penances will "harm our health, impoverish our blood."
Well, what matter? Our Lord impoverished His Blood! So impoverished it that every drop was
drained out.

Let us not be afraid to trust to the supernatural. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved,
we know that we have a spiritual one." Our Lord's Resurrection body was glorious, radiant in
health and beauty. The spiritual has again and again asserted itself against all natural laws in the
lives of the Saints. They have indeed died daily in mortifications, dreadful to consider and to
which we all in all likelihood are not called. But according to the promise they renew their
strength like the eagle, utterly confounding earthly limitations of life and death.

Sometimes even in this life God is pleased to give a taste of the spiritual body to those
who for love of Him give over the body to the death of mortification. "According to your faith
be it done unto you." O, let there be here among us an ideal of sacrifice toward which men may
turn their eyes now in these days when love is growing cold. "Be not afraid of that which kills
the body" even in this life. He is able to sustain and replenish unto the utmost.

At the Mass tomorrow morning let us offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, for the
accomplishment of His divine purpose in the Society of the Atonement.

Additional Address at Benediction

Sat. P.M.

lst V of SS Simon and Jude

Subject: THE PRAISE OF THE SAINTS

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and
sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

During this retreat our eyes have turned toward the Saints. We have tried to learn many
lessons from their manner of life during the days of their earthly travail, but tonight let us look
up and behold them, their Passion forever past, going unto Zion with joy upon their heads and
songs upon their lips.

Now let us not dread the life of enduring hardness, nor be distressed or downcast. Let us
rather consider "the joy that is set before us." And even here and now we have times of re -
freshment, finding many an oasis in the desert. Doubtless the Cross will press sorely at times,
but Eastertides come around as well as the Lenten fast and vigil. It should be with us as with the
Saints. No matter how fierce the battle nothing can crush out the joy.
 Even though our great Leader may send, as Napoleon ever sent his Imperial Guards, to
the spots where the contest waxes most deadly, why [not] let our joy increase in proportion to
the danger, knowing that He Who loves us greatly has trusted us greatly and certainly too that
we are fighting under an ever victorious King. Even in death and by means of death we shall be
more than conquerors. So as the end approaches should our enthusiasm increase and we will
take up the victorious songs of the happy ones who have passed on just ahead.

Our cause must win. An adversary is already beaten in the great decisive victory of
Calvary. He knows that he has but a short time but we--we have ahead a long eternity of the
Beatific Vision. I was reading the other day of the different mode of thought in the Middle Ages
regarding the devil from the aspect of our day's thought. Now he is taken seriously to say the
least and is generally a terror and a dread, an unsubdued foe. But in those days he was regarded
rather as a buffoon, an outwitted enemy, a character to amuse in the old miracle plays. The
sense of our Lord's victory over him seemed much clearer and the Christian life was made much
more joyous in consequence. I doubt if we have gained anything in our latter day conception.

The march of the Children of Israel began with Miriam's song at the Red Sea. So we
start out anew on our spiritual combat, songs upon our lips likewise, with great distrust of self
but great trust in God. Remember the Saints were not pessimists and when sorest pressed they
sang their gladdest songs. Our holy Father St. Francis' sublime Canticle of the Sun shows us
how they sang in the shadow of pain. Yes, we must have our battle songs, our camp songs,
finding like soldiers in the tent much to be glad even merry about. All difficulties though
mountain high shall be cast into the sea. Ah, we have no cause to be sad save over the
impenitent. As for ourselves we have passed from death unto life and nothing can silence the
glad sense of the fact which wells up in our heart. The Collect for Sunday beautifully expresses
it as it prays that we, "may cheerfully accomplish those things which Thou hast commanded."

Our retreat comes at a happy time: this is the eve of the day (SS Simon and St. Jude) six
years ago that I announced in St. John's that the Society of the Atonement would henceforth take
its stand upon the Rock of Peter and we remember how the little acolyte who served me at the
Mass said to me in the sacristy after, "Father, when you elevated the Sacred Host just now, I saw
by it a beautiful many colored angel."

"Now, therefore, brethren, we are no more strangers and foreigners but

fellow citizens with the Saints." [Eph. 2:19]
1908
Document 7-1
[The original of the following document was written into a black covered note book of Mother
Lurana White, s.a., in longhand. The handwriting is hers. There are many incomplete sentences
and missing words. It appears that the year "l908" was written in later. The title indicates that
the speaker is Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.]

1908 -- Rev. Father

ALL SAINTS RETREAT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 -- at 7:30 P.M.

1st Address

Our Father, Who art in Heaven.

The Revelation of God as Father was revealed by Jesus Christ. God revealed Himself in
many ways by many Names, to His chosen people but this fuller revelation was left for the New.

God has many revelations of Himself in Nature, the beauties of the natural world. He
also reveals Himself in our natural relationships. "Call no man Father". Not a forbidding of such
recognition but an admonition to remember that the great Father is God and all others derived
from Himself.

God's Fatherhood began with His creation of Man, His Eternal Fatherhood of the Son
the Source of Spiritual generation and Fatherhood: St. Paul's, "I have begotten you," the
Seraphic Family of St. Francis, our own family of the Atonement, the necessity of mutual love
among ourselves.[previous sentence is unclear] Let us begin our Retreat with the resolution of
striving after a more perfect setting full of that love which Our Lord commanded with his dying
breath, "Little children, love one another."

We began our lives with the command in the natural relationship, "Honor thy Father and
thy Mother"; then we took a step higher into the spiritual relationship of our parents in Holy
Religion. Let us so exercise ourselves in such faithful fulfillment in this world that we may one
day in Heaven merge ourselves and all else in the adoring love of that Heavenly Fatherhood
which is at once the Source from which all rise and the ocean in which all merge.

Document 7-2
 FIRST DAY

9 A.M. Meditation

1st Petition of Lord's Prayer - "Hallowed be Thy Name."

This petition teaches us that it is the Will of God that we exercise ourselves in holy
Reverence. Therefore the fruit of this Meditation: a resolve of increased Reverence. Ps L VIII
IX. "God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints, etc." Ezekiel speaks, "of the glory
of God filling the universe." We look about us and see the glory of the Lord in Creation.
Remember we live in a land of darkness and the shadow of death, not in the light of a full
knowledge or a beatific vision and so we grope upward to the light using among other means
God's revelations of Himself in Nature.

Our Blessed Father Francis' example of the reverence due God in nature and in his
creatures, as we grow in this knowledge our delight in God's works and our power of
appreciation increases. "O, all ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord." And they sing in Heaven:
for Thou has created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created (Rev. IV 11).

Now ascending the scale of creation, we come to Man and O, how greatly should we
know him who is the crowning work of God's creation and who is made in His Image! Let us
remember this in even the lowest and vilest of mankind. Then how much more so when Man is
regenerated in Holy Baptism. All this being true, let us translate that reverence into outward
courtesy in our everyday life both among ourselves and toward those in the world. The little acts
of politeness that are used in the world should not be overlooked by us but be enriched by a
depth and reality of love. Sinning against others by lack of courteous reverence is a sin against
the words "Hallowed be thy Name."

Then we should reverence ourselves. The psalmist says, "We are fearfully and
wonderfully made" in the image of God, and how much more because we are temples of the
living God the Holy Ghost. "He that defileth the temple of God will God destroy." The
necessity of perfect Chastity of body and soul.

We must reverence the Souls in Purgatory for they represent a higher ascent toward God.
Poor and helpless, they are yet closer to God than when they were upon earth. We are to show
our reverence by Acts of Service and the way to serve them is to pray for them, offering also our
sufferings and self denials for their intention. They will not forget our charity. We must
reverence all the Saints--they who stand in the Presence of God. We cannot add to their honour
whom God has honored except by acts of love and petitions addressed toward them. All this is
pleasing to God when we are admiring and praising Him in them; just as we do honour to God in
praising and enjoying some gift or talent as in song or music.

We should reverence also the Holy Angels. If we offer what is called dulia to the Saints,
we render what the Church calls hyper- dulia to the Mother of God. This we need not dwell
upon, for devotion to Our Lady is part of our daily existence.

And now we come to Our Lord Jesus Christ. What fitting acts of reverence can we make
to Him beyond our acts of praise and love and adoration. Our practical way of rendering Him
honour is by profound respect to His representatives upon earth, the Priests and Hierarchy of the
Catholic Church. And above all him whom we call the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ and this
we know is our special Vocation, to be worked out in persuading our brethren to return to his
obedience. We should render reverence to God by honouring and loving our Superiors set over
us in the Lord by our vows of holy Religion. We are bound to this and to render a greater and
more perfect obedience to them than we once did to our natural parents and if we are not so
doing we may be sure that we are not pleasing Jesus Christ.

We next come to the Blessed Sacrament "all we have corporately of Him upon earth," as
St. Francis said. So great was his reverence that he said he would gladly kneel and kiss the hoofs
of the horse upon which a priest rode and this whether the priest be good or bad. We should
reverence Him upon His Throne in Heaven and as the great Judge of Heaven and earth.

We must reverence God the Holy Ghost, The Lord and Giver of Life and this brings us
again to the earth. O, how we should reverence Life, and no sort of life should be ruthlessly des-
troyed because it comes from the Holy Ghost. We should also reverence the Holy Spirit as the
Guiding Principle dwelling within the Church and therefore we reverence the principles of the
Catholic Faith. We reverence Him as the interior Guide of our souls and He never contradicts
himself here or by Extern Authority. We must remember this and then we cannot have too great
a reverence and devotion for Him speaking within our hearts. We should be especially devout to
Him in Heaven as one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

Next we come to God the Father with whom we began, for the circle is now completed.
Remembering how Our Blessed Lord directed every desire of his earthly life and every yearning
of His soul toward His Heavenly Father, counting Him as the beginning and the ending of all
things in Heaven and Earth, so must we direct our thoughts and longings toward His Throne,
pressing on with ardent expectation to that moment when we with all Saints and Angels shall fall
prostrate at His feet crying all Honor and Praise and Glory and Thanksgiving to Our God for
ever and ever. Amen.

Document 7-3
[Of note is that Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., says that the opposition that he is encountering helps him
in his vocation, rather than hinders him. Perhaps he is referring to the opposition from Anglicans
against his stance on the Chair of Peter as the center of Christian unity.]

Wednesday P.M. 2nd Petition -- "Thy Kingdom Come"

Call to mind the closing scene in the life of King David. One of his sons has conspired to
gain his throne. Gathering his strength, he arranges for the succession of his son Solomon. He
tells him how during his life he had gathered together great quantities of gold, silver and other
metals for the building of a temple to God and that Solomon should set his hand to the task.
Then the King breaks into songs of praise to God, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." All the
Authority and Majesty of earthly thrones is derived from God's Kingship alone. Napoleon
discovered that, and so did Nabuchadnezzar and the caller heard "That thou mayest know that
the Most High which in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whom He will." (unclear sentence)

One might ask, therefore, "Why pray "Thy Kingdom come"? The answer is given in
Revelation, for we read, "There was war in Heaven," that is the first stage of the Revolt against
God, a revolt which began in His very presence. The great Dragon was cast out and the
battleground is shifted from Heaven to Earth, the second stage of the conflict.

Hannibal crossed the Alps and swept down into Italy. Repulsed and driven back by the
Romans he retired for a little distance, but he continued implacable, stubborn, unrepentant,
waging his warfare until his final overcoming. Here we have a picture of Satan's tireless
onslaught. But God's Saints continue the warfare for God's honour and it is declared, "They
overcame him by their blood and their testimony unto the end." It is a real and desperate
warfare. There are no blank cartridges. We know as we read our Martyrology something of what
the Saints endured. And little by little the boundaries of God's Kingdom are extended and the
area given over to the darkness of Satan's power is diminished. In the Book of Daniel we see this
evolution portrayed, the horns of Cirl [Cyrus ?] arising, prospering, warring, supplanted and the
end, is "The Saints of God shall possess the Kingdom for ever and ever...and all dominion
shall serve and obey Him." But in the meantime the Saints suffer and wage their war, and in
Revelation we also learn what the end is to be. "The Kingdoms of this world shall become the
Kingdoms of God and of His Son," but the enemy waxes more terrible as he knows that he has
but a short time.
 Meanwhile let us labour diligently, for the world is not Christian yet. There are of
Catholics but 250,000,000; Eastern Christians 100,000,000 and 150,000,000 other Christians.
There are 400,000,000 heathens in China alone, many more in India, Africa and the Islands of
the Sea and among Christians there are many who deny Christ's Divinity, many the victims of all
sorts of heresies, schisms and grotesque beliefs. So it is not yet the time of the Angels
triumphant voice, for although the outcome is certain, the warfare rages fiercely. And we have
this message which was such a comfort to our holy Father Francis, "Fear not, little flock, for it is
the Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom."

God has placed a little Garrison here among the hills. God can chase the enemy as well
with a handful as with thousands. Let us rejoice that we are unpopular, that we are spoken
against. These things will help rather than hinder our work, for He chooseth the foolish things to
confound the wise and the weak to confound the mighty. Let us say this petition with increased
faith. Revelation declares, as said, that we need fear nothing, only let us possess our souls in
patience as did the Saints.

Document 7-4

Thursday A.M.

3rd Petition, "Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven"

This follows as a necessary sequence of the previous petition for in a perfect kingdom,
such as is heaven, the King's will is perfectly done. Moreover if God's Kingdom is to come
upon earth, earth's children must desire God's Will. Therefore this petition was given us as our
daily prayer, in order that we may exercise ourselves in obedience to that will. That is in
Righteousness.

Nothing can take the place in God's eyes of Righteousness or obedience and the judges,
nations, tribes, cities, individuals according to the measure of their perfection in these regards for
all have been given of the "Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." And
no matter what may have been the favor of God toward any group of persons or individuals,
because of previous good behaviour none can presume to transgress in these regards. Note the
history of God's chosen people the Jews; portions also of the Catholic Church; David, the
beloved of God. Let us of the S.A. take to ourselves the lesson, God has been very gracious to
us, but we must take great heed to ourselves lest because of God's promises to us we presume
upon His favor and grow lax in obedience to His laws. God punishes more terribly the sins of his
especially chosen ones.

Let us lay down as one of our maxims what Samuel said to Saul, "Obedience is better
than sacrifice."

The Religious who thinks she can please God by self imposed penances and tasks and
disregards her rule and the obediences of her Superiors is terribly deceived. And our obedience
is that of children not of slaves. In order to make this possible we must love the Most Sweet
Will of God. The terrible result of disobedience erasing the Will of the Most High in Eden and
to go further back, behold the highly favored Lucifer, disobeying God and His past glory and
favor evil not to prevent his doom. [garbled sentence]

God has placed at the two extremes the City of Light and the City of Darkness, the abode
of obedience and the abode of disobedience -- Heaven and Hell.

But we are Children of the Atonement, Children of the Sweet Will of God and our
standard is the Crucifix. Let us realize that our ability and strength, our power to interpret the
Cross to others will be just in proportion to our submission to God's Will. We know that our
Rule teaches us the special lines upon which our obedience falls. We know it also by the special
work that God has called us to do for Church Unity and we must be oh so obedient ourselves if
we are to teach our brethren the lesson of obedience--obedience to the Vicar of Christ, but
Communities are made up of individuals and one member may block the work of an entire
Society.

Remember Achan and the hidden wedge of gold--his disobedience. Remember the
obedience of the Saints while yet upon earth. They were surrounded by disobedient souls, but
they were obedient and so with ourselves, we can be obedient. We are not excused by the
disobedience of others. Have ever before you the example of the Great Obedience of that One by
Whom many were made righteous.

Document 7-5
[One wonders where the “little stream running down the Mountain” mentioned by Fr. Paul
Wattson, s.a., is located today at Graymoor.]
Thursday P.M.

Fourth Petition: "Give us this day our daily bread."

Fatherhood involves feeding the children. We know the earthly father's anxiety to
provide his children with the necessities of life. And God who is a perfect Father, is perfect in
the fulfillment of the duties of fatherhood. Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount lays stress
upon God's watchful Providence over us by the parable of the father "who, if his son asked bread
will he give him a stone?" He speaks of God "clothing the lilies of the field" and asks, "Will He
not clothe you, oh, ye of little faith?"

The joy of Holy Poverty is the looking into the Father's face and saying, "Give us this
day our daily bread' and we children of St. Francis can add, "For if, dear Father, you give it not,
we must go without." How very wonderfully God has dealt with us, since the Rev. Mother's
coming to Graymoor. We have gone out and asked others and we have received always, enough
for our needs, for our growing needs. Our poverty has not been as great as that of St. Francis,
but it is the same kind of poverty, corporate as well as individual, different only a little in
degree.

Let us never in the future suffer the treasure of our poverty to be taken from us. The
Religious who depart from holy poverty attract to themselves the lustful desires of the envious.
In Henry VIII's day the nobles as we know, preyed upon the rich monasteries to their utter
spoilation.

Now we come to the 2nd part of our meditation. "Freely ye have received freely give."
The little stream running down the Mountain side keeps as a small stream and a brightly
running, sparkling one, because it does not stop and accumulate its volume of water. It gives
off and it receives continually. Should it become stagnant it becomes a source of pollution.

St. Francis believed that, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" involved giving to the neighbor
what was in need. If we are true to this demand of charity, we will not lay up for the morn. We
will give as freely as it is given to us, with confidence that we shall receive again all that we
need. This is utterly opposed to the principles and maxims of the industrial and commercial
world about us. If we are to contribute anything to the solving of the social problems of our
time, helping to point men to the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, we will have first of all
to set forth a perfect example of such living in our own lives. We must as Religious exercise
holy poverty in the little economies, even to the not striking a match unnecessarily.

We should never weary of the theme of Holy Poverty and we can examine our progress
each Retreat time by this among other questions, "Do I live more Holy Poverty?"

There is another bread for which we must cry continually, "Give us evermore this
Bread." St. Francis House like Bethlehem is a House of Bread. Let us be careful lest we fail to
hunger and thirst after that Heavenly Manna by reason of its very abundance. Ask this question
in your self-examen, "Do I hunger more than I did last year for the Blessed Sacrament?"

At the Wedding Feast it was said to Our Lord, "Men at the beginning set forth good
wine, but Thou hast kept the best until now." This is God's way and in His scale of gifts. We
have first material gifts; second spiritual gifts, and thirdly, Heavenly gifts. In the Old Testament
God showered upon His servants material riches but in the New Dispensation He gives them
Evangelical Poverty, "Take neither purse nor shoes" etc. But with this He showers upon them
spiritual joys, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But these are not the best God has to give, gracious and valued as they are in this our
Land of Exile. God's best and last gifts are kept for Heaven, the gift of Himself in His fulness.
For He shall be our possession, and our delight through Eternity and "in His presence there is
fulness of joy."

Thanks be to Him for the revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ and for the petition which
He is ever answering. "Give us this day our daily Bread."

Document 7-6
Friday A.M.

Petition No. V "Forgive us Our Trespasses", etc.

That the cry for forgiveness should find its place in the Lord's Prayer is as to be expected
as that our earth should be surrounded by an atmosphere. Because Our Lord came into the world
for the purpose of reconciling man to God and before God's great plan for man might be realized
sin must be removed from him and this Jesus Christ obtained by His Precious Blood. Then man
must be justified before God. This Our Lord accomplished by His Obedience and all who enter
into that obedience are also justified by means of their union with Our Lord, their Head.

God left in His Church generous means for such forgiveness and breathed upon the
Apostles to give them the delegated power of absolution. We know how in the Old Testament
the blood of animals was spilled for the washing away of Sin, its whole efficacy being that such
blood and shedding typified the Blood of Jesus.

This doctrine of Penance is very closely related to the mystery of the Atonement and
should be most precious to us.

This sacrament is the means of approach to the Blessed Sacrament, the means of
approach to the Incarnate Lord and these two Sacraments are most intimately joined together. At
the Reformation they were violently wrenched asunder and as a result the honour of the Blessed
Sacrament was lowered and it became only a Supper in memory of Christ's Death. When the
Sacrament of the Atonement - as we may call Penance - was restored the Blessed Sacrament
returned to its lawful place.

Protestantism has lost the sense of the awfulness of sin. It speaks very much the same
words to the world as the Serpent spoke to Eve, "O you shall not surely die, God is too good, too
merciful." But how different is the tale that Revelation tells us from the awful punishment in
Eden to the wounds upon the Crucifix.

As we exercise ourselves in the use of Penance our conscience grows more and more
tender, we understand the dread of the Saints for the least venial sin.

I need not dwell upon the first requisite of receiving forgiveness: 1) To see the Sin and
confess it, 2) Contrition, 3) The purpose of amendment.

Now we pass to the 2nd part, "As we forgive those who trespass against us." Why does
Our Lord tell those parables inculcating this principle? Note the story of the Debtor. It is
because God not only desires to grant us forgiveness but to make us like Himself, partakers of
His nature. An uncharitable, unforgiving heart shuts us out from participating in God's likeness.
Moreover, such an unloving spirit prevents us from receiving God's forgiveness. And we may
gauge our progress in holiness by our readiness to forgive.

We do not grow less in our horror of sin, rather that increases, but we more and more
discern between sin and the sinner, as we look upon a man ravaged by foul disease and our heart
longs to deliver the victim. So when one sins against us we no longer feel personal resentment,
nor uprisings of self love. We only feel that against God they have sinned and we cry out with
St. Stephen and with a greater than he: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

This does not mean a weak or amiable attitude toward sin, far from it. So we double the
petition, "Father forgive me and as you forgive grant me the spirit of forgiveness that I may have
Your attitude of love and pity toward all who trespass against me."
 As this is the day of Atonement (Friday) let us meditate at the foot of the Cross upon the
Great Mystery of the Divine Love of God's Forgiveness.

And we who have the vocation of Reconcilers must be first in the revival of the divine
element of Charity, for no arguments, no logic, nor apologetics will bring about Unity, but only
Love and mutual Forgiveness.

Document 7-7
Friday P.M.

6th and 7th Petition "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."

And yet St. James says, "Rejoice when ye fall into diverse temptations." And St. Paul
exhorts us to rejoice in temptation. God made trial of Abraham and Our Lord Himself was
tempted. Why then so pray? It is because God is here teaching us humility. We know how often
we fall from the temptations of the world and the flesh and our own poor hearts, how
presumptuous then to ask God to try or tempt us! No, we rather ask to be delivered from
temptation, we who are so weak. Let us depend upon Our Lord every moment, throned in our
hearts, our only help, strength.

Remember St. Peter's self-confidence, he rather wanted to be tempted and tried, so

certain was he of his love and its faithfulness, but having learned his lesson of humility, he
makes no more boasts, at that strange sweet meeting on the shores of Genessaret after the
Resurrection. Our Lord said to him, "Lovest thou me more than these?" "Lord, thou knowest all
things. Thou knowest that I love Thee." No presumption here. O My God, instead of adding to
the trials by which I am surrounded by the malice of the Evil One, the world and the incitements
of my own nature, deliver me, protect me, there is no health in me.

"But deliver us from evil." Yes, in the end we shall be delivered from all Evil and its
power. As Our Lord was delivered safe through the evil of His Suffering and Passion, running
the whole gambit, so we too with Him shall be utterly delivered from the Evil and shall reign
with Him in glory everlasting. I think our Mass in the A.M. should be one of thanksgiving for
God has been very gracious to us in this Retreat and is more and more leading us through our
weaknesses and temptations, up to union with Himself.

Document 7-8

Saturday A.M.

Concluding Address at Mass

"Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. Amen,"

As this is a Mass of Thanksgiving it is appropriate time we should end our Retreat with
this doxology.

Our world has for its sovereign, a prince who is in rebellion to God, but we must
remember that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the lawful Lord.

The Saints in Heaven spend all eternity in acts of praise and thanksgiving and we who
while yet upon this earth are still members of that Heavenly Kingdom so it is meet and right that
we should join with these hosts, that our praises should echo with theirs. And we should praise
God because in spite of our weakness, God's kingdom is triumphing in us and the power is
God's. We need not fear but what the work God has given us to do will be done not by our
strength but in His power alone shall we cast the mountains of prejudice that press us into the
sea.

"And the Glory." With Moses let us pray, "Show us thy Glory." Many of the saints have
been flooded with this glory and have rejoiced in it even upon earth. We dwell here in this
august Presence within a Tabernacle and by Faith we apprehend God's presence but too often the
chariot wheels drag heavily. We do not realize as we should who is with us. O, let us pray that
our spiritual sense may be sharpened that we may be of discerning minds and rejoice in the
Glory of God. And the means to this end is a constant daily dying to self, a living more and
more unto God and so we say, "Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory. Amen."
1914
Document 8
[This document is entirely in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., and is written on
stationary of St. Francis’ Industrial School, Eddington, Pa. The talks most likely were given in
1914. The years on which Jan. 26 fell on a Monday, from the time of Wattson becoming Roman
Catholic (1909) to his death (1940) were 1914, 1920 (leap year), 1925 and 1931. Since the
document resembles in composition talks that he gave Mar. 1-8, 1914, at St. John’s Church in
Schenectady, N.Y., we surmise the talks at St. Francis Industrial School were given the same
year, namely, 1914. Added to this is the fact that The Lamp magazine of February 1914 is cited
in the text. The conferences bear a trait of Fr. Paul, namely, capitalizing every letter of words
referring to the Divine, e.g. LORD. GOD. etc. The document is located in the Atonement Friars’
archives.]

[1914]

Retreat Jan. 25 p.m. to Jan. 29 a.m.

Schema of Addresses

1. Introduction. On Conversion and St. Paul. Sunday 7:30 p.m.

Monday Jan. 26

2. Address. 10:30 a.m. 30 minutes. Devotion to Most Sweet Will of GOD

3. Address. 4 p.m. 30 minutes. Conversion

4. Address. 7:30 p.m. Consecration

Tuesday Jan. 27

5. Address. Devotion to Sacred Heart

6. Devotion to I[mmaculate]. Heart of Mary

7. The Blessed Sacrament

Wednesday Jan. 28

8. Devotion to GOD the Holy Ghost

9. Your body, the Temple of the H.G.

Address No. 2 Devotion [to] Most Sweet Will of GOD

Foreword Re. Religion: its definition. etc. We must then be devoted and bound close to
GOD.

Is there only one God? How do you always begin your prayers? Is the Father God, the
Son,
the H.G. ? Does that make 3 Gods? Three Persons. Well then, our union with or devotion to God
means union with or devotion to the 3 Persons, F., S. and H.G., i.e. H. Trinity [Trinity is
indicated by triangle] . We will devote each morning then to one of the 3 Persons: Mon. F, Tues.
the S., Wed, the H.G.

In what way can we best show our devotion to God the Father? Ans. By worshiping and
being entirely devoted and united with His Most Sweet Will. The very idea of a Father carries
with it the thought of obedience. E.g. JESUS. He came to show the Father and He did it by his
example principally of a wonderful devotion to the Father’s will (1) 12 yrs old in the Temple (2)
at the Well of Jacob, “My meat is to do the will etc.” (3) in Gethsemani (4) on the cross. “It is
finished.” “Father, into Thy Hands.”

Let us try to understand something of the Will of God and why we should worship and
submit our wills to God’s Will.

1. The Will of GOD is omnipotent. All Powerful, can be successfully resisted, and it
terribly punishes those [who] rebel and become incurably disobedient. Therefore, we should
greatly fear to disobey GOD. Consider the punishment of the devils and of wicked men. Ergo,
practice confession faithfully.

2. The W. of Go. is most Wise and Good. God means well and He never makes any
mistakes. We can therefor place ourselves in His hands and be very sure He will manage our life
for us a great deal better than we can do ourselves. Ergo, we should always pray and depend
upon GOD for everything. e.g. Tell the story of being my own guide at 7 years old and how
everything went wrong until I began to pray, i.e., the story of when I lost myself in Baltimore.

3. The Will of GOD is most Kind and Loving. God is a true Father because He has a true
Father’s Heart. JESUS was full of love and He said to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father.” “God so loved the world” etc. Why did GOD make you? This then is the Will of
GOD for you and you have but to put your hand in the Heavenly Father’s Hand and walk along
with Him everyday and He will lead you all your life long, day by day, until life’s pilgrimage or
journey is over and then through the dark valley of the shadow of death and at last He will bring
you to that beautiful and wonderful city--in comparison with which Phila. and New York are
poor mis[er]able lumber camps in the back woods–to the New Jerusalem where you will have a
grand, happy time, with never a toothache, an earache, or any other kind of ache and not so
much as a single tear will be allowed to trickle down your cheek and drop on the gold paving
blocks with which the heavenly city is laid for it is written, “God shall wipe away all tears,” etc.

3rd Address, CONVERSION

“And as he went on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him.”

Introduction. Recall morning address. If we wish [to] live very close to O.H. Father,
what great devotion must we have? Now we may have the best intentions in the world of serving
GOD and doing His Will most perfectly and yet we go astray. Even here in this beautiful St.
Francis School with the good Christian Bros. always so near by, like shepherds watching their
sheep you somehow manage to do things displeasing to O.F., Who is in Heaven. I wonder how
often you boys when you go to confess are able to say quite truthfully, “Father, I am very glad to
be able to tell you that although I have made a most careful self examination of conscience, I
haven’t done, thought or said a single thing that might be put down even as a venial sin.” If any
boy comes to me and says, “Father, all this year ever since the last retreat, twelve months ago, I
have been so good, that I have [not] done the slightest thing that was wrong,” why, I shall be so
surprised that I won’t know whether to say, “God be praised! Give me your hand, my son, I
want to kiss just the finger tips of so holy a Saint, or to say, “Get thee hence, thou blind and
lying dupe of Satan, go prostrate thyself before the Tabernacle and cry out for mercy, for thou
art like Simon Magus” “in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.” (Acts. 8:23)

No, no, the trouble with us is not that we can find in our lives nothing to confess, but
alas, alas, there is so much to confess and we are compelled to confess the same old sins over
and over again, so often, so often. It was the great St. Paul who confessed for us all “The good I
would, I do not, and the evil I would not, that I do,” or as you and I would say, ‘The good things
I intend to do I don’t do and the naughty, bad things I don’t want to do are the very things I do.”

That sounds very discouraging, does it not? Well, then, shall we throw up our hands in
despair and say, “It’s no use trying to be a Saint, no use trying to do the Will of GOD. I might as
well give up the fight and surrender to God’s enemy early in the battle, as well as later on. So,
here I am, Satan, behold your prisoner, put on the handcuffs and lead me into whatever deviltry
thou wilt.” No, no, no, then thousand times no, for St. Paul adds, ‘Thanks be to God, who
giveth us the victory” and did not JESUS say to him at another time when he was discouraged
about the thorn in his flesh, the messenger of Satan, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Never,
never yield to the demons of despair. Tell the story of the two frogs in the milk can.

What then is our great need in this Retreat? It is to experience a real conversion and not
only during this retreat but every now and then all our life long. I have a dear friend, who is one
of the best known Franciscan Fathers in the United States, in England, Ireland and at Rome. He
loves the great St. Francis of Assisi as few of his most devoted sons love him, yet he often writes
in his letter, “Pray for my conversion.” And today, my dear children, while I am praying to God
for your conversion, I want you also–for one good turn deserves another– to pray for my
conversion, so shall we help each other along the road to heaven.

We celebrated yesterday and are still thinking about the wonderful conversion of St. Paul
the Apostle. Perhaps you have thought that miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus was
the only
conversion he ever had. Perhaps it was, for he was a great Saint, but I don’t believe it was.
Besides that tremendous, huge conversion, towering above all other conversions as one of the
big sky-scraping buildings in New York would look if placed along side of the log cabin in
which Abraham Lincoln was born, besides his conversion in the middle of the road when the
noonday sun was shining bright, I am very strongly of the opinion that the great preacher and
missionary to the gentiles experienced many less important conversions before Saul of Tarsus
became Paul, the martyr Saint, whose precious blood reddened a certain sacred spot outside the
walls of Rome. Now I don’t know whether it is going to be one of the great epoch-making
conversions of your life, or just one of the many lesser conversions, which you are going to
experience during this retreat, but some kind of a real spiritual conversion, either small or great,
I sincerely trust is going to happen to every boy in this fair and stately chapel this afternoon.

Now let us look a bit at the account in the Acts of the Apostles of St. Paul’s conversion,
just to understand God’s part and our part in conversion.

(a) “And as he went on his journey.” Do you boys think that you are on a journey? Yes,
life’s journey. What will be the last station? Death, i.e., as far as the body is concerned. For it
will lie in the grave until Gabriel blows his trumpet. But what about the soul? It will either take
an underground passage to hell, or else up in the air in an airship piloted by the angels, with a
stop over perhaps in Purgatory, but the last stage or flight of the soul will bring it to Paradise and
the City of the New Jerusalem.

(b) And suddenly. Conversion is very often sudden and on our part unexpected.

(c) The Light shining round about, i.e., the Holy Spirit

(d) Falling on the ground. Our part to pray and correspond to grace and not resist the
Holy Spirit.
(e) “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Apply to boys who torment and persecute
their companions.

4th Address Monday Night

Consecration. By way of introduction. Strike key note of Devotion to Will of GOD.

Refer again to necessity of conversion and then advance to consecration. St. Paul asked and
every converted boy and man asks, “LORD, what wilt thou have me to do?” The answer of our
Lord to Ananias, “This man is to me a vessel of election.” Explain what is meant by vessel of
election. When the scales fell from his eyes and he knew that God had a great work for him to
do, see how he threw himself heart and soul into that work, glorying that he had labored more
abundantly than they all etc. Now no one here would dream of so important a vocation as St.
Paul, but let no one, even the smallest or most insignificant boy, think that GOD has nothing for
him to do, for we are every one “vessels of election” i.e., called to be Saints and carry Christ’s
name to the ends of the earth.

Take this Institution, e.g., it’s an institution built for God and to do God’s work. How did
it come here and who maintains it? Describe the consecrated lives of Mother Catherine Drexel
and Mrs. Morrell. They describe the object lesson of the Christian Brothers, who are as both
father and mother to you. These consecrated Catholics are vessels of election, consecrating their
time, their talent, or their money to GOD, who are constantly saying “Lord, what will thou have
me to do?” But the boys before me. Are there no vessels of election among you? I repeat every
one is a vessel of election and God, in the extension of His great kingdom has need of you all.
When He redeemed the world, He shed every drop of blood in His body. We are His mystical
body, “bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh” and He has need of all to carry His name to the
gentiles, i.e., the heathen, etc.
Tell the story of the 5 barley loves and the two small fishes. What that [boy] did , all the
boys here can do and what Christ did with that boy’s gift, he can do with the gift of yourself.
See what a miracle X J wrought with the five loaves of barley bread and 2 little dead fishes, but
what could he do with a whole live body, his brains, his heart, his hands, his feet, his voice and
his will. If you gave yourself out and out to Him, I have no doubt he would make priests and
even Religious out of you. I have boys at Graymoor who are not one whit brighter or more
talented than 75 or 100 who sit before me. Yet I prophesy that some of those at Graymoor will
go as foreign missionaries further even than St. Paul went and some may die a glorious martyr’s
death after winning hundreds and thousands for Christ. Think of some who already from this
institution have become priests, or are on the way e.g., Fr. Carroll, the Passionist, and the youth
leading his class at Holy Ghost College.

But even if God does not call you to the priesthood, He may call you to work as a church
builder or at some honest useful trade and permit you to build a Catholic home, etc., rearing up
priests and nuns for God in the next generation, e.g. the Ting family in China (See Lamp Feb.
1914). Or you might not marry and save all your savings for propagation of the Faith, e.g., John
Reid and St. John’s House of Studies.

N.B. The addresses of Tuesday had to be delivered without preparatory notes owing to
lack of time.
5th Address

Devotion to Sacred Heart of JESUS. Our love to be shown by ridding ourselves of sin.
“If ye love me keep my commands.” Sin especially singled out “cursing.”

6th Address

Devotion to Immaculate Heart of Mary. Introduced to the boys Our Lady of the
Atonement. Special virtue of love to our neighbor and anger and quarreling to be eliminated.

7th Address

Blessed Sacrament. Daily Communion specially advocated.

Wednesday Jan. 28, 3rd Day of Retreat

8th Address.

Devotion to Holy Ghost. Foreword. 3rd day to be devoted to GOD the Holy Ghost

You have probably thought much more of GOD, the Father and GOD the Son than of the
Holy Ghost. Express Hope that H.S. will not be forgotten in the future. How JESUS consoled
the Apostles, “it is expedient etc. I will send Him unto You.” “The Comforter or Paraclete” He
makes us happy, strong, wise. The 3rd Salutation, Holy Mary “Immaculate Spouse of the H.G,”.
etc. Think what the B.V.M. owed to the H.G. Think how much we owe, (a) our new birth (b)
our Confirmation, (c) our Holy Communions.
That we may never grieve Him. The warning of Christ about the sin against the H.G.
Woe be to that boy who should drive the Holy Spirit from him by hardening of himself in sin
and wickedness and resisting all loving pleadings to serve God and do no wrong.
 How then shall we know how to be devoted to the H.G. and not to grieve or displease
him? Ans. by cultivating a tender conscience and always obeying interior admonitions and
corrections of the H.G. Tell of the little boy, who was going to kill the turtle and the HS. told
him not to. Why is it that you can go to confession and know just what to confess? The H.G. not
satisfied with our merely confessing our sins. What alone will satisfy him? The wholesale
destruction and rooting out of all our bad habits. For he is the Sanctifier. If you pay attention to
conscience, will it grow more tender and will the voice of the H.G. speak more loudly? The
question in my prayer book as a boy, “Have I a tender conscience?” The temptation not to wish
to have a tender conscience. Liken conscience to scales. Fairbanks to weigh coal and hay–the
pair of scales to weigh precious metals kept under a glass case.

Attack in this address Lying, for the H.G. is the Spirit of Truth, who wills to guide us
into all truth, e.g. Washington and West Point, the soldiers of God should tell no lie either.

9 th Address.

Your Body, the Temple of the H.G.

1 Cor. 3,16. Your body became the temple of God the Holy Ghost in H. Baptism. Woe
be to the boy or man, who drives out the H.S. by turning a deaf ear to the voice of conscience
and by going on in sin until the H.G. in very grief [sic] and disgust [sic] withdraws Himself and
finally departs, never to return. Then the sinner becomes a reprobate, repentance even on his
death bed does not come to him and when he dies he goes to hell and his sins are never forgiven
in this world or the next. Now, you boys are laying the foundation for your future, when you
become men, by the way you are treating the Holy Ghost now. It is just how you act in your
body now, which tells the story of how you are likely to act later on, when you grow up and go
out into the world.

All of you have your besetting sins, which you confess, almost word for word every time
or almost every time you go to confession. Now the question you ought to be asking of yourself
is this,
Am I conquering these besetting sins as I grow older and laying them aside one by one, or are
they getting a stronger grip on me day after day, week after week, month after month, year after
year? Am I grieving the Holy Ghost more and more by lying more, by stealing worse, by cursing
oftener, by fighting and quarreling more frequently. Or when I go to confession have I the
happiness of knowing that even if I am compelled to confess the same horrid old sins again, yet,
thank God, the numbers of times they were committed is much less than it was, we will say, this
time last year.

Our bodies, though belonging by grace to GOD the H.G. are naturally inclined to go over
to the enemy. Hence, they have to be watched and kept under [guard] e.g. the tongue, when we
lie it goes over to the side of the Devil, “the Father of lies.” Rum and tobacco as hurtful to the
body and not, to say the least, helpful in making the body a vessel of sanctification

Document 9
[The document is entirely in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., and is recorded on
stationary from St. John’s Catholic Church, Schenectady, N.Y. The Rector is Rt. Rev. Msgr. J.L.
Reilly. The document is located in the Atonement Friars’ archives. Fr. Paul often talked about
the battle of the Israelites and Amalekites and the part Moses played in it by his attitude of
prayer.]

Night Sermons at Men’s Retreat,

St. John’s Church, Schenectady.

From 1 st to 2nd Sunday in Lent March 1-8, 1914.

On Sunday night the Introductory Sermon was “The Valley of Destruction,” Joel III,14.

The Week Night Series – General Subjects –War on Amalek.

Monday Night, March 2. The Battle in the Valley of Rephidim, Exodus XVII, 8-17.

FOREWORD The Key of the Retreat has already been struck, viz. the annihilation of
our sins that we may fulfil our vocation, which is on the part of every man, to become a Saint,
for as St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Roman: “Ye are all called to be Saints.” Our vocation
is no child’s play. We want to understand. It is easy to say, “Annihilate your sins.” “Become a
Saint.” but to get entirely rid of sin, to attain to the fellowship of the perfected Saints of God,
that means the struggle and the spiritual conflict of a lifetime, and so great a master of the
Spiritual Life as St. Francis de Sales assures us that if we conquer and slay our last besetting sin
five minutes before we ourselves die, we have every reason to heartily congratulate ourselves.
Our entire life [is] a spiritual combat and this in H.S. is set forth and illustrated by the war of
Israel with Amalek from generation to generation.

Every night this week we shall pursue from stage to stage the war of extermination
waged by the chosen people of God until the final victory is recorded. And if the effect on your
own life shall prove to be an intensification of your hatred and detestation of sin and your
merciless war upon spiritual enemies until all of them are conquered and destroyed, then my
conduct of this Retreat will not be in vain.

Picture the battle in the Valley of Rephidim with Moses standing on the mountain top.
Joshua and the people very probably attributed the victory they won to their own physical
prowess but the hidden cause of their triumph was the uplifted rod of God in the hand of Moses,
supported by Aaron and Hur. Learn from this the secret of success in your own battle for
supremacy over man’s hereditary enemies, the world the flesh and the devil. Moses represents
Prayer. Rod= the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. “God forbid that I should glory” etc. The daily
practice of self-denial. When we lift high the cross of self-denial and sacrifice, we are bound to
prevail. But like Moses we grow weary. A stone is provided, i.e., the altar of the Catholic
Church–Aaron and Hur the two great sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.
Tuesday Night, March 3.

Israel defeated by Amalek, or the Punishment of Rejecting and Despising Grace.

Numbers 13 and 14, omitting vs. 3-16. chapter XIII and 11 to 26 in chap. XIV. Read the balance
to the congregation.

One of the most pitiful and saddest scenes in the whole course of human history is that of
the Israelitish people on the very borders of the Promised Land, refusing to cross over and take
possession and rebelling against Moses and Aaron, until, condemning them out of their own
mouth, God sentences them to die in the wilderness and to leave their carcasses to rot amid the
sands of the desert. “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have
been.’” When it is too late to appease the wrath of God, they see their fatal mistake and then they
resolve to make war on Amalek. But God will not fight for them now. Moses no longer stands
on the hilltop with the rod of God in his hand. Neither does the ark of the covenant go with
them. As a consequence, the inevitable happens and the Amalekites smite them and drive them
back with heavy slaughter.

St. Paul says “These things were written” about the Israelites “for our instruction and
warning upon whom the ends of the world have come.” It ought to take away from us any
“cocksure” feeling about the certainty of our salvation we may have been entertaining to
contemplate the fate of the chosen people of God, who perished in the wilderness. It is true the
Catholics are the chosen people of the New Law but don’t bank on that fact too much as a
guarantee of your getting to heaven, unless you are practicing your religion “right up to the
handle” and doing everything that lies in your power “to make your calling and election sure.”
Don’t forget the warning of the words of CHRIST in answer to the question of His disciples,
“Are there few that be saved?” The broad way, the narrow gate, the many, the few. The last that
shall be first, the first that shall be last. “They shall come from the East and the West and shall
sit down etc. and the children of the Kingdom etc. It behooves us to watch and pray, lest we
enter into temptation.”

The giants which confront the Catholic Man, e.g. a business like rum-selling upon which
the blessing of God cannot rest and yet which he fears to give up lest he take bread out of his
children’s mouths; a matrimonial alliance which bars from the sacraments; the giant of Rum or a
Monster Beer Barrel.

Examples of men who have rebelled against carrying the strong places of the Amalekites
and afterwards when they saw the fatal result without Moses and the Ark of the Covenant, i.e.
Pope and the Church have sought to make war on Amalek, notably Henry VIII refuses to destroy
the Amalek of Lust and subdue his monster passion for Ann Boleyn at the dictate of God and
Holy Church and afterwards when he sees the Amalekites overrunning the land and his own
doom approaching, tries to put up a fight for the Catholic religion and to save his own soul by
ordering ten thousand Masses to be provided for his will.

The peril of rejecting God’s proffered time of grace and ruining chances of a more
convenient season later, illustrated by Major Gaynor, shot down and taken to St. Mary’s
Hospital, Brooklyn, salvation proffered him but he rejects it, a second time sets out for Europe.
This time dies alone on deck while his son has gone down in the cabin.

It is not a matter of gaining the Promised Land of Paradise, but even here and now “the
kingdom of heaven is within you.” There is a rich present reward in having a conscience void of
offence before God and before man, to possess that peace which the world knows not, neither
can it give that peace of God which we cannot know unless we keep up the war on Amalek and
keep ourselves free from sin.

Wednesday night, March 4.

The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon and the lamps within the pictures. Judges chaps.
VI and VII. Read first six verses of chapter VI and comment on the impoverishment inflicted
upon Israel by the Midianites and Amalekites as a figure of that impoverishment mental,
physical and spiritual which overtakes the bad Catholic, who violating the commandments of
GOD and the precepts of the Church, gives himself over to a corrupt and dissipated life. Recall
the description of the Prodigal, “There was a famine in that land and he began to be in want.”
e.g. the poverty of the drunkard, Mr. [Lefevor?] of Kingston washing out the cuspidors for a
drink. The poor wretches who come to the Mount of the Atonement. The man who walked
penniless and almost barefoot from Boston to Graymoor with the frozen feet. The victims of
secret violation of personal purity who as mental idiots crowd the cells and corridors of our big
state insane asylums. And sometimes the sinners, who seem to fatten like stalled oxen by reason
of their sins, are more poverty stricken in the sight of God than the poorest beggar that trudges
the city streets. Recall Our LORD’S picture of Dives and Lazarus. And also the message of the
Spirit to Laodicea in Apocalypse chap. 3,17. “Because thou sayest, I am rich” etc.

The way of victory over the Amalekites as illustrated by the story of Gideon.

(1) He cuts down the grove of Baal. The sinner must destroy his idols and return to the true
worship and love of God..

(2) He is strengthened by the miracle of the fleece of wool, a type of the B.V. We should have
recourse to the Mother of GOD (Our Lady of the Atonement).

(3) He is schooled in humility and reliance upon God only by the dismissal of over thirty
thousand men and only 3200 remained.

(4) He is strengthened by hearing the dream related in the camp of “a cake of barley bread”
which another soldier interpreted, saying, “This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon.” A
type of the Blessed Sacrament by which we are strengthened for battle. Urge here frequent, if
daily Communion is not practicable.

(5) They blow the trumpets and break the pitchers and let their lamps shine, shouting the sword
of the Lord and of Gideon. As a result of devout and frequent Communion “it is no longer we
that live, but CHRIST that liveth in us.” The pitcher is our body, which broken by self-denial
and holy fasting, there shines though it CHRIST, Who is “the light of the world,” and thus by
spirituality the Amalekites, i.e., our adversaries, are put to flight.

(6) Gideon and the 300 pass over Jordan faint, yet pursuing. So, we should persevere in the
spiritual combat until death.

Thurs. March 5.

Subject the command to Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites, his disobedience and
consequent rejection and how Samuel hews Agog to pieces. Application, the thoroughness God
expects of us in eradicating all our sins. It will not do to get rid of some of the smaller and
preserve the chief ones (our darling sins) alive. Agog represents our besetting sin and like
Samuel we must hew it to pieces.

Friday March 6th.

Conclusion. 2 sermons in one (a) the burning of Ziglak and how David pursues after and
recovers all. Application, David by alliance with the Philistines gets himself into a false position
and hence the successful incursion of Ziglak. Catholics must not ally themselves with the
enemies of the Church, the chief reason why they may not become Socialists: before they know
it, they may be fighting the Church.. Also avoid mixed marriages. The recovery of all illustrates
the restorative power of Penance and of E[ucharist]. We must never despair of success against
Amalek. Press home need of frequent confession and Communion. (b) the story of Esther and
Mordecai. The reason M. would not bow to Haman was that he was a descendent of Agog.
Application, Mordecai is the embodiment of the spirit of martyrdom and unflinching faithfulness
to God and Holy Church even [in] the face of the direst threatenings and the peril of losing
everybody we hold dear. Exhortation to be faithful unto death that with St. Paul you may say, “ I
have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith,” etc.
1917
Document 10-1
[The document is written in longhand in the handwriting of Mother Lurana White, s.a., in a
notebook. Additions have been made to the text in what looks like the script of Fr. Paul Wattson,
s.a. The title identifies him as the speaker. On the side of the notebook cover is written, “File
carefully with Hereford precious papers.”]

[on notebook cover:]

Rev. Father's Retreat Addresses to the 4 Proto Mission Sisters Prior to Departure for Texas.
Aug. 16-18, 1917. Copied by the Mother S.A.

[within the notebook:]

First Address. Thursday, August 16, 1917. 8:30 a.m.

Text:

And on the last and great day of the Festival, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth in me,
as the Scripture sayeth, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Now
this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him. St.
John 6:37-39.

My object in giving this retreat is to prepare you for the new venture of Faith just before
you: God has called the first four Sisters of our Institute as He called Abraham to leave kindred
and country and go forth into the new land that should be given to him. So you leaving the dear
Mother House at Graymoor are starting for an unknown country and you will take possession of
it for God and our Institute. Texas is a land of magnificent distances. Its soil has already been
traversed by the feet of the first Franciscan missionaries to this country, the Spanish padres,
when faring West. They laid the foundations of those glorious old missions under the great Fra.
Junipero Serra.

Go in quietness, simplicity and faith under the same Divine guidance that led our Blessed
Mother on her visitation into the hill country. I am glad you are four in number. Four is the
symbol of multiplicity and we have in our Institute the promise of extension and fertility, "as the
stars for multitudes." Yes, surely the prayer we so often pray, "Increase and sanctify the
Children of the Atonement" will be answered. As the four rivers rose in Paradise and watered
all the land, so may this work you are about beginning branch and flow out to many parts.

Now in order that these great things may come to pass it is necessary above all that you
go forth in humility. Humility in essence is the knowledge of God's greatness and our own
littleness. Should you set forth upon this mission as natural women trusting to any qualities in
yourselves to influence, attract or inspire other souls, the end would be failure. But no, you will
rather start in the spirit of the Blessed Mother who going to see her cousin Elizabeth journeyed
as though her feet trod upon air, for the Holy Ghost went with her. She "went in haste." So you
too go in eagerness, not withstanding the parting from all you hold dear. You too bear Jesus, for
daily He comes to you in Holy Communion.

The land to which you go has been changed from a desert waste into a great harvest-
bearing plain, by the discovery under the earth's bosom of great wells of water which by the
method of irrigation has transformed the face of the earth. So within you is the great fructifying
force of the Holy Ghost and by His life-giving influence you too will be instrumental in
converting the waste of Protestantism into Catholic beauty. Begin with the children, the little
ones of Christ. Teach them about their Mother who is waiting for them--the Catholic Church.
Teach them to say the Rosary, and in time these children will be founders of Catholic families,
centers of influence. Others will be future Friars and Sisters of our Holy Institute. Only God
knows the marvelous possibilities of the future.

So go forth in quietness, Religious reserve, and above all in humility, but go knowing
that you carry within you the regenerative power of the Holy Ghost. Remember too, that your
Lord has promised to those who left all for His sake, "an hundred fold" and "the barren, many
more children than she that has a husband." So God ever satisfies the maternal instinct by this
supernatural generation and by it the eternal granaries of Heaven are filled.

My Byran in his well known and wonderful words on Immortality tells us how a few
grains of corn hid in an Egyptian tomb through the long ages past, would have multiplied had
they been sown sufficiently, "to feed the teeming myriads of the world." And as for us we
know, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it
bringeth forth much fruit."

So may God work in you as He willeth. Offer yourselves then unreservedly to Him.
Beg Him through you to save a multitude of souls. He loves such prayers of faith and we, the
Children of the Atonement, are encouraged to offer such petitions by the great promises of
increase given to us that, "multiplying He will multiply us."

Document 10-2
Second Address. Thursday, August l6, [l9l7], 7:00 p.m.

In these addresses I am dealing with the fundamentals of our Institute in order that the
first missionary foundation may be in perfect harmony with the spirit of our Congregation.

This morning I dwelt upon the necessity of the Sisters going forth in conscious union
with the Holy Ghost and in the spirit of humility, else in their own weakness they could but fail.
But humility is not merely the realization of our nothingness. It is also a consciousness of the
greatness and power of God and it is by prayer that we enter into this knowledge.

Therefore, tonight I will speaking of the spirit of prayer that we all must have, those who
remain as well as those who go forth.

Prayer is the recollection of the Presence of God. Except we live in this state of union
with God, we are helpless in all of the occasions that arise. And there will ever be questions to
be settled, problems to be answered. The spiritual person seeks ever the solution by prayer.
You who are leaving us will have your own weighty and unexpected problems, your own
difficulties and surprises. The country to which you are going will of its very nature supply
some of these things, the least of them. It is not naturally a beautiful place. Doubtless many a
time you will turn in thought with such longing to the beautiful hills of Graymoor, the old gray
stone wall with the vines drooping over the niches of our Franciscan Saints, the familiar
recreation ground and all of your dear convent enclosure. These things you will remember when
the dust storms sweep in from the desert and the temperature drops 60 in an hour! But at these
times remember also the deep wells of the Holy Spirit within your souls. Trust that in anxious
moments of doubt, the right decision will be made, that in sickness, added strength will be given
the others to wait upon and care lovingly for you, and that surely the time of refreshment and
renewed strength will come. It is very likely that contra-wise you will often be surprised at the
new powers you seem to possess, but remember they are not of yourself. They are the wells of
water springing up within, the fructifying refreshment of the Holy Ghost.

As the external instrument of prayer keep ever near your Rosary. It is not only the chain
that binds you to our Blessed Mother it is also the connecting link that binds you to us at home.
Be tireless in saying your Community Prayers each morning with outstretched arms, and in
teaching the children the Rosary and the prayers of the Rosary League of Our Lady of the
Atonement. Nor should you forget our U.N.B.L. Prayer and its Principles. So will you be
sending out both roots and tendrils of our holy Institute for these are powerful elements in the
propagation of that Seed of the Atonement. The Holy Ghost was with Our Lady from the first
moment of her conception. So the same blessed Spirit has remained cooperating with her as the
new Eve, the Mother of the Faithful. And Mary has by no means been inactive or passive in this
propagation. And now these Sisters of the Mission as her daughters are to be active with her and
her Spouse, the Holy Ghost.

Live, therefore, your life of interior correspondence with the Will of God, the Third
Person, remembering that all power of making your ministry in the Society effective lies in this
union.

Document 10-3
Third Address, Friday, August l7, l9l7. 8:30 a.m.

As I said in a previous address, we are dealing with the foundation principles of our
Institute. And as masons are trained in the craft of their trade so you the new foundation layers
must learn in order that you too may do your work firmly and well. Yesterday we dealt with the
first of our three basic texts, the one relating to the Holy Spirit.

We now come to the second or central one which contains our Name. It is as you know
Romans 5:ll. "We joy in God by whom we have received reconciliation. (Atonement).” The
verses that follow are an exposition of the Atonement. By virtue of humanity's restoration
through Christ we are placed above the angels and raised to a higher state than that of creation
which was "a little lower than the angels." It was this promotion of our race that caused Lucifer
through jealousy to rebel and make war in Heaven until St. Michael cast him forth.

St. Paul tells us that Our Lord, "endured the cross (that is the instrument of the
Atonement) and despised the shame for the joy set before Him, which was the accomplishment
of man's reconciliation and elevation, this completed work of Atonement. So we, the Children
of the Atonement, must endure and labor in this joyous spirit. We older members of the Society
had in those early days a very trying and difficult task. The message of Catholic submission and
unity which we delivered to Anglicans was not a welcome one. It was new and startling,
something not heard within their Church for three hundred years. And so we preachers of that
message were ostracized, "put on cold storage" as one of their Church papers advised.

In the still earlier days before we taught such unpopular truths, the little new Society was
rather popular. Its Franciscan spirit was admired, but as I have just said all that was quickly
changed. Now what sustained us through all those trying days, for they were [not] very cheerful
and happy ones? Why, it was the end set before us.

You too will meet many trying situations as I told you yesterday. It may even seem
sometimes as though everything were going to pieces. In those moments remember the end, the
triumph of the principles of At-one-ment for which our holy Society stands. Remember likewise
that those principles and our Institute are of God and that they cannot, therefore, be destroyed.
Turn your glance interior-wise and behold the beauty of the King, whose presence is ever in the
depths of your soul. Then you will, through all the storm and stress "joy in God by whom we
have received the Atonement." By this means you will prove within yourself and also
demonstrate to the souls you seek to save that your joy is not in any externals, not in persons or
things, not even in your lovely, peaceful home at Graymoor, but only in the love of Christ from
which nothing can separate you.

Bear witness to these deep things wrought for souls by our Lord's Atonement on the
cross, and other souls will enter into this inheritance and you yourselves will be treading joyfully
that path which increaseth more and more unto the perfect Day.

And now a thought or two about Unity. See how God has impressed this vocation upon
us. Look at the Latin of our Name, Societas Adunationis, i.e. Society-of-making-at-one. Keep
this ever before your eyes. You are to help souls to be made at one with God, to strive to bring
them into personal unity with Him by means of the Catholic Church and her Sacraments.
Moreover, your struggle and your sufferings too will be the combat against whatever opposes
itself to this end. We must be prepared for this crucifixion, for we too will share the
"contradiction of sinners against Himself." It may be that some day where you go to work for
God, you will be hated, opposed by the spirit of pride, sensuality and error which will strive to
discourage and to drive you out. Remember then, "The servant is not greater than his Lord."

Often review to yourselves the three lines of work contained within our vocation as
members of the Society of the Atonement.

First, the reconciliation of Anglicans and other Protestants to the communion of the
Vicar of Christ. The Pope is the touchstone and the test of unity with God, and of obedience.
Teach this always along with personal love and devotion to the Representative of our Lord on
the earth. Ground the children in it well. Do not fail to urge it as a revealed truth upon adults.
Show them lovingly and with all patience that loyalty to Christ is loyalty to His Vicar, that living
voice left upon this earth to be obeyed. The prayer of our Lord in Gethsemani, His dying prayer
was that they, His children, "might all be one" and no oneness is possible outside the Catholic
Church.
Urge all these things unceasingly by your words and by your prayers. And so you will
need to have an intelligent grasp of the Protestant situation. You must know something of the
causes which led to the great separation, the so-called Reformation. But your best method will
not be controversial, but charitable. Win hearts and lay stress upon the common ground between
you and them. Take them lovingly by the hand and lead [them] to the green pastures of Peter's
Fold.

Second, our mission to lapsed or unfaithful Catholics. Your work will be largely
preventative [and] doubtless, among the children and your best means is urging upon the little
ones the frequent coming to Holy Communion. You will have many an opportunity also in
ministering among the sick and comforting the poor and destitute.

Third, our missionary work in converting souls in heathen darkness. This is essentially
the task of those of our number that shall sail to foreign lands. But there are some in this sad
plight in our own country and they too may need your care.

Now all these three great vocations are bound up in our vocation of the Atonement for all
are necessary in making operative our Lord's great mission of At-one-ment between God and
man.

Document 10-4
Fourth Address. Friday, August l7, l9l7. 7:00 p.m.

St. Paul in one of his epistles tells us, "As by one many were made sinners, so by One
many were made just." The children of this world are after the natural generation Children of
Disobedience. They are more prone to evil than to good. It is evident, therefore, that the
children of the new generation after a supernatural order are the Children of Obedience and this
preeminently, the Children of the Atonement must be, for Atonement means obedience unto
death, the obedience of the Prince of the Atonement upon the cross. We will obey the Church,
the Holy Father, our Holy Rule and our superiors. The more we are obedient the better will we
fulfil the great work of God and extend the Sacrifice of Calvary. You who are to make this new
Foundation must edify all by your obedience. Satan desires to propagate the seed of rebellion.
Our Lord permits the struggle to go on even in the regenerate between these two opposing
natures in man. Our own power to advance the spread and growth of the Children of Obedience
will be in proportion to our own obedience.

We have said that our Society has three objects, first, the conversion of non-Catholics to
unity; second, the return to the Faith of unfaithful Catholics; third, the conversion of the heathen.

As regards the first of these, we have from the beginning been conscious of this definite
vocation. Not only was this shown our Mother (although the full significance was not
understood by her at the time) when she sought guidance regarding her coming to Graymoor.
For the words were, "They that be of thee shall restore the waste places. Thou shalt repair the
foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the Breach, the restorer
of paths to dwell in." But not only this, in many ways, at many points since, we have been made
to feel that God has for us in this direction a great vocation.
I often quote to you those words of St. Paul, "If by the disobedience of one many have
been made sinners, so by the obedience of One many have been made just." I have told you how
King Henry VIII quoted these very words in his book against Luther, and only about ten years
after, he forced through the English Parliament and the Convocation of the Church of England
the declaration that separates England and her Church from Rome and Catholic Unity. This was
in l533.

Just three hundred years later in July l833, on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, which
is, as you know, our Atonement Day, a wonderful sermon was preached in St. Mary's Church,
Oxford by John Keble and the subject was "Our National Apostasy." That sermon has been
called "the first gun of the Oxford Movement", that movement in which the Holy Spirit breathed
so wonderfully upon the dead bones of Anglicanism, re-clothing portions of the body with at
least a semblance of Catholicism. And present at that sermon the Seventh Sunday after
Pentecost was John Henry Newman, the great future leader of the Oxford Revival, he who by
his obedience and submission to the Holy See was later on to be the instrument of the
conversion of so many souls. And so it is again fulfilled, "By the obedience of One, many are
made just."

A period of sixty years (60 years) elapsed and another event in this chain takes place, an
event known to but one. Kneeling in St. John's Church, Kingston, N.Y., on the Seventh Sunday
after Pentecost in l893, the future Father Minister of the Society of the Atonement received from
God the name and foundation texts of the Society of the Atonement. Another ten years and
there appears simultaneously in England and in America two books advocating the reunion of
England and the Holy See. [Here follows Mother Lurana's own words, identifying the books.]
These books are England and the Holy See by Rev. Spencer Jones and The Prince of the
Apostles written by our Rev. Father and Spencer Jones together. [Father Paul's words now
resume] This brings us to just seventy years since Keble's epoch making sermon.

The corporate submission of the Society of the Atonement and its admission into the
Fold of Peter marks another phase of the Reunion Movement, i.e., the Corporate Stage.

We had ever emphasized and endeavored to practice to the utmost even in the Anglican
Church obedience to authority and God had never in those days placed us in any position where
we were unable to obey. None could with any truth or justice accuse us of lawlessness. We
sought at every step and obtained the permission of those set over us from the assent to our
coming to Graymoor, on to our very entrance into the Catholic Church.

It is by obedience to lawful authority that you who go to Texas are to spread the
principles of the Society of the Atonement. Remember that "by the obedience of One many are
made just."

See the present state of the world. It is all the result of disobedience. One incident will
illustrate my meaning. It is stated that just before Austria entered the war, at its very beginning,
our beloved late Holy Father made the Emperor Francis Joseph a personal appeal to refrain from
declaring war, but all in vain and Pius X offered his life a sacrifice, and God accepted it.
 Just now our present Holy Father has set forth a magnificent appeal to the nations
containing a definite basis for a proposal of peace terms. Will the nations listen? I doubt it. But
the day will come when all will bitterly regret the refusal, as doubtless poor Austria now regrets
her ruler's disobedience to the request of the Pope.

But let us be the true Children of Obedience, offering our little sacrifices and like St.
Helena, whose day this is, we will find our wood of the true cross and having ourselves been
found faithful to it, we will enter into our reward. By such means our holy family of the
Atonement will go on increasing.

I was much gratified to receive the other day a letter form a native missionary priest in
Corea, telling me that there had been established a Rosary League center of three hundred souls
and that many others were waiting for the medals of our Lady of the Atonement in order to enter
likewise. We must find places somewhere for all of good will who would serve in our ranks and
see to it, each one of you, that as humble handmaids of God you do well your part, until all is
consummated and by the obedience of the One many have been made just.

Document 10-5
[Towards the end of the conference, Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., recollects the Anglican days of the
S.A. and how the rule specified daily Communion for the Community.]

Fifth Address. Saturday, August l8, l9l7. 8:30 a.m.

Text: 2 Cor. ll:23ff.

"Brethren, I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you
that the Lord Jesus, the same night He was betrayed took bread and giving
thanks, broke and said, "Take, eat. This is my body which shall be delivered for
you. This do in commemoration of me, etc."

This is the third of the texts your Father received with the name of our Institute on that
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost l893 in St. John's Church, Kingston, N.Y. And like the other
two texts given it is essential and fundamental. The first text under the figure of water refers to
the Holy Spirit and our union with Him, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. The second
refers especially to God the Father for in it is set forth plainly the principle of obedience which is
the Atonement.

Our third text makes plain the mode of union with our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second
Person of the Adorable Trinity. And that mode or manner is by partaking of His Body and His
Blood. This text from Corinthians is the passage of Holy Scripture which the Church has
selected as the Epistle for Corpus Christi.

Many years ago while yet an Anglican I made it one of our Rules that members of the
Society of the Atonement should when possible receive Holy Communion daily. Yes, this is the
way of union with God. He has taken our nature unto Himself and bestowed upon us His Divine
Nature by means of the Sacraments, and by the Sacrament of the Altar we feed upon Him, we
assimilate this Divine Food and we become changed into Himself. As the tree reaches its roots
down into the earth and draws the soil up into itself and it becomes a part of the tree's substance,
so our Lord reaches down and draws us into His Divine Substance, and herein is a great mystery.

O, how we should value Holy Communion, the preeminent and the first nourishment of
the day! And the result of our Holy Communion should be that we like St. Paul may be able to
cry out, "It is no longer I that live but Christ that liveth in me." But in order that this may be, we
must cooperate with Sacramental grace by living lives of mortification. The old Adam and the
old Eve must die, for mortification means death, and, alas, they die hard. But as in our natural
organism there is a daily dying, the throwing off of waste matter and the continued struggle of
life with death, so must it be in our souls, the supernatural realm.

This process is accelerated by our three vows of religion: Poverty detaching us from
material things, Obedience from our own will and Chastity from creatures and the dominion of
our own flesh. It is by means of frequent feeding upon the Blessed Sacrament that we shall
observe these things and finally overcome, for it is the Furnace of Charity and from it we shall
be enkindled with the overmastering, dominating love of God and growing out of this love will
be the love for His little ones and because love reacts upon the lover, your souls will be utterly
satisfied.

Document 10-6

Sixth Address. Saturday, August l8, l9l7. 7:00 p.m.

Tonight we will consider our Covenant Chapter, for the time is coming when you will
need to fall back upon it for encouragement, even as Abraham leaned hard upon God's promise
that "blessing He would bless and multiplying He would multiply him." St. Francis our Father
too was cheered in the days of the Order's smallness by a vision showing the great promise of the
future.

We, the Children of the Atonement, also have our Covenant Promise, something to
comfort and sustain every one of us and for all time. It was not alone for those first days when it
was given. And may you who are going forth draw much sustenance for your faith in our Sixth
Chapter of Hebrews. Fruitfulness is promised. See to it that as far as in you lies, there will be
also unity among yourselves. This is most essential to growth Be deeply loyal and faithful to
your Mother House and the authority that abides there. Never allow the spirit of independence
which is the spirit of schism in its beginning to find place among you. Refer every important
matter back to your superiors at Graymoor for consideration and decision. Never, I hope, in the
days to come will any Province or House of our Institute separate itself from the Mater et Caput,
St. Francis House, Graymoor.

The Church of England illustrates the punishment of a body which departs from unity. It
is never again perfectly united in its members.

Now a closing [for] my children. Be very patient. Be very humble. Do not desire or
expect to do great things immediately. We shall not expect at once to receive a letter from his
Lordship the Bishop of Dallas, informing us of the wonders being wrought in Hereford by the
Sisters of the Atonement! No, just do your duty. Be patient, be united, be humble.

1919
Document 11
[The document is written in the script of Fr. Paul Wattson, S.A., on the backs of four postcards
that inform recipients of The Lamp that they are now enrolled in the Rosary League of Our Lady
of the Atonement. On an accompanying envelope, which has on it the return address of “St.
Paul’s Friary, (Graymoor), Garrison, N.Y.”, Mother Lurana White, S.A., wrote, “Rev. Father's
Notes of Second Meditation of his Retreat given at the Friary Church, Jan. l8-25, l9l9.”]

[Introductory page:]

THE RELIGIOUS STATE

State of Perfection or Religious State or Religious Life. A public and permanent

obligation to aim at Perfection, which obligation is assumed by taking the vows of poverty,
obedience and chastity.

The Perfection of Charity. Not the common degree necessary for all who wish to be
saved, viz., exclusion of what is contrary to habit of charity, but consists in loving God to limit
of our capacity.

R[esolution:] bound to strive after this Higher Degree

Poverty, entire absence of worldly possessions. Vow, virtue, spirit.

[page l.]

Meditation no. 2 Rev. Father's Retreat at Friary January 25, l9l9.

Three conclusions drawn from the fundamental truths considered in first (preceding meditation).

In preceding meditation reflected on the end of man, viz., St. Ignatius: "Man was created
to praise, reverence and serve God and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on
the face of the earth were created for man's sake in order to aid him gain the end of his being."
From this St. Ignatius deduces, "that man must make use of creatures in so far as they help him
to reach his end and must abstain from them in so far as they hinder him from reaching his end."

Comp. of Place. Heaven and Hell. Myself standing midway between them on earth and
soliloquizing. For all eternity. Heaven or Hell. It all depends on myself. A few years, days or
hours hence.

Petition. Light to realize sup. imp. of my sanctification and salvation. Means to employ.

[page 2]

Point one. First conclusion.

a) Use or disuse of creatures.
 "I must use creatures neither more nor less than G[od] commands, counsels or desires me
to use them."

b) "Indifference". Not apathy, laziness.

"It is all the same to me." Absence in the will of any inclination towards, or aversion
toward any creature for its own sake, or on our own account." It does not exclude attraction to
things prescribed by God, or abhorrence to things forbidden. It applies only to those creatures
which we do not recognize as means to our end.

When we use creatures contrary to our end, we cease to be indifferent. Our use is selfish,
inordinate, perhaps sinful. Illustration: a chalice, used for a purpose not sacred is profaned, or
worse a sacrilege. So creatures are profaned when used other than in the service of God. By
abusing creatures for our private gratification we commit something like sacrilege. Also base
ingratitude.

[page 3]

To act constantly (indifference) so as to build on the foundation of the loftiest sanctity

but it is also a most difficult task. For the thoughts of the human heart are prone to evil. We are
not indifferent naturally, but are very partial. We cling to creatures purely for the satisfaction
they afford our senses and passions. Hence the quasi-instinctive horror we have of poverty and
suffering. Original sin has infected us with a three-fold concupiscence: sensuality, covetousness
and pride, [and a] three-fold attachment to health, wealth and honor.

REMEDY: SELF-DISCIPLINE.

Second Point. "Hence we have to make ourselves indifferent to creatures." a) resolve, b) pray,
c) practice.

Third Point. Desire and choose under all circumstances, only what is most conducive to the end.

The best means........ [incomplete]

Document 12
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XV
30-33. The beginning of the notes appears to be missing. There are also many sections within
that are missing. Some of the sentences are unclear. Of interest is Fr. Paul Wattson’s statement
that Mother Lurana White, s.a., was deciding whether to go to Graymoor or not for the
foundation of the S.A. It is one thing to consult the Scriptures for a confirmation of a decision
already made; another to consult them to decide whether to go to Graymoor or not .]

NOTES FROM FATHER PAUL

Fr. Founder

October 4, 1919

That took me back to Westminster, Md., without asking for anything. Fr. Huntington was
going to Michigan (?) to preach a mission. All the churches there were to have the mission
together. St. Alban’s had no one and I accompanied Fr. Huntington there. Had a very fine
mission. I returned and went to Warwick to consult with the Rev. Mother about what the next
move was. In the meantime I had gotten this letter saying, “You and Sr. Lurana can go your
way. We will go our way.” I told her,

“Now you see the S.A. is taken away from us. But we will not contend
about the matter. I feel confident that in God's good time it will be taken back to
us, because it is wrongly taken away".

I was then on another mission to Butler, Pa., where my Brother is. I arrived there early
in December and about the 1st of the month we started. On the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception I received a letter from Fr. Howard, of Omaha. It started, "The ways of the Lord or
the Devil are certainly extraordinary. The other morning Sr. Ruth called on me and said she
could not get along with Sr. Martha.” He concluded he would let Sr. Ruth go on her way.

Sr. Martha thought of the idea of the Society of the Atonement. Now she was willing to
come and join Sr. Lurana at Graymoor as originally proposed. She said under certain conditions.
I sent the letter on to Sr. Lurana at Warwick. She in the meantime had gotten into
communication with Miss ... and these other ladies in charge of the mission.

They were quite delighted with the idea, and invited her to come to New York and take
the matter up with them. I think I also got this letter on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
So she had to make a speedy determination whether to come to Graymoor or not, and she
decided after prayer to come there on the Octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
(Dec. 15).

Fr. Davis was expected to arrive at Graymoor on Dec. 8th. He was the chaplain who was
to minister to the Sisters. He arrived on that day, and the Mother came on the Octave itself. She
said of their hesitation to know whether to make this decision, “I didn't have time to write you
about the matter, and I appealed to God for guidance in the way you received the text.” Then she
told me the passage she received from the book of Isaiah:
 'They that be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up
the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer breach,
the restorer of paths to dwell in.''

This didn't seem to satisfy her. Next...and this time she received,

"Fear not... for thou shalt never be confounded, for God will make thee
fruitful and make thee abundant.” That is especially quoted for the Immaculate
Conception.

As the first Eve was made immaculate, it follows that God would also create Mary
immaculate, and she would never be confounded, but be fruitful. That is really our vocation in
the Children of the Atonement—the repairers of the breach, that is to say, the breach made in
England in the l6th century by the English-speaking people were cut off with the Apostolic See
— bringing that restoration to communion with the Apostolic See. It is emphasized by the text
on the top of The Lamp on every page: Ut omnes unum sint, developed now into the Church
Unity Octave, in connection with this movement, and this movement in the Anglican Church
brings them home

And the prayer: "My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave unto thee.”

The result was the Reverend Mother came to Graymoor on the Octave of the Immaculate
Conception, and took up her abode in the Dimond House, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs.
Vanderbilt Webb.

I was down there to make a call a year or two ago, and I found the only portion of that
house was the portion occupied by the Mother's Convent. The wing was taken away and
obliterated, but that particular place of the little chapel, and occupied as the first convent, is still
intact, and I was astonished with an inscription on the wall: "He who destroys this place shall be
cursed."

I asked how did it come here? "My husband had that in his room, and we just thought we
would hang it there.”

Mother Lurana had only her sister, Miss White, with her. It was a cold winter day. The
first bread was given her by some woman where she started. She took her servant maid to stay
with her awhile, but she intended to stay only a few days. In the depth of winter, she came here
to plunge into that house, which was the coldest barn of a house I was ever in. They had to
shovel out the snow in the winter. I went there that winter. I thought that was the one to take the
cake for its cold. She stood it all the winter. By and by Sr. Martha came along from Omaha and
joined her.

We arranged to have a little retreat up there on St. Paul's Day that same winter, 1899.
When we were in Warwick on retreat, Rev. Mother said, "There is a young Jewish barber here,
who seems to be quite concerned about Christianity.” He approached, me one day, seeing me in
my habit, and he showed me a prayer he had composed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And he asked me to show him that Christ was the true Messiah (asking Him to show that Christ
was the true Messiah). He said he would run the gauntlet of any reproach from his people,
provided he was certain that Christ was the true Messiah. Mother told him, ''Father Wattson is
coming pretty soon, and I would like you to see him and talk to him."

One evening, the last Thursday, I think, after dark, like Nicodemus, he came to me by
night after the barber shop was closed. He sat down and we discussed Christ and the
Messiahship. The result was that not long afterwards he became baptized an Episcopalian and
Christian. Mother said that night as he went out of the door, “He will be one of your Brothers
some day.”

On this St. Paul's Day I sent her word to Warwick to come and help us celebrate St.
Paul's Day. We had a retreat the day previous and two or three ladies were received into the
Third Order. And on St. Paul 's Day in the morning we came to St. John's. The night before we
had evening service and that morning we had celebration of Holy Communion and about this
time Bro. Anthony came up, Ferdinand Wallerstein. We went over for dinner to Mrs. Avery's. I
looked over at him with his derby hat.. .and slight clothes, the map of Jerusalem all over him.
Could I hope to put up with him? Would the love of Christ be great enough in me to stand that?

That was the one that God chose to be my first companion, the one that stuck faithful on
the Mountain when everyone else fled and left. Towards evening I was to leave and go out to
the northern part of Michigan to conduct a, mission, and Fr. Huntington met me at
Poughkeepsie, and I saw him and made arrangement with him to come and spend time in the
Novitiate of the Holy Cross Fathers, in order that I might have some training in the religious life
before I would attempt to establish the Friars at Graymoor. And he agreed to look after the
Sisters for the time until I came to return.

I was sick with the grippe at Michigan. When I reached there, the thermometer never
went above zero, and the snow was so deep you walked over the top of the gates and fences
through the snow. All the stars seemed to be in basement, the snow was so high. They cut the
street from the doors of the stores. You went up a flight of steps to get on the level of the stores.
It looked just like every house had an igloo(?) in the basement. The cottages of the miners were
all covered with snow, even a great big armory from which the boys coasted from the top down
into the street. It was so cold that when the sleighs came along the snow, they screeched and
cracked and snapped and made a great noise.

After I finished that Retreat I came back east again and then went to another mission in
another part of northern Michigan. It was then coming on towards Easter. I spent Palm Sunday
in New York, went and saw the Sisters for a little while and then on Easter Sunday I presented
myself at the Order of the Holy Cross and began my Novitiate there. While there, I was very
much interested in Graymoor and I would write letters occasionally. Fr. Huntington visited from
time to time. My Novice Master at that time was Fr. Sargent. He has been here. He is trying to
found a Benedictine Order in this country. At that time he was Novice Master of the Holy Cross
Fathers in Westminster,
They wanted to insist upon my staying for two years. My intention was to stay six
months. Well, I said,
“I will agree to stay two years if you think I need that long for a
Novitiate, provided the Sisters at Graymoor do not need me. If they need me, I
should feel constrained to go.”
 I think the Holy Cross Fathers ultimately hoped to have me join them. But finally Fr.
Huntington saw there was not much chance of holding me on that score. He finally concluded I
had better go back to Graymoor and take charge of things, because at this time this Father in
charge of the Sisters was going away. Then they would have nobody to care for them.

The wonderful thing all the way through was, it was under the obedience of whoever
happened to be our Superior at the time. That was one of the providential things of God that we
did not do anything in violation of the authorities over us at the time.

(The following evidently was an informal question period.)

Paschal: When did you get the habit, Rev. Father? St. Paul's Day in1900. When the
Sisters made the habit for me I was going to put it on, and I wrote to Fr. Doran. He was
interested in coming. Something prevented him from coming. So I knew about how the knights
used to watch before the altar during the night. They placed their armour before the altar and
assumed it in the morning. I decided I would put on this habit myself, having no one to clothe
me. My habit was before the altar, at the Chapel, at midnight, and next morning, St. Paul's Day,
I assumed it.

Now we just take off the habit and go into the world. I had no idea of doing that. Then
the thought [was]: wherever I go people will be looking at me. They will say, “What kind of
man is that?” The thought of it was almost more than I could endure. It was an awful struggle to
put it on. I thought everybody in New York looked at me. After a while I got used to it and did
not mind it. They are used to all sorts of customs in New York.

The first vows I took was on the Friday after the first Sunday after the Pentecost. Bishop
Coleman gave them to me. That was the fulfillment, I think, of the interior words, “You will
have to wait seven years for this.” I made my profession just seven years after 1833. It was just
seven years fulfilled.

[Anther question:] Did you wear your crucifix while you were an Anglican? Oh, yes! It
was bought by the Sister and attached to same.

[Another question:] Did you have to take the vows again in the Catholic Church? Well, I
was simply received into the Third Order by Fr. Pascal Robinson, acting for the Cardinal, under
the direction of Monsignor Falconio. The year following was considered the time of the
Novitiate and after that Fr. Edward administered the vows to me and I made my profession for
life, and likewise Bro. Anthony. He and I are the only ones who have assumed vows for life.

Document 13
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XV
33-37.There are many incomplete sentences and sentences that are not clear in meaning. Fr.
Sargent is Fr. Henry Sargent, novice master for the Order of the Holy Cross at Westminster, Md.
He later entered the Catholic Church and became a Benedictine.]

NOTES FROM FATHER PAUL

October 19, 1919.

That brings us to September of 1899, Feast of St. [Michael]. You know I was very
devoted to St. Michael. So it was on the Feast of St. Michael. Fr. Sargent was considerably
chagrined and I remember taking him out for a walk under the grape arbor. I tried to convince
him of the reasons I had for being so persistent in founding the Society of the Atonement. He
listened to the texts and all the things that happened up to that time. “Oh,” he said, “That is all
accidental. There is nothing to that. You are going to create a scandal now by starting a new
religious Order that will go on the rocks.”He said, “My opinion is you have not a vocation to
found one Order much less three,” referring to the Society, the Sisters and the Third Order. I
took my departure.

It is always remarkable how God has provided safe every emergency. When I left there I
had no money to travel with. To my surprise the Fr. Superior gave the money I put in originally.
I came as far as Baltimore and I made a detour into Washington. To this time I had never seen a
Friar Minor. So I learned about the Monastery of the Franciscans in Washington, Mt. St.
Sepulchre. I got there, rang the bell, was admitted, told them who I was. They were very kind,
and the Guardian at that time was Fr. Matthew Fox, whom I know very well now, one of the
greatest mission preachers they have. They say his sermon on death is a tremendous one. He was
acting Guardian instead of Fr. Schilling, who was away.

I met there at that time, and he showed me the grounds, Fr. Paschal Robinson, one of our
greatest friends. He is now travelling abroad. I had a very pleasant visit there, and in the
afternoon Fr. Fox took me to a representation of St. Francis on Mt. Alverna, receiving the
stigmata. I asked for his blessing, although I was still in the Episcopal Church. He had more
faith than Fr. Sargent and he sent me on here to establish the Franciscans.

I came on to New York and came up the Hudson and I arrived here October 3rd, which
was the eve of St. Francis Day, in the early afternoon. Then I got into Garrison and started to
walk up facing towards Graymoor. And as I walked along and cogitated the thing that was
before me was, where was I going to sleep. In the meantime the Sisters' Convent was being built
and was to be blessed on St. Francis Day by Bishop Coleman.

The Sisters had a place, but where was I going to stop? I had no money. I could not rent
a room, pay $5 or $6 or $7 a week! That would not be Franciscan at all. While cogitating about
that, Mr. Davis came along and picked me up. I said, "Mr. Davis, are there any caves around
here in any of these hills?" I said, "I want to imitate St. Francis. I have no money. The question
is, where will I sleep and live? I might fix up a cave.'' "No", he said, ''I do not know of any. If
you are that hard up I have an old paint shop in my backyard, you are welcome to it." I said,
“That is fine if you do notknow of any cave around here,"

“Over on that mountain over there, there is a wonderfully fine view of the Hudson
River.” I was most anxious to see it. Mr. Davis took me up to show me. We climbed up the
mountain amid the briars and bushes, etc., he led me to this little bluff. There was just a little
view of the Hudson River.I was delighted. I said, "This is wonderful. This will be the Mount of
the Atonement.” Coming down I asked him who owned it and how much it could be bought for.
He replied that Mr. .... had paid $300 for it and that he had cut all the wood off it and there is
nothing valuable left. I did not have the $300, so I went to the bottom of it. I saw a ledge of
rocks by the Sisters’ library that would be a nice place, on top of that rock. I called on this man
and asked if he would give me permission to build on it. “No, Sir.” So I saw there was nothing
to it but go to Davis' place.

This paint shop had the windows smashed out. There was no floor. There were places
where the wind came through. My heart sank into my boots first of all. It was still St. Francis'
Day. I had all of October. I would work, put in the glass, clean the place out, throw the dirt
around it to keep the air from coming underneath. Once in, it began to rain and the rain came in,
in lots of places. Rev. Mother had some things and a man was gotten to put a tar roof on top to
make it a little snugger.

Well, to finish up Our Lady of Poverty, I used to go to the convent every morning for
Mass, and in the afternoon I would go down to say Vespers with the Sisters. That way I had my
breakfast and supper. But the dinner I used to get for myself and I don't think there were four of
five courses.Then came on the winter, and it was a desperately cold place. At that time I used to
say Matins and Lauds at midnight. I put a whole lot of newspapers under the bed to keep the
wind from coming from underneath. When it came time to say Office I put on a big pair of felt
boots and a big ulster coat,turning it over my ears. I had a little altar. Sometimes it got so chilly I
could not go to sleep with cold. And then [I] would find the wood. I could not keep a steady fire.
I used to bring a hod down, get a scuttle of coal from the Sisters all the way on my arm for about
a mile. That was poverty, the real article, without question.

Fortunately that winter I had a number of invitations in some of the coldest weather away
from home. I didn't talk about the Pope at that time so I was still all right on the pulpit.

The Sisters in the meantime were going on with their life in the Convent. There were the
Rev. Mother, Sr. Martha, and there was a novice besides. That made up the Community. That
winter it was decided I was to put on the habit, and having received the name of St. Paul, the
proper time to assume the habit was on the Feast of St. Paul. About that time I had an awful
shrinking [feeling] about putting that on. When I thought about going to New York with that
habit, with everybody looking at me, that was a pretty hard proposition, so I was exceedingly
down, sorrowful with the matter of assuming that habit. I had read how the knights watched at
night over the armour. I watched about the chapel until about midnight. The next morning I
assumed it. Then it rained like almost 40 days.

There came up from New York a Fr. George West, [should be Floyd Edgar West]
Brooklynite. He came here at the dedication at the blessing on St. Francis Day. After they took
their departure. Later the Rev. Mother told me she was in the chapel praying, making spiritual
reading, when she seemed to be approached by what she felt was a "black man". She had been
instrumental in encouraging me to put it on. The Mother, in her zeal for St. Francis, had
persuaded me to adopt the habit, and so this voice which she felt was "the old boy" said, "I will
pay you for this." Later on you will learn how the trouble came for getting me into that habit.
 To get back to the blessing of that house, Bishop Coleman was there to bless the house
and also others. The Rev. Floyd West and Fr. Doran too visited. They had Holy Communion in
the morning and the Bishop blessed the house. I asked the Bishop in blessing the house to take
the keys and hand them to the Mother as an outward sign and visible sign to show that she was
to control the house. The reason: Sr. Martha, the original one, because Mother put her at the
lowest position in order that Sr. Martha might have no question that Sr. Lurana was the Superior
I had the Bishop give the keys to her, a practical illustration on how in the presence of the other
Apostles Our Lord made St. Peter the head when He gave him the keys. There is just a little
illustration of what He must have had to contend with.

There was a little doing in the afternoon. I asked Fr. Doran and Fr. West if they would
not address us after the Bishop said a few words. It is the custom to read a chapter out of the Old
and New Testaments each time they have a service. This was extraordinary. It was the same
words given to the Mother when she was seeking advice whether to come to Graymoor or not.
She would never be ashamed or confounded and that God would make things fruitful. It was a
good promise. It was given that day just at the time and seemed very striking. Fr. West preached
a most extraordinary sermon the very lesson too. He saw visions of the future. The time would
come when persecutions,
like Fr. Benson's Lord of the World, and he went on to describe the last Mass that was to be
celebrated by the Catholic Priest by Our Lord on earth. Whether he was moved by the Holy
Spirit that remains to be seen. But I hope we have a more bright future before us than to have
that experience realized.

Now I spent that winter up in the Palace of Lady Poverty. One day I got a letter, very
interesting, from Sr. Amelia, now Superioress of the new house in the Bronx. She is the
daughter of Mr. Henry Evans, one of the trustees in Omaha. This is before I came to Graymoor.
I was the head of the Associate Mission. There were five or six or seven unmarried clergy in that
house. It turned out to be a distinguished crowd in that clergy house. First of all, my predecessor
Fr. Matthews became a Bishop now in New Jersey. Then there was the one that came on to see
me, Irving Johnson, now a Bishop out west. Then a Rev. James Wise. He used to help support
himself by setting up the type for the Pulpit of the Cross. He is also a Bishop now. The head, the
lector of St. John's at the time and head of the parochial school, Fr. Young, was a very
prominent clergyman and he may be a Bishop later on.

The largest church of this Associate Mission was St. John's. Henry Evans, father of Sr.
Amelia, was one of the officers. Mr. Lamb, the father of this Bro. Leo, was another of the
officers. Emily, or Amie, she was then called. She had always been an invalid since childhood
and besides she had to wear glasses and suffered from headaches and could not see. Her eyes
without glasses. And word came about the doctor's doubts of her recovery. I encouraged them to
believe that Our Lord would heal her altogether. Like that she was healed of her heart trouble
and her eyes. And then came a vocation for her to be a Sister. When I came to Graymoor, the
only reason she would not come to Graymoor, but would come to Peekskill was that at St.
Mary's they did not say the Hail Mary. She said how could the Blessed Mother hear all those
Hail Marys everyone says unless she is God? Surely anyone other than God can hear those
prayers. God has a way of communicating His knowledge to others. We have wireless
telegraphy around the earth. Prayers could be communicated by God to Our Blessed Lady. I
could not convince her.
 One day I got a letter. I opened it. It was a telegram in the mail from Bro. Leo's father.
“Mr, Evans has requested me to inform you, sister and father are dying at the Hospital, and she
wants you to pray for them.” I said,

"This young woman ought to be here. The trouble is she doesn't believe
the Queen of Heaven can hear prayers. You must all invoke the Blessed Mother
and show this woman,"

I wrote to say:

"Now if your father and your sister get well, you will know that the
Blessed Mother can hear prayers. I have sent your dispatch to heaven.”

Before that letter reached its destination, another letter written the next day stated that
the next morning her father went off to work and her sister who had become blind and her legs
had swollen had astonished the doctor by making a recovery.

The result was she came to Graymoor instead of going to St. Mary’s in Peeskill. Time
went on and in the spring I moved out of the Palace of Lady Poverty and took up my abode in
St. John's Church. There was a wall partitioned off. There was the altar and on each side a room.
Just like the sacristy now on the other side. I got a bed in there. I got a bed and lived in there and
the Sister used to bring the dinner on the other side in the sacristy. I used to stay there, eat my
meals there and say my Office in front of the altar. That continued during that summer.

That fall, not very long after the house had been dedicated, we will say in November,
there came on to visit the Mother a Miss Mary Buxton. This Mary Buxton was an English
woman. When the Rev. Mother was coming from England after she had been abroad and been to
Assisi, this Mary Buxton, a perfect stranger, standing by her, was this rather tall Sister. It was on
the steamer deck they had gotten acquainted and started up a conversation during which the Rev.
Mother learned she had become a disbeliever in the divinity of Christ. She had read Mrs. Bond’s
(?) books and the Cults and Religions of India. She was clean off, and by reading the Life of St.
Francis which Rev. Mother had offered, she came back. She said I never knew such a man lived.
If he could receive the stigmata of Christ, of course, he must be divine. Nothing but a divine
Savior could produce a St. Francis. So by the time they got to the U.S., her faith came back to
her.

She went to Washington to a sister, married to [someone in] the diplomatic service in the
British Embassy. She was on her way to Italy. She asked on her way if she might spend a few
days.... I told her of my desire to purchase the Mount of the Atonement which would cost $300.
She spoke of her brother-in-law, Dr. Taylor, whose picture hangs in the refectory, a very great
friend of Fr. Cansius, who tried to revive the Benedictines in Wales. I am sure he will be very
much interested when I return and tell him about this mountain.

Before she went away she received Holy Communion, the first time for many years. She
kept in touch with us. She became a tertiary of the Society in England, and then when the
Society was received into the Catholic Church, ten years ago, she became a Catholic. And she
had a brother who had practically lost his faith. He was sick a long time with lecomotovataxia,
and he became a Catholic and very devout before he died. And finally she came over to the
convent and became a nun and a novice mistress, and is Sr. Mary Clare. This is an illustration of
how truth is stranger than fiction.

In this connection Sr. Amelia in the Bronx, she had been at the convent some time. One
night she awoke in the middle of the night, although there was no artificial light in the room,
[and there] stood Our Lady, the Blessed Mother. She wore the red mantle, and she held her heart
in her hand. Our Lady granted her that favor. That is the reason we have the statue with the red
mantle, and the devotion is now spreading over the world. We sent two statues to the Philippine
Islands. We have sent two to Korea. Those Sisters down there are going to do wonderful work.
After all the children get there, there will be Hindus there. The Sisters will proceed with certain
of the teachers, will teach them their catechism, and then later the work will be passed over to
Fr. Francis Oppici. Hundreds of Italian boys [who] drifted from the faith will be made good
Catholics.

Question: When was the Threefold Salutation first written? I found it in the middle of
some prayers and simply adopted it in that way. We will return to our subject later on.

Document 14
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XV
38-43.]

NOTES FROM FATHER PAUL

Fr. Founder (Continued)

October 26, 1919

Next Thursday is the 10th Anniversary of the corporate reception of our holy Society
into the Catholic Church. There are many lines of evidence when we go back, as the time goes
on those lines of evidence increase to show that the Society of the Atonement is something that
came by Divine election and purpose, and one of the most wonderful of these forms of our
evidence is the fact that the Pope should have accepted the Society and took it under his special
protection and set the seal of the Apostolic endorsement upon it. And this action of the Vicar of
Christ on earth should be to us the strongest kind of evidence that our holy Society is of God,

For example, we have first of all, to go back a little, the receiving of the text. Whereas
that was enough for the Father Minister, other people might only be skeptical about it and say,
“Oh well that is all very fine, but [you] just got this accidentally.” But later on, when came the
Covenant Chapter on top of these other texts, where St. Paul spoke of God having made a
promise by Abraham, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. As
He could swear by no greater He swore by Himself. That by two things we might have a sure
confidence.”

There is first the text and then the confirmation of the text by an oath. Blessing He would
bless and multiplying He would multiply the Children of the Atonement. On top of all, comes
the blessings of the Holy Father formally accepting it in communion with the Apostolic See.
Those statements, [are] the various lines of evidences we have of our Holy Society being of
Divine Origin. These are really the three greatest of all these evidences, and everything else that
happens and the two increasing prospects of the development of the Society from year to year
only confirms, ratifies, by the Providence of God what God Himself has promised, what His
Vicar on earth has confirmed accordingto Our Lord's promise to him, “What thou bindest on
earth shall be bound in heaven.”

This was really a very wonderful and extraordinary thing. We had been at Graymoor for
about ten years and we had experienced many disappointments at that time. As time went on the
Society seemed to be dwindling. It prospered at first because the Franciscan Christian ideals
were rather popularamong the Episcopalians who began to flock to us. But just as soon as we
told the purpose of the Society, of coming back to the Apostolic See, when I began to preach the
Catholic Church and Confession, etc., ritual, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Papal
infallibility, these things were startling to Episcopal congregations. The consequence was we
began to be isolated more and more. Our community began gradually to shrink, and it was when
it was at the lowest ebb, when I had no other companion than Bro. Anthony and Mother had five
Sisters, it was just at that time when things looked most forlorn to us, that Divine Providence
opened the way for our entrance into the CatholicChurch.

One of the things that helped, I am sure, was the death of Sr. Mary Anna. She was an
extraordinary woman. I think when she first appeared at the Convent with her big spectacles, we
thought she was one of the holiest women, when she first came about to enter the Community.
But you forgot all about this when you knew her. She had a wonderful knowledge and
conversational powers. She belonged to the first families of Virginia. Her father was General
Walker. Robert E, Lee... Her mother belonged to a soldier family of this old Virginia stock, to
George Washington, and the signers of the Declaration of Independence. She was with her
husband in the office of the Government.When the Sister was born, an officer, Robert Lee, stood
as her godfather when baptized. General Walker at the end of the war was anxious to save his
family as he saw the surrender of the South coming. They went out on a blockade runner, and
they were taken on board a British steamer that carried them to England. Sr. Mary Anna was
brought up in England and then returned to this country. She received a religious vocation and
entered the Sisters of All Saints. They have several houses in Baltimore and Philadelphia. She
[next word unclear in type and hence omitted] the celebrated Cowley Fathers, followers of a
religious life, home at Cowley at Oxford, whence they got their name.

Fr. Maturin, who went down on the Lusitania. He was at St. Clement's at Philadelphia
[and] electrified the people by his preaching. Once he got excited and threw a gold watch at the
congregation. Sister Anna felt a call to the contemplative life. She was released from her
community and came to Graymoor seeking to realize her aspirations. She was a great
consolation and support to our Rev. Mother. She made a genial companion like our own Mother.
Sr. Mary was very benevolent and kind, and at the same time a wonderful conversationalist. She
grasped with all her heart the teachings of the Society, and she would pray very earnestly that
the day would be hastened when we should be one with the Holy See.

The winter before she died or the winter she died, which was ten years ago, they were
building the Aqueduct at that time, and when the project was completed in the fall, many people
were left without employment. There was such want that winter. In consequence the Sisters kept
a soup kitchen, a soup cauldron full of soup all the time. These men came down and the Sisters
used to feed them. She heard about some Italians back here where a woman was in great want.
The weather was not very good and she caught a cold, and she always suffered from her heart.
The result was, after nights of great agony, toward evening, Vesper time, she suddenly gasped,
Her life went out. She was dead.

Two or three extraordinary things occurred in connection with her death. She had
expressed a desire to come up to the Mountain. At that time there was not very much on this
mountain except the Friary building. Our refectory was downstairs. At this end was the kitchen
where Bro. Anthony used to excel in his dishes. We had a Brother Christopher who used to get
out ledges of stone from the quarry. He was sitting by himself in the kitchen. There was to be
Benediction in the Convent. Brother Anthony and I went down. When we returned that night he
told us he was sitting in the kitchen and he saw out the window as if one could see somebody
stepping down. At first he looked to see if Bro. Anthony was there. Then he saw it was a nun. So
it seemed that Sr. Anna must have made a little visit up the mountain. She had already selected
her resting place. She must have also known this man was a quarry man. When he realized, he
went to work the next day, that Sunday, cutting the grave out. He quarried her grave from the
rock.

Another remarkable thing occurred. A poor woman came up to the convent quite often.
She had features something like Queen Mary of England. She came to Sr. Mary. She thought she
was to have another child, but the Dr. said she had a tumor. She was very much worried. She
was dreading the operation. Sr. Mary Anna was standing by her bedside and said, “You need not
bother anymore,” and she never did. I met her son later and he said his mother was well. The
thing simply disappeared. That was really a miracle. Sr. Mary Anna came to visit her after her
death. I think we can have every good cause to believe in her intercession. I almost always go to
invoke Sr. Mary and Sr. Martha, asking them to pray for our intercession. Sr. Mary was very
devoted to the cause of reunion and longed and prayed for it. It was after her death in February
1909, that things began to shape themselves for our reception into the Catholic Church.

Someone had recommended that I go to see Cardinal Gibbons. About a month after Sr.
Mary Anna's death, I got an opening to see Cardinal Gibbons in Baltimore and went down for
that purpose. I had been down once before, was very much disappointed. When I came in he was
all vested for a Solemn Requiem Mass. Some prominent man in the Cathedral had died and
therefore he had only a few minutes to give me. I told him we were getting anxious to get into
the Catholic Church. Now we believe everything and had borne our witness and it seemed it was
the opportunity perhaps to get into the Church. The only obstacle that remained was we still
believed in the validity of the Anglican Orders and the Pope having based his judgement on
there being no continual ordination.... The difficultywas that we would have to repudiate this
faith which we felt was strong in the validity of the Anglican Orders. He said,

"You are doing a good work as you are bearing witness to the Apostolic
See. I would not go any further along until the difficulties are removed. You are
being guided by the Holy Spirit, so just follow along as long as any obstacle is in
the way. There is nothing to do but wait for the obstacle to get out of the way,"

I was then rather anxious to get in. As I went out, I met his secretary who said,

"I think the man you should see is Msgr. Falconio. He is a Franciscan. I
 was his secretary before I came here to be the Cardinal's Secretary."

In these days the Apostolic Delegate was in the habit of reading The Lamp. Why they do
not ask for anything but what may be granted them. [previous sentence is unclear] “I think you
better write the Apostolic Delegate in New York, and get in touch with him.” He replied he
would see me in New York. He was going to Rome shortly and would be absent from the City. I
went to New York and [to see] him at the Cardinal's residence. He had just gone. Consequently
there was nothing to do but to wait until he returned from Europe. So the Spring and Summer
went by, and finally word came by newspapers, Msgr. Falconio had returned to Washington.

I wrote again in August for an appointment. Accordingly he made an appointment to see

me on a certain Friday in August, and the day I left here to see the Apostolic Delegate was St.
Clare's Day. I went down in my habit, and I travelled everywhere in my habit and without
money in those days. I landed in Washington early in the morning. I went over to the High
Anglican Church there and put on the vestments, went in and celebrated Holy Communion, had
my breakfast and started out for the Apostolic Delegation. When I got on the car I looked around
for somebody to pay my fare. I saw a clerical looking gentleman sitting on the other side. I said,
"Would you mind paying my fare? I am a Franciscan Friar travelling without money," He did so
and said: "That is what we need. Francis is the Saint of us Protestants. What we need is people
to revive the life of St. Francis.”

Finally I got off, went into the Apostolic Delegation, was shown into a little ante room
by a colored woman at the door. Down came Msgr. Falconio. He was wearing his dove colored
cassock, which Franciscans are permitted to wear in those positions. He had a pair of old
Brussels carpet shoes on. He came down with these slippers and sat down in a most friendly
matter-of-fact way, without any airs at all. I went and told him of the Society of the Atonement,
and told him of the Rev. Mother's name, "Well," he said,

''Suppose you do this. When you go home, make an application to the

Pope to receive you in the Catholic Church just as you asked me today. I will
send it to the Holy Father and we will see what will become of it."

I sat down to prepare this document addressed to the Holy Father, that we had been
paying Peter's Pence as an outward sign in the Apostolic See. We asked him if he would not take
it under his definite protection and to permit the Order under his blessing to labor for the return
of Anglicans and other separated Christians to the one Shepherd to preach and labor for the
reconciliation of sinners through the Precious [Blood] of the Atonement and the Sacrament of
Penance to the Holy Church, and that we might go as missionaries to the heathen.

That letter went off on the Octave of St. Clare's Day. It was received in Washington.
Then there came a great silence. All the rest of August went by. All of September went by, and
Rome was silent. Not a sound. Of course we began to wonder what had become of the letter. As
time approached St. Francis Day to come, I said to the Rev. Mother, When do you think the
answer will come?" She replied:"Oh, on St. Francis Day it will come." We all waited with great
interest for St. Francis Day to come. When the mail came there was no letter from Rome.

"Well", I said, "it seems to me that the day of all days for it to come would be October
7th." So, three days later came October 7th .. It was our custom to go to the Convent to give the
Sisters a little address. In the morning I called them all in and reminded them of the Covenant
Chapter and I spoke upon it, and at noon we had Benediction. At noon in those days was the
time the mail carrier arrived. Just as soon as the ceremonies were over I slipped out of the
Chapel [and] went to the gate. Just as I got there he had an unusually small package of mail, all
wrapped up with string around it. I wondered if there is a letter from. Rome. I did not have the
courage to look at it.

Well, precious things are sometimes done up in small packages, like diamonds. The Rev.
Mother was also a little excited and came to the door. I was holding them in my hand. She said:
"That top letter is from Washington." I picked up courage. I saw Apostolic Delegation in the
corner. Then and there I opened the letter. It said the Holy Father had been pleased to accept our
petition, and saw no reason why the Society of the Atonement might not be received into
canonical union with Rome, and that in time if we acquainted ourselves with the canons and
regulations our rule might be confirmed at Rome.

He also said he had written instruction to the Archbishop of New York in regard to the
reception of our Society into union with Rome. So that was a day of great rejoicing. The
Apostolic Delegation said he would be in a few days, in New York at St. Anthony's monastery,
Thompson Street, and that he would see me there. I went down and it was in Thompson Street
that I met the Apostolic Delegate. I assured him that we were overjoyed that the Holy Father
had sent word, and we would be ready to be received as soon as he saw fit. I said it would be
agreeable to us anytime.

“I am, going to be at the Archbishop's tomorrow evening. Come over there. We will
arrange with the archbishop.” The next day I went over and was greeted by the Archbishop and
the Apostolic Delegate. The Archbishop asked me whom I wanted to receive us. I had a great
friend in Monsignor Conroy of Ogdensburg, and that I had hoped perhaps he would do the
instructing. His Grace, the Archbishop said that is all right. I had permission and instruction,
therefore, to put myself under Msgr.. O'Keefe. I wrote to Monsignor Conroy, Vicar General of
Ogdensburg, to make arrangements for our reception. Msgr. Conroy was much delighted and
made all the arrangements and the day fixed for our reception was Saturday, Our Lady’s Day,
October 10th . He came the evening before and heard our confessions and then in the early
morning, Fr. Paschal Robinson came on to assist. There was an early celebration of Holy Mass
and then the reception into the Catholic Church later on in the day.

There was, altogether, to be received at that time, seventeen persons. And see, even in
that, the arrangement of God in things in a mystical way. There were two Pauls on the Mount of
the Atonement: Brother Paul and Father Paul. He was Paul Jacob, I was Paul James Francis. The
Hebrew form of the word Jacobus is James or Jacob.
There were five Sisters, Mother and four companions. There were some Tertiaries
besides. Altogether, the company was seventeen. There you have the five and the two
representing the five barley loaves and the two fishes. Then that plus ten is the way you get 150
and three fishes which St. Peter drew out of the lake, which is typical of the elect drawn out of
the sea in the above.

You get the 153: 7 plus 10 x 9, the square of the Trinity, a mystical number. Of these we
have several in the Society of the Atonement which, represented by the ten plus seven, equals
17. Also, ten is the number (member) Hebraic and seven the number of the Gentiles, one stands
for the Gentiles and the other for the Jews.

Even in these little details in the reception of the Society, God looked out for them. The
reception also took place on Our Lady's Day, Saturday. The ceremonies took place in the
morning, in the little house back of St. John's, now Our Lady's Hostel. A little lunch was spread
for us. BishopConroy, Fr. Robinson, Fr. Drain of Cold Spring, were present on that little feast.

Mr. Prior was one of the gentlemen received that day. Then, in the afternoon, we went
over and had Benediction, and that was one of the things that astonished Fr. Drain. The Sisters
were used to the Te Deum work. “Isn't that strange how the Sisters can sing the O Salutaris!”

Msgr. Conroy was very lovely. I hope he will visit us some time. He is a most charming
man. He remained with us and preached the sermon on Sunday. There were two or three more
received that day. Two or three from Brooklyn and Mrs. Tice from Peekskill. A Mr. Baker was
also received. That brought the number to about twenty at that time into the Catholic Church.
We celebrate that next Thursday by Solemn High Mass in the Sisters' Chapel at nine o’clock. I
hope we will be able to get the Friars and students in to be present at that Mass. Bishop Conroy
sent me a letter today. I think Mr. Pritcher and his wife were not getting along very well in New
York. He always reminded me of Edwin Booth. He was a great actor. A brother of Edwin Booth
shot Lincoln.

I had a delightful visit while still an Anglican. He asked me to come one Christmas. I got
there the day before New Year’s, It was very cold there on the border of Canada, right across the
river is Canada. He came down to meet the train in the evening with one or two of his assistants.
They gave me a royal time. I did enjoy every minute of that time. The next day was New Year’s,
and of course, I had to have my own celebration. I went to the Anglican Minister. I had
celebrated down in the basement. There was only a handful of people present at New Year’s. I
was present first of all at an early Mass. It seemed to me there was about 40 dozen people all
coughing, as if they had a cold. The whole church was full and people coughed during the Mass,

Afterward, I went over to a High Mass where the Bishop was present. They intended to
have me up at the altar. I came in a little late and sat in the body of the church. And then, we
were invited out in the evening, and of course, they had refreshments, etc. The next afternoon, I
think I was invited out. My! All the eats, etc.

Bishop Gabriels invited me to take a slow ride with him. After we came back he said,

"Fr. Paul, it seems to me that you have been a sign post long enough. You
have been pointing the road long enough. It is about time that you had come into
the Church yourself.”

While I was there, we were talking about some matter of reception of the Society of the
Atonement into the fold of Peter. “I will have to see my friend Archbishop Farley about that,”
but he was not able to accomplish very much.

Document 15
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XV
44-48]

NOTES FROM FATHER PAUL

Fr. Founder (Continued)

November l6, 1919

I will tell you about The Lamp. I was asked by the Rector of St. Barnabas to deliver some
sermons. I preached a course of sermons. Towards the Fall, I began to preach about St. Peter,
that the position of the [Anglican] Church was false, and that the way to truth was to get back
and labor in union with the Holy See. I also used to preach on the street corners. I was later led
to write up my position in the Brooklyn Citizen, a leading paper. About this time, I received an
invitation from the Archdeacon of Long Island to preach a sermon on missions before the Fall
meeting of the Archdeaconry. The meeting was to be near Greenport, L.I., and my old college
chum, Jessup, the Rector, had invited me to speak to the deaconry on the missionary clergy.

They were to come together and this evening I was to preach the sermon. I thought it was
only right that I should give my old chum a hint of what sort of sermon he was to expect. He
was not much surprised, having seen the newspapers, that I was to speak on the Pope. It was not
quite right. He did not write to me directly, asking me not to preach on the Pope. I am not
absolutely sure but he called on Billy Holden, an old college companion.

Now, he said,

"Fr. Paul is coming here and I am afraid he is going to preach on the

Pope. That will never do. You are the one to stop him. He is going to leave Long
Island City on such and such a train. You can get on the train since you are half-
way along."

I was riding along when all of a sudden the archdeacon limped up before me. Presently
he said,

"By the bye, you know those people at Greenport are quite low church. I
know you are pretty high church and I hope you are not going to preach any kind
of a sermon that will stir things up."

I did not say anything but thought a good deal. There was a battle between prudence and
conscience for the time being. Prudence says,

“You are a man under authority. Here is the archdeacon. He represents the
powers that be, for the time being. Since he has intimated, is it not your duty to
submit to authority?”

The other voice said,

“No, there is a higher authority than the archdeacon. The Holy Spirit has
 put it into your mind to preach this sermon and, therefore, it will be your duty to
preach the sermon God puts into your mouth and not what the archdeacon says.”
That continued in my mind. Finally, we arrived at the station and there was a
carriage and I found myself in the front seat with the archdeacon.

Presently we got to the church about 7:30 P.M., and the parish house was next door. We
got out to go into the parish house and the parting shot was "Preach this-- a spiritual sermon."
Prudence said. “Here is your chance to preach something that will do them all good. It will be a
chance for you to preach the sermon and, at the close, some will come to you and say, ''Father
that was a good sermon."

When at the entrance to the church, I recalled that all were older than I. I said, ''How
could I presume to talk about this in the face of all these older men?” All the time, this thought
was going on inside me.

In the Episcopal Church, they try to divide up things so that all the clergy can speak. One
said this, another that. Somebody reads out of the Old Testament. They sing the Canticle like
“Bless the Lord.” Then the chapter from the New Testament. A minister from the North of
Ireland — He had a very strong voice — He gave out the books, and then in stentorian tones,

"Son of man rise and stand upon thy feet, speak to them whether they
hear or whether they forbear, for they be a rebellious house."

"I have to preach the sermon on Peter," I said to myself. The next one got up and read
from the New Testament, how John the Baptist preached repentance. While they were singing
the hymn, I knelt down and prayed, got recollected, and by the time I got into the pulpit, my
stage fright was quite gone. I started by reading when Peter and John went up to the temple.
There sat a man at the beautiful gate, lame, who never had walked. When he saw Peter and John,
he fixed eyes upon them and asked for alms as was his custom. Peter said, "Silver and gold, I
have none, but what I have, I give thee freely,” and straightaway he was healed,

“I have been asked to preach on the spirit of missions I am sorry to say

that missions of our Church, especially the foreign missions have not been very
successful. Like the man at the gate we are always stretching out our hands for
alms, and although we have some of the greatest millionaires in the Episcopal
Church, we always seem to lack funds,
“Now I am going to tell you what is the trouble, in order that we may
remedy this difficulty. The Anglicanism today is like the man lame from his
mother's womb. It is the product of the incestuous union of Henry the VIII and
his mother, the Church of England, and it produced this particular form of
religion called Anglicanism, which has always been lame. There is only one voice
that can put power back into those limbs and make it mighty for the conquest of
the world.”

I went on to say that the one voice that could give the power was the voice of Peter's
successor, in Rome,

...Some time ago I was in Baltimore. Cardinal Gibbons said, “If we had the Anglicans
with us we should conquer the world. If they should come back They would receive such
power.” Providentially, God has given to the English speaking peoples, England and America
the dominant.... If we only were united with the Pope, then we could do all these wonderful
things.

And with this, the North of Ireland minister could stand it no longer, He went off to the
archdeacon and whispered, "You will have to cut that man off. You cannot let him go on that
way." The man who read about the prophet was contradicting his own orders. He got up, and the
strange part of it--although born in London, England-- was that he was a lame layman. He got
before the altar. He turned around and shouted out, “ Let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify God in heaven.” That is the hint for the wardens to
take up the collection.

I retired to my corner and the collection was taken up. Jessup got up and said he was very
sorry with this unpleasant experience that had happened that evening. He thought they had taken
precaution not to have such a sermon preached. The procession walked out of the church. You
can imagine how I felt. He had arranged for me to stay with two ladies. After the sermon, he
thought it was not wise for me to go there. I was hustled to the hotel instead. Next morning, I
went to the session of the Archdeaconry and sat in the back of the church and listened to the
discussion. Some of them sat up late the night before. They got up to move that the Church at
large would know they were not responsible for such things. I did not say anything. But there
was a John Manning there. He had been Pastor in the white district of London. He proceeded to
talk to the people who talked of me in that way.

"You invite a clergyman from another diocese, in good canonical

standing. He preached a sermon on Church unity, and tells us we ought all to get
back into the fold of Peter, which might be a very good thing to do. I move that
resolution be laid on the table. It is perfectly outrageous.”

I came home in obedience to the command although I did not realize what I was doing at
the time. I began to let our light shine through The Lamp. I had already published Rose Leaves.
About this time, Denis O'Neil, [a] writer for the Catholic Citizen and other papers, wrote to me
from Omaha and said they really needed a paper to represent the pro-Roman position of the
Society of the Atonement, that there were a good many people holding that position, and we
ought to have an organ for it. He thought The Lamp to have a good name, As that had been used
by the Oxford movement, he would be willing to edit it in Omaha. When he tried to carry it
through, he met with a great number of obstacles and failed. I started it at Graymoor and
accordingly The Lamp was lighted.
The ways of Providence are very wonderful. I used to mail this tract to some of the
Episcopal clergy. One day, I sent a copy to Japan. We had some Episcopal missionaries over
there. I thought no more of it until several months later. Rev. Mother received a letter from
Arthur Lloyd, President of St. Paul's College, Tokyo, Japan. He said,

"I want to take this occasion to thank you for Rose Leaves, which I read
with great interest, but I am puzzled and cannot make out whether you are Roman
Catholics or Anglo Catholics. I cannot tell. But I assume in any case for the
courtesy of sending it to me."
 The correspondence ensued. The result was he was turned over to St. Peter. I asked for
an article from him. An article appeared in the second issue of The Lamp, in which he spoke of
their being different bishops in Tokyo: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Greek, and two or three other
kinds. He spoke of the divided character of Christendom, and he said as a first step towards
reunion, he had taken to the pen periodically and of sending Peter's Pence to him as the center of
Christendom and of Unity.

People were very much excited in the Mission House at New York, which is the
headquarters or the foreign missions. So much so they sent a cablegram to Mr. Lloyd calling for
his resignation. He got wind of it. He resigned of himself. The result was being without a job.
The Mikado gave him a position in the Imperial University, Tokyo. He retained that position
until his death. He kept on writing these articles. Finally, one day, our Rev. Mother received a
letter from Mrs. Lloyd.

In the meantime, he had gotten sick. This thing had worried him so much. He was going
to make his submission. He went to the Jesuits to prepare himself and put himself under
instruction. He was struck down with brain fever. His wife took occasion to write to our Rev.
Mother and laid it all on that pink tract, and she wound up sending in more of these pink tracts.

Out of that, grew a wonderful thing. At the close of the Japanese-Russo War, I got a
letter: "I have just written to Pius X to send him periodically Peter's Pence, and I have the honor
to suggest that it would be wise to thank him for the consideration he showed to the Catholic
Soldiers during the War. The Holy Father took up the suggestion and at that time Cardinal
O'Connell was the Bishop of Portland. He was in Rome at the time and the letter being for the
Emperor of Japan, he did not put it in the post office, but sent it to him by Cardinal O'Connell
and some other distinguished people with him. They were received at the palace and the Mikado
was very much flattered and while he was there, he actually declared he would like the Jesuits to
come back to Japan and establish a University in the Imperial city of Japan. The Jesuits were all
put to death shortly after St. Francis Xavier.

This was a most extraordinary thing for the Mikado to invite the Jesuits to come back.
And they did, and the University is there today. That University grew out of the little mustard
seed, Rose Leaves.

Document 16
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XV
47-54. There are incomplete sentences and also sentences that are not clear. It is difficult to
understand how Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., was not sure if he received the initial UNBL inspiration
on Dec. 8 or Dec. 21. In later writings he is very definite that he got it on Dec. 21. He is in the
habit of using the word “missioners” instead of missionaries. Since this document in The Words
of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., appears right after other documents which are
dated 1919, perhaps this one also falls under that year.]
 NOTES OF FATHER PAUL

Fr. Founder
[No date]

...See how this one man, Martin Luther, by his rebellion against the Holy See has caused
so many to become and set themselves up in the Christian Church. Ten years after this he [Henry
VIII] did the same thing in England as Luther did in Germany. By his self-will, lust and passion,
he led the whole British Empire to become apostates to the Holy See, and laid the foundation of
that tremendous schism or heresy.

It is said that the sun never sets on the British Empire, and the British Empire has been
stamped with Protestantism as the result of the breach with Rome made by Henry VIII. Now
then, John Henry Newman was the first individual of all, whom God set in opposition to Henry
VIII, to illustrate the principle of the Atonement. As by the disobedience of one man, the
English people were made rebellious against the Church of the Holy See, by the obedience and
example of this one man, Newman, you have the beginning of the return of the English in
obedience to the Holy See.

Notice something that you never did notice before. Both were named Henry, but Henry
Tutor a descendant of this Welsh people. The great heretic of the early days who manifested the
power of the human will and affirmed that man standing, would by the exertion of his own will,
keep the commandments of his own natural will and could earn heaven. Henry comes from this
same stock. His heart set upon that contrary to the will of God although at one time he
constituted the champion of the Catholic Church and the Apostolic See in particular.

Now then, the other Henry is not filled with the old man but with the spirit of Henry
Newman. He also has the representative name of John by the Atonement, who said: "Son, behold
thy mother; mother behold thy Son." That is the beginning. Now, seventy years after the
beginning of this return of the English to the Holy See, it takes on a new aspect, the corporate
reunion is distinguished from the individual submission.

There is where the Society of the Atonement comes in. Here is a corporate body, a body
which begins in, reunites in the principle of the atonement, then gradually develops. This
corporate body starts a new idea as it were, that is to say of the corporate submission as
distinguished from that of the individual. If you look at it from the standpoint of reason you can
see very readily that individual submission will never accomplish the return of the other sheep to
the fold of Peter, because while one individual here and there may be converted and make his
submission, there may be a dozen other individuals who are lapsing and falling away. In the
meantime, by ordinary process of development the Protestants are multiplying on every hand. So
that by individual conversion, if the world should continue millions of years, would never
accomplish the return of the other sheep to the fold of Peter.

It is also to be recognized that the devil, powerful as he is, is not neater than God. If the
devil was powerful in the sixteenth century, he would swoop not individuals alone but nations
and peoples out of the fold of Peter. The Holy Ghost ought to be powerful enough to generate in
the good time of God a movement which would bring individuals, multitudes, and nations back
to the Papal See.
 That is what the Society of the Atonement bore witness to in its early days, it lay in the
purpose of God to change and alter and bring about in the Catholic leaven in the Anglican fold a
state and condition where some day a bondage which had been broken from the Holy See by the
sin of one might be reconciled and be brought back again.

And thus this movement began like a mustard seed at Graymoor at the time we made our
application for union with Rome. The Society at the time we made our application was
numerically an exceeding infinitesimal thing. The first congregation of the Friars of the
Atonement consisted of just two persons, one a cleric and one lay brother. However, you have
the unit and at the same time it was the Jew and the Gentile, And then the Sisters, there were
only five of them, but see now in connection with them, there were ten tertiaries or associates of
the Society, Thus we were able to infuse. So it was 2 plus 5 plus 10 = 17 altogether, which
multiplied by the square of 3 constituted the 150 and 3 which are the number of the elect. The
150 and 3 fish which St. Peter drew out of the lake after he drew the net to land on the shore.

Here again are the five barley loaves and the two small fishes. The Sisters were five
barley loaves. But see how this thing has grown and spread. I remember very well the day I went
down and talked the matter over with the Rev. Mother in 1900, and told her what my
convictions were: that the claims of the papacy were true and that the purpose of God in our
Society was to bring back Anglicans, including those associated with them to union with the
Apostolic See. I said now, as far as I know, I am the only clergyman in the Episcopal Church out
of 20,000. But, I said, if it is true, it will prevail. The Mother said,

"Do you realize what you will witness, if you begin to preach that? We
have not many friends and the few we have we will get rid of altogether."

We were Franciscans, left alone and isolated, but in just a little while, when we began to
publish The Lamp, there were just three of us first of all.

An Anglican paper, The Living Church, states ,"There is only one man of the clergy
holding these views. That is, the erratic Father Paul." Then after a while they acknowledged
three persons. Fr. Paul, Spencer Jones, and Dr. Lloyd in Japan. About a year after that there was
a Pro-Roman party. And so it went.
Now then, this work is going on developing. We made our submission. There was a
corporate submission. Nobody can dispute it, I went to Washington, saw the Apostolic Delegate,
told him my story. He told me to go back home and write and he would send it to the Pope, to
receive this Society into union with the Holy See, and to preserve the Institute and to preserve
the name. And then the Holy Father, through his representative in this country, agreed to do that.
The Apostolic Delegate came to New York ordering and directing that this Institute on the
Mount of Atonement should be received, although it was a shock to the sensibilities of people in
New York. Nevertheless, it was the direction of the Pope, backed by his Apostolic Delegate, that
it was a corporate submission without question of doubt.

The day we came in, our life went on practically as before. I wore the same habit as
before, and so with our Sisters. Many people were greatly disturbed by the fact that our Rev.
Mother was not sent away to take a Novitiate somewhere else, even Bishop Cusack who was
placed over us, said one day: "You have not a canonical status." He came, in fact, to St. John's
one day and right there in the presence of a congregation he spoke to Rev. Mother and
practically said in a blunt way, "They do not have a proper religious standing." They reported
the matter to the Apostolic Delegate. The Apostolic Delegate was in New York and he sent word
to Bishop Cusack to see him. He said, "I want you to understand that these people have been
received according to the Canon Law of the Catholic Church and that they are now performing
their Novitiate. It is a duly constituted congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis.
Their status is all right and is to be recognized as such." So the help of the Holy See was thrown
around the institute.

See how this seed began to work. There was about this time a flourishing company of
Benedictine Monks in the Church of England, the pride (?) of Lord Halifax, and they began to
boast that the Church of England could produce Benedictines. The Archbishop of York was
afraid of John Cook, who was on the style [side?] of the Monks. He sent Mother to this country.
He made a pilgrimage to the Mount of the Atonement. In the old Friary I sketched out our views
in regard to the papacy, etc. Well, he said, ''I guess that is my view too." About two years after
we came in, his whole community, having observed the Church Unity Octave, felt it their duty
to make their submission to Rome.
There was the first piece of English soil that came absolutely under the direction and
jurisdiction of the Apostolic See. When these Monks made their submission to the Holy See a
piece of ground was owned by the Abbot and when he and the rest made submission it was
absolutely under the Pope.

Then in South Wales, there was also a large and flourishing body of nuns, of these
Monks, the Benedictine Nuns. And they by the operation of the Holy Spirit, with one consent
felt that they too should make their submission, and they too were received in their corporate
capacity, and have continued so since.

There was also another community of Sisters of St. Catherine who were the recent
tertiaries of the Benedictine Order or Congregation.

Now then, another interesting development has taken place in England. There is what is
called a Catholic League. It is made up of Church of England Clergy of very high views, who
hold the Catholic Religion almost in every particular, some in all particulars. The secretary of
this League wanted to know if they could have all the indulgences attached to it. I had no power
to dispense this indulgence outside the Catholic Church. As far as joining the League, we were
glad to have them as an associated group. Then he told me of a Sisterhood which he had been
instrumental in establishing, and a remarkable thing in connection with it. Their Mother had no
house. While she was praying to find a house for her subjects, the Blessed Virgin appeared one
night and said, "You go to a certain place in London and you will find your house provided for
you." She did not know what she was going to find when she got there. She found the parish of
one of those Catholic League clergymen who had a house already for her. She took possession
of it.

Moreover, one of her subjects, who was an ignorant peasant who had never heard of the
stigmatization had received the Stigmata of Our Lord. Mother Superior since corresponded with
their Mother. We find that they have the same faith and aspirations that the Society of the
Atonement originally had.
 The Holy Ghost is still working in the Anglican body to raise up and extend this
movement, and those who have the right will and disposition, and the right faith concerning the
Apostolic See, and who are, as it were, the children of obedience in the midst of disobedience,
even as Our Lord came in the midst of the rebels to raise up the elect.

We can have the confidence to have the Catholic Spirit whose use is as leaven, working
in the vast body of those outside the fold, until the proper psychological time comes for the great
movement of those sheep, under the movement of their guides, into the fold of Peter. Even as
Our Lord said thatthey would hear His words and that there would be One Fold and One
Shepherd.

I had occasion to go to Philadelphia to preach. I went a little further to Baltimore,

because we were already paying Peter's Pence, and I wished to pay my homage to Cardinal
Gibbons. He received me upstairs in his study, A very small and very plain place. Bye and bye I
told him about The Lamp, and what we wanted to do, and he seemed to speak by a special
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For he exclaimed: "If we had the Anglicans with us we could
conquer the world." I do not think there is any question about that, because as God gave the
Romans roads, the avenues and arteries of civilization that St. Paul travelled, preaching the
gospel to the ends of the earth. He is giving much more than ever in this great war of the nations
of the earth and particularly in those parts of the world which were pagan, and if we can swing
into line with the Holy See, the English speaking people, we will have radically conquered the
world for Christ.

That is the great and tremendous mission of our Society and you must not forget it. Do
not side track it, but try to correspond with the Holy Spirit to get that inspiration and look
forward to the day when this glorious promise, to the English speaking people will be realized.

The reason why, at the present time, The Antidote means so much to the Editor is that it
is a sort of editorial child of one's old age, sort of a pet, the latest baby. It is a source of immense
satisfaction to me to know that every single Episcopal Bishop and clergyman is getting The
Lamp, and I should like to put it into their studies when they read it month after month. Already
we see the signs. One or two have written asking not to send it. Some have actually, subscribed
for it. One wrote the other day and said, "Your brotherhood has advanced the cause of Church
Unity by centuries, by introducing into the Matter the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians." The
chapter about charity.

You must believe in this movement and try to understand it. Try to understand it
although you have been brought up, most of you, in the Catholic Church and do not understand
it outside. Try to become more and more acquainted with the Reformation in your history,
particularly the English Reformation. Train yourself by prayer, and in every other way so that
you may do your share towards this great work of the Society in being a sort of intermediary
instrument of Atonement. On one side holding the hand of the Holy Father, on the other a hand
of sympathy to our brothers on every side until we have led them all the way into the Fold of
Peter.

We said that at the time of our reception into the fold of Peter we made application to the
Holy See, that under his blessing, the Society may be able to do three things: First; labor for
Anglicans to return to the Fold of Peter, reconciliation of sinners to God through the Precious
Blood, and bringing pagans into the fold as missioners.

It is the Feast of Andrew, the first missionary among the Apostles who brought to Our
Lord his brother Peter, who became the head of the Church. It is therefore very fitting that we
should speak of the missionary side of our vocation. One of the mottos of our Society is first of
doing all things for Christ. We have consecrated ourselves to God. We should pray every day to
ask God to use us individually as well as corporately to save the greatest number of souls,
possible through Divine Omnipotence, yoked up with such feebleness to bring in the Kingdom
of God. The Divine operation of the Spirit of God produced our wonderful missionary
organization called the Union That Nothing Be Lost. Some of you are familiar with it already. It
is an old story to some of us, but like a familiar song it never grows weary.

I am occupying again the little cell I occupied way back about 1902. One morning in
December — I think it must have been either the Feast of the Immaculate Conception or perhaps
that of St. Thomas Day. I often wished to know what particular day it was. But this morning I
awoke with the words of Our Lord to His Apostles after performing the miracle of feeding the
multitude, the five loaves and the two fishes, were in my mind: "Gather up the fragments, that
nothing be lost," Now if that principle of saving the fragments, which people too easily waste
and throw away, it would supply a vast army. It would solve the question of how to support our
Missionaries. During the war you saw the same Gospel preached. Wherever you went you saw
placards up: Save Food! Save Time! Thereby saving the world and making it safe for
democracy. And so the people, in their enthusiasm for the cause of the war, exercise themselves
a wonderful amount, saving millions of bushels of wheat and sugar, etc., which helped to feed
the armies fighting for democracy on the other side of the ocean.

An extraordinary thing — although the concept of it was given me in those pre-Catholic

days, and I was prompted to write the rule just as now, I could get no one to enthuse over the
U.N.B.L., no one wanted to practice the principles for the salvation of souls. After years of
meeting with disappointment and failure the thing had almost vanished out of my mind, until
[after] we were received into the Church on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We were
reciting Matins and Lauds in the Chapel. With me were the Friars. All of a sudden this thing
came back so that it was difficult to keep my thoughts on the office to finish it.

That night I was still possessed with the idea of that thought. Occupying the bed in the
identical room where Brother Fidelis now sleeps, the Union That Nothing Be Lost prayer came
to me, which you just said. Next morning, full of enthusiasm on the subject, I wrote a letter with
a copy of the rules of the Union and the new prayer and told him [that is, Bishop Thomas
Cusack] we hoped, through that instrumentality, to raise up friends and benefactors for the
Society so that when the Society grew and spread, the members of the Union would be sure with
the funds and alms to support and maintain the army of the Friars in the foreign field.

Finally the reply came back. The Bishop said he hesitated to bless it because, he said, the
rule was so perfect, he was afraid no one would live by it. Therefore it would be of little
assistance, to the Friars, and to their work. I remember the next day having been rather
crestfallen by the reply of the Bishop. As I held the host at the altar I said, "I have been thinking
over this thing for about seven years. If it is only a matter of my imagination, of course it is a
waste of time, but if this really is an inspiration which comes from You, give me some practical
demonstration." Soon after that prayer, that day or the next, an old man turned up who had made
two or three previous visits to the Friary, a John Reid. Dressed in rather seedy costume, still not
like an ordinary Brother Christopher, done up in a home laundered collar.

So we had sort of figured him out as an old gentleman fond of his toddy, and that he
would be in the habit of coming and going to different religious communities and sponge for a
little while. This time he came and stayed for a day or two. I was very busy and did not pay very
much attention to Mr. Reid. “Father, Mr. Reid feels a little offended because the Reverend
Gentleman has no time to speak to him, and seems to have something worth while on his mind'',
said Brother Anthony. I invited him to the little room, bed room, office and about everything,
multum in parvo. We sat down there. I waited for him to open the conversation.

He said,

"I have been reading about Mr. Potter in England, who has founded an
orphan asylum. I have written to him and told him that if he would send two of
his boys, I would have them educated for the priesthood. I have no answer as
yet."

“Well,” I said, ''you must not go to England. That is one of the things we want to do right
here. We have no house as yet for students." "Well," he said, "I will tell you what I will do. I
will send my check for $5,000.00.” I didn't exactly fall off the chair, but I was somewhat
astonished. "$5,000.00," I said, "'I did not know you could do that." He continued,

“I am an old man now. I never married. I was left, as a young man, a

farm--a pretty nice farm of about 40 acres near Waterbury. I worked awful hard
on that farm. I have gradually accumulated that money in the bank. It is my desire
to give it to the education of a priest. Some day the little piece of ground perhaps
will be the site of a monastery.”

He was as good as his word. He went back home, wrote a letter dated St. Thomas' Day. It
contained a check for $5,200.00. All the more remarkable: the 5 barley loaves and the 2 fishes
there. I then wrote down and told the Bishop. By return mail came the answer; "Dear Father
Paul, How can I help but bless the Union That Nothing Be Lost after a manifestation so strong as
that?"

There God raised up, as He raised up another. God not only inspired the Father Minister
to write the rule, compose the prayer. He raised up somebody, the perfect embodiment of its
principle of economy. If anyone can beat John Reid in that line of economy, he will have to
travel some. I don't suppose he ever bought a sheet of paper to write on. When he wants to write
a letter he tears a page out of the book and writes on the ledger sheet. When he writes a letter on
a post card he seeks to write 250 words on it.

Once some friends called to see him in the evening. He lighted the lamp, blew it out, then
in the dark they talked. It was not for himself, but for God and the missions. He was probably
one of the biggest misers in America, but for God. Coming to Graymoor he did not go by way of
the N.Y., N.H.,and H, and the N.Y.C. He cut across the country to save the money. Arriving
here at another time he came into the front room. "Bye the bye," he said, "I have sold some of
the 11 acres of that farm up there. Doggone, there is $2,000. I didn't keep a dollar for myself, it's
for the Union That Nothing Be Lost."

He has gone on in his life of extreme self-denial. We make an annual pilgrimage. The
time I went, we saw John Reid on the front of an old street car discarded by Waterbury, it's
windows all broken in. We found that was his kitchen. Laying there on some old bags filled with
straw he took his afternoon nap.

God raised up this old gentleman to begin the U.N.B.L., to be its first member. When he
joined the Third Order, we called him Brother Phillip, In the Gospel, about the two fishes and
five barley loaves, it was Phillip who said: "Whence shall we get bread that those may eat?''

Since then you know the Union has expanded and developed with increasing fervor.
And, while you are not ready yet to go out into the mission field, you are being trained for the
work. I hope some day, some of you will be missionaries in the field, as we say in the prayers, to
be missionaries in all lands. In the meantime, the Union has gone on with its missionary work
from here, its center, to the extreme limits of the earth through the instrumentality of Brother
Phillip and his check book.

Pray that God infuse into all of us the principles of the Union. Seek and cultivate that
deep poverty, the principle of self-sacrifice and self-denial. Seek to spend upon yourself the
minimum, that we may have the maximum to give to God. That principle ought to actuate us in
all our conduct. Wemust be very careful how we waste things and throw things away.
Remember, we shall have to render an account of those things.

I was edified with a letter from Sr. Aloysius, in New Mexico to establish one of the
missions. She has already gathered in large numbers of children, some of whom I hope may
become Sisters or Friars of the Atonement. In writing she said she had to give Sr. Veronica a
penance at the table. Sr. Veronica when she had somewhat too much coal, she said you must be
careful. If we waste the coal, God may punish us by depriving us of coal. That is something we
want to remember. We don't want to be like the shepherds who feed themselves instead of
feeding the sheep. Friars must not be selfish.

I warn you, if they get that way, God will punish and stop the income. The more stingy
you are, the less you get; whereas if you give abundantly, to the missions, God will bless you
accordingly. Spend the minimum that you may have the maximum to give to God for His greater
glory. The more these principles are carried out the more God will bless you and reward you
accordingly.

There is a mystical significance in the Union which is well worth thinking about. Those
loaves of bread which Christ gave to the people in the wilderness are a type of the Blessed
Sacrament, the bread from Heaven with which He feeds us. That bread is His Own Body and
Blood. These people were naturally thinking about themselves. After they had enough they were
not very particular what became of the fragments. After a while they would get up and pay no
attention to that at all. That is an attitude which Catholics brought up in the fold are apt to take
towards our separated brethren, broken off from the Unity of the Catholic Church. They are
really part of the Catholic Church, nevertheless, dear and precious. We must not trample them
under foot so that we have the abundance of the House of God.
 On the contrary, if we understand the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, it is yearning for the
return to the union of the Catholic Church of those broken fragments. He asks us each to take
His basket to gather those fragments. You must have a great zeal for converts, watch for them,
be willing to makesacrifices for them, to make as one those who have broken off.

It applies also, so far as the missionaries are concerned, to those descendants of Adam
broken off way back in the Garden of Eden. They are broken fragments of humanity for which
Christ died. He wants them to be brought back into union with the Catholic Church. It is up to us
His missionaries to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.

What do you suppose Jesus did with those baskets of fragments.? He must have gathered
them for a purpose. Probably He and the Apostles lived with them for the next few days. These
scraps came back into the Apostolic Body, There is another mystic signification that we become
bone of His Bone, and body of His Body.

It is a wonderful vocation God has given us. If we are only faithful, though we have
those gifts in earthen vessels, nevertheless, the power is of God. We only have to correspond
with them. Be faithful, we can rely upon God to do the rest.
1921
Document 17
[The document is hand written by Fr. Paul Wattson, S.A., on two pieces of pad paper, with the
reverse side of each remaining blank. Attached to the document is a brown-with-age envelope
with,
“Notes from Rev. Father S.A., September l921 Retreat” written on it in what appears to be the
handwriting of Mother Lurana White,s.a. Perhaps the envelope is affixed to the document
because of a similar month and year, although the envelope is smaller than the pad paper.]

Sept. 21, l921

I have asked our Tabernacle King and Our Lady to obtain for you a little respite at least
during this retreat from "the stone" condition. Let us help each other in sanctification by our
mutual prayers. My special need seems to be more recollection and interior union with God
under pressure of so many important duties and more of the spirit of mortification. As to
happiness and peace of the soul just now it is like a delicious day in October. I would like to
change places with you for a day or two just to understand better how you feel.

I hope all the Sisters are deriving great good from the retreat and Fr. Benvenutus himself
has discovered some hidden treasure in himself for further developments in future retreats.
1923
Document 18
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IX
132-135]

CONFERENCE TO THE SISTERS

FEAST OF ST. LUKE
October 18, 1923.

FINAL PERSEVERANCE

The subject of our meditation this morning will be constancy, and faithfulness supported
by continual prayer for final perseverance. This prayer must spring out of humility, for it is
possible to feel so sure of one's loyalty that such a one become over-confident like St. Peter. Ah,
how confident he was that he would never be untrue to Our Lord, but Our Lord said to him,
"This night, ere the cock crow twice thou shall deny me thrice." The trouble was that his
confidence was based on self-assurance and not on dependence upon divine grace. So I am going
to take this morning that part of our Covenant Chapter which is a warning against apostasy.

Apostasy in the Constitutions of the old Orders was treated in a most severe manner and
in the days when discipline in the Church was stringently exercised, an apostate after final vows,
was excommunicated and was an outcast in the eyes of the Church. In these days of more lax
discipline such a fall is more leniently dealt with, but a sin it is. Indeed a grievous one and we
need to realize something of how it appears in the sight of God. Here it is:

It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of
the good gift if they fall away to be renewed to repentance, for they crucify the
Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame (Heb. 6)

Now those are very severe words, but that was the actual passage in Holy Scriptures to
which God led me first, when I asked counsel on that first Covenant Day, the Mother Foundress
and I having made that solemn dedication of our selves at the little altar in the upper room in
Warwick. I was in doubt as to whether I should turn away from the call to found the Society of
the Atonement,abandon the idea altogether, and enter an already established religious
congregation, perhaps the Passionists. This was the answer I received. “The gifts of God are
without repentance," the Holy Scriptures say, for God is not fickle like man. He does not change,
He has a mind and purpose. The whole plan of the world's salvation was in the mind of God
before the world was created and the plan goes on through the ages as the everlasting Amen.
God said: "I am the truth." The devil is a liar, ever shifting his position, promising things
and failing to fulfill his promises. Yes, God's promises are unfailing. If there is any failure it will
be on our part. Therefore, we may well assume that you are here in holy religion today by the
will of God. Your vocation was not something purely on yourself. Our Lord calling His apostles
said, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." A vocation is a call. In your past life
you tried to do the will of God, you prayed for guidance. He overruled circumstances, smoothed
difficulties, and finally led you to Graymoor and some of you already find yourselves with the
black veil, others with the white veil of the novitiate. It is true that sometimes people make
mistakes; they think they have a vocation to a religious community and then they discover that
they have not. The time to find out is during the postulancy which is six months; and the
Superiors also have the opportunity to judge whether the aspirant has the aptitude and the
qualities necessary. The novitiate is another testing time, but you who are postulants may
reasonably assume that if you have succeeded thus far, there is a strong likelihood that you
have a vocation and that you are here by the will of God. And if you are here by the will of
God, the will God is that you should stay, that you should, remain faithful, that you should die
in the holy habit, die, it may be, in the odor of sanctity and be numbered amongst the Children
of the Atonement through eternity.

Remember then, if you fall away it will not be because God has not been faithful, but
because you have not been faithful in corresponding to the grace which God has promised to
give and does give, if you have not been diligent in rooting up in yourselves the briars and
thorns. Human nature is very much like a field. Leave the field to itself and it produces weeds
and thorns and briars; it has to be cultivated, diligently plowed, weeds and thorns dug out.
Otherwise it will be they, and not the good grain, that will assert themselves. But after the
purgation process, the dews of heaven descend and graces abound.

This holy Society of ours is manifestly very dear in the sight of God. He has elevated it
among the hills in a special prominence . See how our beautiful Mount of the Atonement rises
above the valley beneath to its summit over the Highlands, over the great Hudson River, which
in vision we follow to its emptying into the sea, and then the great vistas beyond, the lands to be
conquered for Christ.

Oh, let us cooperate with God that these dews and graces and favors produce the fruit
God is looking for in you. He is not looking for thorns and briars. He is looking for fruits of
holiness.

"For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes upon it, and bringeth
forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God."
(Heb. 6:7).

Now what are some thorns and briars that spring up in religious communities? Criticism,
disloyalty, murmuring about superiors, failing to recognize them as those whom God has
appointed to watch over you, train you in obedience and in the development of those qualities
which make perfect religious. Alas, that religious should ever be heard to utter such words as:

"Well, they do not show right judgment; they are partial. I don't like to be
in this house. I want to be in some other one that will better suit me. I prefer some
other work."

These are very serious thorns cropping up. And, alas, the poor superior who finds one of
her subjects thus speaking, feels it indeed, a thrust into her heart. Such disloyal conversation
passes the seed of the thorn to others and it brings forth after its kind in their hearts, until finally
there is a long thorny road for everybody in the community, for the spirit of disloyalty is there.
We know that when a thorn begins to torture our flesh how the body tries to get rid of it because
all the members suffer from it. First the pain is felt in the particular place where the thorn is,
then the head uses its intelligence to get the thorn out of the body. Thus it is sometimes the duty
of the superior, who is the head, to get the thorn out, or at least that which produces the thorn,
and this right and prudent.

No superior would want to throw out a good religious. But to keep a thorn in the
community that is going to make everybody uncomfortable would be very wrong and foolish. If
such a one is rejected it is not the fault of the superiors, nor the fault of the community; it is the
fault of the individual who is the thorn. So study yourselves. This is the time to do it. Examine
yourselves sinceyour last retreat. Have you always been in harmony with the provisions of the
Superior, the regulations and the spirit of the Rule? With the judgment of the Mother Superior?
Have you been an element that has helped to disturb the peace of the community where you
were? Have you been an anxiety to those over you? Ascertain this, and do not try to deceive, nor
to excuse yourself. It is not a question of whether some other sister has been the soil that
produced the thorns, you are not responsible for your sisters. The only thing you are concerned
with at this solemn time of retreat is yourself. See to it now that your own little portion of the
garden henceforth bears fruit agreeable to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, fruits of the Holy Ghost,
patience, goodness, joy, long suffering, and so on.

Now I have tucked away in a drawer on the Mountain a quantity of letters, records of
persons who have tried the religious life on the Mount of the Atonement and have for one reason
or another failed. It is a very sad record. Some of them in earlier days thought,

"Oh well, this community is never going to get along. I will stand a much
better chance to get through my theology if I join the Passionists or Jesuits or
some other community, so I guess I'll pull out."

Well, those persons who "pulled out" never joined the Passionists or Jesuits or Trappists;
they simply floundered around and went down under the sea of the world. They never reached
the priesthood. I don't know one that was untrue and disloyal to the Society of the Atonement
that prospered afterwards.

You have a tremendous vocation. It is an immense favor on the part of Almighty God to
be called into this Congregation. Show your gratitude by being full of joy. Next to loyalty to our
Mother, the Holy Catholic Church, you should be loyal to your institute. It is one of the beautiful
vines in thevineyard of the Church, watered by God, nurtured by His graces. We have a beautiful
illustration of loyalty in the faithfulness of St. Luke to his chief, St. Paul. St. Luke, the one
whom God in His providence chose to be the saint on whose day St. Francis House should be
first occupied by the Sisters of the Atonement. St. Paul had two companions that are mentioned
several times in his epistles as well as in the Acts. They were Luke and Demas. When he was in
Rome he sent greetings to his new converts and said: “Luke and Demas greet you" and we think
of him in the prison at Rome with these two faithful attendants standing by ministering to him
and helping him, Luke probably acting amanuensis. Again he sends greeting. Once more we see
these two names linked together, Luke and Demas and already we begin to see the hand of the
righteous Judge placing the crown upon the heads of these two as a reward for their fidelity unto
death, but not so, for there comes a very pathetic message from St. Paul written to Timothy:
"Only Luke is with me, for Demas hath forsaken me for he loved this present world and has
departed into Thessalonica." What a sad thing that record of Demas is. He too might have had
his name written in letters of gold in the Lamb's book of life. He might have been associated
with St. Luke, the evangelist, he might have shared the imprisonment and martyrdom of St.
Paul, the glorious apostle to the gentiles. But no, Demas forsook St. Paul, having loved this
present world and departed into Thessalonica.

Now, dear daughters, do any of you want this record of Demas? I feel quite confident all
of you will say, “No, Father, not by any manner of means. We want to cling to our Mother as
Luke clung to St. Paul. We want to be faithful to the Society of the Atonement under all the
trials and vicissitudes that may happen in the years to come. So, rather than be untrue to our holy
Society, we would be willing to die, to be numbered among the martyrs. We wish to be faithful
unto death. Demas lost his vocation by not corresponding to grace as land not cultivated
becomes sterile. St. Luke, by contrast, was good land cultivated and by his correspondence to
grace brought forth good fruit and those beautiful flowers that are dear in the sight of the great
Gardener, Jesus Christ.

Then beware of small imperfections and remember that there is always room in our poor
hearts for the seeds of discontent, that bring forth evil weeds, briars, and thorns. Our Lord said to
His Apostles on the night of his betrayal; “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation."
Be diligent with your self-examinations, keep a scrutiny for the thorns, briars, brambles, and
weeds and for anything that begins to spring up in the garden of your soul that is a contradiction
or a danger to grace. You know perfectly well that there is no field in the world, that does not
need cultivation. The Sister that has the kitchen garden knows how the weeds spring up. Ask
Sister Ignatius. Yes, you must get on your knees and pull up the weeds, make your daily
examination well and when you locate anything that is a thorn or briar, pull it up; do not let it
grow. It is not a matter of fighting once; it is a constant fight, day after day. Beware of any
intimacy with seculars. Many a seed has been sown bysuch friendships in the hearts of religious.
Then watch. Daily examine yourselves for the least indications of any thorns, briars, or brambles
that are going to disturb the interior peace and harmony of your soul and of the Congregation.
Pull them out, so that there be room for the beautiful flowers, the lilies of purity, the violets of
humility, the red roses of chastity, that they grow together with the fruits and healing herbs.

Pray every day and pray with earnest solicitude for the grace of final perseverance,
fidelity to the end, that you will not lose that particular seat that is provided for you in that
portion of the heavenly city which will be occupied by our branch of the Franciscan family,
ruled over by our Father St. Francis sitting on the throne from which Lucifer fell.
1924
Document 19
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 1-4.
The title identifies the speaker as Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.]

CONFERENCES

By Our Very Reverend Father Founder

ANNUAL RETREAT October 13th - 17th, 1924

FIRST CONFERENCE: Monday Evening, October 13th

As I understand some of the Sisters from the outside Missions are here tonight who were
not present this morning, it might be well to make a brief resume of this morning's meditation, as
it is very necessary for a grasp of the unity and scope of the retreat meditations which are to
follow:

We spoke of the name of our Holy Society, the ATONEMENT. We pointed out the
special significance of the name At-one-ment, the etymology of the word, the peculiarity of it in
the English Language. We said that there is not an exact equivalent of it in the French language;
the nearest they can get to it is "expiation," which convoys quite an insufficient thought or idea
from that which Divine Providence has impressed upon our Institute, At-one-ment emphasizes
the phase of unity in connection with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Fortunately, there is in
the Latin a word which is the exact equivalent of Atonement, although it is not ordinarily
applied to Christ's sacrifice on the cross, and that is adjunare, or adunatio; it is a word that
comes in the Canon of the Mass, a different form of it, and is applied to that unity among
Christians which our vocation calls us to recognize as one of the particular works which God has
raised up our Society to accomplish. We pointed out that, fundamentally in religion, our object
was to be united with God, and we shall stress that as we go on to meditate upon the
fundamental principles of Poverty, Obedience and Chastity, but this idea of unity must run
through all our life in all its aspects, unity with God, unity with each other, to promote unity
among brethren and those that live in the Catholic Church, to restore to unity those that have
gone astray from the Fold of Peter and to bring into unity with the mystical body of Christ the
pagans that have never come under the influence of the Gospel.

The evening meditations will be based upon our Covenant Chapter. This Chapter is a
very important one, and a very inspiring and encouraging one, and merely to review it briefly on
our Covenant Day in a short address does not do it justice and, therefore, we are going to deal
with it a little more in detail and by sections, and so tonight we will take up the introductory
part:

TEXT: "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us

go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead
works, and of faith toward God.
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
 And this will we do, if God permit,"

We are fortunate in being well grounded, as I trust every one of the Sisters is in the
fundamental principles of the Catholic Religion. It is a glorious thing to possess the Catholic
Faith as our inheritance and, therefore, possessing that Faith it is not necessary to lay again the
foundations of those principles,. With a new convert to the Faith it would be necessary to take
the Catechism and go through chapter by chapter, the fundamental truths of the Catholic
Religion and explain it to them, rousing in them an intelligent grasp of what that Faith is, but,
whereas, it is the duty of the Sisters in their catechetical work to instruct the children in those
things, it is not necessary at a retreat time like this to dwell upon those fundamental things.

The point with us as religious is to go on "unto perfection" and that is what will now
occupy your mind during this retreat, "to go on unto perfection."

It is very inspiring, at least it ought to be, to know that no matter how far we have
progressed in the spiritual life, no matter how far we have gone on towards perfection, the goal
has not yet been attained, but that there is, or should be, perpetual progress towards the
perfection of God, for as God is infinite in His character, in His power and in His wisdom, so He
is infinite in His virtue and in His perfection. We shall go on approaching more and more to His
perfection through eternity, and yet there will still be room for further growth and advancement.
We know that Alexander, the conqueror, wept while still a young man because there were no
more worlds for him to conquer. We have no need to shed any tears because we have attained to
perfection -- that we have climbed the highest hills of sanctity, and that there is nothing beyond
to accomplish. On the contrary, we have continually to gird up our loins to run the race that is
set before us. Moreover, if we are not progressing, we are retrograding, because there is no such
thing as standing in an absolutely stationary condition in the spiritual life. If we are not growing
more in the image and likeness of God, we are slipping back, we are losing ground, our corrupt
nature is reasserting itself; the seed which the enemy has sown in the garden of the soul, the
weeds of our vices will begin to spring up, unless we diligently root them out and are constantly
striving towards that which is more perfect,

Therefore, one of the greatest and most important things about a Retreat is that we take
stock of our spiritual condition, as a business man makes an inventory at the beginning of the
year to find out whether during the past twelve months he has made anything in his business, or
how much he has lost. So we shall be going over the past year, trying to compare our spiritual
condition at the present time with what it was twelve months ago, and asking whether we have
advanced or whether we have retrograded, whether we have gone on to perfection in an
unmistakable manner or whether we are less perfect in our religious life than we were a year
ago.

So it would be well for you to invoke the Holy Spirit to let the light of His illumination
shine upon your soul, your interior, illuminating some of the darker recesses, in order to discover
anything that may be in those corners that may be displeasing to God, and whereas, you make
this examination to find what failings and faults you may have accumulated since your last
annual Confession, you ought at the same time to stir up within yourself a greater desire after
perfection, a greater longing to approach more closely into union with God and to follow more
diligently in the footsteps of those who are our inspirers and our guides.
The Chapter proceeds:

TEXT: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth
forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God;
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing;
whose end is to be burned."

Here comes in the warning against apostasy. We know what a dreadful thing it is in the
ordinary Christian life for anyone to fall away from the Catholic Church, to become an apostate.
This is also true of one who has received the call to go on unto perfection, who has been led by
the Spirit of God into the religious life. It would be a dreadful thing for such a one to fall away
from that life, it would be to crucify the Lord God of Glory afresh and put him to an open
shame. Such an apostasy or failure would certainly be due to some sad neglect of the graces
which are given to Religious by God in order that they may persevere in their holy vocation. No
matter how absurd such a thought, or the contemplation of such a possibility may seem in your
case, at the same time remember it is the part of humility to pray for final perseverance, that God
will give you the grace to be always true to your vows, always to be faithful to every grace He
gives you in the religious life, that you may with the utmost care avoid any sins against your
vocation, however small they may be, lest by the introduction of these small infidelities you
prepare the way for the whole fortress or abutment of your religious life to be swept by some
great tidal wave of temptation that might come along later on.

I remember reading when I was a boy, of a young lad in Holland, who, one day while
walking along the dykes that shut out the sea from Holland, saw that there was the faintest
amount of water trickling through at one point, and comprehending the danger of his country
being inundated, he sat down and placed his hand against this little breakage in the dyke and
held it there throughout the night and so kept back the water until morning. There were only a
few drops of water trickling through when he first noticed the break, but that small breakage in
the dyke would have led to an ever larger amount of water coming, until, as it grew larger, its
volume would certainly have inundated the land and many, many lives would have been lost.

This is illustrative of the danger of allowing little sins to creep in, little neglects of our
Rule, things that in themselves seem trifling and yet, if they are not chocked up will lead to
others, and the tone of our spiritual life will be lowered, then before we know it some great
temptation will come along and undermine our love for the life of holy perfection and we may
easily be swept out into the sea of destruction.

This warning in our Covenant Chapter is, indeed, a very grave one and we should take it
to heart. We know that others have failed who have had the religious vocation, they have
allowed something to come in between them and their God, and they have released their hold
upon that holy vocation and have gone back into the world.
 We have also a warning here, how impossible it is "for those who were once enlightened,
have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have moreover
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come and are fallen away, to be
renewed again to penance." Ah, yes, when one has abandoned the religious life, they are
sometimes very sorry for it and they want to try over again, but even though the Mother
Superior out of compassion may in a rare case take them back, how seldom does such a one
persevere! The same reasons which caused them to fail in the first place, come back in some
form of temptation and they fail a second time. We Superiors have learned this, and so the
second opportunity is seldom given. This then ought to be a warning against every
unfaithfulness. So safe-guard your vocation that no little infidelities to your Rule, or to the
principles of the religious life, no imperfections which may in themselves seem to be light and
trivial, shall ever creep in, lest by and by that which seemed small, grows and develops until it
inundates and sweeps away the foundation of the religious life.

Moreover, we owe this faithfulness to others, for we are bound together in one body and
when everything goes along sweetly and beautifully, when all are good, when all have a
generous rivalry in their zeal to go on to perfection and to observe their Rule faithfully, how
happy is that Community. But just as soon as somebody begins to slacken and lose the spirit of
the religious life, the whole body begins to feel the effect, it is like a poison in the blood, an
infection which may be the result of the sting of a very small insect, but the effect of that little
sting spreads until the whole body is infected. So ofttimes an entire community will be suffering
from the unfaithfulness of one or two individuals in the community. See to it, therefore, that you
may safeguard not only your own vocation, but that you may help to preserve and keep in a
healthy condition the whole body of which you are an integral part. This consideration ought to
impress you with greater fervor and greater zeal in obeying the exhortation of the Apostle at the
beginning of this Chapter "Let us go on to perfection."

Document 20
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 5-
9]

SECOND CONFERENCE

TUESDAY MORNING,

October 14, [1924]

We said yesterday that the underlying principles of the religious life were the same, as a
basis, for all religious communities, but along with this fundamental likeness there is something
that differentiates one from another according to the special vocation or feature of devotion to
God that is impressed upon the individual community. We come now to consider that which is
fundamental to all religious, and we are going to base this upon our three Scriptural texts.

Yesterday we spoke of the name and how we ought to believe firmly that our Society
was not named by man primarily, but by God, who taught and illuminated in a special manner
the Father Founder to receive this name. We know how with the name came three texts.
Sometime before our name was given I was greatly impressed at reading how God dealt with our
Seraphic Father Saint Francis, the account was as follows:

When Saint Francis was joined by Bernard of Quintavalle, who offered

himself to follow the same mode of life, he said to the latter, "Let us go into the
church and pray to know God's will regarding our manner of life." And when
they came into the church, behold the priest was in the sanctuary and Saint
Francis approached him and asked that he do him the favor of while he prayed, of
opening the Missal three times in the name of the Holy Trinity, One Text was:
"Go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, take up thy cross and follow me."
Then going out of the church, Saint Francis said to his companion, "We have our
instructions, if you propose to be associated with me, execute the direction." And
Bernard, assisted by Saint Francis, distributed whatever money there was in his
house to the poor in the streets, disposed of his house and lands and became as
poor as Francis himself.

Having read this, God gave me the thought of following this example in my search
(which had gone on for sometime) of a name for the Institute I felt constrained to found. I did
not at the time think of seeking three texts, I sought only the name, but as God is often more
disposed to give more than we ask, it was so arranged that I obtained the three Texts.

The first passage I opened to had no reference to a name, but the Holy Ghost was
mentioned, although it was not the Society of the Holy Ghost I felt sure that God wanted me to
found; I had always a feeling that the name would be associated with the Cross and Passion of
Our Lord. The second passage gave our wonderful name, as you all know. The third Text was
Saint Paul's wonderful account of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. So, in the name of
the Blessed Trinity we obtained our three Texts.

Now those three Texts are very wonderful, and they deal with the fundamental principles
of the religious life, as I shall hope to show. We started out by saying that the Children of the
Atonement were called preeminently to a life of union with God. Now, Revelation tells us that
whereas, there is but one God, that there are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost. Therefore, there must be paid a special devotion to God not only in His
unity, but to God in His Triune Personality; t here must be devotion to God the Father, devotion
to God the Son and devotion to God the Holy Ghost. Let us see how these three devotions have a
very intimate relationship to the three Vows of Poverty, Obedience and Chastity, and we may
well suppose that Our Lord had in mind our bestowal of this homage when He instituted the
Evangelical Counsels of Perfection.

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ (But this
spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) St. John
vii, 37, 38, 39.
 Now this Text deals specifically with God the Holy Ghost, very evidently. Now which of
the three fundamental vows will most advance our union with the Third Person of the Blessed
Trinity? The answer is not far to seek: Poverty. What is it that keeps men away from God in this
world, but material things? They are building their life upon the foundation of the flesh and they
become carnally-minded, but Saint Paul says, "To be carnally-minded is death, but to be
spiritually-minded is life and peace in Christ Jesus," and, "There is an enmity between the flesh
and the spirit. If a man walketh after the sight of the eyes, he will serve the flesh, but if he is led
of the spirit, he will mortify the deeds of the body." Let us remember that the great Apostle to
the Gentiles was inspired by the Holy Ghost. No, I cannot at the same time be a carnally-minded
and a spiritually-minded man and, therefore, the man whose mind is absorbed with the flesh,
with what he eats, with the raiment he puts on his body, the house in which he lives, with the
countless luxuries which he purchases by means of money, that man cannot at the same time be
spiritually-minded. And so Our Lord said it was harder "for a rich man to enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." And they that heard
this, said, "How then can any of us be saved?" Our Lord said, "The things that are impossible
with men, are possible with God."

Poverty, therefore, is the special virtue which makes us more perfectly the subjects of the
Holy Ghost. If you desire to have a particular devotion to God the Holy Ghost, to be always
conscious of the indwelling spirit of God directing you and illuminating your understanding,
inflaming your heart with divine love and giving you an intelligent insight into the things of
Jesus Christ, cultivate detachment from material things. Now take our Father Saint Francis
himself, he came into the world handicapped by heredity, his father was a man who had amassed
a wonderfully large fortune for those times and he was a man very much absorbed in business.
Peter Bernadone was working at making money very diligently about all the time, and as far as
we can gather from what records we have of his life, he was not by any manner of means a
spiritually-minded man. When his son Francis began to build churches and to lavish his money
upon the poor, when he began to manifest a religious vocation, that father became angry, he
locked up Francis in the house as a prisoner, soon he hauled him before the Bishop and then
Francis cut the last tie which bound him to his father's wealth. We know the dramatic scene: he,
the Poverello took the clothes purchased by his father's money off his back, rejecting Peter
Bernadone with his money altogether, saying, as he stood forth naked: "Henceforth I have no
father but God in Heaven." And then being emancipated from all material concerns, then clothed
with the cast-off garments of the Bishop's servant, he went forth, and to emphasize his poverty,
finding some mortar he marked with it a cross on the back of his garment. Free at last, he went
forth joyfully utterly emancipated from material things and from the love of them, which is the
root of all evil. Yes, there is a deep meaning underneath the poverty of Saint Francis, that
poverty to which we are vowed and to the exercise of which we must attach ourselves.

The more we observe this great vow, not only in the letter but in the spirit, the more we
shall be spiritually-minded, the more the Holy Ghost will dwell in us and unite Himself with us,
and then we shall be able to bring spiritual influences to bear upon those around us not only in
the convent, but in the world which so utterly needs such a spiritualizing.

Let us now take another great example, greater even than Saint Francis, that is, our Lady
of the Atonement, she who is the spouse of the Holy Ghost. After He had by His own creative
power, proceeding from the Father and the Son, formed her without sin in the womb of her
mother and brought her by an immaculate conception into being, the same Holy Ghost led her to
detach herself from her parents and go and live in the temple to there spend her days in prayer
and praise. The Holy Ghost saw to it that His spouse dwelt in this world entirely detached from
wealth and the price of worldly position, for, although she was of royal lineage, she was trained
and disciplined in the school of poverty. Some of you have been in Washington and at Mount
Saint Sepulchre have soon the replica there of the home of Nazareth; it is nothing more than a
cave in the side of a hill, and a very small cave at that, but there the Blessed Virgin labored and
kept her little house with the plainest of furnishings. And we may be sure that whatever her
husband, Joseph, earned above the bare necessities of life for her and her Divine Son, that it was
by her distributed with lavish hand to the poor. In this state of detachment she was kept all of her
life, and its effect was to make her every moment more entirely united with her Spouse, the Holy
Spirit of God.

Therefore, keep this purpose and motive before you in the observance of evangelical
poverty; let it not be obeyed simply because it is the Rule, simply because it is a tradition which
comes from Saint Francis. No, rather get behind the great significance of this great vow, which
is: that it is the special means by which you yourself may become an interior Religious, living
your spiritual life of union with Holy Ghost.

Next, the vow in relation to our neighbor. The people of the world seek wealth because
they think that by its means they are increasing their happiness, that the costlier and larger the
house they live in, the grander the furniture, the richer the food they eat, the more magnificent
the limousine in which they travel abroad, the happier they will be. Of course, that is a great
fiction, the history of the world proves it. No one had more material wealth than Nero, he had
the great Roman Empire, and yet, he committed suicide. Solomon with all his splendor, wealth
and magnificent palaces epitomized the barrenness of the world in: "Oh vanity of vanities, and
all is vanity."

Now then, true evangelical poverty really spells joy and happiness because it leads us
into the freedom of the spirit and makes us to know that happiness is not external, not something
that is outside of us, it is something that exists within. The testimony of the martyrs is that, even
under the most trying conditions that are naturally a contradiction to happiness, the Holy Spirit
has been able to make His servants full of joy. Take the first martyrs of the Franciscan family
who went to Morocco; they were thrown into prison, they wore maltreated in the most brutal
manner, they were exposed to all manner of physical torture, and yet the very prison into which
they were thrown was illuminated as they sang and rejoiced in their sufferings and then went to
their fresh tortures and death as though they were going to their marriage feast. And why?
Because of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. We have just been reading in the Friary Refectory
the life of the Foundress of the Poor Clares of the Immaculate Conception in Spain. She was a
very beautiful young girl, one of the noble maids of honour of the queen. The latter thinking that
her husband was attracted by the goodness and beauty of this young girl, became jealous, and
put poor Beatrice in a dungeon deep down in the darkness. But there she was visited by God and
so sustained supernaturally by the Holy Spirit that she was very happy, and later on when she
escaped she spent forty-six years of her life in retirement in the cloister, where she was visited
and exhilarated by the delights of intercourse with God,

So let us keep the supernatural motive in the practice of our vow of Holy Poverty.
Sometimes for the work's sake we have to live in large houses, then let it be with the idea that
you are only the servant, one of those poor people who hire themselves out to the rich; they are
surrounded by luxuries which are not theirs, they are handmaids to wait upon their master or
their mistress, So, to repeat, if you are called to a mission in one of our larger houses, think,
"This does not belong to me, I am here only for obedience's sake, and I would really prefer to be
in some small, poor cell." When we see the Sisters of other Orders in their large, very grand
hospitals, remember that after all, they are only the hostesses of the poor, they are only
ministering to them, and everything in their community and personal life is poor and has the
cross of penitence upon it; their cell contains the bare necessities and their garments are of the
simplest.

Ever cherish the traditions of poverty which exist here at the Mother House and carry
these with you into the other foundations that shall be made. The Sisters should always be
anxious that as far as possible somebody else should own the house in which they live, and they
should always refuse to own it if they can possibly get out of it. Then if you are asked to move
out of the work, well there are lots of other places where you can go, whereas if you own the
house you are tied down to it, you must keep it up and pay whatever debt there is on it. It was a
source of regret to me that when we took up the work at St. Clare’s that the diocese would not
own the property. We asked to have it so, but were told that we had to hold it and assume the
responsibility of paying the debt with the assistance of the Catholic Charities.

Let the Sisters study the Holy Rule and the traditions of the Seraphic Order and of our
Institute, and let all superiors now and in the future try always to avoid ownership and most
especially if it is anything of a large or ambitious character. Sometimes we have to have those
large buildings in order to deal with the people that come to us for help, but if possible let
somebody else own them, do not allow them to become community property. In every way,
shape and manner demonstrate your Profession of Franciscan Poverty; and although you have to
be in the world, and minister to the children of the world, yet always know, that you can retire to
your little cell and refectory and still be with the poor. So remember that, the greater your utter
detachment from things of the world, in just that proportion will the Holy Ghost dwell in you,
His will be the Spirit operating in and sending His mystical influence to others that come in
contact with you so that they will feel instantly that they are in the presence of a Spouse of the
Holy Ghost.

It is most important, and I hope you will always remember that, the special effect and
significance behind Holy Poverty is that you may be spiritually minded, that you may be
sanctified of the Holy Ghost. We live in an age of intense materialism and a radicalism that may
at any time rise in its envy and crucify the Church, crucify Christ afresh. The Jews refused His
teachings and mocked at Him because they wanted a man like Solomon, and not a Messiah, and
so they crucified Him. And so the world may crucify you, a member of the body mystical of
Christ, but your consolation will be correspondingly great in the Holy Ghost, as the Blessed
Virgin herself was sustained and supported by Him in all the sufferings she had to go through.
When you look at poverty from this supernatural standpoint, it will clothe itself in beautiful
garments and be to you more attractive than any wealth can bring forth from its gaudy treasures
and material investiture.

May God always keep you and all of the Children of the Atonement faithful to Holy
Poverty so that with Saint Francis your Father and the poor St. Clare your Mother, you may
realize what it is to be devoted to the Holy Ghost and to be always united with Him in your
hearts and your consciences and so may you never grieve Him in thought, or word, or deed.
Document 21
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 10-
13]

THIRD CONFERENCE

TUESDAY EVENING

OCTOBER 14, [1924]

"For the earth drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth
forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but
that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing; whose
end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and
things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak, for God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed
toward his name in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we
desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of
hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises." Hebrews vi: 6

We dwelt last night upon the beginning of our Covenant Chapter, in which we are
exhorted by Saint Paul to go on to perfection, then in the text comes the warning against
apostasy or unfaithfulness to our religious vocation, stating how impossible it is, or next to
impossible, for one fallen away to be renewed again by the Spirit. The lesson is, of course, that
we should keep in the spirit of humility lest if we are too confident about the stability of our
vocation, about our perseverance, we expose ourselves to the malice and seduction of the
Enemy. Therefore, a very important part of the religious life should be earnest prayer day by
day, in one form or another that we may be granted the grace of final perseverance, that we may
die clothed in the Holy Habit, breathing out our souls with the humble confidence of Saint Paul,

"Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus
in my body." "I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my
course and I know that there is laid up for me a crown of rejoicing which Christ,
the just Judge, shall give me on that day."

Next we have ourselves likened to a piece of ground that "bringeth forth herbs meet for
them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and
briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." We should always have a
great horror of abusing the grace which we receive in religion, and instead of bringing forth the
fruits of peace, purity and holiness, all that characterizes the true religious, that we should bring
forth the thorns of dissension, strife and briars. There is always a possibility you know of that, of
unfaithfulness either to God, to our follow-religious, a regarding the latter, or some one of them,
with the spirit of jealousy. Or it may be that enmity enters into the heart, we begin to complain,
find fault, or to accuse one of the other Sisters of something that would result in producing briars
and thorns of dissension instead of the good fruits of holiness and sanctity.

Always watch yourselves very carefully, asking the Holy Ghost to illuminate your
conscience, so that any springing up of seed in your soul which was not planted by the Holy
Spirit and which is apt to produce thorns or weeds or briars, may be plucked out by diligent self-
examination of conscience, by penance and by following the direction given by your spiritual
director or confessor.

God expects from all of us fruitfulness. Good soil brings forth good fruit and brings it
forth abundantly, and as we have this vocation of fecundity, each of us should be diligent to
cultivate his own little garden, to sanctify his own bit of earth, for after all, the body we have is
only clay, it originated from the ground and God vivified and adorned it by His indwelling grace
so that this bit of soil might become fruitful, not only in the fruits of the earth but the fruits of
holiness, of sanctity. Now the more God sees us corresponding to His graces, the dews of
heavenly benediction He bestows on our bit of soil, the more He rejoices in us and the more He
blesses us.

Our Covenant Chapter goes on to speak of God not being unmindful of our labor of love
in that we have ministered to the saints, we are exhorted to be diligent, and in short fruitful. Are
we making the best of our opportunities for the souls of men, for the upbuilding of the kingdom
of the Most High? Are we doing well whatever God gives us to do in His vineyard? It should be
to us a source of great inspiration as we labor, as we toil, to know that the benevolent eye of our
Father and the loving gaze of our Divine Spouse, Jesus Christ is upon us, that hovering over us
is the Dove of the Spirit, cooperating with and quickening us for our tasks, so that we may be
co-workers with God. It should be to us all a source of thankfulness that, whatever we do is not
selfish labor, it is not labor that has no profit in it. It is not for the vanities of this world. No, all
we do has behind it a supernatural motive and it has its fruit in those things which are
imperishable unto the gathering into the heavenly garner, it is that grain that shall endure
throughout eternity.

Now we need both faith and patience to accomplish our tasks in a way that shall bring
down upon them this blessing of God, because some-times we feel heavily the cross of labor and
it may be it weighs heavily upon body and mind. This summer when I was in Washington during
August, I found it was dreadfully hot down there and the sense of oppression made me feel as
though I were carrying a heavy load around with me. I thought of our Sisters laboring and
toiling there through that dreadful heat, ministering to the people who came to the retreat house
in response to their invitation. It brought home to me a sense of how, heavy to them, physically,
must have been their cross, and how heavy even their Habit must have been as they went about,
how in this sense, they were bearing a real cross in the work God had put upon them. God,
however, takes cognizance of all that, He understands the difficulties, and when, in spite of the
handicap, He sees you laboring and toiling with cheerful countenance, He appreciates it
immensely and His blessings come down in greater measure on that account. So then one of the
things that we must try to cultivate, more and more, is that wonderful grace of holy patience.
"Let patience have her perfect work," says St. James. The opposite of patience, of course, is
impatience. One becomes cross and complains sometimes, or when the cross becomes heavy,
one actually becomes irritable, and speaks perhaps with anger. This spirit of impatience,
wherever it manifests itself, should be carefully watched over and guarded against. We know
that nothing is really accomplished by losing our temper and becoming irritated.

Just two or three days ago I turned on the faucet at the Friary and there was not any
water. I had learned the day before that a piece of the machinery had broken and we had to send
to Chicago for another piece; meantime one of the men was told to go to Peekskill and have the
broken part soldered; he was told that it was necessary to have that piece of machinery back as
quickly as possible, that the machine could not run without it and there could not be any water or
light until it was in place. I jumped to the conclusion that John had forgotten it so I got very
excited, stormed around over the phone, made a great fuss about it, and then I found out
afterwards this was all unnecessary because, as a matter of fact, at that very time John was
bringing the piece of soldered machinery back and he was not to blame, and that while I was so
excited over the telephone, the men were down there fixing the machinery, and a short time
afterwards it was going all right and the water was supplied; and yet, at the time, I had felt that
the gravity of the situation quite justified me in stirring things up, but did it?

So then really our excitement and impatience is not helpful, and is sometimes very
detrimental to our spiritual life. Let us then resolve that when unpleasant things happen, instead
of getting unduly excited about it, we will make an Act of interior union with God and then in a
quiet and cool way consider what is best to be done under divine inspiration and we will help the
thing that has to be done and do it recollectedly and not in the spirit of impatience. So watch
yourselves, and if there is a disposition to be impatient at times, fight against it, and wherever
you may be or whatever the burdens are, remember the Scriptural promise, "As thy day so shall
thy strength be." And there is also the supernatural merit as a reward. "I labor more abundantly
than all they, yet not I, but the grace that is within me," and, “I can do all things through Christ,
who strengtheneth me," said our great patron, St. Paul.

So let us, under the burden of the day, cultivate interior union with God, that our
weakness may rest on the divine strength, remembering that underneath are the everlasting arms.
In fact, if we do accomplish anything in our religious life, it is not we who accomplish it, it is
the power of God that worketh in us and through us and therefore, the more recollected we are
and more dependent upon the power of God, the more we shall accomplish in His service, Now
strengthen during this Retreat your faith in God, your faith in our holy Society, your faith in
your vocation in the Society, and try always to keep in that spirit of union with God, that
whatever you do may be done with a supernatural motive; then you will be fruitful, and because
you are fruitful you will draw down upon you the blessing of God, and the consciousness of that
blessing will bring to your soul sweet refreshment amidst your labor.

At one time when the enemies of Our Lord wore pressing Him hard with their
accusations, there was a flash like thunder, and out of that thunder rang the voice, "This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

To Our Lord it was most consoling, it comforted Him, and He thanked the Father for
speaking out at that time, not only because the Voice bore witness in His behalf to His enemies,
but because it was such a consolation in the midst of His trials.
 Let us try to cultivate always, a sense of the goodness of God, a realization of His
comprehension of us, His children, His beloved ones, and the consciousness that He is defending
us as He works with us.
Sometimes our duties may appear to be little short of drudgery and so little seems to
result for the time and effort, but if we have the supernatural vision, we will know that we shall
after we have passed through the trials of this life; follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth,
among the hundred and forty four thousand. Surely, this assurance will give us the grace of
patience and sweet resignation when crosses are pressing heavily. And so, "through faith and
patience" we shall, indeed, "inherit the promises."

Document 22

[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 14-
19. Of note is the numerous times Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., begins a sentence with the word
“Now.” It is his style.]

FOURTH CONFERENCE

WEDNESDAY MORNING

OCTOBER 15, [1924]

We come to the Central Text this morning, "We joy in God through Our
Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have now received the Atonement.”

Romans v, 8, 9, 10:

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."

Romans 17, 18, 19, 20, 21:

For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by
one, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to

condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all
men unto justification of life.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the

 obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound, but where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound.

That sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

We are dealing with the fundamental principles of the religious life. We dealt with
Poverty yesterday in its relation to the central idea and purpose of our Institute, which is union
with God, and we pointed out that by the observance of Holy Poverty we put ourselves in a state
where we can keep in touch more perfectly with the Holy Ghost and live in unity with Him, so
that, our affections being detached from material things, we may be spiritually-minded and
realize that in us dwells this spirit of justice, of joy and of peace, so that the Holy Ghost may
have no hindrance in sanctifying our body, and making it His temple and also, "a vessel of
sanctification fit for the master's use." May He so illuminate our conscience that in nothing shall
we displease Him in thought, or word, or deed.

This morning we will consider the second of our Texts, and this introduces us to God the
Father. Now when we come to God the Father, the particular Vow of Religion that promotes
union with Him is Obedience. God the Father is the Head of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Ghost
proceeds from Him and from the Son, and the Son by an eternal generation proceeds from the
Father, He is the only-begotten Son and the express image of His glory, His will is the will of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and it follows that all those devoted to God the Father, must be
in will and mind united to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.

It was because man sinned that his union with God was broken off and he was taken
captive by the enemy of God and enlisted in his service; and so we have all the sad things that
have made up the history of the human race with the pages of that history glued together with
human gore. Men in their pride and conceit, form their League of Nations with the idea that they
are going to abolish war. The only way for war to be abolished is for all men to do the will of
God, and as the majority of mankind are not at all disposed to do the will of God, so as long as
men remain in this state of enmity toward God, so there will continue to be wars. Now the
purpose for which Christ came into the world was to raise up among the children of
disobedience, who comprised the rank and file of the human family, those who were to be the
children of the Atonement, the children of obedience, those elect who loved the will of God and
used all of present life as a training school for the acquisition of obedience, knowing well that
until they have obtained that perfection of obedience they cannot cross the portals of the New
Jerusalem and enter into that city wherein "dwelleth justice," that is, perfect conformity to the
divine will.

It is written in the book of the Apocalypse that, "They that keep the commandments of
God have a right to the tree of life and go in and out through the gates of the city," whereas
without are all kinds of sinners and rebels against the divine will. So our Lord came to make
Atonement for sin, by illustrating in our humanity what obedience to the will of the Father was.
As the Son of Man He did in all things the will of His Father. The first written utterance of
Christ was when he was twelve years old in the temple at Jerusalem, when, after they had sought
him three days, the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph found Him talking with the doctors in the
temple, and when His Mother asked Him, "Why have you treated us thus, we have sought Thee
sorrowing," He turned with an expression of surprise upon His countenance and said, "Whisht ye
not that I must be about my Father's business?" That was the keynote of the life of Jesus Christ,
whose footsteps we are to follow. So if our vocation is to follow Him whithersoever He goeth in
His kingdom, it is our vocation to follow faithfully in His footsteps here, and if there is one thing
that meant more than another in the life of Jesus Christ in His soul and mind and heart, it was the
worship of the will of His Father.

On one occasion passing through the country of the Samaritans, He sat by Jacob's well
alone, having sent His disciples into the neighboring town to provide bread for the midday meal,
and in the meantime there came to the well to see our Lord a woman from Samaria. He started a
conversation with her, which led to the salvation of her soul and many souls in the neighboring
town, and when the disciples returned with the provisions, His face was radiant with the joy of
His ministry. When they asked Him to take bread He refused and they began to question among
themselves whether someone in the meantime had come and given to Him to oat, and He turned
with a smile and said, "My meat and drink is to do the will of Him that sent me,"

When He was in agony in Gethsemane, and all the sins of the world pressed upon His
soul with an exceeding great weight, so that He was bowed to the earth and bitterness
overwhelmed His interior, His agony was so intense that it drove the blood through the pores of
His body so that it ran down in great drops from His forehead even to the earth and He cried out
in that extreme anguish: "Abba, Father, if it be Thy will let this cup pass from me, nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done." That was the height of fidelity to God, under the most extreme,
excruciating agony.

On the Cross, having fulfilled everything that was written of Him by the prophets under
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, having accomplished the great mystery of the world's
redemption, He addressed His Father again, and said, "It is finished. Into thy hands I commend
my spirit,"

Thus we have the example of Christ showing us the sacrifice, the way of perfect
correspondence to our vocation and to the will of the Most High. Now this is the spiritual basis
upon which you are to build up your life of obedience in the fulfillment of your Vow. We know
that every form of sin is a violation of the will of God. When sorely tempted by Potifar's wife,
Joseph the chaste, cried out, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" and so
he fled from the presence of the temptress. And when another great servant of God had yielded
to temptation and fallen into a grievous sin, he poured out his soul unto God in lamentations in
the Miserere, and the thing that troubled him more than anything else was not that he had put
Uriah to death, but the thought that he had sinned against God, so he cried out, "Against thee,
thee only have I sinned and done this wickedness in thy sight."

Let this obedience be the basis of your life of obedience; you obey your Rule primarily,
not because you wish to stand well with the other Sisters and do as they do, not that you wish to
avoid having anything disagreeable to tell to the Father when he comes to hear your Confession;
no, but over everything else, and beyond everything else, always and everywhere, it is because
you wish to please God the Father, because you wish to have the witness of a conscience void of
offence, and the voice which Jesus heard, which was such a consolation to Him, you wish to
hear also, "This is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased."
 Now all this is imbedded. in the central Text of our Institute, "For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous." The transgression of Adam was offset by the obedience of the new Adam, and in
order that He might become incarnate it was necessary that He might have a mother, and God so
arranged it that that mother should go all through her life stainless, immaculate, and that she
should be the new Eve, and it is from this new stock that originated the new Adam of the human
race, the everlasting Father of the new covenant, Mary of the Atonement was united mystically
with Our Lord dying on the Cross and with the Holy Ghost, in bringing forth the children of the
regenerate, the product of the Incarnation through the Atonement, those that should be washed
and purged from sin in the Precious Blood and, also, should receive grace from God to keep
from sin.

So it is possible for the redeemed, for the members of our Holy Society to live that life of
innocence, freedom from sin, and conformity to the divine will in union with God the Father,
and thus shall we be able to help to offset the transgression of Adam by the beautiful life of
those who obey God.

"A corn of wheat except it die, it remaineth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much
fruit." "He became obedient even to death," and thereby He became the fruitful Father of the
regenerate, and it has always been so; those who obeyed God most perfectly have been
instruments through whom God has propagated the seed of the new Adam and multiplied the
children of obedience. Now the promise of fecundity rests upon this Institute and we know the
good will of God and His disposition to bless and prosper us and work with us, but it is
absolutely necessary that we work with Him by perfect correspondence with the divine will, let
us know nothing else but that will and do nothing else but that will, day by day, in all respects,
and then the more the Sisters of the Atonement, each and everyone of you, accomplish this the
more our Holy Society will be blessed and the greater the results accomplished in the salvation
of souls.

Now the will of God for us is not only the Ten Commandments and the precepts of the
Church, those ordinary observances of charity and rectitude, which are expected of all faithful
Catholics, but as Religious we must observe the Counsels, keep our Rule, observe the
Constitutions. Let there be in these things strict obedience.

The regulations of the Institute must be carried out by each and every Sister wherever she
may be; whether in the Mother House or far away in a Mission very distant from the centre, even
on the outskirts, it may be, of civilization. Of course, if there are some observances that have to
be modified because of the circumstances; such things are taken care of by the Mother General
and her Council, as experience has taught her are necessary. But those things which are
fundamental to the religious life, all must observe, and observe most faithfully. One thing that
you always must be particular about is that, the pressure of missionary work and activity does
not interfere with those obligations which we owe directly to God, the Divine Office, Choir, the
meditations, our daily hearing of Mass and receiving Holy Communion.

Another very important thing, in order that we may have the atmosphere of religion
around us, is the silence. Let the Sisters who are at the Mother House be examples in this most
important religious observance. When the Sisters are professed let them take care that they do
not forget the lessons of silence which they have learned in the novitiate, and those especially
who are heads of departments, so that when the novices are placed under them they will be very
careful to set them the example of silence. As we grow older in Religion, we should grow more
observant, not more careless. Holy Scripture says, "The path of the just shineth more and more
unto the perfect day." Therefore, the longer we are professed, the more holy we ought to grow
and, when a novice comes into contact with a professed Sister she will see that here is one she
can take as her model in religious observance. How sad and humiliating a thing, if on the other
hand a novice is disedified by non-observance of Rules.

Doubtless, one of the difficult things in the religious life is the silence., We all have
tongues in our heads and we all like to use them; it is a real mortification to keep the tongue
disciplined and only allow it to say what is necessary, and to say that in a quiet, recollected
manner; but it is a mortification that is very agreeable to God and it is something that infallibly
helps you in your life of prayer and recollection.

In the Mission Houses, because of the activities that surround them, it is not possible in
the same degree to observe silence, For instance, when you go down in the Bronx you hear the
roar of the traffic, and the highly-keyed voices of the children playing everlastingly in the
streets, from the time you get up in the morning until you retire at night; and then there is the
doorbell persistently ringing. It is not possible, of course, as I said, to observe silence as strictly
as in the retirement of Graymoor. There are, however, regulations possible which ought to be all
the more jealously made and taken care of. For instance, the silence in the Choir and Refectory,
during the times and place of work and duty other than teaching Catechism, or taking care of the
children, and for instance the ordinary duties about the house. There is so much of the time when
Mission Sisters have to speak, that during the little time that is left, silence ought all the more
jealously to be observed, so that the very great virtue of silence be not lost altogether and with it
the priceless effect on the interior. After all, this interior life of union with God, is the
fundamental and the primary state of the Religious.

My dear Sisters, worship the Most Sweet Will of God, and worship it continually, Some
of you, and only a few, have had the privilege of knowing Sister Mary Anna, one of the Sisters
who was called to her reward before we entered the Fold of Peter, and her death, as we like to
believe, hastened our union with the Apostolic See; she died in February and in October we were
united with the Chair of the Fisherman. She was a very holy soul, much given to contemplation
and in her heart she sighed continually for the Beatific Vision. During her last night of agony
when she was dying, the words constantly upon her lips were: "I worship thee sweet Will of
God, I worship thee, sweet Will of God." That is an ejaculation which might well become a
favorite one with all the Sisters, and particularly when your cross is very heavy, when you are
suffering in mind or body; or in moments of temptation, keep yourself recollected by saying
those same words, "I worship thee sweet Will of God."

It is written: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." The dying daily
to one’s own will and living the life of the Crucified, will make every one of you very precious
in the sight of God. We cannot begin to understand, far less to tell, how the heart of God goes
out to and how our Heavenly Father looks down with beneficence and complacence upon those
who in this wicked and naughty world have no other will but His, whose longing from the time
they arise until they go to bed at night is to keep from sin and do all things in a manner that will
please Him. Now in order that we may keep in this state of innocence and please God perfectly,
God has given us a conscience and He has, also, given us the tribunal of Penance. Listen to the
voice of conscience, examine yourselves carefully day by day, watch your faults, try to lessen
them by sincere effort, have deep contrition for your sins, even those the world calls "no sin at
all," and take all this care and make all this effort from the desire to be more perfect in the sight
of God. When you go to your confessions pray not alone to have the sins washed away, but to
advance in holiness and gain increased power over the smallest sins; then if the same temptation
should arise tomorrow which arose today you will be victorious over it, and whenever a trial
comes along, or a cross is given to you, something that otherwise would irritate you, cause you
to complain, offer it to God the Father in union with Christ's sufferings and with the sword that
pierced the heart of Mary lift up your heart to Him and say, "I worship thee Sweet Will of God,"
and "I am glad I have something to offer to Him." Such an expression of devotion, will mount
up to the nostrils of God as a delicious incense.

May Our Lord always keep you innocent, pure and undefiled, so that when you come to
take your place among the hundred and forty four thousand, your religious Habit may shine
with a beautiful radiance, the radiance of that sanctity which is the result of a perfect union with
God the Father and perfect devotion to His Most Sweet Will.

Document 23
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 20-
22.]

FIFTH CONFERENCE

WEDNESDAY EVENING

OCTOBER 15, [1924]

We come tonight to the core, or heart of our Covenant Chapter:

"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no

greater, he aware by himself.
Saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply
thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to
them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us."

This Covenant Chapter was in the early days of our Institute truly an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, by means of which the ship of the Atonement was held steadily during
the many storms that broke over it. And in the days to come, when the Founders have gone their
way, and another generation of Friars and Sisters have taken their place, other storms will sweep
over the ship of our Holy Society, and other mariners and other helmsmen will need to be
encouraged and strengthened. And so we trust that the tradition of the Covenant Chapter and
Covenant Day will continue, enduring from day to day, and from generation to generation; being
ever more and more confirmed by the wonderful providences of God, so that ever increasingly it
may be to all Sons and Daughters of the Atonement a sure anchor amidst the storms and trials of
their Faith, enabling them, by God’s Grace to always remain steadfast. May all the Children of
the Atonement, present and to come, remember the words: "They that patiently endure, shall
inherit the promises."

At this Twenty-fifth Anniversary of our coming to Graymoor, in the light of all that has
transpired since, and with the hope of all that is to come, we have chosen this our Covenant
chapter as the subject of our evening meditations. I said a moment ago, that it is the heart and
core of it all, this promise which God made to Abraham and which He confirmed by an oath,
because if God had any purpose at all in giving that chapter to us at the momentous time of the
first Covenant Day, it must have been because He wished us to understand that, as He made
covenant with Abraham, so through the Father Founder He had made covenant with the Children
of the Atonement, and, for all the ages to come.

You will observe that Saint Paul speaks of a previous Divine counsel, and of this counsel
being confirmed by an oath. This is very significant as applied to the Society of the Atonement.
Our counsel, as I think I said on the morning of the 7th of October, was the answer which the
Father Founder obtained to his prayers when he took counsel with God as to what should be the
name of this Institute; the answer came in those three wonderful Texts, with the name
ATONEMENT in the central one. That counsel was for a considerable period of time, the
guiding star in my own personal life. I certainly would not have given up the fine parish in
Kingston at a time when it was flourishing and prospering, to go fifteen hundred miles into the
West to take up the position as head of the Associate Mission Clergy House in Omaha,
Nebraska, had it not been for the Name and Texts and the confidence that God willed and
purposed that the Society of the Atonement should come into being.

And when at length under His leading, five years later I found myself at Warwick and
held that three days conference with the Mother Foundress, it was the thought of the Texts that
made us both strong in the conviction that God wished us jointly to found this Institute, when
already the acceptance of the Faith of Peter was forming itself quite strongly in our minds and
hearts. And so, on that First Covenant Day, (Oct. 7th, 1898) I took two crucifixes and laid them
on the little improvised altar and we offered ourselves to God for the life and work of the
Atonement, promising Him to give our lives for that purpose. Then came the violent reaction
and it came very swiftly. As the beautiful sunshine changes to sudden darkness and the storm
coming is almost instantaneous, so was it in this case; for while that little ceremony was taking
place in that little upper oratory, there was not in my mind a shadow of doubt that I was obeying
the will of God, and it was with joy, I am sure, that both of us made the sacrifice, and yet, I had
no sooner passed out of that little upper room into the hallway to the spacious room that had
been assigned to me in a large house ("The Terrace" in Warwick) when, as I believe, the
Adversary approached and communicated to the interior of my soul, those words,

"You are a fool; you have assumed the responsibility of founding a

Society and the future of this Sister, and moreover you made a promise to
 Almighty God that you would not again take a parish and receive a salary, and
you are here in the East among strangers, you don't know where to go, the whole
thing is a mistake. The only thing for you to do is to go to Rome, enter a
Religious Order and there realize your vocation."

By the time I arrived at the room which I occupied, all the hope and confidence had
disappeared and in its place was this terrible sense of agony and distrust as to whether the thing
that had just been done was according to the will of God, or whether it was a presumption on my
part, contrary to the will of God. I threw myself immediately on my knees and the only thing I
could cling to was that, I believed that the three Texts of the Society had been given me by God
in 1893 in Kingston, five years before, and the thought continued,

"You obtained those texts by invoking the Holy Trinity. Make another
appeal, asking God if He sees fit, to confirm those texts by another passage of
Holy Scripture, but if, on the other hand, He wishes you to abandon at once the
Episcopal Church and enter the Passionists ask to have this made clear. You are
perfectly willing to do that, for the only thing you desire to do is His will."

God gave in the VII Chapter of Hebrews, the answer, a chapter so strong, so forcible and
applicable to the case that I am quite sure that if I had taken the concordance and hunted from
Genesis to the Apocalypse I would not have found any part of the Holy Scriptures more
remarkably a definite answer to my appeal. When I read it a great joy filled my heart, a joy
which has never departed and when I communicated the same to the Mother Foundress, I am
sure she accepted it in the same spirit. Take note of the force of those words,

"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

That by two immutable things, in which was impossible for God to lie, we
might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us."

First of all, there was the counsel, which was the previous revelation of the Name and the
basic Texts, and now there comes on top of that an oath, a Covenant Promise, "blessing I will
bless the children of the Atonement, multiplying I will multiply them." And so after we "have
patiently endured" we have in a large measure already "obtained the promises", for we have seen
in these latter days our Society take deep root, wrapping itself around the Rock of Peter; we have
seen it shoot upwards in its growth, towards the heavens, and we have seen it in latter years
expand unto the ends of the earth, for in all portions of the Catholic Church, Graymoor is known
and the principles and ideals of Graymoor have their influence.

I wrote a little article this afternoon for the next Lamp addressed to our Bishops, and to
the priests and the Sisters in the "field afar" about the observance of the Church Unity Octave,
and that message will no doubt be read by these bishops, priests and Sisters in the heart of
Africa, in the jungles of India, in China, in Japan, in the islands of the sea, and they will, I am
sure, respond to our petition regarding this observance, which has been authorized for every part
of the Catholic world by our Holy Father, the Pope. Yes, we have indeed, already begun to
realize this blessing of fecundity and this promise of God that He will multiply and increase the
Children of the Atonement. So let us rejoice with a deep gratitude, let us sing, as Monsignor
Lavelle in his sermon on the Mountain counselled us, the Magnificat of our Lady and the
Benedictus, of blessed Simeon [should be Zachariah], "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people." And in response to our part
of the Covenant let us cooperate with the good pleasure of God towards us by fruitfulness. Let
us in sanctity and good works, without any reserve, be willing to spend and be spent in the great
cause of the Atonement which is the extension of the Kingdom of Christ the King.

Rejoice, therefore, in the blessing wherewith God has blessed you all and this House of
Saint Francis, He has indeed increased the Sisters of the Atonement and given you the very
choicest parts of His vineyard in which to labor. Go forth then with new confidence and new
faith in the power that is behind you, realizing that underneath are the "everlasting arms" and
that God will work with you. Rejoice in your littleness in order that He may magnify Himself in
that littleness. He has not chosen the great and wise of this world, but the foolish things so that
He may confound the wise, so then in humility and dependence on God alone you will see your
work prosper, and God will bring forth wonderful things so you too shall one day sing your
Magnificat.

Document 24
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 23-
28]

SIXTH CONFERENCE

THURSDAY MORNING

OCTOBER 16, [1924]

We come this morning to the consideration of our Third Text in relation to the
fundamental Vows of Holy Religion. The Third Text received by the Father Founder was Saint
Paul's wonderful description of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament as contained in his
Epistle to the Corinthians:

I Corinthians xi, 28, 29:

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

23, 24, 25, 26, 27:

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That
the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my
body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying,
This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in
remembrance of me.

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death until he come.

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew
the Lord's death until he come.

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord,
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord."

He goes on to describe the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. It is not difficult to see
the connection between this particular passage and text of our Institute, and the Vow of Holy
Chastity. We have already pointed out to you that, as in the Blessed Trinity there are three
Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, so if we desire to live in union with the Three, we should
cultivate more especially the practice of obedience in devotion to God the Father; to God the
Holy Ghost in the Vow of Poverty, and now as an especial homage to Our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Vow of Chastity.

The Incarnation was the coming down of God to this earth and the identifying of Himself
with the human family, so that, whereas Saint Peter confessed Him to be the Son of God, He
confessed Himself to be the Son of Man; He loved that expression, "the son of Man." He is
"bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh." "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
Consequently His relation with His spouse the Church is a very intimate one. In the original
creation, God made them male and female. He made the man and He took out of his side the rib
and made the woman, and the law was: for this cause a man should cleave unto his wife,
forsaking his father and mother, and the twain should be one flesh. Certain things are deeply
implanted in the nature of the human family and those things of course, cannot be eradicated.
Yet, when Our Lord came to manifest Himself to men and to establish His Church, He set a
premium upon virginity, a state which seems to be in contradiction to the fundamental
arrangement of God, for the human family is not built upon the individual, it is built upon the
family.

Until Christ came, we may say as a generalization, that every woman who came into the
world looked forward to marriage as her inevitable condition. It was considered among the Jews
a disgrace for a woman not to be married. In the face of this, Our Lord comes and puts a
premium on virginity. His mother was a virgin. He himself was a virgin. The beloved disciple
that leaned upon His breast at supper was a virgin and no sooner do the Apostles go out to
propagate the Faith than straightway we see virginity established and recognized.

The Apostles, the most of them, were married men necessarily so, because they were the
connecting link between the Old and the New Dispensations. Yet very early in the history of the
Church, a man ordained a priest was forbidden marriage. We know that the Eastern Church has
still a married clergy, but the regulation is that they shall marry before they receive Orders,
instead of remaining celibate. But this is really an accommodation to the natural disposition of
man and it is not the Church's original ideal. This ideal is carried out by our own clergy of the
West. They are celibate because they are consecrated to the altar.

And as far as women are concerned, we find a very early tradition to the effect that Saint
Matthew in preaching and journeying, raised to life the king's daughter among a certain people
that he evangelized, and being raised from the dead, this Princess conceived the idea of
consecrating her virginity to God, and the king and his wife (her father and mother) had also
been converted and their kingdom brought to Christ under the teaching of Saint Matthew. But
upon the death of the good king and queen they were succeeded by another scion of the royal
house who insisted upon marrying the virgin princess. She refused, and Saint Matthew protected
her in keeping her vow, and as a consequence, he paid the penalty of being slain at the altar. So
runs this beautiful tradition.

Today, we find through the ages vast multitudes of men and women vowed to God in
holy Chastity and holy virginity, chosen souls who detach themselves from the ordinary
channels of earthly affections and center their love upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Now, how is
that possible? How do so many people seemingly contradict nature and yet live in happiness and
contentment in their particular state? We know that in pagan Rome there were the vestal virgins
and as perhaps you have heard me say before, the Roman Empire was immensely proud of them.
Upon state occasions they sat upon a dais, or platform, right near the Emperor's throne. But the
Roman Empire, with all its power, was afraid that they might not persevere in their virginity,
and so there was put a guard around them. Nor were they asked to remain virgins all their life;
after a certain age they were allowed to return to the world and they could then marry.

How is it then that in the Catholic Church this state of virginity flourishes to such a great
extent? Why, it is because of the Blessed Sacrament. It is in the Blessed Sacrament that our Lord
nourishes His spouses with His own life, imparts to them His Body and Blood and knits them to
Himself and infuses into them a supernatural love for Himself which satisfies all the cravings of
our nature and sets us free from the necessity of entering marriage in order to fulfill these natural
desires.

So you can see the intimate relationship there is between Chastity and the Blessed
Sacrament. Consequently, our Three Texts may well be applied as a means of preserving,
cultivating and raising to a high degree our state of holy Chastity. Now Chastity is for us the
vow to persevere in the state of celibacy and so to continue true to the One to Whom we have
given our heart. We must then be always detached from all earthly affection which in any degree
can encroach upon the love which we have for the Heavenly Bridegroom, anything which He
would look upon as in the least degree rivaling, or contending with Himself for the supremacy;
and this must apply not only to those of the opposite sex, but also, to those of our own, for
sometimes there grows up between two of the same sex an inordinate affection for each other, an
affection which might easily run counter to the supremacy of Jesus in the heart or even become
in itself, sinful. Therefore, jealously guard the affections of your heart that Jesus may be All in
All to you. Be watchful in this regard amid the various duties which bring you in touch with the
people of the world, whether they be clerical or secular or even the children for whom you work.

This is all, of course, exceedingly fundamental, and grows out of the command, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind and with all thy strength." In
other words, Chastity and the virtue of charity (the two, of course, are intimately related to each
other) is to increase in us the divine love, first of all the love of the Sacred Heart, we being
united to Him in a most extraordinary and singular manner, as the wife is always united to her
husband so that wherever he goes, she goes. At any rate such is the ideal way. So it will be with
us, for it is revealed that "the hundred and forty and four thousand follow the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth in His kingdom."

Now married life brings along with it other exercises of charity, for marriage consists not
only in the love of the husband and wife, but there is their natural love for the children, and the
children's love for their parents and for one another. Now this charity exercises itself in a very
generous manner, more particularly the devotion of mothers towards their children. You say, "I
am cut off from all that because my Vow of Chastity leads me to concern myself only with our
Blessed Lord." No, not from the divine standpoint, because union with Christ brings you into a
new relationship with God the Father. A father is naturally interested in the maiden whom his
son is to marry. You take the case of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was very much concerned
that Isaac should have a proper wife. So he sends a tried servant to visit Laban, a relation, in
order that from his daughters might be selected a proper wife, and this good messenger brings
back Rebecca and, of course, not only is Isaac interested in Rebecca, but Abraham likewise,
because she is his daughter-in-law.

So now, by the very fact that you are bound by this Vow in a beautiful unity with Our
Blessed Lord and He is become the Heavenly Bridegroom and the centre of your affections, you
are brought into a now relationship with God the Father. He, of course, is interested in
everything His son loves, and while the Father loves all the great multitudes of the redeemed
who will join in the praises of Heaven, He is more particularly interested in those of you who are
among the "hundred and forty four thousand who will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth"
and, therefore, will enter more intimately into the palace of the King. And so as the true
daughter-in-law loves her husband's father and delights to be dutiful as long as the father lives,
so this charity you exercise towards your Lord and Spouse generates, also, in your hearts, or
should generate, a beautiful love towards God the Father.

Both God the Father and God the Son love the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost in His
love for God the Father and for God the Son delights to come and dwell in the souls of the
children of God to form Jesus Christ within them. He is especially delighted to remain with you
because of your chastity, because of your virginity and because of the holy relationship which is
sprung up between your heavenly Spouse and you. Therefore, He cooperates with and shows
special attention to you, and Our Lord, Himself, in a very true sense, has placed you, under the
schoolmastership of the Holy Ghost that He [may] make you beautiful and fit for the love of the
Heavenly Bridegroom. So, yield yourselves with ever greater devotion to the Blessed Paraclete
as He speaks to you by your conscience.

Thus Chastity should build supernatural love in your soul for all three Persons of the
Blessed Trinity. You say, "That I now understand, but what of the spiritual parenthood of which
you spoke?" Ah, yes, without this you would have missed something; but God never wastes
anything. Virginity is not sterile; on the contrary, because it is observed for Him, it becomes
most fruitful. There was the lad in the wilderness with five barley loaves and two small fishes.
He could have been very selfish, he could have gone off in a corner and with these five loaves
and two fishes fed himself, or he could have made money out of them by selling them to the
hungry people around; but Our Lord called him and said, "Bring the loaves and fishes to me.
These people have had nothing to eat," and he gave all to Christ. Then see what happens; Our
Lord feeds not only the lad, but the whole multitude and has twelve baskets of fragments left
over. Now there is in Religious Virginity the same principle; it is something that belongs to you,
this capacity to marry and bring forth children, but you surrendered it to Christ, you put all those
things behind you, so that you may follow Him. Now what does He do with that natural capacity
of yours? Why, He raises it to a supernatural place and makes it fruitful.

You go out and labor in the missions and God gives you power, a wonderful influence
over those with whom you come in contact. The women reverence you and entrust their children
to you. You teach them and you win their little souls to love our Lord Jesus Christ and to
become His. Later on, they grow up to serve God, they marry and bring forth families, and so
from generation to generation goes on expanding this life of those that have become your
spiritual children. And this power God has given you to win souls for Him. What I have said
applies to your present work, but it will apply even more when you, impelled by divine love, go
out among the heathen. Suppose, for instance, you went to China and you rescued a dozen little
abandoned girl-babies from the dung heap, that you reached them just in time to save them from
the devouring dogs and to bring them into the orphanage you had charge of. You trained them
up very lovingly and carefully and by the time they were sixteen or seventeen they were married
to some good Christian Chinese boy. You would be founding a Christian family.

It is a beautiful thing to see old people having a family reunion; their sons and daughters
and their children come home, there may be thirty or forty of them. But the Religious who
makes many converts to God and lives long enough to see, instead of thirty or forty, there might
be thirty or forty hundred, so wonderfully does God bless virginity because it is observed for
Him.

And so, under the impulse of divine love, in loyalty and fidelity to your Vow of Chastity,
you have given everything to God and your will to cooperate with Him in His desire to add to
and increase the Children of the Atonement. Always bear those things in mind, and in whatever
way God permits you to propagate the Faith and to increase our holy Congregation, whether it is
in the correspondence department of the Rosary League, or Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost, or in
the Mission Houses, you will do your utmost to increase the Children of the Atonement, and so
your virginity laid upon the altar of sacrifice is made fruitful by the divine cooperation. And not
less so, if you should be called to a life of entire retirement from the world to watch and pray
before the Tabernacle, for it is said that Saint Teresa converted more souls to the Faith by her
prayers than did Saint Francis Xavier by his Missionary labours. [previous sentence is
incomplete] She reformed the Carmelite Order, and the Carmelites today in India are converting
multitudes to Christ, and that is the result of this woman's prayers, whose feast we celebrated
yesterday and whose life was devoted to contemplation and prayer. Whether it is living a life
like Saint Teresa, or in the mission field, you will propagate the Faith, and you will do it because
you have given your virginity to God and you are living your life of unity with Him, and
observing not only the Vow of Chastity, but the virtue of it in a very eminent degree.

Now then, remember that the fountain source of this supernatural love and this increasing
union with the Sacred Heart is in the Blessed Sacrament. You cultivate Holy Poverty and
thereby you cultivate an intimate relationship with the Holy Ghost; you are diligent in Obedience
and, therefore, you become more pleasing to God the Father, but if you wish to increase in Holy
Chastity and have your heart inflamed more and more with divine love, remember that it is to be
found in the union with Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament every morning. Therefore, ever
look forward with increasing desire to your Holy Communions, and then after you have made
one Communion, you should begin to prepare yourself for the next, for everything in your life
centres around that daily Communion. It is for this that your feet hasten to the choir, for does He
not there abide with you? Out of love for you, His eyes are always upon you and wherever you
are your thoughts must turn to Him.

Be conscious all through the day that He is in the Tabernacle and in your heart let your
sun rise and set in Him. This devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament should increase
continually, and if you are true to Him, He will, of course, be true to you and He will shed this
grace into your hearts. He said, "I am come to cast a fire upon the earth and how am I
straightened until it be accomplished." [Lk. 12:49] So constantly pray that He may enkindle in
your heart that fire, and if you are wholly centered in Him, you will realize more and more the
beauty and truth of that beautiful prayer which has been given to the Children of the Atonement
with our Foundation Texts,

"O God, who hast prepared for those who love Thee such good things as
pass man's understanding, pour into the hearts of the Children of the Atonement
such love towards Thee that we, loving Thee in and above all things, may obtain
Thy promises which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen."

Now it is impossible for our Lord not to fulfill a contract like that. Rich men in the world
try to gratify every wish and desire of their wives, but frequently the more they lavish upon
them, the more dissatisfied they appear. I remember on one occasion visiting a house where the
wife was not a Catholic, the man was very devoted to her, and yet, in the short time I was in the
house I saw that he had not succeeded in making her happy. During the evening she said, "Oh, I
feel as if I would like to run to the end of the earth."

The only One who can fulfill every desire of the human heart is the Heavenly
Bridegroom, and He will do it, and do it completely to every virgin soul that is absolutely true to
Him.

So watch with the greatest jealousy your holy Vow of Chastity. There was a saying
among the Romans that, Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, and the spouse of the great King
of kings must keep herself so that the Holy Spirit may never have to reproach her for any least
infidelity to the Heavenly Bridegroom. Keep yourselves, therefore, detached from creatures. Be
filled with that divine love and you can love then all things in Christ because He created them
and is in them. Say with Saint Paul, "I am ready to spend and be spent for others, though the
more I love the less I be loved." [2Cor.12:15] This divine love is all-embracing, and as a radiant
fire it goes out to all things around it, but for us all things earthly, human, or material sink into
insignificance when they are compared with that supreme love of the chaste soul for Jesus
Christ, whom she is to follow through eternity whithersoever He goeth.
Document 25
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 29-
31]

SEVENTH CONFERENCE

THURSDAY EVENING

OCTOBER 16, [1924]

It will be well, if you have not already done so, to now form some holy resolutions for
the coming year, such as the Holy Spirit may inspire you to make. Put them in writing so that
you will not forget. A year from now at your Retreat review these resolutions, see whether you
have observed them and persevered in them, and if it seems good, renew them.

We come tonight to the concluding words of our Covenant Chapter. Last night we dwelt
upon the oath of Almighty God.

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil:

Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest
for ever after the order of Melchisedech."

Our Holy Religion is always pointing out to us that this world is but a vale of tears
through which we are passing, that the eternal life is beyond the grave and that the chief purpose
of life here on earth is to prepare and fit us for our heavenly destiny. If this is so for all
Christians, it should be preeminently so with us Religious. We should set our affections on
things above, not on things on the earth, "for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ until He
shall appear." He is gone, as the great High Priest, within the veil. In the temple worship at
Jerusalem on the great Day of Atonement, the priest took the blood of the victims and passed
within the veil that always hung before the Holy of Holies in the great nave of the mighty
temple, and there behind that veil was supposed to be Shechinah, the visible presence of God. To
this sacred presence the priest took the blood and made an atonement for the sins of the people,
sprinkling it upon the altar and pouring it out at the base of the altar, and this is a figure of our
Great High Priest, Who, having offered Himself in sacrifice on Calvary, took the blood of the
Victim, even His own blood, and with it He ascended up into Heaven, "and there ever liveth to
make intercession for us," and there is "a priest forever after the order of Melchisedech."

So we have this faith and this blessed hope, as something we are always to exercise and
always to cling to, that it may be a true anchor of the soul amidst the storms and difficulties of
life. Sometimes you may feel discouraged. You may be disappointed. There come times when
the happy spirit that ordinarily animates us and gives us joy and zest for our work, is taken away;
times perhaps when we are called to lie upon a bed of sickness, or go through some great
physical exertion, or it may be that God for the greater sanctity of our souls makes us feel His
absence, and we are victims of aridity, all the joy that we had in our Religious exercises
disappears, and in those times we need some good strong anchor that we can hold on to and,
"this hope we have as an anchor for the soul," the promise of eternal life within the veil.

So keep your cheerfulness and your hopefulness of spirit no matter how much you may
be disillusioned as far as the things of this world are concerned. It is a world of "vanity of
vanities." Nobody had a better chance to enjoy himself than King Solomon with all his splendor
and wisdom, and yet, his summing up of life was, "Oh, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." We
see the world around us full of disappointed people, and as they draw to the end of their life they
become more and more misanthropic, but it is so different with the true Religious. As we go on
in life and as we get near the end of our journey, if we have served God faithfully, we are not
cast down by any manner of means, because no matter what delights and joys of a spiritual
nature we may have experienced in the soul, or what happiness we have had in our religious life,
we know that these are only foretastes of what is coming beyond. We know that the One whom
our soul loveth, the One Who to us is the altogether lovely One, is passed within the veil, and
presently that veil is for us to be rent asunder and we are to be conducted by the holy Angels into
His dear presence. And we have not only our Divine Lord there, we have not only the Holy
Trinity to adore and worship through eternity, but we have our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the
Atonement, sitting on her throne, crowned with stars and clothed with the sun. She is there to
ravish us with her beauty and the sweetness of her voice as she sings her Magnificat.

Then there is our Father, Saint Francis, with those wounds in hands and feet received on
Mount Alvernia with the rose fragrance of the wound in his side; then there are our great Brother
Saint Anthony in all his youthful beauty and splendor, and our Mother Saint Clare with her
virgins around her, and all the innumerable multitude of other glorious saints whom we have
admired and invoked on earth, together with the beautiful angels. What a thrill we would have if
at this moment we should open our eyes and see our Guardian Angel! Yes, just to see that one
dear Guardian Angel would be a delight to us, but what of the endless multitude of angelic hosts
that shall surround us in their glorious beauty with the music of their songs? Saint Paul, who
beheld that vision, came bock and said, "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered
into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him."

And all these things are awaiting us! Therefore, as we get toward the end of our life, why
should we be downcast? Why should we be sad? Certainly, we have a great deal more ahead of
us than we have behind us. So cling to this thought of Heaven, the certain hope and expectation
of the glorious things that shall be revealed. Here in this world, the greatest joys are more or less
imperfect and there is so much bitterness always mingled with the sweet, we cannot go very far
in the experience of any earthly happiness but we run up against the cross in some form or other;
the sword pierced the heart of the Blessed Mother and the crown of thorns pierced the brow of
our King, and so likewise, for us in this vale of tears, there must be the experience of trials,
disappointments and afflictions; but those things do not count, in fact, Saint Paul says that "the
sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be
revealed in us."

So by the cultivation of ever-increasing, prayerful longing for the Beatific Vision and the
fellowship of the Saints above, let us go forward walking in that great virtue of hope and
praising God as we push on, so we will be true children of oar Seraphic Father and illustrate
those words of Isaiah, "They shall march into Sion. singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be
upon their heads."

As we near the close of this Retreat, sing your praises to God and chant your Magnificat.

The day after tomorrow you hope to have in this chapel a Solemn High Mass in honor of
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Sisters' coming into this little House. At that time it was about
one third as large, as it is said a criticism of the Mother was made by the chaplain, Father Davis,
to the effect that she showed extravagance and poor judgment in building such a large chapel.
The chapel, like everything else has had to be enlarged considerably, but thanks to the foresight
exercised in the beginning, it is intrinsically the same and the sanctuary not at all changed.

We have a great deal to rejoice over, that the small beginnings of twenty-five years ago
have developed so marvellously! And not only the Mother House, but we have the six branch
Houses, and only God knows what the next twenty-five years will bring. So let us look forward
to the anniversary Solemn High Mass. The General Absolution will be given you at that time
with the Papal blessing, You will then return to your Missions bringing to these branch Houses
new hope and new courage to do the work that is before you,

Document 26
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 32-
35]

EIGHTH CONFERENCE

FRIDAY MORNING

OCTOBER 17, [1924]

We have been dealing all through these morning meditations with the vocation of the
Children of the Atonement based upon the name of our Holy Society, At-one-ment, and we have
been treating in the three last meditations of the fundamental Vows of Religion, which are
designed to establish between us and God a very intimate union.

We pointed out that, as there are three Persons in the Holy Trinity, so the three Vows of
Religion promote, each of them, union in a particular manner with one of the members of the
Blessed Trinity and also that God in His wisdom when He gave us the name, and the three
fundamental Texts, associated each one of these texts with one of the Vows.

We have seen, therefore, how Poverty is to be exercised in bringing us into closer union
with God the Holy Ghost, Obedience in making us more perfectly united with God the Father,
and our Vow of Chastity in enabling us through the Blessed Sacrament to absorb our being in
the Sacred Heart of our Incarnate God; and that, as a consequence all the natural cravings of our
nature based upon the family as the unity of society rather than the individual, all our implanted
instincts in such direction are supernaturalized and we can find their perfect satisfaction in our
mystical union with Christ.
 We will proceed today to consider another aspect of the Atonement:

"We joy in God through Our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the
Atonement.'' This implies sacrifice as well as joy, for we cannot be one with the Crucified and
not share with Him to some degree the sufferings which the Atonement entailed upon Him.
"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe
should have everlasting life," which means that He might be a victim of love, that He might not
only manifest obedience in its perfection, but that He might reveal to men the wonderful love of
God toward them. Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His
Sheep, and He said, "No man hath greater love than that he lay down his life for his friends."
Our Lord's laying down of His life was not alone by the violent surrender of it on Calvary, no,
His whole life was a continued and entire sacrifice. He is sometimes pictured as the Infant Jesus
with a cross before Him, in fulfillment of the words of the Psalmist, "My grief is always before
my eyes."

Now union with Our Lord means union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In carrying out to
its full His work of redemption, in satisfying His thirst and longing for the souls of men, Jesus
was not satisfied by the crucifixion of His natural body He has willed that His mystical body, the
Church, continue from generation to generation the mystery of the cross. It has been so from the
beginning and it very probably will be increasingly so towards the end, for Our Lord appears to
be working out the mystery of our redemption as His earthly life proceeded from stage to stage.
He went about doing good, preached to the people and performed many miracles, made many
sacrifices for them toiling by day and watching by night, but His sacrifice was not complete until
He permitted Himself to be nailed to the Cross by His enemies and Satan.

Many theologians believe that in these latter days there will be something corresponding
to this, that God will deliver over His elect into the hands of their enemies and they will be
persecuted even unto death and Christ will multiply by innumerable victims of bloody sacrifice
His own atoning sacrifice on the Cross. Now, we do not know whether that is going to be true in
our own day, or in the future, but we may look forward with certainty to the fact that in some
way or another our Lord is going to associate us with Himself as victims of love, and it is well,
therefore, for us to cultivate the spirit of sacrifice, for love revels in the language of sacrifice.
You take a mother's love, see how from the time her infant is born into the world the mother
devotes herself to and sacrifices herself on behalf of her child. She finds her joy in that life of
sacrifice and devotion. The same motive power of love should impel us to the life of sacrifice in
helping Our Lord to realize His heart's desire. We know that His thirst is for souls, that He longs
to see His original commission to His Apostles carried out to the fullest extent:

"Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, teaching them and baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

As long as there is a soul in the world that has not been redeemed by the Atonement, as
long as there is a possibility for us to in any way extend the Kingdom of Christ over the souls of
men, as long as we, as individual victims, can open a spring for His lips to satisfy that thirst, our
love for Him will inspire us to do all we can and we shall not count the cost.
 Therefore, we must not shrink from the cost of the mystical union with Jesus Christ
begun in this world. Soon we shall behold Him in His glory when we come to the Heavenly
kingdom and we shall feast our eyes upon the Sacred Five Wounds, the glorified marks of the
passion transcendently beautiful, radiant with light, the trophy of victory of Him who stooped
down and drank of the brook of suffering in the way and lifted Himself up on Calvary.

But we, do we not also, desire to be adorned in our body with some marks of His
Passion, some trace of His stigmatization? We do not presume to aspire to the wounds of our
Father, Saint Francis, but there are many, many ways in which the marks of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be impressed upon our body and also upon our soul. They, too, shall be preserved by
God as ornaments, beautiful ornaments for us to wear through eternity. Saint Paul may not have
received the stigmata as did the Seraphic Patriarch, but he could have stripped off his tunic and
shown the deep gashes made by the rods of the Jews by whom he was beaten and the stripes of
the five times flogging. He could have shown the scars made on his body by the stones at Listra
where he was left a quivering mass prone upon the ground, with the stones piled upon him so
that the Jews thought they had completed their work of death. Very probably he bore some
marks of the shipwreck, when a night and a day he was in the deep. Certainly these marks of
Jesus Christ in the body and soul of the Great Apostle of the Gentiles are now his glory in
eternity.

So now for us when some blow causes our interior to quiver with its impact, it may be
ingratitude or unkindness where we might have expected gratitude, or only the steady wearing
away of the body in toil done under the inspiration of divine love, in whatever the wounds
consist they will leave either upon your soul or upon your body which is to rise after death
glorified, some marks that will shine with brightness and beauty as precious jewels, when you
come to take your place with the hundred and forty four thousand who follow the Lamb
whithersoever He goeth.

So, let us not be weak, let us not be indolent, or out of self-love follow the line of least
resistance, trying to get through life with as little sacrifice as possible, reducing our labors to the
minimum so as to be as comfortable as we can and still, at least in some form, observe the
externals of the Rule. Oh no! but let us pray to our Lord to inflame our hearts with love for Him
and for His sacred apostolate of the Atonement with something akin to that which caused Saint
Teresa to cry out for more suffering as an expression of the great love she bore to Our Lord and
to the souls which He redeemed at so great sacrifice. May we, then, with our Seraphic Father
Saint Francis and with Saint Paul be able to say, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world."

Now, our cross is usually fashioned by the hand of God and not by our own. I fear that if
we manufactured our own crosses, they would not be of very heroic dimensions. It is always best
to place ourselves in the hands of God and ask Him to provide the suffering necessary and to see
that we have our share. Then let us each day have the attitude of expectancy, when we get up in
the morning be prepared for any unpleasant surprise, for sometime during the twenty-four hours
we are pretty sure to encounter the cross, and very likely one we did not anticipate. When it
comes, ask for the grace to recognize it as from the hand of God, and accept it in a supernatural
manner, prayerfully and not resentfully. For example, in the common life, you may be associated
in your work with a Sister who gets on your nerves. Providence selected out of all the
Community the one Sister who is least congenial to you, and then you begin to rebel interiorly
against the situation and you resent every thing that she does, which in another Sister you would
not mind at all.

Before you know it, you have developed fraternal uncharity and it may be that your
feeling toward the Sister almost approximates hatred. How very greatly this displeases the Holy
Spirit within you! For very likely that Sister is loved just as much by our Lord Jesus Christ as
you, and perhaps more so. Now, then, what is the trouble? A cross came to you in the selection
of this particular one to work with you and you were supposed as a Religious to use this person
sent to you by obedience, as a means of greater perfection. You should have had an attitude of
gratitude toward God, telling Him, "I am so glad you sent this Sister to me rather than another to
whom I am more attached. I now have a little opportunity to bear the cross. I would rather have
this Sister to work with because she is uncongenial to my natural disposition and I am given the
opportunity to be supernatural and to convert this cross into a crown of rejoicing.

Or, again, somebody under you does not do her work in the proper way and you get
excited and impatient about it. Once more you have not received your cross. That particular
occasion was intended to exercise you in patience so that you might interiorly unite yourself
with God and ask Him for wisdom to do well under the circumstances of that passing moment,
how to overcome the shortcomings of that particular Sister so that the result in the end would be
good. Or, you are the Superior in a mission and the pastor in spite of your hard work is strangely
obtuse. He does not show you any degree of gratitude for what you are doing, and you begin to
feel it and say, "It would be so much easier for me to do things if the Father was more
appreciative and encouraging in my work." Of course, all this lack of consideration is a cross,
but you should say, "Well, I am not doing this to please the Father and I will do my very best
with this cross. I will offer it to our Lord and say,

“Dear Lord, I am really glad it happened this way. You took away the
appreciation of creatures so that I may be more like You when You were on
earth. So I take this cross very delightedly and happily, because it makes me like
You.'"

One of our heaviest crosses is sickness, you are perhaps very active in your work, and
you especially love to instruct the children and have them around you, but the Lord comes and
asks you to sanctify your soul by illness, by being rendered apparently helpless, you feel a
useless member of the community. Now that is a very great trial, but yet, that is your cross and
in the inscrutable designs of Divine Providence that cross may be a means of great merit and
become your brightest crown of rejoicing in Heaven. In such a period of your life adjust yourself
to the new situation. Heretofore you were a Martha, now God wants you to become a Mary so be
cheerful about it. Say,

"While actively at work I did not have much time for contemplation. I
must confess that more or less, I neglected the interior development of my soul
which, after all, is the true way to become more united with You. I will now have
more time for this and the result will be even better as far as the salvation of souls
is concerned."

So, then, whatever comes along in the way of crosses, sudden and unexpected as they
may be, accept them cheerfully from supernatural motives recognizing in them the sweet Will of
Almighty God. Ever have in your heart and on your lips: "God forbid that I should glory save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

On the Mount of the Atonement over the altar in Saint Francis Church is, as you know,
the beautiful statue of Saint Francis. He is always looking straight at the crucifix in his hands.
Let him be our example of meditating ever upon Jesus Crucified. So shall we understand the
mystery of love which impelled Him to this life of a Victim and ask the Seraphic Father to
obtain for us a love that will patiently reproduce that divine Sacrifice, that we may be always
ready to carry on His labour of love for the souls of men. United as a Victim with Him the Great
Proto-Victim now reigning in glory in Heaven in union with the Father and the Holy Ghost to
Whom be praise eternally. Amen.

Document 27
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 35a-
37]

NINTH CONFERENCE

FRIDAY EVENING

OCTOBER 17, [1924]

We have been dealing with the fundamental principles of the religious life as interpreted
by our holy Texts, and we have been trying to impress upon you that the heart of the
ATONEMENT is union with God. This evening we will speak about union with our glorious
Mother, Our Lady of the Atonement, and with our Seraphic Father Saint Francis.

Let us think first about our membership in the Seraphic Family, and looking back to our
great Patriarch, the Poverello of Assisi. As the human family is descended from our first parents,
Adam and Eve and as in that family there are different nationalities, different tribes and different
families, so in the family of the regenerate in Christ there are various branches or divisions, and
in the providence of God we belong to a most illustrious branch called the Seraphic Family and
all its glorious traditions stretching back seven hundred years are ours. So numerous are the
children of Saint Francis that he is called the "Abraham of the New Law by reason of his
numerous posterity." Let us be true and faithful children of our illustrious Father, obeying the
precept "Honor thy father and thy mother that thou mayst be long-lived upon the land which the
Lord thy God will give thee." This is one of the fundamental Commandments of God, and as
children in a family are brought up in the fear and observance of this law and have this duty
impressed upon them, so also, it is applicable to us in the spiritual family.

As loyal, faithful and obedient children of Saint Francis we should treasure his memory
and try to live in his spirit, true to his teachings, his Rule and his traditions. I don't think I need
to stress this any further.

And now we come to consider the great favor that has been shown to us by our glorious
Lady and Mother. We know, of course, that she is the new Eve and the mother of all the
regenerate, all of the seed of the Atonement that issued mystically from the side of Christ when
upon the Cross there came forth the blood and water. This blessed and gracious Mother has from
time to time shown her predilection for certain of her children, given them particular marks of
her watchfulness over them, her love towards them and her promise to protect and guide them,
and in particular when she wished these chosen ones to perform certain things for the Church.
For instance, when long ago she appeared in one night to three different men whom she wished
to cooperate in founding the ancient order for the redemption of captives. Of course, having had
this great favor shown them by the Blessed Virgin as a result they went very zealously to carry
out her wish and will, and were confident in that special mark of her favor, and, of course, they
were not disappointed in their expectations.

Every child of the Atonement should treasure deeply the memory of the part which Our
Lady played in the early formative days of our Institute, and more particularly the remembrance
of the gracious favor which she showed to us in her three apparitions, one in the cell of one of
the nuns (Sister Amelia) who is present here tonight; one in this Convent Chapel on Sunday
within the Octave of All Saints to the eyes of a young server at the moment of Benediction,
when she stood on the Gospel side of the Altar amid the candlesticks, with the Christ-child in her
arms; and the third in the old Friary Chapel on the Mount of the Atonement, where Our Lord
was seen by little Gordon Gregory hanging on a tall cross reaching from the ceiling to the floor,
and at its foot a white globe, and kneeling on the right as faced by the child, was our Blessed
Mother in the attitude of prayer. We treasure the memory of these three appearances and
recognize in them an extraordinary mark of Our Lady's favor.

Then the privilege of invoking her by a new title, that of Our Lady of the Atonement, is
certainly a tremendous favor, a feast in honor of which has the approval of our Holy Father, the
Pope. A wonderful favor indeed to our Holy Society and a mark of its predilection with God.
We cannot realize, I am sure, too strongly the fact that the Society of the Atonement is a great
creation of God with a tremendous vocation and that it is loved by our Blessed Mother. We
should always then, have recourse to Our Lady of the Atonement in all of our troubles and turn
our eyes toward her with the utmost confidence in her love and her maternal watchfulness over
us individually and in everything that concerns the well-being of the Society of the Atonement.

I would recommend to you especially that in prayer to Our Lady of the Atonement you
ever remember that she is the spouse of the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost is the
Sanctifier, Who, in order that she might be a worthy vessel of the Incarnation, Himself
intervened to protect her from the taint of original sin and ever throughout her life guarded and
preserved her in that high estate wherein she never committed sin. Appeal, therefore, to her and
ask her particularly if she will not intercede for you to the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, that He,
through her intercession, will bestow particular graces upon you to fulfill your particular office
or vocation in the Society of the Atonement. And beseech her to assist your growth in holiness,
so that as you advance in age from year to year you may also grow more and more into the
image of God, in other words, pray that she help you to be one of Gods saints.

And so with the close of this Retreat, we commend you into the hands of our Blessed
Mother asking her to watch over you and the good resolutions you have made. May she keep
you ever obedient to the Holy Rule, chaste in soul and perfectly faithful to Our Divine Lord and
so to persevere always in your holy vocation.
 Tomorrow we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Mother's taking possession of
this little convent and, in memory of this evert each one try to make a fresh consecration of
yourself, complete and entire, to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, asking that every day
of your life you may advance and grow in holiness and beg that above all you may obtain from
God through the intercession of our Blessed Mother the grace of final perseverance,

Go back then to your Mission with quickened energy, zeal and fidelity to the different
tasks before you. Remember what I said earlier in this Retreat about imitating Daniel, who, in
the exile in Babylon, knelt and said his prayers with his face towards Jerusalem, so at night when
you say your prayers try to face Graymoor and its Mother House. Such an act will show Our
Lord and Lady of the Atonement your loyalty and faithfulness to the centre and the authority of
our Institute. Be very zealous to always preserve the traditions of the Mother House, observe
each detail of the Constitutions just as though the eyes of the Mother Foundress were directly
upon you, Do this as a faithful trust, thereby helping to preserve the unity, efficiency and good
esteem of the Sisters of the Atonement. As I recall it at this time, vary recently the Bishop in
whose jurisdiction some of you labor declared in a letter to the Mother that of all the missions in
his diocese yours is dearest to him. So wherever you labor inspire those who are over you with
reverence for the Institute because you yourself are faithful to Our Mother the Church, obedient
to authority, and loyal to Graymoor and your training.

May God keep you in His watchful care and protect and fill you more and more with His
divine love, making you realize what His love is, that you may be one with God the Father
through obedience, one with God the Son in the Blessed Sacrament through Chastity, and one
with God the Holy Ghost through poverty.
1925
Document 28
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 38-
43. Of note is that Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., considers his profession on July 27, 1900 the beginning
of the “corporate life” of the S.A. Many of his sentences are introduced by the word, “Now.” It
is his style. The talk appears to have been given to Atonement Sisters.]

FIRST TEXT OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ATONEMENT

August 3, 1925

"And on the last great day of the festivity Jesus stood and cried, 'If any
man thirst, let him come and drink, . . .’ Jesus was not yet glorified." John 7,37-
39

I seem more inclined to take what might be called the historical method of conducting
this retreat, referring to the development of our holy Institute, than simply to take the ordinary
method of dealing with the fundamental principles of the religious life, in sort of an abstract and
general way. I think it would be easier for me and I hope it will be just as edifying for you. Our
Lord said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and it is easier to speak of
those things of which we have had experience than to take some other line of meditation.

We have been celebrating silver jubilees at Graymoor for sometime past. We began with
the Reverend Mother's twenty-fifth anniversary of her coming to Graymoor, and then last fall we
had the celebration of the coming of the Father Founder to Graymoor and the discovery of the
Mountain, and now we have been celebrating this year the various events connected with our
acquiring possession of tho Mount of the Atonement. Ascension Day was the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the deed being transferred at high noon which brought it into possession of our
holy Institute and Corpus Christi was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the erection of the cedar
cross on the mountain top, which has withstood the storms and cold and heat of twenty-five
years, and still stands with unimpaired strength. And then we had Atonement Week and the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the Father’s profession, and as that was really the beginning of the
existence of the Society in its corporate capacity, it is really now the beginning of the second
quarter of a century in the corporate life of our Institute; the other things have been preparatory,
as it were, to that.

This feast of our Holy Father St. Francis will be of special moment because it will be the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the Mother's profession for life of the Rule which you are now
observing. So it is a good time to look at things from a historical standpoint and of that divine
evolution which we believe in, how God develops things from seeds and how the human family,
beginning with its units, goes on developing a family from stage to stage and from generation to
generation. It is really a period of expansion, taking the watchword of The Lamp, "A Greater
Graymoor", by which we mean the further development of our Institute, and its expansion and
advancement from its primitive period into a more advanced and wider development, though the
principles, of course, remain the same.

We count our Atonement Week from the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost way back in
1893 when, after much searching of heart in prayer and meditation on the subject, God gave to
the Father Founder, not merely the name of the institute, but after the manner of St. Francis, He
gave him three fundamental texts. Now these texts are very wonderful. There is nothing
accidental about them we say, and the more we meditate upon them, the more we can see the
divine purpose in selecting and giving them to us in connection with the Society's name.

Now as to the name, we understand that the end of Christ's sacrifice on the cross was the
union of man with God from Whom we had been alienated through sin. In preparation for the
Atonement Our Lord Himself unites our humanity with the God head and He introduces another
nature into His personality. From all eternity He had been divine, the Second Person of the
Adorable Trinity, but from the day when the Archangel Gabriel came with the salutation to
Mary and she consented and the power of the Highest overshadowed her and the Holy Ghost
came upon her, Our Lord united with His God-head our human nature, and that was to prepare
the way for the return of man to union with God and so we have Atonement.

Atonement is a word rather peculiar to the English language. As far as I know there is no
other language that has just that word to describe the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. We have
adopted etymologically in the Latin the equivalent, adiunari, ad and iunari, but the Latin word
has never been associated with the Atonement; it simply means to unite, to bring together into
one, but we have adopted the word in the Latin as the nearest equivalent to atonement. So we
speak of our Society in the Latin as Societas Adiunaris (Adunationis), ad being the noun and the
verb iunari. (I wonder about this, however.) Very likely the effect will be to introduce into the
Latin word a new religious significance which it never had before.

Now the thing we stress, and which our vocation stresses, is the end for which Christ
offered Himself in sacrifice on the cross. The end and purpose of it was to reconcile man to God
and bring man into a wonderful union with God far transcending that state of friendship with
God which he enjoyed in Paradise, because now man is wedded to God in the person of Our
Lord and those that constitute His mystical body, "bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh," as
St. Paul says, are brought into a unity with God which will increase and develop more and more
beyond our highest powers of comprehension after we have attained to the Beatific Vision. Now
bearing this in mind, we see a special significance in these three texts which have been given to
us, and so we begin tonight with the first of them, where our Lord, standing in the temple invites
all those that thirst to coma unto Him and He promises that they that believe on Him out of their
bellies shall flow rivers of living water.

Now men seem to satisfy thirst at external fountains, but here He declares that the
fountain shall be within us. From this we learn as a result of our religion and as a result of
fulfilling our vocation of the Atonement that our aspirations and desires are going to find their
highest satisfaction not at fountains external to ourselves, but they are to be satisfied from
within, because God Himself is going to take up His abode within us and He is to be our
sanctification and He Himself is going to be the living fountain which shall satisfy us. The
prophet of the Old Testament quotes that God said to the children of Israel that He had two
complaints to make of them, one was that they had forsaken Him, the fountain of living water,
and they had gone round to seek to satisfy their thirst at broken cisterns which could hold no
water. In this way He very aptly expresses how the world in its idolatry of material things,
material wealth, material splendor, material riches and sensual gratifications of the appetite
which we find in our carnal nature, are seeking enjoyment, are seeking happiness, and God
declares that He Himself is the only One that can satisfy, a discovery which, as you know, St.
Augustine made when he declared, "O my God, I perceive that Thou has made the heart of man
for thyself, and it can find rest nowhere else but in Thee." So we discover, and should discover it
increasingly as time goes on and we grow deeper into the things of our holy religion, that the
satiety of our aspirations and longings is not in the external world around us, but it is in the
interior of our own being, that out of our interior depths spring up the consolations and
refreshments of our life.

Now we associate, and our Lord directly associates this text with the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. "This spake he of the spirit, that they shall receive that believe on Him." We are to realize
that in the God-head alone there are three persons distinct from each other, although perfect in
their unity and in their substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and these three texts
of ours as they are unfolded before us invite us to a life of union with God, and in that union
with God to distinguish the three persons of the God-head, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and it is quite proper that the first one introduced to our attention should be the Holy
Ghost, because His office proceeding from the Father and the Son was to prepare the way for the
Incarnation. He is first on the scene as it were. We see in the Blessed Virgin the work of the
Holy Ghost, perfect work, perfect work of sanctification. The Blessed Virgin was created
without sin; not even original sin touched her. She was preserved by the Holy Ghost through her
entire life without sin; she lived her life of infancy, girlhood and maidenhood without a
sacrament of the New Testament and all her sanctification came from the Holy Ghost. She was
the vessel prepared, and within her, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, Jesus was conceived.

So you see that the Holy Ghost comes first in the divine economy of our salvation and of
the Atonement. It is proper, therefore, we should first be introduced to the Holy Ghost and,
therefore, we begin our retreat after the introductory words we have already spoken to you, by
calling upon you to cultivate devotion to the Holy Ghost and to realize that a very important part
of your vocation is to live a life in perfect harmony with His indwelling presence and of daily
union with Him in your mind, in your heart, in your souls and in your body, for it is not only
that He dwells in the mind and heart and soul, but St. Paul says, "Know ye not that your bodies
are the temples of the Holy Ghost?"

Now this is a very primary and essential and a very important part of your life as a
religious, and you cannot be too keenly aware to it or too keenly cooperative with the worship of
the Holy Spirit Himself, trying to realize this union in you. All of you ought to be spiritual
religious, spiritually minded, and how can you be spiritually minded unless your mind is
illuminated by the Holy Ghost and you have learned to distinguish between things material and
things that are spiritual, and until you have learned the teaching of St. Paul in the epistle to the
Romans, wherein he urges them not to walk after the sight of the eyes, nor the desires of the
flesh, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be led of the spirit, or to be spiritually minded is
to have “life in Christ Jesus."

And in this you have a wonderful model for admiration, both in Our Lady of the
Atonement and in our Seraphic Father St. Francis. No words can describe what must have been
the devotion of the Blessed Virgin to the Holy Ghost; she realized how much she owed to Him,
how before she her-self existed as a living being, the Holy Ghost prepared the way in the womb
of her mother by sanctifying everything that was carnal and by purging away all the hereditary
taint in that flesh before her soul was infused into it and she became in her mother's womb a
living being. She knew and realized that those wonderful inspirations she had as a child, that
when her mother Ann and her father, Joachim, brought her to the temple when she was about
five years old and the Holy Ghost came upon her, according to Tradition, she broke away from
the grasp of parental bonds and ran under the impulse of the Spirit into the temple until she stood
upon the steps of the altar and clapped her hands for glee and sang the songs of Israel. She knew
and understood by the special illumination of her mind, her wonderful intelligence that she was
inspired by the Holy Ghost, so that she became the seat of wisdom because she was, as it were,
the seat in which dwelt the Holy Ghost. She understood how much she owed of that inspiration
and joy of that glad day to the Holy Spirit.

And all through those years of her girlhood and maidenhood, when she remained in the
temple and participated in the worship there and meditated on the Psalms and sang with that
beautiful voice of hers the praises of David, she was never unaware of how the inspiration of it,
how the sweetness and joy of that life, was due to the gracious indwelling of the Paraclete, and
when that wonderful day in her life came, when as she was praying, and the little cell was
illuminated by an effulgence of light heralding the presence of the Angel of God, she looked up
and saw the glorious Archangel Michael [Should be Gabriel] and heard his salutation, "Hail, full
of grace, the Lord is with thee," and he declared that the time was come when God would fulfill
His promise to send the promised Messiah to the world and she was to be the mother, and the
question came to her lips "How shall this be?" she understood in her soul the significance of the
salutation, "The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the holy Thing that will be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

How her being must have thrilled with rapture of wonderful love when there was
conceived by the Holy Ghost within her womb the Redeemer of the world, and when a few days
afterwards, having been told by the same Archangel Gabriel that her cousin Elizabeth had
conceived and was going to bring forth the herald of the Saviour of the world, under impulse of
the Holy Spirit, she felt strongly moved to go and visit her cousin Elizabeth and tarry with her in
those eventful days that were to follow. How wonderful that journey must have been, as St.
Luke says, "She went with haste into the hill country." And how her heart sang with a sense of
these divine espousals and the realization that she was, indeed, the spouse of the Holy Ghost. No
words of ours can describe, nor can our imagination fancy the length, depth, height or breadth of
that wonderful intimacy which existed between this maiden of Israel and this glorious third
parson of the Adorable Trinity.

Now as we sit at the feet of the Seat of Wisdom, our Mother, and would learn of her as
she learned so much at the feet of her mother, Ann, she would no doubt speak to us if we could
hear her voice, in words of wonderful sweetness and matchless eloquence concerning what ought
to be our devotion to the Blessed Paraclete and how she would will us to be obedient to His
slightest whisper, His Slightest urging, His slightest counsel and advice, and she would teach us,
moreover, that we were not to trust in our own strength in carrying the burden which the future
will lay upon us, to accomplish the tasks that God through obedience will expect of us, but
realize that we are sustained by the supernatural power of the Holy Ghost. We read in the
prophecy, "Underneath are the everlasting arms." So indeed, in your tasks and labors, if you only
realize it, underneath are the everlasting arms of the Holy Spirit sustaining and upholding you in
your work. "As thy day, so shall thy strength be" is another promise, and I think surely the
prophet must have had the Holy Spirit in mind when he gave that wonderful prophecy about
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint," and instead of taking
these things as a matter of course in your life, it is well to reflect in your soul and say to
yourself,

"Well, now I feel a good deal of energy for my work today, I like my
work and I am succeeding in it. Now I must not credit this to myself or to my
own endurance, but just the Holy Spirt Who is nourishing and sustaining me,
quickening me by His presence, putting in my heart love for these tasks and
giving me His holy vision, so I must be grateful to Him, and I must not only be
grateful to Him, but lean upon Him with greater love and confidence in my
heart."

The Sisters of the Atonement until now have been very successful in their work. It is
very wonderful, for instance, for the Sisters that have worked in St. Clare's Mission. For
example, I wanted some matter the other day for a little write-up for The Lamp; I asked the
Mother to find out how many children in St. Clare's Mission had been prepared and presented
for first Holy Communion and Confirmation since they began about six years ago. I was
astonished when the record book came back over three thousand out of five thousand from the
public schools, not including the Italian children at all. To have instructed and prepared that
many children for Holy Communion, is indeed a marvelous work and they certainly would not
have accomplished it if the Holy Ghost had not worked in them, not only drawing these children,
but moving the parents and teachers to cooperate with them. Certainly our Sisters have labored
tirelessly; all the houses have been more or less under-manned and they have done more than
sometimes two or three their number, and yet, they have been wonderfully sustained in their
work and they have not for a moment felt the burden of it and they have been happy in it.

Perhaps you have not realized how much of that has been directly due to the fulfillment
of that promise of our Lord, "Come to me all ye that thirst...shall flow rivers of living water."
The refreshment, fruitfulness, fecundity and missionary success is inspired by the Holy Spirit
and as far as our happiness is concerned, if this divine Spirit were withdrawn from us, indeed,
the chariots would drag heavy, as the chariots of Pharaoh did when the wheels came off in the
depths of the sea. The happiness, the inspiration, the renewal that come to us every morning with
our meditation, so that we take up the same round of labor and carry through our work day after
day, that which refreshes and makes each day beautiful and makes us say at its conclusion, "It is
the end of a perfect day," is all caused by those wonderful refreshing waters of the Holy Ghost.

When I arrived at Rome on Wednesday in Holy Week, the shadows of night had already
fallen, and the city was only artificially lighted, and only a very limited part of it at that. The
next morning when I issued forth from the hotel, seeking a church where I might receive Holy
Communion (Holy Thursday morning,) I met one of the Friars and he told me he had an
invitation from the Holy Father to be present at his Mass. We had a wonderful walk along the
Tiber and across the bridge and saw the castle of San Angelo, and then we went on until we
stood in the great square in front of St. Peter's and for the first time I beheld those two
magnificent fountains that send up their water day and night, and the spray was glistening in that
beautiful spring sunshine. The friars said the significance of these two fountains are the
perennial graces that issue forth from the Catholic Church. He might have said, and said truly,
they are symbols also, of the Holy Ghost which Our Lord said would spring up within those that
believe on Him.
 I shall take up tomorrow morning the subject of the vow of Holy Poverty in direct
connection with the Holy Ghost. My object in this particular meditation is to impress upon your
minds how, with our Blessed Lady herself as your instructress, you are to learn more and more
of the deep mysteries of the Holy Ghost, His indwelling presence, and to go to Him in your
meditations and your prayers for consolation, and to realize that He is within you always, that
your bodies are His temples, that He is inspiring you with holy thoughts and is inflaming your
hearts with divine love, and He is taking the things of Jesus Christ and forming them in you; and
resolve to correspond to all His holy admonitions. He will always give you warning when danger
is near, if you will only listen, for you go out among wolves and you do not know when you are
going to meet with some danger or peril to your soul, but He is with you and will warn you if
you listen. Give heart to all His admonitions, His illuminations and guidance, only being sure
that you are not being deceived by the devil, who sometimes assumes himself as the Holy Ghost
and speaks something that the carnal man may be persuaded comes from the Holy Spirit; but
remember that the Ho y Ghost will never give you any counsel that contradicts your rule or the
voice of the Vicar of Christ, or the teaching of our Mother the Church; they always harmonize
because they all proceed from the same source but He will guide you and direct you, and He will
sustain you as the daughter of that beautiful Bride which He has chosen through all eternity, and
it will be his joy to form in you the likeness of that Mother that you may be true daughters of
hers through eternity.

Document 29
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 44-
48. The talk appears to have been given to Atonement Sisters.]

SECOND TEXT OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ATONEMENT

August 3, 1925

"Being justified, therefore, by faith let us ...by whom we have now received the
Atonement ...through Jesus Christ our Lord."

You recognize in this the fifth chapter of Romans, the centre of which is the central text
of our Institute which contains the name of our holy society, "We joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement,"

We have already called your attention to the significance of the Atonement, or the word,
as setting forth the end or fruit of Christ's oblation on the tree of Calvary, that as man and God
were separated by the sin of our first parents, so by that oblation of Himself on the Cross, He has
taken away, as St. Paul says, the handwriting that was against us and the wall of partition has
been broken down and they that were twain have been made one. And thus the word,
Atonement, or At-one-ment, signifies this reconciliation between God and man through the
Blood of the Atonement that was shed for us on Calvary.

Now take up the historical aspect of our vocation. We understand that our Society is
raised up by God, not alone for our own individual reconciliation with God through the taking
away of our transgressions in the Precious Blood and the building up of our life of union with
Christ in holy obedience, by the grace of the Eucharist, but that we have a vocation that extends
beyond ourselves, and it is peculiarly a vocation of unity, that we are to cooperate with the Will
of the Most High in Our Lord's prayer on the night of His betrayal, that those that believed in
Him might be one as He and the Father are one, and that they might "be one in us" as He
expresses it, that although man is so imperfect in his disposition and on account of the malice of
sin, he has become his own enemy and the history of the world is made up principally of wars
and strifes and conflicts of one kind or another with an immense amount of bloodshed. In spite
of this characteristic of fallen humanity, man in his ultimate union with God is going to
experience a wonderful realization of our brotherhood, of our unity with each other in the
perfect charity that shall reign in heaven where, indeed, as God the Father and God the Son are
one in each other, so we will be one in our unity with God in each other in the perfect fulfillment
of Our Lord's command that night of His betrayal, “My little children, love one another."

And we are to set forth this life of unity in ourselves primarily by the exercise to a high
degree of a holy sisterly and brotherly charity. Surely if we have a vocation of unity to preach to
others, we must practice what we preach and manifest this unity in our own lives and in our
fellowship with one another. So the Sisters must feel that God wills them not only to exercise the
ordinary Christian charity which should bind the Sisters of one community together, but that you
are to show forth that unity preeminently, even as the Friars of the first Congregation are striving
to set forth the same unity among themselves. And having a vocation of unity, we may very well
recognize that Satan will try to defeat that vocation by using every opportunity that we might
give to him for misunderstanding and divisions and strifes among ourselves and, therefore, you
must fortify yourselves in the spirit of charity one towards another.

There is a certain affinity between certain dispositions and temperaments and among
people. Some people we naturally like and some people we naturally dislike, and yet we must be
careful about the natural liking, that it does not become a rival in anyway to that liking and
attraction we have for God, and therefore, when we find that we have a peculiar attraction to
some of our Sisters we have to be on our guard that it never degenerates into particular
attachments, which often prove harmful and hurtful. I learned about an attraction between two
persons down in our own Novitiate yesterday, and I heard one say, "If the other is sent away, I
will go too." This shows that that particular person's attraction is for somebody else, so that he
cares more for that person than he does for his vocation, because if everybody else were sent
away he would have stayed, if he had a proper love for Christ.

On the other hand, there are natural dislikes, and these are overcome by the operation of
grace and by our unity with the Sacred Heart. It sometimes happens that there is a certain
superior to whom certain of her subjects may be attracted; there are others who might not be
attracted to her at all, in fact, they might have something quite opposite towards that particular
superior, and in that case the obligation is to struggle against and to recognize the holy law of
charity, and it ought to be a help to us to realize that our vocation is unity with the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, and that unity means whatever He loves I must love, and whatever He does not love I
must not love and therefore, if we find that towards one of our Sisters we have a lack of
attraction and we want to overcome that feeling, we might reflect,

"Well, now, have I reasonable assurance that my Lord and Spouse Jesus
 Christ loves me? Oh surely. Well, how about my Sister that I do not have an
attraction to? Have I any reasonable grounds to think that the Sacred Heart loves
her also?"

Well, if we have any charity we will certainly say yes. "Well, if He loves her, I must love
her also, because what He loves I must love also." And by subordinating ourselves to the furnace
of charity which is in the Heart of Jesus, we will be able to overcome these natural attractions
(think this is the wrong word) and blend us together as two pieces of iron. So in the furnace of
divine charity these natural attractions are overcome and the Sisters bound together in a
wonderful unity which has its origin in the Sacred Heart of our Divine Redeemer.

Now having realized and experienced this unity in ourselves, we must consider our
vocation as to those outside of us. Of course in the communion of saints we are to realize our
unity with the saints that are in glory, we are to realize our unity with the saints that are the Poor
Souls in Purgatory by the exercise of our charity, doing what we can to aid them by our
suffrages and sacrifices and Communions. And of course, the Constitutions provide that we
should pray very earnestly for the Sisters that once were with us and have been taken away from
us. We may have a very high esteem for those Sisters, but we do not want to be absolutely sure
that, even if they were excellent and good, they are in paradise. There have been some little
dreams and things from time to time that really sometimes have a significance about people that
we naturally think it would not be worth while to pray for, who need our prayers. So we do not
want to be too sure that they do not need our prayers, and even if they do not need them, it is
well to remember them in our suffrages and they will appreciate it even though they are looking
down upon us from the throne which they are already occupying in the New Jerusalem.

Then comes that great problem of unity which we are to exercise towards our brethren
that are with us in the Church Militant, alive and struggling daily. We are to exercise generous
charity, for instance, towards other religious communities. Sometimes there is not a little bit of
jealousy among even various communities of Sisters, some being a little bit jealous of others
because they seem to be successful, but of course, anything of that sort ought to be totally
obliterated. If God is glorified in any of His saints, we ought to rejoice with unalloyed joy, and if
we see any other Sister with a greater love for God, we should thank God and rejoice at their
usefulness and success.

Then we come to that particular vocation of Church Unity which God has manifestly
bestowed upon us and we must never forget and we must go on praying for "the other sheep"
and seek by every means in our power to bring about Our Lord's prophecy concerning them,
"Other Sheep I have .... and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." And in this connection we
must realize that we have a peculiar vocation towards the English speaking separatists, and more
particularly among those that have been separated from the centre of unity through the
instrumentality of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, his daughter, who brought about the separation
between England and Rome. Now this particular vocation has been bestowed upon us in a very
striking manner and did not come all at once, but by degrees, here a little and there a little.

But to begin with, we made a discovery once by reading a sermon of Bishop Clifton's on
church unity, that way back in the early days of English history there was a king by the name of
Edward the Confessor, who was elevated to the altars of the Church, a very holy and saintly king
and one gifted very eminently with the spirit of prophecy. A number of his prophecies have been
handed down and have met with wonderful fulfillment.

One prophecy he made in particular was this, that he saw in vision the Church of
England like a great tree suddenly cut from its parent stalk and carried a distance of three
furlongs and by supernatural power brought back and taking root against its original stalk. Now
there is nothing in the Church of England's history that corresponds to the first part of the vision
except that the violent act of Henry VIII when Parliament cut the Church of England from its
unity to the root of the Papacy; and we might interpret the three furlongs as three centuries in
time, and it is very extraordinary to note that it was in 1533 that those acts began which ended in
the separation of England from Rome, and that exactly three hundred years afterwards, we have
what is called the Oxford Movement, which, as it develops, is more and more manifest as a great
providential movement bringing the Church back to her original faith and to her original
allegiance to the Pope and to come a little closer home. The coryphaeus of this movement
chosen by God was John Henry Newman. He had made a visit to Rome and while there he had
the Roman fever, not theological fever, but literal fever, and his nurse told him he was going to
die, and he said, "No, I am not going to die because I have a great work to do when I go back to
England," and upon his journey back through the Mediterranean he composed that hymn that has
been sung so frequently since, "Lead, Kindly Light" and it certainly did lead beyond, and when
he arrived in England he went to Oxford and he was present in St. Mary's Church when John
Keble preached that wonderful sermon which is called "The National Apostasy." It was the
Pentecost of this extraordinary movement and John Henry Newman under the inspiration that
that sermon became the coryphaeus or leader of the Oxford Party, Now then we come to our
chapter which I have just read to you.

One day I was reading a book of controversy and in it I found that when Henry VIII sent
his book to the Pope against Luther, he quoted one of the very passages of this fifth chapter of
Romans against Luther, namely, "As by the disobedience of one man . . . so by the obedience . ,"
And he said how this man by his disobedience and rebellion against His Holy Vicar. [previous
sentence incomplete] Now ten years after he wrote the book Henry did precisely the same thing
towards England, and by the disobedience of that one man as a rebel against the very Pope that
had made him "Defender of the Faith" we see England thrown into the state of antagonism
which has prevailed unto this day, until there are millions and millions of Protestants against the
Vicar of Christ speaking the English tongue. Now then behold the antithesis. After three hundred
years, God raises up another Englishman and puts upon him the spirit of Christ and teaches him
by degrees the Catholic religion, and as it dawns on him as true, he finally makes his submission
to Rome and becomes before his end a cardinal or prince of the Church. And as one is named
Henry, the other is named John, the name of the great Apostle of the Atonement who stood by
Our Lord all during His crucifixion. The last name, Newman, means the "new man." Now
another coincidence. As I read this history of Newman coming back to Oxford and that being a
certain day in July, the thought flashed upon my mind and I wondered if that was the Sunday
upon which the Father Founder received the texts of our Institute, and lo and behold it was, sure
enough.

That was in 1833, the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, and just sixty years afterwards this
special chapter was given to us with the name of the Atonement and the central text, and ten
years more were allowed to elapse, making a period of seventy years, and then it was claimed
that the terminus ad quem of the Oxford Movement was the corporate reunion of England with
the Apostolic See and so that is part of our history.
 When our Reverend Mother was praying for guidance as to coming to Graymoor the text
was given to her "They that be of thee . . . . the restorer of paths to dwell in." And so when, in
the fullness of time, God brings back the heretics of the schism of the sixteenth century in some
capacity, or the great body of English speaking Christians, it will attach to this holy Society of
ours the name of "Repairers of the breach."

During this retreat please pray that the petition which is now in the hands of the
Secretary of State, asking the Holy Father to put forth an additional decree to that of Pope
Benedict XV, his predecessor, which will make the Church Unity Octave universal in the same
way as devotions to Our Lady in May and October, pray that that petition will be granted and at
the same time that the feast of the Chair of Peter at Rome on January 18th may be elevated in the
universal church to the same dignity it enjoys in the Basilica at Rome, so that before the eyes of
the whole world that Chair may be set forth as the divinely constituted center of a Reunited
Christendom.

Document 30
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV 39-
43. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

RELIGIOUS LIFE
Monday Morning

August 3, 1925

The subject of our conference this morning is the obligation under which religious labor
to renew the spirit of their vocation. St. Francis de Sales once said, "If you get rid of your
besetting sinten minutes before you die, you are to be congratulated." We, all of us, have
constitutional infirmities and tendencies in the wrong direction, and as long as we live there is
need of watchfulness, discipline and exercise of will power under grace to overcome these
tendencies.

St. Francis de Sales himself is distinguished among the Saints by his poverty, his
sweetness, his amiability and that loving, winning way which he had by which he overcame the
prejudice, bitterness and austerity of that particular form of Protestantism which we call
Calvinism. He was attacked by his enemies again and again and he had to go into exile, and yet,
through that marvelous amiability and sweetness, he won his enemies, converted enormous
numbers of Calvinists back to the Faith, and yet, constitutionally, St. Francis de Sales had a
violent temper and he spoke feelingly, therefore, when he said that if one got rid of their
besetting sin ten minutes before they died, theywere to be congratulated. He was a man who had
to watch and discipline himself, and yet, by his correspondence to grace, what might have made
him an irascible man was so subdued that he became famous among the saints for his sweetness
of temper.

So we are under the obligation of renewing the spirit of our holy vocation. In his
exhortation to Timothy, St. Paul says, "Neglect not the grace which is in thee." We are to realize
that we are whatwe are, not by our natural qualities, but by divine grace. Had our Lord not put
grace behind the summons which he gave to the Apostles they would not have left all to follow
Him. When He passed through the custom house and saw Matthew or Levi, sitting at the seat of
custom, He said, "Follow me," and straightway he left all and followed Him. He would not have
done that had not those words been accompanied by something of that divine power "which
spake and the worlds were created, which spake again and the waters were divided from the
land."
But as creatures made in the image of God each of us possesses a will and it is by the
exercise of this will of ours in union with the divine will that grace is operative. There may be in
some extraordinary cases such a wonderful power put upon us that grace becomes irresistible,
but it is not so according to the ordinary working of grace. All Heaven paused and the Angels
stopped to listen to the answer which the Blessed Virgin gave to the Archangel Gabriel's
salutation, "Hail, full of grace ...shall be called the Son of God." She was full of grace, and yet,
she might have said no and baffled the purposes of God, and if that is possible to one full of
grace, how much more is it true of us who are not full of grace. As long as we are in this mortal
flesh, we have the exercise of our choice in corresponding to grace. This begins every morning
with clock-like regularity when the calling Sister comes around with the salutation,
"Benedicamus Domino." It is our first exercise of choice, because in most of us, I imagine, tired
nature cries out and says, "A little more sleep," like the sluggard in the words of Solomon, "A
little more sleep, a little more slumber," and there is the disposition to turn over and forget the
"Benedicamus," and yet, every morning we make the choice, we decide that we will obey the
voice of God and the call of duty and put the flesh in its proper place and make it obey, for,
after all, as St. Francis says, it is only "Brother Ass," and we are the master or the mistress.

So that is just a little example of what goes on every day. We may not be conscious of it,
but yet, in the life of obedience, and we are under obedience all the time we are following the
Rule, we are obeying the voice of a living Superior, and we do it as religious, in gladness, our
will united with God's will, and yet, there is subconsciously at least, an exercise of our own will
and choice conforming with the divine will which comes to us through all the regulations and
rules and incidents of every day life as a religious. Now then, it is necessary for us to correspond
to this grace that is given to us by which we are enabled to do these things, for even our Lord
said, "Of myself I can do nothing. It is the Father that sustains and enables me to do these
things." Of course. He was speaking there from the standpoint of human nature, and if that is
true of Him, how much more it is true of us, and consequently, we must always correspond to
grace in order to persevere and to advance in the religious life, but this means from tine to time
the renewing of the spirit of our mind, as St. Paul says, and this matter of the renewing of our
minds and girding up of our spiritual loins to run the race of perfection that is set before us,
requires a certain period just like the present of Retreat, and you have come here at this time for
your annual retreat, come to make note of advances, gains that you have made in the past twelve
months, also, of possible losses, of the times when you have not risen up to what was expected
of you, perhaps through some subtle temptation of Satan when you were not on your guard, or
lost some ground in the spiritual combat. Now is the time to take note of all that.

It is our intention to get your Confession out of the way early in the Retreat so that,
having dealt with that important aspect of the Retreat, you may rest your minds more and try to
drink of more spiritual refreshment at the fountains of grace, for this is a very essential part of
your life. We have had a public accountant working on the books of the Union-That-Nothing-
Be-Lost and all our other rather complicated accounts at Graymoor for over a month trying to
get at any defects in the bookkeeping system, and there have been serious defects. And the books
are now being renewed, a new start made. This is somewhat the same principle as a retreat. If
you realize at this time any failuresyou have made or shortages in your accounts with God owing
to any inexperience in your life as a religious outside of the Mother House, or any difficulties
that you have had, problems that you are confronted with at the present time. Those things
should be noted down and you should deal with them in Confession.

Therefore, today I want you to give particular attention to taking stock or inventory of
the past year, making as faithful a report as you can, not only of the gains, but of the losses, and
particularly to make the difficulties you have had practically and fully to the confessor, who, for
the time being, will be your spiritual director, and try to listen to whatever counsel and advice he
may have to give to you, if you need any. Of course, this is all very important. We have every
day an hour's meditation. Meditation is the time when we commune with God, and the
meditations are taken up with the principles of the religious life and of all those fundamental
things and eternal truths of which we become, or ought, to become, more and more familiar.
And then in connection with that, every day we have two times for self-examination a particular
and general examination, and let me say right here that those times are very important. It is a
very easy thing not only to deceive ourselves, but to deceive our confessors, too. A person might
be going along and growing weeds in their garden instead of good wheat, or cockle may be
mixed up with the wheat, and not be able to recognize the cockle from the wheat and some day
the cockle bursts forth in full bloom and a person is startled to discover that there is cockle in the
wheat. Now this matter of daily examination is intended to obviate our going a long time
without a knowledge of ourselves.

In the early days of our Institute, to show you how easy it is to be deceived, I heard the
Confession of one of our Friars and I regarded him as a saint and used to speak frequently
particularly of his humility, and in the end that man developed one of the most enormous
manifestations of spiritual pride imaginable, to such an extent that he actually thought at the end
to remove the Superior from jurisdiction over it and convert the Institute from a Franciscan to a
Dominican one, and the man himself I have no doubt was unconscious of the fact that pride was
lying at the root of his whole conduct. I use that as an illustration of how easy it is to be
deceived, even about things that are tremendously fundamental.

So I hope that during this Retreat you will be very diligent in the matter of your daily
examines, that when you go back to your work you will not trust to your own judgment, that you
will humbly pray to the Holy Ghost to enlighten you, and kneeling before our Blessed Mother,
who loves you, ask her to beseech the Holy Ghost to show you your faults in order that you may
cooperate with grace in overcoming them. Please take that attitude today. Do not be too sure that
everything is all well and that your Confession is only going to be a perfunctory one and that the
summing up of your last year's life is only going to be a congratulatory Te Deum to thank God
for His grace. By all means thank God for His grace, but be quite sure as far as you can be sure,
that you in your natural proclivities have entirely conformed to grace, and if there have been any
difficulties or shortcomings, ask the Holy Spirit through our Mother of the Atonement, for
illumination in order that you may know your faults, errors and real sins, and you may confess
then with true contrition, and at the same time take account as to how in the future to avoid the
mistakes of the past.
If any of you in the past year have had any difficulties with your Superiors, whether they
be the head Superior of your House and you have perhaps blamed them and thought the fault
was not your own, if you come with that feeling here, now is the time, today, to get straightened
out on that point, because, even if Superiors are imperfect, they are for the time being in the
providence of God the ones whom we are to obey, not only just because we have to, or in a
formal manner, but to obey them fully and with a joyful interior union of our wills with the
divine will, and let us know and understand perfectly well that before God we cannot justify
ourselves in thinking that Superiors ought to have done differently, they ought not to have done
this and they ought not to have done that. That is not the point; the question is, whether we
ourselves have had this disposition, and if we have had this disposition we might know perfectly
well that disposition is wrong and that is the only thing we are concerned about at the present
time.

By way of illustration, one of our clerics was very enthusiastic about the wonderful
Society of the Atonement, loud in his praises of the Society, wonderful destiny and everything
of that sort, and also, of course, of his own enthusiastic devotion to the Society. Well, he came
home on his Christmas vacation from the Sulpician Seminary at Washington and was reading in
the refectory one day in the absence of the Superior and one of the Fathers substituting for the
Superior did not notice that he was more or less faint, as he said he was. And as he read he
became more and more indignant against this particular Friar, towards whom he had for
sometime back more or less aversion, and hegrew hotter and hotter within at the cruelty of that
acting Superior to let him read on when he felt faint. After a while, instead of simply saying,
"Father, I do not feel well, I feel faint. Will you please excuse me from reading and let me sit
down?" he turned on him and said, "Don't you see I am faint and you make me read here?" Then
he proceeded to sit down.

Of course, after that the matter was brought to my attention and I felt I should exercise a
little discipline, and I thought perhaps anyway it would be to the young man's good, and so in
obedience I directed him to make acknowledgment before the whole Community of his fault and
ask a penance, and when the time came, instead of acknowledging his fault, he began by saying,
"Well, I suppose that Father so-and-so did not understand," and he began to apologize. I said,
"You are not here to apologize for the acting Superior, you are here to apologize for yourself for
sitting down without obedience." So he finally made the apology grudgingly, but he felt himself
so deeply outraged and wronged that, as the result, when the time came for him to renew his
vows, he informed us that he was going to be a secular priest. There is the sample of a man who
was consumed with self-love, all he could see was the cruelty and barbarity of the Father who
was quite innocent that he was faint and would certainly have granted that permission if he had
asked for it in the right way. So sometimes people allow themselves to be troubled because they
think so much of the fault of their Superior they forget their own fault. Now then, let us realize
that we are not responsible for the faults and the defects primarily of those we are associated
with. We are only responsible for ourselves.

Our Lord succeeded in obeying Annas and Caiphas, the high priest, and submitted
himself to the judgment of Pontius Pilate and bowed to the beating and scourging of the brutal
savages that were employed to execute the orders of Pontius Pilate and submitted to all those
things because he saw that behind all these acts was the will of the Father that he should go
through these things and be obedient to death, even the death of the cross. So I use these things
as an illustration. I cannot tell where you have failed during the present year, or where your own
weaknesses may have come in conflict with your obedience and your holy Vows and perfection,
that is between you and God, the Holy Spirit, but try today as best you can to make a good and
satisfactory Confession, and if, after you have made a sincere examination of your conscience,
you cannot think of anything particular, makeyour act of contrition to God and at the same time
a little prayer to the Blessed Virgin and ask her that if there is anything in you that you cannot
see she may intercede with the Holy Ghost that he may reveal it to you.

And so with this little admonition of the obligation that we are under of renewing the
spirit of our vocation and getting back to the high ideals we have had in the novitiate, in spite of
any difficulties that we have passed through since, I leave you with this exhortation that you
will always correspond to that grace and that you will run more diligently in the way of
perfection. I leave you with this thought that, the principal duty today is to prepare for your
Confession here tomorrow, or in the very near future.

Document 31
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
18-24. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters. Of note is the amount of times
he begins a sentence with the word “Now.” It is his style.]

POVERTY
August 4, 1925

We will continue our meditation on the Holy Ghost this morning in connection with
Holy Poverty, but before we get to Holy Poverty there are certain other aspects of the subject
that I would bring to your attention.

I said last night that we could learn about proper devotion to the Holy Ghost at the feet of
our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Atonement. For example, of His indwelling presence and
what He did for her and, also, from our Seraphic Father Saint Francis. We dwelt at some length
on our Blessed Mother in relation to the Holy Ghost last evening. We will consider Saint Francis
as a model and pattern for the imitation of his children in regard to his relation to the Holy
Ghost, and incidentally, as this is the feast of St. Dominic, we might add him as another
example. Before we come to the matter of Poverty, we will look at these two Saints as the
fulfillment of the words of the text, "Jesus stood in the temple and cried....out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water."

These are the two great preaching saints of the thirteenth century and the marvelous
power they had in their own generation, and all generations since, can only be explained from
the standpoint of the supernatural power of the Holy Ghost working in and through them and
affecting the whole body of the faithful, the whole world in fact. The Holy Ghost in them was
not simply a little fountain at which they personally might drink for the interior refreshment of
their souls, but it gushed forth from both of them in mighty rivers, rivers of divine grace and
power to flood the souls of men. Take them as preachers for example; when one goes to Assisi
and walks about the streets of that little mountain town and then thinks of the enormous impress
St. Francis left, not only there, but from there descending like a mountain torrent of influence as
I saw the waters pour forth from one of the rivers in the Umbrian Valley as we climbed towards
Assisi from Rome. If we consider how the flood of grace poured forth from St. Francis
throughout Italy and Europe leaving such an enormous influence on his generation that within a
few years after he started to preach he could have called together a Chapter of his order at Assisi
where there were five thousand members present, it simply seems incredible, it does not seem
possible. For, who was he?

He was only the son of a merchant and he never did anything before so extraordinary.
Why should this man have made his power felt from the Pope down everywhere, left such an
enormous impress, not only in after generations, but in his own time, such an incredibly short
time? He was not even a priest, he only got as far as being a Deacon. Why was it that when St.
Francis went into a town and began to preach there was not a church big enough to hold the
people and they had to get out in the public square? Why was it that even nature paid tribute to
him and the birds came and fluttered around him and sat on his head? Why could he speak to the
birds that were chirping in the streets and interrupting him in his sermon and say to them, "Now,
my brother birds, just let me speak, and when I get through you can sing," and the birds obeyed?
Why could this man go and find somebody dead and call them to life again? Why it was because
God the Holy Ghost dwelt in him in such a wonderful manner and willed to reproduce as it
were, the live Christ again among men.
Miracles were accomplished by the man of Christ, who spake as never man spake,
through this wonderful power of the Holy Ghost, which Our Lord symbolized as "rivers of
living water flowing out of the bellies of men." And we see something of that within St.
Dominic, who was raised up by God at the same time. Previous to that the Church was suffering
tremendously by reason of the worldliness that possessed her. Prior to the days of St. Francis this
world and pride, and all that goes along with it, had even gone up and taken possession of the
Papacy itself. There were some popes in the years previous to St. Francis that were a scandal to
the name of Christian, and the Devil seemed to have come up in the high places and taken
possession of the Vatican, and there was need for a great reform. So God called these two men
and they began to preach with tremendous power,

There was a picture at Toulouse of St. Dominic....... by a great multitude hanging upon
the lips of this great orator. [part of previous sentence is missing] He had power to convert men,
change their lives, help to reform society, he was no ordinary man, though a natural man.

That power, divine power was the power of the Holy Ghost dwelling in these men in the
spirit of prophecy. Now it did not confine itself to either St. Francis or to St. Dominic, but it
poured into the souls of others, springing up within them as, for instance, when some great
deposit of water on top of a mountain springs up underneath the grounds, comes up and appears
in all sorts of places, but it traces its origin back to some great supply of water at a distance. So
there sprang up fountains in the heart of thousands and thousands of people from these rivers of
grace that issued from these great servants of God.

Now it has come down through the centuries, down in the Seraphic family even to our
day and has given birth as it were, to our Holy Society in this far distant portion of the world,
and we have felt it and its working in us. You Sisters represent one Congregation of our
missionary Institute and this power is working through you, and therefore, the more you
correspond to grace as St. Francis and St. Dominic did, the more you give yourself up entirely to
be vessels of sanctification fit for the Master's use, so much more the Holy Spirit will work in
you and support you and give you His strength and wisdom and special power for your work.

You realize that and, therefore, the necessity of unity in order that you may not become
proud or self-reliant or self-contained. You are simply very feeble instruments in the hands of an
omniscient God, Who delights to use the simple things of the world to confound the mighty and
accomplish the greatest results through the weakest of vessels.

Now then, I come to the special theme of the morning, and that is that St. Francis, the
instrument of the Holy Ghost and great advocate and apostle of Holy Poverty, had been
impressed by God with an enormous love of the spouse that he wedded. Lady Poverty. Of
course, that was romantic idealism on the part of St. Francis, but it was his bride, and so God
infused into his soul a marvelous love of Holy Poverty.

He wished to do that because the great sin of the age was the opposite, it was
materialism, love of money and the things that money buys, it corrupted the people and those
who ought to have been the preachers of the Gospel of Christ and the Sermon on the Mount,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Now St. Francis was born
in wealth and luxury. His father was the richest merchant in Assisi, and getting richer all the
time. There came a time when St. Francis had to choose between being heir of his father's
wealth, follow his father's career, or turn his back on all things and follow Christ in a life of utter
poverty. He chose the latter. What was the result? He made a new revelation to the world, that
happiness is not to be sought at the broken cisterns of this world, but from within, from the
living fountains of divine life springing up within us, even the Spirit of God.

St. Francis learned his lesson well and consequently, he and his companions were the
“jugglers [better troubadours ?] of God," as they were called. It was an age of chivalry and
troubadours who used to go around from place to place with a musical instrument singing their
songs and entertaining people. St. Francis, carefree, abandoned himself to the providence of God
after the manner of the birds that flew over the hills of _______ , he and his brothers singing the
praises of God and saying their prayers to the Saints, and they were full of the knowledge of the
Holy Ghost and glad tidings to men, they brought joy into the huts of the poor, and they made
the burdens of those that were heavy-laden, lighter, because by faith the burden bearers were
taught to carry their burdens by uniting themselves to the everlasting arms of Divine Providence
and broad shoulders of Jesus Christ.

So you just realize poverty as your state and resolve to keep yourself detached as far as it
is possible from material things in order that you may find your inspiration, your joy, your life,
your everything in the spirit of God that is within you, and this spirit makes you free from the
bondage of covetousness. There are many people in this world who stifle all the impulses of
generosity because they have got into that state of mind that they must continually economize
and save and scrape together, get everything they can by hard work and labor, and if necessary
to overstep and outdo somebody else in business, and then when they get the money, they are
afraid to spend it for fear that they might be overtaken by some disaster or rainy day. They put
all their trust in money, therefore, they must be very careful to look out for themselves and their
children after them, and for that reason they cannot be generous.
I was in the office sometime ago of a man who has been pretty generous. I asked him for
some assistance in building our Brothers Christopher Inn for poor men, and he burst out in an
expressionof impatience and said, "I have got to save for my family." He had gotten beyond the
instant when there was any particular need of saving for himself, because he is a very rich man,
but he could not be generous because he had to lay up for the next generation.

And so the world is filled with that spirit, whereas the freedom of those who follow St.
Francis, the freedom of poverty, makes them generously desire to give. We find our joy in
giving, and having embraced the state of poverty, we trust, like the birds, in the providence of
God and, therefore, we need not worry about the future, but the thing to do is to embrace every
opportunity of giving, and to give in the spirit of real sacrifice and that deep poverty of which St.
Paul speaks, "Being poor, we make many rich, to spend and be spent, though the more I love,
the less I be loved." [2 Cor. 12:15] And so there is one of the sacrificial motives behind religious
poverty, to be as economical as we can, to practice holy Poverty with the idea that, the more we
deny ourselves, the more as a community we will have to give, not only of our labor, but of our
substance to feed the poor and clothe the naked and minister to those who need our assistance,
and it is not with a selfish thought. It is possible for communities to be possessed with the spirit
of covetousness--a broad charge, but made by the Archbishop of Baltimore the other day in
laying the cornerstone of an Augustinian College. He gave a raking over to the Religious and
said they were trying to get all they could all the time. Well, there might have been some truth in
that and there might not have been, but it is possible, of course, for communities to become
corporately greedy and corporately selfish and seek to have everything grand for themselves, and
not be at all generous in a corporate way towards the needs of those that are dependent upon
them.

I hope that the spirit of corporate poverty, as well as the spirit of individual poverty will
always characterize the Society of the Atonement, and when I start the Rock of Peter Foundation
or something else to advance the Kingdom of God, I hope the future generations will not sit
down and say, "Instead of feeding the sheep, we will feed ourselves."

So, this spirit of poverty must always have behind it the sacrificial motive, and that
sacrificial motive is a motive of joy, because it is the spirit of God. God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, and the Son gave Himself to such an absolute degree that He not
only allowed Himself to be stripped of His raiment and died in nakedness, but after He had shed
His blood profusely through those wounded hands and feet and side and head, He arranged that
a spear should pierce His heart and that the last of His life blood should be drained out of His
heart. Such was the generosity of Our Lord, and this is that deep poverty to which He has called
us. St. Francis saw all that and that was the reason he loved and was devoted to Lady Poverty.
The principle is that, if you went out and met a brother or sister that was in greater need than
you, the very clothes you had on your back would not belong to you any longer. They would
belong to the one who was more in need of them than yourself.

That was the way he put it in practice and the motive behind it, of course, was the
sacrificial love of God. Try to realize that the Second Commandment is like unto the first, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and one cannot carry out that principle in a world whose need
is greater than ours without experiencing a real practical poverty and, therefore, you practice
poverty among yourselves in the exercise of economy and trying not to waste anything just
because it is your Rule, but also, from the sacrificial motive behind it. The more economically
we manage to live ourselves, the more there will be to give to others and, of course, in the
practical life of an active Congregation such as yours, you will have constantly these
opportunities to give and minister to the needs of the people, and spend and be spent in their
service. All that in all its aspects should have this sacrificialmotive behind it.

Now that sacrificial motive is something that God has revealed as one of the essential
elements of love. Love is the supreme thing. God is love and He teaches His creatures, practices
and trains them, those that are dear to Him, in that life of sacrifice and love, and where the
choicest products have been made they have been made in the school of a sacrificial love. I often
think of my own childhood days and of my mother’s life of sacrifice. I had only one sister, but
my father and mother resolved that she should have a good education and they sent her away to a
fashionable boarding school. Of course, being a parson's daughter, she had a reduction, but even
so, my father's salary was only $600 a year, out of which he had to take care of himself and his
family and about $300 went towards the school, and the rest had to get along on what was left.
My mother was up early in the morning working, and when we went to bed she sometimes was
burning the midnight oil making children's clothes; she made not only her children's clothes, but
she made my father's clothes as well,There was not any bit of personal sacrifice or self-denial
that she was not ready to make out of that great mother's love she had for her children, and
especially for this daughter, that she night have all these advantages.

Now that is characteristic of mother love. Mother love is one of the beautiful things that
God has created, especially when it is a Christian mother's love sanctified by grace. And so that
is the spirit that God expresses through those that are given to Him and it is the spirit of poverty
and, therefore, you are to be governed by the sacrificial motive. I have no complaint to make of
the Sisters of the Atonement, I think that you have beautifully illustrated it already, and I feel
confident that you are going to realize it, but it is a beautiful thing to know about it and to realize
how divine it is, and its fountain source is the blessed Paraclete and, therefore, whenever you see
selfishness in any way cropping up, of course, we all have more or less of self-love, just knock
self-love on the head as well as you can and crucify it and mortify it in order that there may be
no other love that dominates you but this love of God which finds its fountain source in God the
Holy Ghost.

Now there is another aspect of poverty, which is purely a personal one and that you
ought to be careful about. I said last night the real source of joy for us is not outside of us, it is in
God. It is these fountains of living water springing up within us, and, therefore, you are not to
rest in creatures, but to be careful of any undue attachment or love that grows in your heart for
anybody,even the dear Sisters who are associated with you in your work, because sometimes
inordinate affections spring up between Sisters as there are between Brothers and Fathers in
Religion. And then, too, you are to be very careful as you come in contact with those outside of
the Community that you meet in your work. Of course, we always have to come in contact with
others. There has got to be a chaplain, a priest, and in going out in your work you come in
contact with the priest in the parish in which you work. You have got to be very careful in that
regard. Or, you might become interested in some of the people.

You have got to be on guard. Our Lord said to the Apostles when He chose them to go
out and spread His Kingdom, "Beware of men," and so the same warning applies to us, that as
we come in contact with those with whom we work or minister so that we always throw around
us this wall of reserve and keep ourselves detached from all creatures. We are to love them, but
we are to love them with a supernatural love that comes from God. Sacrificial love that does not
yield to self-love. So it is in all our relationships with the beings around us, and, if with the
beings around us, so, also, with the material things that we are associated with. It is sometimes a
ridiculously little thing that even destroys a vocation.

One of the Brothers came to me the other day, who was soon to renew his vows, and he
said, "Father, I have decided that I want to be a secular priest.” And what do you suppose was
the reason he gave? "Well," he said, "I like to have nice things in my room." Instead of having
the narrow cell of a religious, with a crucifix, he wanted a nice soft chair and a lot of books, and
a lot of other things that secular priests have in their room. And just for those little things he
made the deliberate choice between the religious life and the secular priesthood. What will he
think when he gets up to Heaven - and I hope he gets there - and sees some of his former
companions in that glorious company of the religious surrounding Our Lord, and him standing
perhaps a long distance off and saying, "What a fool I was, just in order that I might have a
rocking chair and a few more pictures in my room, I forfeited all this."
And yet, people do those silly things. They get fond of a picture, or fond of some
particular statue, or fond of a book, or fond of some other material thing, and they allow those
things to come between their perfect fealty to God. So examine yourselves even down to the
little details and see if there is anything that you are not perfectly willing to give up in a
moment, and if you have happened to be in a Mission which is very nice and you like the
climate and you like the people, etc., and you get a call to go to some less attractive place and
you meet more hardships there and come in contact with a poorer class of people, do not let it
disturb you, but rather, let it be a joy to you because you are in an atmosphere of more practical
poverty there than that in which you had been placed before.

And remember, that the reward of having this spirit of poverty is, "Blessed are the poor
in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,'' and blessed are the religious that are poor in
spirit, for they have the Kingdom of God within them, our Lord says, and they have their
consolations and those fountains of refreshment springing up within them, even the spirit of
God, which delighteth to dwell in the virgin breast that is detached from all earthly things and is
consumed by the love of God.

So remember that the more diligently you exercise yourselves in the virtue of Holy
poverty, as well as in the Rule of Poverty and the Vow of Poverty, the more you will be devoted
to the Holy Ghost and the more the Holy Ghost will have control over you, and you will be
detached and you will be a vessel fit for the Master's hands (that are from the things of Jesus
Christ in you) and not in you alone, but through you, because through you flow forth the words
of grace, for, believe me, it is not only through preachers, through priests who get up into the
pulpit that the Holy Ghost passes into the souls of others, but as thousands and thousands of
priests have testified down through the ages, it is wonderful what the Holy Spirit does through
the lips of consecrated nuns in the power that they have of reaching souls. In fact, many, many
times the work of priests would be useless if it was not for the work, the charity done by Sisters.
Take for example, at St. Simon's Mission down in Philadelphia where they are working among
the colored people, I wonder, if we had a most eloquent preacher and put him down there alone
and told him to go out and preach to those colored people, how long it would take him to
convert them to the Catholic faith? Whereas, the Sisters are going around visiting the people and
bringing them to the dispensary, and after they have got the colored people, then the preacher
can talk to them.

So realize what it means to give yourself up after the manner of St. Francis, after the
manner of St. Dominic, and above all, after the manner of our Blessed Lady, to the indwelling
influence, sanctifying operation of the Holy Ghost, then you will not only find your joy and
influence in your work, a sweeter reward than anything the world can give, but you will, also,
find that your labors are effective for the salvation of souls and the extension of the Kingdom of
God.

Document 32
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 49-
51. The spelling of “centre” is characteristic of Fr. Paul Wattson’s writing style. The talk is
given to Atonement Sisters.]

THIRD TEXT OF THE SOCIETY

August 5, 1925

We take up for consideration this evening the third of our basic texts which is found in
St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, towards the end of the 11th chapter, "For I have
received of the Lord that which also I . . . . "

This text is very harmonious in its relationship with the other two, especially the central
text about the Atonement. As we said, it was necessary for the Holy Ghost to come to prepare
the way for the Incarnation and also for the Atonement. His work in the redemption of the world
is essential and that is set forth in the first text. In the second we have the name and the
declaration concerning the Atonement and what it is, and the Eucharist is the extension both of
the Incarnation and the Atonement of our Lord. It is by the great Sacrament of the Altar that our
Lord perpetuates His presence in our midst, and we have received the new birth by the operation
of the Holy Ghost in the waters of Baptism, the regeneration which comes as a result of Our
Lord's death on the cross. "A corn of wheat except it dieth, abideth alone, but if it fall into the
ground and die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Our Lord by His death was a corn of wheat that
fell into the ground and from that came power to produce. And so we have by the Sacrament of
the regenerate a new family raised up in the world of the regenerate, and in order that they might
be nourished and built up and sustained in Christ, it was necessary for Him to provide His own
Body and Blood as their food, and so He instituted the Holy Eucharist.

Moreover, from the standpoint of worship, St. Paul says, "As often as you . . . you show
the death of the Lord until He cometh." The Eucharist is the great setting forth and showing of
our Lord's Atonement, not only before man, but before God, because in the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass the great event of Calvary is re-enacted always and our Lord stands before the Father as
the great High priest ever pleading His Atonement and we on earth unite with Him in that
Atonement by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, while Christ, as the propitiatory Victim,
is offered at the hands of the priest in the Holy Eucharist.

So that these texts hang together in a wonderful manner. Thus God has taught us that one
of the characteristics of our Institute shall always be a great devotion to Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament. This particular passage that He has given to us was selected by the Church as the
epistle for the feast of Corpus Christi and for the special Mass that is said at the time of the Forty
Hours Devotion in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. So it is very clear that it is God's Will that
the Society of the Atonement and its members should have a beautiful and special and very deep
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

So much was this true that long before the decree of Pius X, making it the common use
of religious everywhere throughout the world to receive Holy Communion every day, as well as
encouraging the faithful in the world as far as possible to be daily communicants. Even before I
came to Graymoor when I was writing on these texts what should be the purpose of our Holy
Society, one of them was that the members as far as possible should receive Holy Communion
every day, which shows the impress made by this text on the mind of the Father Founder very
shortly after the texts had been received.

The Sisters, therefore, wherever they go and wherever they shall establish a house, their
first concern in the establishment of that house is to set up the altar and surround it with as much
piety and devotion and external reverence as their poverty and the limitations of their habitation
will permit, and I think that this has always been a characteristic of the Sisters of. the Atonement
in all their foundations. I can certainly testify to the great zeal of the Mother Foundress in
connection with the altar. When we first came into this house (the convent) she labored until
midnight preparing the tabernacle and getting everything ready for the first celebration of the
Holy Communion on the following morning, and this little chapel has always been a centre of
devotion, and I am sure that the care of this sacristy and everything connected with the altar is a
model and an inspiration for all the superiors that may establish branch houses everywhere to
follow. Of course, Sisters always receive Holy Communion if it is possible to do so, even at
great sacrifice, and hear Mass every day when that is also possible. If for the needs of the
mission, or the salvation of souls at anytime they were deprived of this great privilege they
would accept this deprivation with cheerfulness, but it would even then be a great sacrifice for
them to make for the love of God and for the souls for whom Christ shed His blood.

We are to look to our union with Our Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion as the very
life and centre of our well-being and the source from which we are to derive those graces which
we need to run successfully the race that is set before us and to fulfill our holy vocation to
follow in the ways of holy perfection.

In your troubles and in your trials and in your conflicts, the first place that you ought to
think to go is before the tabernacle and pray to Our Lord. If sometimes the old Eve arises from
her grave, where you thought she had been eventually buried, and begins to assert herself, you
ought to fly to the tabernacle and pray, as St. Clare flew to the tabernacle when the Saracens
were attacking Assisi and were surrounding her convent, St. Damian's.

If you feel out of sorts, the place to go is before the tabernacle and to stay there if you
can and commune with our Lord until His peace is re-established in your soul and you yourself
are united with Him. In any particular time of aridity or trial, there is where you are to go for
your first inspiration and help. We read not long ago that when the earthquake visited Santa
Barbara there was a congregation of the faithful in a mission church. The ground was rocking
and reverberating and the priest, instead of telling the people to run out, told them to stay where
they were and to unite with him in praying for their city. The people obeyed him, for had they
disobeyed and rushed out of the church at the first upheaval of the ground they would have run
great peril of being buried underneath the debris of the tower that was shaken by the earthquake
and fell to the ground, but obeying the priest and remaining there, their lives were spared. So we
must at time of danger or trial always think first of our Lord in the tabernacle.

About a year ago or so there was a cry of fire on the Mount and the word came up that
the bungalow was on fire. The first thing I did was to go into the Church and kneel down before
the Tabernacle and ask Our Lord that if there was any way to save the building to please do it. I
then went down and it looked as if that building was gone and along with it some of our other
buildings on the Mount. St. John's might have caught on fire, but I believe it was due to that
little visit before the Blessed Sacrament, although it seemed hopeless at the time, that we did put
out the fire. The damage was not very serious.

So you must make practical this realization of the presence of our Lord in the tabernacle
and then also, this matter of your watch at midnight and the prayers which are made at certain
hours during the day are to be treasured as a holy obligation. You cannot realize how many
things you have accomplished by your prayers because you have made them in this way,
interceding before Our Lord as the King in the tabernacle. So realize, all of you, and try to
appreciate more and more what a wonderful thing it is to have this abiding Presence with you
always of our Eucharistic Lord in our midst, and show to Him every consideration and every
devotion, but of course, the thing that He appreciates most is the purity and holiness of your
lives and that your heart interiorly is constantly united with His Sacred Heart. And realize that
every day He has His throne in your heart because you receive Him every morning in Holy
Communion and strive to do nothing in any way that would grieve Him or drive Him out of your
heart. So the greatest comfort and consolation that you can give our Blessed Lord is, of course,
to guard that interior sanctuary of your own heart and see that He remains supreme in your
whole being, from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, from your finger tips to the
center of your heart, in the way that David, the Lord's anointed, reigned over Israel, from
Bersabee to Dan.

Document 33
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 52-
56. The talk by Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., is given to Atonement Sisters. He uses the word, “Now”
to begin a sentence many times. That is his style. The spelling of the word “centre” is also
characteristic of Fr. Paul.]

ATONEMENT AND OBEDIENCE

 August 5, 1925

We dealt with the central text last night, from the standpoint of the vocation of the
Society and our cooperation with that vocation in the matter of Church Unity. We deal with it
this morning from the standpoint of obedience, that fundamental vow of holy religion. "We joy
in God through Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement."

The Atonement was purchased for us by a tremendous price, the price of the Precious
Blood. It was the supreme test which Our Lord underwent as the representative of humanity
when tried to the uttermost on the score of obedience. "As by the disobedience of one man many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made just."

The disobedience of Adam and of his posterity was offset by the obedience of Christ
"unto death, even the death of the cross." It was necessary in making propitiation for our sins
that Our Lord should be tried above all men and tested above all men as far as His obedience is
concerned. When armor plates are made for a great dreadnaught, a ship that is to go forth in
battle, the steel plates are tested against the destructive power of the most powerful engines of
warfare, great heavy guns. If those guns are powerful enough to break the steel, then the
dreadnaught is not all that is expected of it because it must resist the bombardment of any other
ships that carry heavy guns in warfare, and so they test it again and again for its power of
resistance. As Our Lord was to oppose Himself to the gates of hell, His power of resistance must
be above that of any other man. Consequently he was tested, and in an unparalleled degree, and
He stood the test. He became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" and it is this
obedience to the Divine Will which wrought for us the Atonement. And as we enter into the joy
of God through Our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the Atonement, we enter
not merely into the matter of having our actual sins forgiven, but as by the disobedience of one
man many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made just.

Justice as we understand in the Scriptures means that a just man is one who is obedient to
God, one who does not sin, for if he sins at all it is in a venial degree and not to a grave extent
and, of course, perfect justice means perfect obedience, and religious are called to an eminent
degree of obedience, and therefore, religious are to have a great hatred for sin because they will
recognize in every sin some violation of the divine will, and they worship the Divine Will with a
supreme and masterful devotion. Therefore, we take our Divine Lord as our pattern, we rely
upon His grace, we pray, we learn a great deal in past experience, we know that we cannot do
anything of ourselves and we know that the impulse that brought us into religion and caused us
to persevere in religious life is an impulse that came from the Sacred Heart, and we rejoice in the
confidence we have in this superabundant grace, but this grace does not take away from us the
freedom of the will.

The joy that God has in us is called forth by our loyalty and fidelity and faithfulness to
Him. He knows that we love Him and He rejoices in that love and is grieved when that love is
not given to Him. And it is the exercise of the free will that deliberate choosing and
correspondence with the divine will that pleases and delights God in His spouses and therefore,
grace is not irresistible, it is not something that comes and sweeps us along like a mighty torrent
so that we could not resist it if we wanted to.
 If we should ever get to the top of Niagara Falls and get in the Whirlpool Rapids, they
would cast us down and our powers of resistance would be simply infinitesimal, and so it is with
the grace of God. It requires our cooperation and the exercise of our free will, the setting of our
affections deliberately on things above, not on the things of earth and the intelligent exercise of
ourselves in doing things every day because we know they are the will of God -- our Rule, our
mode of life, and definite orders given by our Superiors and we obey them, obey them
intelligently, we obey them with the heart, with a purpose and a virtue because we are vowed to
obedience in holy religion and we have been instructed in the matter, we understand it is a
fundamental thing and it is a vital part of our perfection. We desire this perfection out of love of
God.

Therefore, Our Lord is our pattern and we are to imitate Him, the brides of Christ, the
"hundred and forty four thousand who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth" in His eternal
kingdom, and if we are to follow Him through eternity, we are to follow Him here and now, we
are to walk in His footsteps and His footsteps are the footsteps of obedience, and therefore, if
there is one of the three vows which we of the Society of the Atonement should exercise
ourselves in more than the others, that one is obedience, because that is the essence of the
Atonement. The Atonement was wrought on the Cross, and the Cross was the instrument of
obedience, the supreme test to which the Divine Will subjected our Blessed Lord, so that having
accomplished this work, He cried out on the cross, "It is finished," and He commended His spirit
into the keeping of His Father, knowing that He had accomplished His will, doing so confidently
and triumphantly.

So, bear in mind, not only during this retreat by your meditations, but constantly, that as
Sisters of the Atonement, you are called preeminently to this life of obedience.

There is a similarity in names between our own Society and another great Society that
came into existence about four hundred years ago, the Society of Jesus. S.J. and S.A. are quite a
good deal alike, and there is a considerable amount of correspondence in our vocation. The
Jesuits were raised up by God to stop the exodus from the Catholic Church, the wholesale
deserting of the standard of the Papacy, not only by individuals, but millions of individuals and
whole peoples and nations. God selected a military man to be the head of it, a man who was
trained in the discipline of war, and everything in war depends upon obedience to generals,
commanders and chiefs. The power that is given to generals is enormous, it is the power over
life and death.

Incidentally, there was last Sunday, or the Sunday before that, a colonel of the Army
present in St. John's. After the service was over and we were speaking to two other gentlemen, I
referred to some general that had criticized the colored troops and said they were inferior and I
remarked that was not a very wise thing for him to say in public and it raised up a great hornet's
nest and he said, "No," and he went on to say, "We know the usefulness of the colored troops
and that in the time of war they are very useful in bearing their share, and perhaps a little more
than their share, of facing the machine guns," In other words, generals had made up their minds
that if life was to be sacrificed, let a little more of the colored kind be killed than the white kind.
Well, that only illustrates the tremendous power that is left in the generals' hands, to deliberately
order a lot of men to face machine guns with the positive knowledge that by the time they
finished facing machine guns the machine guns would finish them.
 There was an article written by a chaplain of the English Army on the great drive of Von
Hindenburg on Paris, where hour after hour regiment after regiment of German soldiers rushed
on the machine guns which simply kept cutting them down until there were so many dead men
they simply stood up because they could not fall down. Now that was obedience. They knew that
they were being slaughtered, but they were sent on by high authority and were obedient until
death. Now that is military obedience.

God raised up a military man to train a special Order of men to offset the desertion from
the Catholic Church of millions and millions of its subjects, and they represent obedience, just as
the Vicar of Christ is the rock of authority on which Christ has built His Church. "Whosoever
heareth you, heareth me," and they have done their work very effectively, they have always been
tested through the centuries down by their obedience. A Jesuit will pack his trunk and go to any
part of the world just on the word of his superior. Somebody was telling me sometime ago (I
think it was at Georgetown University) that they were having a celebration; the Superior of the
University was sitting in his chair and was hearing flattering remarks that were made about his
success, and while he was sitting there another Jesuit came in and handed him a letter, a letter
from a higher superior saying that he was to succeed this superior and be the head of the
University, and without a moment's hesitation, the acting superior resigned his chair to his
superior, though the word came without any intimation whatever. I knew of a Jesuit having been
sent to British Honduras, which is one of the hottest places on earth, and go there and spend
years simply because he was sent there. Others are sent up into the snows and ices of Alaska, and
they go there and spend their lives up there. Whatever it is, they go on obedience, they show that
magnificent devotion to their superiors

And then God tested them as to whether they would be obedient to the Pope. The Pope
went against their Order, and so for a time the Jesuits were suppressed, but they obeyed, and
they scattered and went into Russia, and they remained obedient until the thing that had been put
upon them was taken may, and immediately they responded and resumed their work, just as
loyal under adversity as under times of prosperity and favor.

Now then, I say our vocation is a corresponding one. It is not for us to stop the exodus,
but to bring back the children and descendants of those that went away three or four hundred
years ago from Unity, and we need the same spirit of obedience because we point to the Rock of
Peter, the centre of authority and is our message to those outside.

No matter what you do in the way of praying for the unity of Christendom, no matter
how much you labor for it, there is one thing necessary, that is, that you all render allegiance to
the Vicar of Christ, because he represents the authority of God and it is the will of the Universal
Shepherd that he should do so and you make the act of surrender to obedience.

And of course, we ourselves must practice what we preach and manifest obedience,
obedience to all that are over us, to all our immediate superiors as well as our high superiors, up
through the ranks of the Bishops until we come to the Supreme Pontiff and to Christ Himself,
and as we manifest the discipline of obedience, the unity that comes through obedience, the
accomplishment of our vocation, we find that we shall have power to draw those who have
rebelled from the Papacy to come back and humbly make their submission because they
recognize in it the will of God.
 Now to be obedient, we must not simply have a determination to be obedient, but we
must have the spirit of obedience, and the spirit of obedience for religious is the spirit of love.
Love is the fulfilling of the law and indeed, we could not be obedient without love because the
first and great commandment is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with
thy whole mind and thy neighbor as thyself."

Now we have to distinguish between the vow of obedience and the virtue of obedience.
A person might have a very determined will and he might go and obey literally all the directions
given to him, but he might not have the virtue of obedience, the spirit of obedience; inside he
might be full of all kinds of rebellion and just be driving himself to do something because he had
promised it, and yet, it would not really be the virtue of obedience because it lacked the element
of love. So our obedience must be a joyful obedience because it is done through a supernatural
motive, and that supernatural motive is the love of God.

We have Our Lord for example, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." He was
the most dutiful of Sons. He was the express image of the Father's glory, He knew how
tremendous the Father's love was for Him and He gave back love for love. He also understood
that the way to show His Father love was to be obedient to Him, to do His will, and
consequently, that was the manifestation of the devotion and love of the Father which He taught
us, it was always obedience, always doing His will, always submitting Himself to accomplishing
the tasks which the Father set Him. "God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son," and He knew that the gift was to be a victim, to die, to shed His blood, was to
impoverish Himself to the last drop of Blood in His Sacred Heart, the life blood, to go through
dreadful suffering, to drink a cup so bitter that the very contemplation of it in Gethsemane
caused His blood to break out through the pores and flow down on the ground, and yet He said,
"Not my will, but Thine be done." And so there is a pattern and you are to exercise yourselves in
that obedience, and pray constantly that your obedience will not be an unwilling obedience, but a
willing obedience, and you can test it by looking into your heart.

A doctor comes sometimes and makes a blood test. We can make a test any time in our
meditations if we want to find out what the nature and character of our obedience is, whether it
is a reluctant obedience, whether it is a driven obedience, or whether it is a joyful and loving
obedience, and we can find out by reviewing the last day, or last week or preceding month.

Have I done my work cheerfully, lovingly? When my superior gives me a

direction, do I go with alacrity to do it? Not primarily because I love the Superior,
but from a supernatural motive because I recognize in her voice the voice of God
and I know it is the will of our Lord that I should do it because I love my God
and worship His most sweet will and after the pattern of our Blessed Lady of the
Atonement, and because I am impelled in this matter by a supernatural motive I
find joy and alacrity in doing my work no matter what it is.

One of the Brothers on the Mount, who was doing in the Community the same work he
had been doing in the world before he entered said,

"When I was in the world and did this because I was paid so much salary,
I hated it because it was vary distasteful to me to do it, and now that I am in a
monastery and do it out of a supernatural motive, I like and enjoy doing it."
 There was the difference between the motive of the natural man and the motive of the
religious. The one was love of money; the other was the love of God.

Now remember that obedience is not always going to be easy. We are told we must take
up our cross daily and deny ourselves, and God sees to it in one form or another in embracing
the Rule we embrace that Cross, but then take the cross supernaturally and instead of grumbling
and complaining, or thinking you are very harshly treated because some superiors perhaps hold
out a cross to you, or some circumstances that surround your particular mission field make the
cross sensibly heavy. Do not rebel against it, but only ask God to give you the grace to carry it
cheerfully and to offer it in union with the heavy weight which Christ carried up the steep ascent
of Calvary. And if you have that mind which was in Christ Jesus and the spirit of divine charity
which actuated Him, the heaviest cross will be converted into the brightest crown, and the
beauty of it is, the crown will last forever, and the cross is only transitory.

So in order that your obedience may be pleasing to God and a source of consolation to
yourself, remember the supernatural motive behind it is just the way by which you show your
devotion to God the Father, and as you show your devotion to God the Holy Ghost and trust
Him, you will be detached from material things in order that you may be spiritually minded and
governed and led by the Holy Spirit. And so in union with the Sacred Heart of His divine Son
take the cross as the dearest thing divine love can put on your shoulders and give into your
embrace, and if you will only unite it with that of His divine son and be faithful, you will be
sustained by God and the cross will inevitably be converted into a crown of rejoicing, or at least
into some fair jewel that will adorn your crown through eternity.

Document 34
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV 57-
61.]

CHASTITY
August 7, 1925

This being the First Friday, it is a day of special devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of our
Divine Lord, a devotion which is the result of a special manifestation of that Heart to a chosen
nun, Saint Margaret Mary, simply an outward and visible expression of the love which He bears
to those souls whom He has redeemed by His Precious Blood and the longing of that Heart for
corresponding love in return.

In the Apocalypse we have a description of the worship that goes on in Heaven and the
praise that is rendered by the Saints and Angels to God, where they cry out in regard to
creatures, "They are Thy pleasure, they are and were created." That is to say, they exist for the
pleasure of God and for that object they were created, and God is a God of love, and it is a
characteristic of love that it desires to be loved by the one towards whom it is directed, and those
beings that God created, thehigher order of beings, the Angels and men, were created for His
pleasure that He might find delight in them by reason of their fidelity and devotion and loyalty
to Him, giving love for love.

He has set us an example in the matter of the creation of domestic animals, particularly
the dog, which is noted for its fidelity to its master and the great love which it bears. A priest
sometime ago asked to be received into our first Congregation. He said he had a special request
to make: that he might bring his dog with him. He said that he owed his life to this dog, and the
devotion of the dog was so great that he was afraid that if he gave him to anybody else the dog
would die out of grief because he was separated from his master whom he loved so devotedly. I
use that as an illustration how God puts before us that these animals were made for our pleasure
and delectation, and, therefore, in the animal He gives by instinct loyalty, affection, devotion,
and fealty to his master, which is a reproach to that same master when he does not render to God
the kind of affection God expects of him, because as He created the lower animals for man, He
created man for Himself, and so St. Augustine declares that he made the discovery that the
human heart was made to love God supremely and if it failed to love God supremely, it could
not find any rest or satiety anywhere else. [Previous sentence is unclear.]

Now this is true on general principles of the created beings, but it is more especially true
of those whom God has redeemed from damnation by the wonderful sacrifice of our Lord on
Mount Calvary. God so loved the world that, when man was estranged from Him He gave His
only-begottenSon, and in order to be more united with man, the Son took our flesh and our
nature in union with His Godhead, thus brought humanity into a more intimate relationship with
Himself, and as a result of this union there has grown up a very wonderful love between the
Sacred Heart of our Divine Redeemer and the hearts of those that He would have so intimately
associated with Himself through eternity, for it is not alone His human nature and flesh, which
He derived immediately from Mary, that He has hypostatically united with His Godhead, "but
there is, also, the Mystical Body of Christ made up of those who are the elect, who St. Paul
describes as, "Bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh."

And as there are degrees of relationship, so there are among those elect souls who are to
enjoythe Beatific Vision and revel in the divine love through eternity and to give love for love,
those whom our Lord calls for a more immediate union with Himself, and those are called
Religious. Religious in its Catholic significance is from the Latin, re and legere, to bind and
unite again after they have been separated. Those who bear the name of religious are supposed to
be preeminently united with God in a more intimate relationship than ordinary Christians. And
so we have the religious and they are in an eminent degree the spouses of Christ, and in this
divine espousal of our Lord with those whom He selects and calls into the Religious state there
ought to exist a most wonderful love, which should increase as the years go by and our
relationship with the Sacred Heart increases, and that should be one of the marks of progress in
the spiritual life as you yourself experience it. You ought to be conscientious in your times of
self-examination under the light of the Holy Spirit, being careful to note what progress you have
made in overcoming your faults, uniting your own hearts with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and
that the increased knowledge of the intensity of that love predominates and controls you above
all else and that all other affections and attractions are subordinate to that, and that is the
supreme and dominant affection and love of God, and all others are simply the result of that
union.

A furnace that is filled with fire and burning coals cannot prevent the heat from being
radiated out, because that is the nature of heat, and if one has the divine charity in their heart
because of an intimate interior union with God Himself, that heart cannot fail to exercise charity
towards those around it, for that charity is the direct cause and result and not anything that
contradicts or comes into conflict with the supreme love of an interior soul.

Now all that is bound up in the Vow of Chastity, which is a most sacred vow and one
which, by the virtue of chastity, should be cultivated in its observance to the nth degree, and as
love is the fulfilling of the law, all obedience and all true poverty that is acceptable to God must
be subordinate to, and the cause and result of this dominant love. St. Paul, writing to the
Corinthians, says, "the love of Christ constrains us," and it is the love of Christ that constrains
the religious to be obedient and constrains her to the life of detachment from creatures, and
because of that love she practices a life of self-denial because love is not selfish and she finds
more pleasure in giving than in receiving, So this holy Vow of Chastity is something which you
are to treasure with the greatest jealousy and watchfulness, and I speak again of the "beware"
which our Lord gave to His Apostles when He chose them and ordained them. He said, "Beware
of men," and in a certain sense a Sister must beware too and be on guard against any possible
attacks that may be made upon this holy virtue of Chastity by reason of the contact which, to a
certain degree, is necessary with those who might endanger this very choice, holy jewel of
Chastity, or bring it into peril, or perhaps wrest it from you. Now to be forewarned is to be
forearmed, and it is simply in that aspect of the thing that in a very general way, not in any
particular way I want to caution you about ways in which through the subtlety of Satan our holy
virtue of Chastity might be imperiled.

The Devil has a way sometimes of taking the most sacred relationships and by his
subtlety and deceit beguiling those who, at first do not realize any danger, into something that
becomes in time a real peril. Now it is necessary, of course, in the religious life that Sisters
should come in contact to a greater or less degree with those who are priests, ministers at the
altar, because it is impossible for the religious life to exist without it. There has to be a priest, a
chaplain to say the Mass, there has got to be somebody to hear Confessions, and when one is on
a mission there is the pastor who has to be seen, particularly by the Superiors, more or less
frequently, and then, incidentally, there are other contacts with priests. Now just on that line
sometimes arises a very serious danger and there is one thing that I want to caution you about,
because it is one of the subtle things that the devil uses sometimes a priest allows himself
perhaps to be deceived with the thought that his attraction for some particular Sister that he
comes in contact with more or less is of a spiritual nature. The Devil comes along and tells him
there is a kind of spiritual affinity between them and that as long as it does not find any
expression in a physical way it is a lawful thing for him to have for that Sister a certain amount
of affection. And then where the "wish is father to the thought" he probably thinks about certain
cases that are known in the history of religious communities, or religious foundations, and Satan
comes along and makes that just a little bit of an entering wedge for something else. Now these
cases where God has thrown special souls together for special purposes are very extraordinary
and they are by no means something that can be adopted as an ordinary thing. There are very
few of them.

It is well known, for example, that there was a certain holy attraction between our Father
Saint Francis and Saint Clare, because of their vocation of being joint founders of a great and
wonderful spiritual family, but anybody who knows anything at all about the history of Saint
Francis and Saint Clare knows how very chaste that relationship was, that Saint Francis himself
was so strict that he would not even partake of a meal with Saint Clare and it was only at an
extraordinary time and under an extraordinary request of all the Sisters and Friars that that
famous meal took place at Assisi down by the Portiuncula, as recorded in the Little Flowers of
Saint Francis, and even that was of such a spiritual nature that it was simply rhapsody in God.

And there is the case of Saint Benedict and his sister. Everybody knows it. Theirs was a
natural relationship, and yet, the case was purely of a spiritual character. But these things are
sometimes taken as a test by which certain attractions grow up between a priest and Sister.
Sometimes the priest may be a secular one, sometimes he may be a religious. But if a Sister
comes in contact with a priest who has got any such notion in his head, just the very first
indication of his giving a physical expression by taking your hand, or anything of that sort, be on
your guard, there is danger and whatever his ideas may be, he is being deceived, and the origin is
not in the spirit but in the flesh. And so the thing is to be abhorred. It is a very, very dreadful
thing when such intimacies grow up. I have in mind at the present time a certain community of
cloistered nuns, and the Confessor that was sent for them conceived one of those spiritual
affections for one of the Sisters that came to him to confess, and she responded, with the result
that the Devil got into the community. There was lying and ambition, and finally through these
machinations the particular person became the superior of the community and hell got into it and
at least one martyr of a broken heart was laid upon the altar to make expiation. And so when a
thing of that sort once gets into a community and the devil gets into things, it takes the
sufferings and anxieties and prayers and sacrifices of a multitude of holy ones to finally cast out
the Devil.

Now there is another line of danger that comes with another class of people that Sisters
come in contact with, and that is the physician. Before I was united with the Holy See I was
visiting an Anglican high church clergyman, who himself afterwards became a Catholic, but at
this time one of the things that held him back was the intimate friendship of a young physician,
who was attached to a Catholic hospital, who told him in confidence of an attraction that had
grown up between him as a medical man and a certain religious of the hospital. I say that is one
of the danger signals and one of the possibilities, and is a warning of the care you must have in
coming in contact with a physician through sickness, particularly if the patient is not Catholic. I
remember still further back being told by a workman how he entered a convent to do some work,
and met one of the Sisters, and out of it a little intimacy grew up and there were very sad results.
So that there is a possibility along all these lines and a possibility of danger in coming in contact
with people as you have to do on the missions, and, therefore, there is always to be a guard.

Of course, there should always be a commending of this holy and precious gift of
Chastity to the protection of God and Our Lady, and if there should occur in any of your lives
just one little danger signal, it might be only the pressure of a hand and some slightest thing,
immediately be on your guard, make it a matter of confession, take counsel with your spiritual
director, and if it is something that should need the asking of the privilege of going to some wise
and holy confessor out of the regular confessor, a matter of sufficient gravity to do that, of
course, the Church provides you with the privilege of protection. Please remember how very
sacred and very holy this virtue of chastity is, and how it is at the very foundation of things
because if a Sister once allows anybody to take the place which our Lord alone should hold in
her heart, that one sin will lead to another, and one of the results will be that she will have
secrets from her superiors and will be encouraged in carrying on that secrecy and will be
dissatisfied. There will be violations of the regulations and that one will become as it were, a
cancer in the community sapping its very life, unless perhaps there comes a thorough repentance,
or the act of the knife cutting out the dreadful cancer by expulsion.

So, as that gift of holy Chastity is so supreme and so vital, Satan will attack it, of course,
and because of its exceeding preciousness in humility we must safeguard it, and that is one of
the reasons why the Holy See has been so careful in all its regulations to protect enclosure and to
throw around the religious all possible safeguards, and if a Sister is faithful herself in observing
her Rules and regulations and the safeguards that are given to her and never lets the enemy
inside, whatever plans Satan may have from the outside, he will be defeated.

I am speaking those things to you plainly because they are the principal ways through the
subtleties of Satan and the weakness of human nature that this holy virtue of Chastity on the part
of religious has been assaulted.

And while we are speaking of Holy Chastity, I want to call your attention to how it is
associated with that third of the Texts that God gave to us. It treats of the Institution of the Holy
Eucharist. Because the trysting place of the heart of the religious and our Divine Lord is the
Altar, we are attracted to Him constantly. We know He is in the Tabernacle. We bring to Him all
our trials and difficulties, our pleasure and our joys, and we look forward day by day to that holy
union which takes place when He comes to us in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, and in
the fruit of the Blessed Sacrament there comes that increase of the divine, the supernatural love
that is the joy and the inspiration of the religious life, which Our Lord Himself is able to impart
to us in those holy espousals, which satisfy the heart, and there is nothing else that can. It is not
only the matter of keeping the vow and virtue of holy Chastity that is necessary, but He cannot
be supreme if there is any pride in us, because pride is a form of self-love, it is setting self up on
a throne and bowing down and worshipping it and, therefore, if He is the only One on the
throne, pride is something that militatesagainst Him.

Another thing we must be very careful about is jealousy, jealousy of our Sisters. That
actually has its root in pride or self-love, and when you find that in your heart you know that
our Lord is not supreme, especially if your jealousy is exercised towards one of your Sisters,
because your Sister is just as much a spouse to the Heart of Jesus as you are and jealousy is
something that certainly would not emanate from His heart, so it must emanate from your own
heart and you are not united with His heart and not subordinated to Him. So watch yourselves
and free yourselves from every sin and fault and every defect, until there is perfect union of your
heart with our Lord, and then pray earnestly and cultivate all the graces that you receive, in order
that the love, the constraining love of Christ may become more and more the dominant thing and
that union which He wills between your heart and His may be perfected in all sanctity.

Document 35
[ The talk is contained in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., I 29-33. Fr.
Paul Wattson, s.a., gives the origin of the red mantle on Our Lady of the Atonement and
expounds on the Three-fold Salutation of Our Lady of the Atonement. The talk is given to
Atonement Sisters.]
 OUR LADY OF THE ATONEMENT
Retreat Conference - August 7, 1925

The keynote of our Institute is union with God, which is, of course, the essence of the
religious life. We have dealt with the different aspects of devotion to God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
Tonight we will direct our thoughts to Our Lady of the Atonement, for, next to God, our
devotion is to her, for she is the mother of us all. It is an inherent characteristic of the Catholic
Religion to have devotion to the Blessed Virgin; it is one of the evidences of its being the true
religion, because heretics who have fallen away from the Catholic Faith, so many of them have
repudiated devotion to the Mother of God for fear they might be guilty of Maryology.
[Maryology is an inaccurate word in this context; perhaps the one intended is Maryolatry.]

Monsignor Benson points out the fatal results of tearing Jesus out of the arms of His
mother and trying to separate those whom God hath joined together — the mother and the son
— and one of the fruits of heresy when they separate Our Lord from His Mother is, that they by
and by begin to deny the divinity of Christ and we see the Protestant world today honeycombed
with all forms of so-called Modernism, and we see people occupying themselves — people that
are supposed to boast of their knowledge — [with] the absurdly ridiculous teaching of evolution,
that a man emanated from a tadpole or a monkey

Now the Catholic Church has always been devoted to our Blessed Lady and in the Litany
of Loretto we have assembled the various names and titles which have been incorporated in that
Litany as some new title or new name has been added to those of previous generations. When I
was in Rome in the Basilica of St. Mary Major I saw there a beautiful representation of Our
Lady in marble as "Our Lady of Peace," a special creation of Pope Benedict XV, who
authorized that address to be inserted in the Litany.

Now one of the special marks, it seems to me, of divine predilection towards our own
holy Institute is that we are privileged to address the Mother of God by a title that is new and yet
as ancient as Christianity. It is a title that has to do with her intimate relationship with the
Redeemer of the world as He hung upon the Cross and offered Himself in sacrifice for the sins
of the world. "There stood by the Cross Mary, and the mother of James and the other Marys, and
the faithful John, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea."

Now that God should have permitted us to address Our Lady by this title, I say, is one of
the most extraordinary marks of divine predilection for the Institute. If we had no other reason
for believing that this Society was dear to Our Lord than just that one thing, it would be ample
ground for regarding our Society as something more than an ordinary religious foundation.
Think of it, America is just now beginning to add a few saints to the calendar. There were some
of our American Saints beatified at Rome this present year. Father Jogues, for example, and the
Jesuit martyrs, but I do not think America has added a new title to Our Lady except the Society
of the Atonement at Graymoor. It is a title that has already been recognized by the Holy Father
and a feast instituted in its honor and a plenary indulgence granted to those that join the Rosary
League of Our Lady of the Atonement.

And, as I said in the address on the Feast of Our Lady of the Atonement, it is not one of
the lesser titles, it is one of the major ones. Somebody pointed out to me while I was in Rome
something that I did not know before. I use this simply as an illustration. He said the
Congregatio pro Ecclesiae Orientali is one of the major Congregations, whereas the Propagation
of the Faith Society is not a major but a minor congregation, and the distinction is that the
Cardinal is the prefect in a minor congregation, whereas in a major congregation the Pope is the
prefect and the Cardinal is a secretary.

Now Our Lady of the Atonement is not a minor title. A minor title of Our Lady would be
Queen of Peace, or queen of something else. Queen of Saints, but a major title would be Our
Lady of the Atonement because there is nothing more major than the Atonement.

The two great pillars of Catholic theology are the Incarnation and the Atonement, and
there is no place that Our Lady occupies in Gospel history of more prominence than the position
which she occupied as mediatrix of the human family when she stood at the Cross when Our
Lord was lifted up that He might draw all men to Himself. And, therefore, a Society to which
the Atonement was given as a name and then in connection with it this title given to Our Lady,
just must be of more than ordinary importance, as the name itself was not given by human wit or
wisdom but by the answer to prayer in an extraordinary manner, showing by it the mind and
intervention of God.
So Our Lady's titles we did not give to her originally ourselves, but it was bestowed upon her
not simply by one apparition, but by three, one to the Sister in her red mantle, one here at this
Altar with the Christ Child in her arms, and one on the Mountain kneeling in an attitude of
prayer looking toward her divine Son hanging on the cross. The three combined have produced
the statue of Our Lady of the Atonement in the red mantle with the Christ Child in her arms and
the cross in the handof the child, indicating that this particular statue is not so much the Child of
Bethlehem, as the Child of the Atonement, as represented in that new birth as His mystical body
of the elect.

Now if we are well grounded in our faith and confident in this title as being given to us
by Our Lady herself, it ought to inspire us with an extraordinary devotion to the Mother of God;
we should have it in common with all religious, but as Children of the Atonement, we ought to
excel in that devotion. We have our great devotions to the Holy Trinity, devotion to the Will of
the Father, devotion to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament in union with His Sacred Heart,
devotion to the Holy Ghost as dwelling in us and making our bodies temples of the living God,
and then this special devotion to our Blessed Lady.

Now we should not only have this devotion ourselves, but it should be our duty as
missionaries to propagate that devotion according to our opportunities among those that are
given to us to train in the things of God. There is a little five-point rule which I hope the Sisters
will take down, the mission Sisters, and try to inculcate that rule in the children so that when
they grow up, they will still observe it. The five-point rule consists of this:

(1) That they should always say their prayers, not only at night, but in the morning, and
not only in the morning, but at night.

(2) That they should always carry about and have with them a rosary, and that as a
special act of love and devotion to the Mother of God they should say that Rosary one decade
every day. Impress upon them that this Mother will appreciate that act of love and that it will be
more to their own advantage, because if she sees that they are devoted to her, she will watch
over them and will, also, obtain favors for them.
Of course, in that connection, if you can bring about and introduce into their homes a
picture of Our Lady of the Atonement, have them get it framed and hang it up on the wall where
they say their prayers, you will do a very important thing. I went upstairs in a tenement the other
day with one of our clerics, in one of the Italian quarters of New York. This house was very
small, very much crowded. I noticed on the bureau in one of the rooms a statue, a couple of
statues, one was of the Sacred Heart with the head off, nevertheless, it was there; which shows,
in that little thing, the piety of the people. And so you see a picture of Our Lady of the
Atonement on the wall is an indication of devotion just the same as the Crucifix on the wall.
Those are practical things that you ought to try to promote among those with whom you are
working

(3) That they should be very diligent to hear Mass every Sunday.

(4) and (5) That they should go to Confession and Communion once a month. Now if
you can get them to persevere in the practice of their religion to that degree, they are not going
to get very far from God. We as priests have an abundance of experience in the confessional.
When we go to camp we see the difference in the confession of the soldier who does not go to
Mass and is very negligent in his prayers, if he says them at all, and does not say his Rosary, and
the one who goes regularlyand receives Holy Communion once a month and practices other
devotions. It is a very, very different record they make in their Confession, I can assure you.

Now I am sure that by inculcating those practices and impressing on the minds of the
children what we might call the five-point rule you would do a great service, and particularly,
try to get them in the habit of saying that one decade of the Rosary every day.

Then there is the importance about the literature. If you can get the people, all of them, to
take The Candle, the little magazine of Our Lady, and practice devotion to Our Lady through the
Rosary League, you get another influence in their homes which will link them with Graymoor
and unite them through the Rosary League to this central shrine of Our Lady.

Then about the Three-fold Salutation, we say that, and we are apt to say it, mechanically,
just as we say the Lord's prayer and the Hail Mary, but we have learned to put behind the Our
Father and the Hail Mary a certain intention, and it is the intention that counts when we say
them, as far as obtaining a result is concerned. It would be an excellent thing to meditate upon
the significance perhaps more often than we do of that Three-Fold Salutation. It sums up what
we have been talkingabout -- unity with God, each one of them emphasizing the person of the
Trinity that we are desiring for the time being to be devoted to.

The first salutation is taking Our Lady's devotion as a pattern to the most sweet Will of
God, and there you have the beauty of obedience. If you want to hear God say in your soul what
He said when St. John the Baptist was baptizing Our Lord and again when Our Lord was
transfigured on Mount Tabor, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," you must
worship the most sweet Will of God. You must do everything from that supernatural motive
because it is pleasing to God, because it makes you walk in the footsteps of Our Blessed Lady.

The second Salutation is in regard to devotion to our Blessed Lord, devotion to His
Sacred Heart so that our hearts may be united to His and, therefore, burning with love and
charity and holy zeal for the conversion of sinners. Now all know that the center of the Sacred
Heart, of course, is the Blessed Sacrament; it is of the Sacred Heart an outward and visible
reminder, but the Heart Itself is in the tabernacle, and in our devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
we are expressing in the best possibleway our devotion to the Sacred Heart, union with that
Sacred Heart. And so there is our second salutation, for Our Lady to pray for us and cooperate
with us in our devotion to Our Blessed Lord.

The third salutation is the one in regard to yielding ourselves to the Blessed Spirit, who
was the Spouse of Our Lady, and she of course, is the pattern of that devotion, and so if you put
behind that salutation your prayer and commit it to Our Lady with the intention that is vital to
every day, that you may realize in your religious life more and more that union, that At-one-
ment with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, it will be very wholesome and
very effective.

As far as your sanctification is concerned, I would recommend to you especially to

address Our Lady with the prayer to intercede for you to the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, in
regard to your faults and your weaknesses and your defects, whatever they may be, embody
them more or less in your confession, in your self-examination during this retreat, and I trust, in
the resolutions you form for the future. Now take these resolutions to Our Lady and ask her to
address them particularly to the Holy Ghost that He may strengthen and sanctify you and
confirm your will in running more diligently the race that is set for you in the way of holy
perfection. The more difficulty you have in bringing your human nature to correspond to the
divine nature of Our Lord, the greater will be your joy in the end.

I think that you will find that that particular kind of prayer is very efficacious. Place
yourself before Our Lady and say,

Now, dear Mother, you know me better than I know myself, you know
better my weaknesses and what needs correction. I pray you to direct yourself to
the Holy Ghost that He may open my understanding to see my faults and then
pour into my soul His sanctifying grace. He has made you without sin and He will
hear your prayer to keep me from sin and correct whatever is needful of
correction, and to advance me year by year in the way of holiness, so that as I
approach to the day of my death I will approach to the time of entering into that
perfection 'without spot or wrinkle', which is that status of the Saints before the
throne of God.

I trust, therefore, that devotion to Our Lady, whether you are using your Rosary, or
whether you are saying the Three-Fold Salutation, or whether you are kneeling before her
picture or statue speaking to her in the way I have described to you, there will be in your life
more and more love andconfidence in that Mother, who never fails any of her true children.

I pray God that this Retreat may have permanent effects of sanctification in your souls,
that you will go back to your post of duty refreshed and strengthened, your ideals renewed and
whatever darkness may have come over any of the ideals will be swept away and you will be as
fresh and new in your enthusiasm and devotion to your holy vocation as it was on the day when
you were first clothed as a Novice or when you made your profession. May God give you all the
grace of final perseverance. May this coming year be one of extraordinary unity among the
Sisters, extraordinary praising of God and fruitfulness in your labors and extraordinary sanctity
among you all, together with that holy unity of charity both towards God and towards each other

Document 36
[The original of the following document was typed on the back of a copy of the Constitutions of
the Atonement Sisters. From the editorial note at the beginning it appears to have been recorded
by someone listening to Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., delivering the conference. However, in its
original form the talk contains the hyphenated "to-day", a trait of Fr. Paul's writing style. The
conference is directed to Atonement Sisters. Of interest is that he mentioned that he took back a
student of St. John’s Seminary, Graymoor, who had left because of homesickness.]

NOTES TAKEN OF RETREAT CONFERENCE OF TUESDAY MORNING

Feast of Nativity B.V.M.

Sep. 8, l925,

The creation and fall of Eve. Description of the birth of the new Eve, the empty cradle,
Joachim standing beside the couch of Anne with the infant in his arms.

God had made her perfect, gave her wonderful endowments, took delight in her, and
Satan came along and defiled her by sin, and God fulfilled His prophecy, "Between her seed and
thy seed...thou shalt lie in wait for her heel and she shall crush thy head." And so this new Eve
is the triumph of God against this enemy. With what delight must the three Persons of the Ado-
rable Trinity have united and gazed upon that beautiful infant in the arms of Joachim standing
beside the mother, the blessed Ann, and as out of the fountain of the corrupt proceedeth corrupt
water, out of this fountain of incorruption should proceed the Immaculate.
Out of the fountain of this infant should proceed the Saviour and Redeemer of the world
who should never see corruption. And then through the mystery of the Atonement the corn of
wheat which she produced would fall into the ground and die and spring up and bring forth fruit
after His kind, the regenerate. That, I think, is what St. John meant when he said, "He that is
born of God sinneth not." If we sin, it is not Christ within us that sins. It is not the new seed; it
is simply the assertion of the Old Adam or Old Eve. Christ cannot sin. He may be crucified in
the house of His friends and crucified within the soul, in the hearts of those to whom He has
given Himself, but sin He cannot. He cannot be touched with corruption.

And so there proceedeth forth from the little fountain of the Nativity of Mary the stream
ever widening and broadening, of the holy seeds of God that are destined to occupy the seats that
once were occupied by the beautiful angels that fell under the leadership and instigation of
Satan, the first rebel in the divine kingdom.

And so as we rejoice today around the crib of the infant Mary, we see in her issuing forth
those three great Christian virtues of faith, of hope and of love. In the midst of the world and its
temptations, the shocks and surprises that may come to us and the scandals that we might be
taking because of the dreadful things that we might come in contact with in this wicked and
naughty world by reason of sin, there is one thing that perseveres and that is faith, faith because
we look down and see the infant Mary as the fulfilment of the prophecies, the message in the
Gospel of creation, "She shall crush thy head," the one who triumphs, the representation of the
triumph of God over His enemy, the triumph of virtue over sin, of purity over impurity, of
immortality over corruption and death. And the seed of it all is in that infant, as we see in the
world the seed of Adam propagating and extending, carrying along with it a story of sin and
rebellion against God and misery and death.

Here in the background we have a new chain that issues from this new birth. Instead of
sin, obedience, instead of sickness, health, instead of death, life, instead of hell, Heaven. And
we know that if we do not crush this seed of Mary that is within us, because we are regenerated,
if it is duly nourished by the sacraments of life and if we do not lose our faith, nor our courage,
if we do not listen to the devil's gospel of despair, looking unto Jesus, He will be the Author and
Finisher of our Faith and we shall some day without spot or wrinkle behold our glorious Mother
on her throne and join with her in singing her Magnificat.

And then as for hope, it was the hope and the dayspring of the world when that infant
was born. St. Paul speaks of all nature travailing and groaning together until now, awaiting the
day of its redemption, for through the child of this seed, Mary, the redemption of the world is
come to pass and all nature that travails and groans under the curse will be redeemed. And when
the old is swept away and consumed, there shall be the new heavens and the new earth within
which dwelleth righteousness. And so all nature has hope by reason of the birth of this infant,
because through her came salvation in the person of her Divine Son. And that is of hope. We
struggle against the corruption that is in the midst of us, yes in ourselves. We have to say in
some degree with St. Paul, "The good that I would I do not, and the evil that I would not that I
do...who giveth us the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ who came through Mary."

So this hope truly and brightly burns eternally in the human breast, the hope that springs
out of the cradle in which lies the infant Mary. Never let yourselves, dear Sisters, be
discouraged in your vocation. The devil may come along and try to dissatisfy you, bring some
bugaboo up before you and say, "Now is your time, pull out because such and such difficulties
you will encounter, and this might happen and that might happen," and try to discourage you and
try to magnify everything into mountains of difficulty.

Living in faith, keep this hope which you have, the hope that lies in the crib of the infant
Mary and is still further strengthened in the crib of her Babe at Bethlehem, and which ought to
be fully confirmed in the sepulchre "where lieth the dead Christ", Who is to issue forth with
immortality that He might give the new birth to those that are the children of the infant Mary.
Keep that hope strong within you. Never get discouraged but cry out with St. Paul, "Who shall
separate me from my religious vocation, nor life or death, or peril or sword?" None of these
things shall separate me from my religious vocation in the Society of the Atonement, for I am
God's and He is mine forever, and I am the child of the Atonement, the child of Jesus and of
Mary.

And as for love, she was the first infant that perfectly loved God above all the human
family. Whatever love Eve had for God, and she must have had a wonderful love until she
listened to the serpent's subtle temptation, "Eat and thou shalt be as God. Turn thy affection
from God and let it center in thyself that thou mayest be all-sufficient and worship thyself as a
divinity." And ever since, the human family has been cursed with self-love instead of divine
love. On account of that self-love we have all the different sorts of jealousy, envies, spites and
strife and idolatry and luxury and covetousness and all that lot of evil that has flowed into the
world because the center is self.

All the infants that were born into the world, even the best of them, had never rendered
to God a perfect love until that infant issued from the womb of Anne and was embraced in the
arms of Joachim, her father. Supernaturally illuminated, her heart was burning with the love of
God. She thought of those around her, but her thought was in Heaven in rapt contemplation of
the Adorable Trinity. She saw the Father looking down upon her. She saw His Son Who would
stoop before her womb and become an infant for her sake and for man's sake. She saw the Holy
Ghost, her beautiful Spouse, and she loved Them with a perfect love, love that issued from the
very being of God Himself, Who is consuming Fire and Love. And all her life was perfect in
that love.

She was the most dutiful of children. She loved her mother Ann. She loved Joachim.
But when they led her at the age of five years up the steps of the King's court, she broke away
from her mother's embrace. She ran with all the power of her little being until she stood before
the altar of God and danced the praise and adoration of God on the steps. She stayed there like
Samuel, brought up in the House of the Lord, praising God in the morning sacrifice and in the
evening sacrifice and watching when the priests had gone their way. Oh, how wonderfully was
her love growing as she herself grew in virtue and grace according to the way of human growth
and development, until at length she takes her place beside those to Whom she was forever
united.

She is the pattern and example of all her children of how it is to love God. And although
she loves God so intensely, she cannot fail in that second Commandment, which is like unto the
first, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," and in giving a mother's love and solace she is
always thinking of and spending herself for her children in the world.

So in this infant you have the new birth of the divine love we are to cultivate and
develop in us. Be jealous about it always, jealous of anything that hinders the supremacy of God
in our souls, especially if it is self, jealous of any affection that might come for any other Society
that is distracting our thoughts from that supreme devotion, jealous of anybody outside of the
community no matter how good and beautiful and attractive they might be, if in any way
interfering with the absolute supremacy of love which we have for God.

Now, dear daughters in Christ, kneel around the crib of our Blessed Lady of the
Atonement and meditate today upon that sweet infant. God loves infancy and he is constantly
multiplying it. We have the new birth, for each time we come for a Retreat it should be a new
nativity, a new birth of holy aspirations, new birth of our ideals, new birth of our vows: Poverty,
Chastity and Obedience, new birth of holy resolutions to go out and labor more diligently and
run more earnestly in the way of sanctity and perfection.

And so may this be a joyful day to us. And please remember the Mount of the
Atonement in your prayers today. Call to mind that twenty-five years ago today we climbed the
Mountain, a few of us that were here in this little Portiuncula of our Institution, and we broke the
ground there for the Friary, which was as it were the nativity of the First Congregation on the
Mountain, for the Friary is their home and the outward and visible expression of it as this is the
Mother House, the Caput et Mater of the Sisterhood down here, Saint Francis House.

Pray for those who have come to enter our college. More are coming than we anticipated
and they are coming with their new enthusiasms and their new resolutions. And we know how
many have failed in the past to persevere in those resolutions, led astray by Satan or by self-love
or something else or pride-- to a great degree [those] caused them to fail in the wonderful
vocation which they had missed. We had the satisfaction of receiving a letter from one of the
boys who has a sister in the Community. A few years ago he was on the Mountain. Being a
young boy perhaps he was more or less homesick and thought of the Cathedral College. So he
went back. And in this letter he repented of that now that it was homesickness and [wrote] that
he feels a great love for Graymoor and wants to come back. So I sent him a letter to come back
and start over again his life in our Atonement College.

Please unite with us to God and our Lady that God will infuse into these new ones that
are coming the grace of strong attachment to the Institute and holy perseverance. Ask God for
everyone that falls away from our Institute He will give us at least ten strong vocations to take
their place, so that we will defeat all the purposes of Satan, who in these younger days tries his
best as in so many religious communities to defeat its purpose in the very beginning. So let us
rejoice together in the goodness of God on this twenty-fifth anniversary of the breaking of
ground for the Friary on the Mount of the Atonement. And while you are in the Retreat unite
with us in spirit, especially at 9:00 o'clock when we have the Solemn High Mass for the
sanctification of the Friars, that there may always be holy emulations between the Friars and
Sisters as far as sanctity is concerned and the love of God and faithful correspondence to our
holy vocation.

Document 37
[This document is copied from an already existing typed copy. The personal tone when speaking
about Mother Lurana White, s.a., perhaps indicates that the speaker is Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.]

NOTE MADE ON SEPT. 9, 1925, DURING

RETREAT CONFERENCE BY REV. FATHER.

Mother Foundress in the early days cherished the ideal of corporate poverty. Many
communities live in sumptuous convents. School Sisters have to do this because they try to fit
the young for the place they are to occupy in the world. Sisters [are] the servants of these young
people. Well furnished Retreat House at Washington, where our Sisters are. If they keep wholly
detached, no harm; but there is always danger of rivalry between communities to have largest
and finest buildings. Rev. Mother's desire that this should never be in our community.
1926
Document 38
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV 52-
56. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters. Of note is the frequency he uses
the word “Now” to begin a sentence and also the word “consequently” within the sentence. It is
Fr. Paul’s style. He states that the word Beulah in the Hebrew means “family,” when actually it
means “married.”]

RELIGIOUS SPIRIT
First Annual Retreat
August 2, 1926

I will begin by extending to the Sisters of the branch Houses a very hearty welcome
home. Judging from the voices we heard from the porch this morning, you have bee having a
happy reunion, and now we go into Retreat.

We follow our Lord's example in all things, for that is our vocation. In the vision of the
Apocalypse a religious is represented by the "hundred and forty-four thousand, who follow the
lamb whithersoever he goeth." That will be their joy through eternity, and consequently, even in
this world, we follow His example. We know that in His own religious life from time to time He
turned aside from the haunts of men and even from conversation and close association with His
beloved disciples and went into the mountain apart to pray. In community life it is impossible to
go off by oneself, but when we come to Retreat, although we touch each other in our seats and as
we receive Holy Communion, yet each individual soul has his own cell, that is to say, the body
which God has given us, and like St. Francis, should retire into that cell. So now you are going
to retire into your own particular cell that you may hold converse with God, so that in the silence
of your soul God may speak His own message. I need not urge you to observe faithfully the
regulations of silence and to try as far as possible to be alone with God during those precious
days of retreat.

It is the office of the retreat master to bring home to you the great fundamental truths of
the religious life and to help you to meditate upon them, to renew your good resolutions, to face
more diligently to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as He leads the way and to run more earnestly
after the retreat in the way of holy perfection.

At a time like this when we get down to first principles, we are to consider why God
made us, what the purpose of our religious life is and what is our vocation. To begin with, the
penny Catechism asserts, "God made us to know, to love and to serve Him here and to be happy
with Him forever hereafter," and as that is the purpose of every individual, Christ has redeemed
by His Precious Blood, it is peculiarly the vocation of the religious, because the religious are
those that are called to follow Our Lord completely and to be His imitators. Therefore, the
purpose of a Retreat is to get away from everything that may have come in between us and God
and to realize our vocation more clearly and cooperate with divine grace in the fulfilling of it
more diligently.

Now, as religious, we have not only the vocation to be an individual soul united with
God, but God Himself is social in His character and He has willed not that the individual after all
should be so much the unit as the family, and as in the natural world you have the family, so in
the spiritual life, in the kingdom of the regenerate, the same general family characteristics show
themselves. [Previous sentence is garbled.] We have, first of all, Our Lord as the Father of the
world to come, as it expresses it in tho Litany of the Holy Name, and our Blessed Mother, as the
new Eve, is the mother of all the regenerate, and so we start in the Atonement with the family
principle, as Our Lord said to St. John, the beloved disciple, "Son, behold thy mother," and to
His mother, "Woman, behold thy son." So let us begin our retreat with reflecting upon our
family origin and vocation.

There has been a great deal of discussion in the papers lately on the subject of evolution,
owing to the Dayton trial down in one of the Southern states,. Tennessee, where Mr. Bryan made
his last speech, and the credible translation of the Scriptures as to evolution. Evolutionists have a
good deal to say about the origin of the species. From the religious standpoint we might reflect
somewhat tonight about the origin of our species, that is to say, that special kind of religious
which we are, Children of the Atonement, and this is a very good day to reflect about that, for it
is the feast of the Portiuncula Indulgence, and so we naturally go back to our Seraphic Father
and the covenant which God made with him as the Abraham of the New Law to increase and
multiply his posterity.

On my table tonight I picked up a letter postmarked Rome. It was from the Mother
General of the Missionary Sisters of Mary thanking us far the receipt of a check which we had
sent to her in payment of certain purchases we had made. Now, there is one of the branches of
the Franciscan family. That particular branch of the family will next year be celebrating the
fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, yet it has prospered and grown until those daughters of our
Seraphic Father are scattered over the world, forty five hundred laboring in the mission fields of
the Church. You know them from New York. When they come up on begging tours they stop
here and we have often given them Holy Communion kneeling beside our own Reverend
Mother.

Now St. Francis was true to his vocation and he believed in it with all his might and he
corresponded to it, therefore, the Lord blessed him wondrously. We have just come back from
our first visit to the Portiuncula, to that little mustard seed which he planted there on the
outskirts of Assisi. We entered that little tiny church together with thousands that poured in an
unbroken tide in one door and out another. We prayed and we celebrated Mass there. We visited
the little garden where the roses still grow that St. Francis rolled in on the night he was tempted,
the night when he saw the vision relating to the indulgence, now become world-famous. In its
very beginning it was small. He only got from the Pope permission for one day in the year, and
yet, we have seen through the centuries that persevere, and more than St. Francis asked from the
Sovereign Pontiff, realized, and the privilege of that Indulgence extended throughout the world.
[Previous sentence is garbled.] And our own secular churches are permitted to gain it in certain
cities so that all the faithful may participate in this great indulgence.

This is only one development from the wonderful things that go packed into St. Francis,
as things are packed into an acorn. And God has certainly fulfilled His gracious promise, making
him numerous in his posterity, the Abraham of the New Law. And after all these centuries we
find God graciously selecting on this Western shore another Portiuncula. In this little St.
Francis Chapel and House in which we are now assembled, a little piece of ground three fourths
of an acre in extent, chosen by God, prepared and made ready before the Mother Foundress
knew anything about it, and in the fullness of time and when everything was ready she was
called to come here and the little seed was planted and it has grown and developed, until today
she has the joy of welcoming her daughters back who come from distant places to make their
annual retreat. [Previous sentence is garbled.] And you can trace continuity from Graymoor
back to that original Portiuncula across the sea, for there has been a spiritual continuity all
through these seven centuries.

When I went abroad and came to Rome and to Assisi, I found myself among the
members of the family, who gave me a very warm and cordial welcome, from the Minister
General down. We brought back with us one of those little rose bushes, which is now flourishing
just outside of our Chapel, as an outward and visible sign between us and those abroad.
Therefore, we are to realize that our vocation is not an individualistic affair alone, something
that concerns just ourselves and our divine Redeemer, but as the family is the unit in the order of
Divine Providence, so God has called us into a community. He has not only called us into a
community, but he has called us into a family, to a branch of the Seraphic family, and this
family is the Atonement family. So we call its members sons and daughters of the Atonement.
And so we look back through the centuries to the fountain source, Jesus, and the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Our Lord and Lady of the Atonement. Now we should rejoice tonight in our
vocation and in that family in which it has pleased God to place us, for we have every reason to
feel that it is peculiarly lovely in the eyes of God and that He designs good things for the
members of this family that are faithful. Just another little outward token of that favor is the
beautiful place He chose and selected out of His watchful Providence to be our homeland, the
Beulah Land of the Atonement as we sometimes call it, for the word Beulah in the Hebrew
means family-the family land at the Atonement, the mother, the homeland of the Atonement,
and surely we ought to rejoice in and appreciate the great beauty of this chosen spot.

A gentleman who lived in the outskirts of Cincinnati where the wealthy people live, a
locality deemed very beautiful, but mostly by artificial cultivation, went into raptures over the
wonderful beauty of this spot, and those who come from all places praise it and admire it. Not
long ago a cousin of Grover Cleveland, the former President, an Anglican, came up to the
Mountain. We took him up to the top of the tower. He said again and again it was the most
beautiful place he had ever seen.

Now, this is just an outward token, as it were, of God's love for this Institute and favor
He has shown it. We are soon to establish the Friars at Washington, and although we came at the
eleventh hour, yet, lo and behold, Providence provided and gave to us the choicest, by general
consent, of all the beautiful pieces of land near the Catholic University, so much so one of the
professors at the Sulpician Seminary the last time I was there, said it had been at one time
considered purchasing it as the site of the White House because of its natural beauty. And as far
as the Sisters are concerned, God has given you wonderful centres of activity and work and
blessed your labors in a wonderful manner, all of which indicates how dear to Him this
particular family is. And then going back to the Seraphic Father Saint Francis we are reminded
that Abraham through Isaac and Jacob was the patriarch over twelve tribes and that Jacob, his
descendant, as the father of twelve sons, loved the child of his old age, Joseph, and in a way we
are the child of the old age of our Seraphic Father Saint Francis. We will be celebrating next
year the seven hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis, and we find after these seven
centuries, springing up in this beloved land across the sea, which is, as it were, the promised land
of St. Francis, for it was the sons of St. Francis that first discovered the land, a new Portiuncula,
the child of St. Francis's old age, and I hope it is not just a conceit on my part, what we might
call the Joseph of the Franciscan Family.

So it is well to meditate upon these things, because God loves gratitude and He loves
appreciation of the good things He does for His children. He expects love for love, and the more
we realize that we are His predestined in the fact that He has chosen us, the more we are able to
appreciate that fact and give love back again, and not only to love God, but to love our Institute
and love those with whom we are associated in that Institute with a filial love and affectionate
devotion. I bring these things home to you at the beginning of the retreat because you are bound
together in your community life and no matter where you go nor how interested you may
become in your work,you must always hark back to the Mother House.

When the children of Israel were exiled from Jerusalem, it was the custom of these
faithful ones to say their prayers with their faces turned towards Jerusalem. And so in spirit of
heart at least, the Sisters should pray with their faces towards Graymoor, towards this
Portiuncula that God has so richly blessed, and even if the cost of bringing the Sisters back again
to these retreats is great, yet the Mother has acted wisely in determining no matter what that cost
is to bring you here in these retreats once a year in order that you may renew at the fountain
source the spirit of the Institute, these high ideals and purposes of your vocation, that you may
have unity of design, unity of purpose, and motive in all you do.

Our vocation is one of unity and as the Society grows in the strength of that unity no
doubt the great Adversary will try to bring in the spirit of division, and you must fight against
that and resist it. No matter what trials you may go through or experience, or what temptations
might be offered to you to be alienated from the central house, you must cling to the unity of the
family. Sometimes Bishops in zeal for their own dioceses have persuaded Sisters to detach
themselves from their Mother House and to start some diocesan institute, and sometimes perhaps
Superiors under that thought have allowed themselves to yield to temptation and have broken
away from the Mother House to start some independent foundation. To those who are put in trust
of the houses of our Institute, if that temptation should ever present itself, then wrestle with it
steadfastly and preserve the unity of the family around the central home.

So I have spoken sufficiently on those points for the introduction of the retreat. You are
not to make this retreat, therefore, merely as individual religious, but you are to make the retreat
as members of the Atonement family, and when you come to the Mother House, drink deep at
the fountain source and go out, not as individual workers alone, but as one cog-wheel, as it were,
in a complicated piece of machinery, so that the great machine itself, in unity, may accomplish
what the individual cog could not have accomplished. And, therefore, it is that God may imbue
your soul more and more with this family spirit, this family love, and this family unity that I
have taken this line of thought in our opening meditation.

Document 39
[The title of the conference is in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. He had the custom of
capitalizing every letter of words referring to the Divine, e.g., GOD, JESUS, etc. The document
also appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IX 130-131.]

INTRODUCTION TO RETREAT.

FROM AUGUST 15, 1926.

HELD BY SISTERS OF ATONEMENT AT EVENTIDE.

The Master's Invitation.

"Come apart into a desert place and rest awhile." Mk 6:31.

"History repeats itself." Show parallel as the Master sent the 72 out so the Mother sent
you out on the missions and now you have returned and you have been eager to tell her what
success you have had and the harvest you have reaped each in that portion of the vast Vineyard
where you have labored. They told their story with joy and enthusiasm and in the main so have
you.

The Mother has listened with sympathy and joy. Now like our Lord she has made
everything ready and says, "My children come apart into a desert place and rest awhile." If she
substitutes the word "retreat", it will only be calling it exactly what in fact our Lord did for His
disciples. He took them apart into [the] desert just that they might have a retreat, nothing more
or less.

They had to go into the desert because the Gospel tells us, "For there were many coming
and going and they had not so much as time to eat." How often it is that way on the missions. Is
it not?

Have I not been at St. Clare's Mission in New York, or St. Simon's in Phila. and do I not
know? The door bell ringing continually, noisy children playing in the streets, or in the back
yard, or in the gymnasium, clinics, sewing classes, catechism instructions, entertainments, house
to house visits, chapel offices to be kept up no matter what happens, or doesn't happen, late very
often to bed and early to rise--surely our Sisters' experience on the missions may allow barely
time for three meals a day, such as they are, but apart from Holy Communion and daily
meditation provided for by the rule, there isn't much time left to feed the soul and hold
prolonged converse with God.

Hence, regardless of expense, some of you have been called home, a distance of more
than 2 [thousand? hundred? ] miles to rest awhile in quiet and apart from the maddening crowd
and the distractions of your busy, laborious mission. For a week you are not to act the part of
Martha, "cumbered with much sewing" but to sit with Mary quietly at the Master's feet and hear
His word.

To make it a real retreat and worthwhile certain things are necessary, essential. Take
care to do your part in supplying the proper environment of a desert place. A desert place is a
deserted one, a place forsaken of men, a lonely spot. In a convent as crowded with people as St.
Francis House at Graymoor is with 36 retreatants back from the missions plus the Sisters in
residence, loneliness and the condition of being apart with God can only be secured by a rigid
observance of the retreat silence to begin, continue and end with. Silence must not only be the
Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end, but it must be continued night and day, every hour
and every minute of every hour, all the way through. To use the voice except in the worship of
God, in the Tribunal of Penance, or in a private conference with the Mother, will be ruination to
the retreat.

A second essential is to live these days in the spirit of prayer, to concentrate your mind
and heart upon God and to imitate Mary of Bethany, to sit down at the feet of JESUS and to
listen eagerly to every word He has to say to you.

JESUS did not send the 72 off by themselves into the desert. He went with them. It was
His presence and the instructions He gave them there which made that first retreat efficacious
and salutary infinitely more than anything else. So it is the presence of JESUS which counts
here and now. He is conducting this retreat with you and I doubt not He will have something
very important to say to everyone of you and, Oh, be very eager to listen and profit by it.

There are two other personages who no doubt will be interested spectators of this retreat and
most willing and ready to lend their assistance to make it a success and of lasting benefit to
every Sister: our Blessed Lady, on whose glorious Feast it begins and our Seraphic Father whose
seventh Centenary, the most important one the Church and the Seraphic Order has celebrated
since his death, is so soon to occur. Do not forget them and be mindful too of the presence of
your Guardian Angel.

"REST AWHILE"

Our Lord invites you not only "to come apart" as He did the 72, but He also invites you
to "rest awhile". Don't forget that very important and even necessary part of a good and
thoroughly happy retreat. You need rest, both for body and soul. It is not a time for bodily
mortification, fasting and penance. Don't regard it in that light. Especially at the outset of the
retreat, if you are physically fatigued, get to bed swiftly and sleep till the Sister caller wakens
you. And use some of your free time during the day to catch up on your sleep. If your body is
thoroughly rested, your soul will be wider awake to catch the voice of God in meditation and
prayer. It may be your soul has been overwrought with cares and trials and actual sufferings.
Now is the time to relax, to relieve the tension of mind, to just rest yourself in the arms of the
altogether Lovely One, the Prince among ten thousand.

If this retreat does nothing more for you than to afford you a real downright rest both
physically and spiritually, it will be an immense asset during the next twelve months of
strenuous work on the Missions.

Our first concern in retreat should he the salvation and great sanctification of our own
soul.

The warning Jesus gave the 72 when they told almost with boasting and evidently with
complacence that the devils even were subject to them — I saw Satan (proud Lucifer) fall from
heaven. It was after this He called them to retreat. He feared for them lest their success should
engender the spirit of pride and bring about their downfall. There is a danger in the missionary
Sister's life that contact with others in the world will play havoc with that "first love" which must
always be supreme in a Religious. St. Francis' question to St. Clare: shall I give myself entirely
to prayer or shall I devote my life to preaching and missionary labors. Although the answer was
given "To the missionary life" nevertheless St. Francis did not neglect his own soul. He
persevered in prayer and like his Master found time at intervals to go into retreat [garbled
sentence.] One of the primary essentials of this retreat is that you concern yourself about your
own soul.

Judas, like the other disciples, engaged in missionary work. Like the others he wrought
miracles and did much good work, but he did not make successful retreats. He did not
sufficiently scrutinize (incomplete)

Document 40
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
44-51. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

RELIGIOUS LIFE
Second Conference
Monday Morning

August 16, 1926

We shall consider this morning the religious life. There is a saying "As a man thinks, so
he is," and as that applies to other departments of life, so it applies to the religious life. We have
to have a proper conception of the religious life to appreciate it and to live up to its
requirements.

When someone is born an heir-apparent to the throne, he becomes the crown prince; he is
trained, educated with the prospect of being the ruler of the nation in future and there are certain
things impressed upon his mind that govern and control his life. The Prince of Wales of
England, for instance, a charming, nice, young lad, is touring the world all the time. There is not
very much for him to do at home, so they send him around the world for political purposes and
he always has to carry himself along certain lines of conduct so as not to bring reproach upon
the great British Empire, so that his whole life is dominated and regulated by the thought and
conception of what he is and what he is going to be.

So it is with the Religious. She should appreciate her state in order to be happy in it and
conduct herself as a Religious is expected to conduct herself. The religious life is the special
product of the Incarnation. Woman's sphere before the coming of Our Lord was a sphere very
largely of drudgery; man was the superior and almighty being, and outside of revealed religion
woman was treated very much as if she had no soul, she was to labor and serve the man in the
capacity of the home and bring forth children, take care of them and she was hedged in by all
kinds of restrictions. The very fact that Our Lord chose a woman to be His Mother and
accordingly exalted her to a dignity transcending that of the greatest man on earth, has given a
new aspect to womanhood. But besides the general elevation of the sex, Our Lord created a new
society of women. He began with those who were immediately associated with Him during His
earthly life.

There was Anna, the prophetess, who had for a short time a husband and then continued
in holy widowhood for a long period of years until she was very advanced in years and was
gifted by the spirit of prophecy and was one of those to welcome the Infant Jesus when He was
presented in the temple, and was a mother herself of a virgin mother, the Mother of Virgins.
[Previous sentence appears garbled.] There were the two sisters of Bethany, Mary and Martha.
Mary had gone astray. Seven devils were cast out of her by Our Lord and henceforth she lived a
life for Him, taking her position at His feet, after His death going up into the mountain and
living her life of contemplation; Martha was a virgin and continued in that state always unto her
death. So that growing out of Our Lord's life came the great life of virginity, not only for women
but for men. The beloved disciple, the virgin who leaned on Our Lord's breast at supper, was
called in the Gospel the "beloved disciple," and he is the pro-founder, as it were, spiritually
speaking, of a great multitude of virgins, and in the vision of the Apocalypse he was permitted to
see in Heaven a great concourse who seemed to have peculiar privileges and among them was
that they were gifted with beautiful voices and sang the praises of God with a special song which
nobody could sing but themselves, and they attended our Lord in a special way as a bodyguard.
Whithersoever the Lamb went, they want with Him. So much was he interested that he
understood to inquire of the Angel conducting them who they were, and the information was
given to him, "They are virgins," in other words, the representatives of that special state which is
the glory of Catholicity.

So that the Religious are a privileged class, they are the ones whom God has called out of
the world, surrounded by convent walls, regulations and restrictions which prevent them from
free intercourse with the world outside, except insofar as their missionary vocation impels them
to imitate the life of Our Lord, Who went about doing good among people, Who ministered to
others.
But even so, they are protected. They live in houses that are restricted, where they may not
bring outsiders, sitting down at table with them and get into their intimate interior life and
regulations, so that their primary religious duties may be performed without let or hindrance;
and even when they go out they wear a special garment, which cuts them off immediately from
ordinary conduct, they are reverenced and respected by everybody, even those of a different
faith from their own. Courtesiesare shown to them, but at the same time their very habit
prevents familiarity and the world would be shocked if anyone wearing such a habit should
conduct themselves like an ordinary girl of the day.So that they have all these protections and
guardianships thrown around them in order that they may give themselves to religion primarily.
First and chiefly, their life is a life of peculiar devotion to God. People in the world may be
piously disposed, but their duties necessitate their giving attention to them and they could not
perform any obligations and observances of a religious community with very fewexceptions. So
that Religious, therefore, are a peculiar people who are called by God to a life of peculiar
devotion to Himself, preparing them for a life of more immediate association with Him in
Heaven.
 In the courts of queens there are maids of honour, usually ladies of noble birth, who are
especially selected by the queen to be her attendants, her ladies in waiting, and on all great state
occasions these ladies are in immediate attendance upon the queen and they constitute a part of
the court, and from the standpoint of the world they are looked upon as especially favored
members of the gentler sex. So you should regard your own state. It is not a royal personage of
this world who has called you to his court, but the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and He has
called you with the express purpose of not merely to attend upon Him in the capacity of maid
servants, but He has selected you to be in a very special degree His spouses. He makes love to
you in the cloister and He promises (a promise which He being the Truth, will certainly be
fulfilled) that you will be closely associated with Him through all eternity. You will be in a
special way His beloved ones, and that alone should fill the true religious with great satisfaction
and complacency over your state, so that, giving love for love, there is nothing that could induce
you to lay aside your habit, go back into the world and lose this wonderful privilege which is
yours.

Now if this were all theory, if it were not based upon truth which has been confirmed by
the experience of countless thousands of religious during the past 1900 years, it would break
down under the acid test of practice and experience You might present to a company of ladies in
the world a beautiful theory of that kind and invite them to depart out of the world and come
into a convent cloister and practice such a life, but if it were a delusion, the experience that they
would have there would soon convince them that it was not based upon a real substantial
foundation. In fact, it would have been discovered long ago and all the religious communities of
the Catholic Church centuries ago would have ended in miserable failure and shipwreck and
there would not be any of them existing today.

But one has but to mingle with religious as one of them and come into contact with them,
and he learns by experience that they have not been disappointed of their hope even in this
present world of cross-bearing, trials and afflictions, which is only the passport to the eternal
realization of Heaven. If therefore, some particular individual religious is disappointed in her
experience and has not found the religious life to be what she thought it was going to be, it is not
the fault of the religious life. It is not the fault of the eternal principles of truth that lie at the
basis of the religious life. The fault is in herself. If she had a true vocation to begin with, or has
not gotten by mistake in the wrong place, and she is not finding it all she expected, you may be
very sure that the cause does not lie outside herself but within.

Consequently, at a time like this as a retreatant she should commune with the Holy Ghost
and with the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, asking in the humblest fashion,

"Lord, what is the matter? Why am I not happy, contented and satisfied in
my religious state? Why is it that that peace which my Sisters and companions
have, which they evidently experience as religious, has not come as my portion?
Surely the fault is within me. Please reveal to me what the dead fly that spoils the
ointment is, what is wrong with me in my interior that I am not finding the
religious life that which I expected to?"

And she actually sometimes begins to look back into the world like Lot's wife looked
back at Sodom, and wonders if after all she would not be happier outside than inside the cloister.
In regard to such temptations, if that should happen to come to any of you, if you know anything
about the experience of ex-religious--and there are a number of them in the world--you would
find, I think almost without exceptions, that those who have been tempted to lay aside their habit
and go back into the world have been the most disappointed of creatures. Sometimes it may be
that the great Seducer who painted up with artificial colors the fruit of the forbidden tree, if you
listen to him will probably paint some lovely picture of what your life might be outside the
cloister, picture to you some millionaire's home and you presiding over it with all kinds of
servants to wait upon you, automobiles to ride about in and lovely and charming children, and a
beautiful home, fine dresses for yourself. If you allowed him to, probably he would paint all
that up in most magnificent colors.
However, if you were back in the world you probably would not find a millionaire to
start with and it would be a very different kind of home, and if you happened to have an
opportunity occasionally to ride around in an automobile, you would not find it as enjoyable as
the automobile rides you have once in a while here, and all the rest of it. And your heart would
be filled with regret and you would realize when it is too late what you missed. Even from the
material standpoint and, of course, it is not in the material that we seek the attraction and the
consolation of the religious life. From the material standpoint the condition of a religious is a
great deal better than her sister's in the world. For instance, all people like to be respected, they
like to be admired, they like to be looked up to, and when religious come into contact with
people in the world they meet with that respect. The world, especially Catholics who have the
faith, look upon them as spouses of Christ. People believe that they are very holy and good, and
they pay corresponding homage and admiration, and many is the Sister who experiences that
respect and regard, who if she took off her habit and dressed up like the women do in the world,
you would not find anybody who would take off their hat to her, and if she was on a railroad
train and wanted a seat, she would have to wait for it, if there was not any seat. No gentleman
would say, "Here Sister." So even from the standpoint of respect and reverence and regard,
which even the natural person or woman demands, you would not receive it if you were in the
world, apart from your habit and estate which God has given you in holy religion.

And then, although you are Sisters vowed to the poverty of Saint Francis, yet even so,
God gives you a home which compares very favorably with even the wealthy estate of the
Bradys and the other rich people. As far as your home here is concerned, people in the world
come here and they behold the grounds and say, "What a beautiful place this is," and yet, when
you are home it is your home and our Lord in His love has surrounded you with all this beauty,
and even on the missions, although the houses are more or less plain, yet they compare favorably
with the houses of the neighbors, and oftentimes the neighbors are living in houses that do not
belong to them, they are rented houses and they move from one place to another and groan under
the burden of rent which they have to pay, cooped up in crowded sections, whereas ordinarily
our Sisters have nice grounds around their houses. So that even from the material standpoint you
are faring a good deal better perhaps than the majority would, if they lived in the world.

And then people in the world are always anxious about their job, they get a position and
they do not know how long they are going to hold it. We receive petition after petition in the
Novena of Our Lady and Saint Anthony, people say, "Oh, I am so afraid I am going to lose my
job," or they are asking for a job which will give them a better salary. As far as your position is
concerned, your job, you know that it will last as long as your life lasts and when you break
down and you cannot work any longer you know you still have your home, that if you got sick,
you would be sent to one of the best hospitals, be attended by the most skilled physicians to be
found, and that loving nurses and Sisters probably of your own kind would be ministering to
you. Wealthy people sometimes have a house in the city and one in the country, but you have
one not only in the country and in the city, but as you travel around you would find you would
have houses in various places where you might go and in every one you would be at home, and
perhaps it would be one of the houses of the Community.
When I was on the way back from the Eucharistic Congress there were two most
enthusiastic and happy Sisters on board from California. One of them was a Superior and just
before the closing exercises of commencement she was informed that she was going to go with
another Sister to the Eucharistic Congress, and it was such a treat for her and she was praising
the wonderful providence of God that she had a list of the houses of her Community, here in
New York, in Washington and in other places, and she was going around to visit them and, of
course, wherever she went she had a royal welcome. They were houses of her Institute and she
was proud and happy about it. And so it is with you, and it will be increasingly so from present
prospects, as the years go by. Perhaps you will go around the world if your Superior sees fit to
send you on visitation, and you will stop in your own houses. So all this from the material
standpoint shows that you are a hundred fold better off than you would be in the world.

I have seen sometimes Sisters in a community who are held in very high honor and
respect, not only by those outside but in positions of responsibility. Sometimes their relatives
from the world come to visit them and oftentimes there is a marked contrast from their status
there. What an honor it is to have been elevated by the providence of God to be princesses of the
royal household, not only of ordinary royalty but of the royalty of God, the House of David. We
read in the Holy Gospel of the descent of the royal house from which Joseph sprung, the spouse
of the Blessed Virgin. Today we are celebrating the feast of Saint Joachim, the father of the
Blessed Virgin, and he is also of that same royal lineage, who were all elevated to a dignity
which is theirs forever in Heaven because they were selected by the Son of God to be brought
into the most intimate relationship with Him through the Incarnation.

You have been chosen and called to be princesses, royal blood infused into you by Holy
Communion, by a new birth, to this high and exalted dignity, and any religious who would grasp
that theory should be so infatuated with the religious life that nothing would induce her for a
moment of thinking of forsaking it. Now there are certain obligations, of course, associated with
this life and those we must not forget. Our Lord sent out the challenge to the world and said
"Except a man take up his cross daily and deny himself, he cannot be my disciple," and if that is
true of the ordinary Christian, how much more of those whom He has called to such intimate
association with Himself? He could not be the Man of Sorrows and His Blessed Mother be Our
Lady of Sorrows, and we cannot be His spouses and so intimately associated with Him, if we do
not also in some way or other take up the cross and deny ourselves. And so there is the discipline
of the religious life, which is the discipline of self-denial or mortification. We cannot walk
entirely after the sight of our eyes and after our natural inclinations. We have got to curb them.
We have got to be under the yoke of discipline. We have got to be disciplined subjects of the
great King. Of course, that is one of the obligations of the true religious, her Rule requires it, and
the discipline of the community and the success and order require and demand it.

And then there is undoubtedly a great deal of work required of religious, particularly
those that are active--and certainly the Sisters of the Atonement have a good reputation, which
they deserve--of being hardworking Sisters. They are always busy. If they are not busy with
their duties, they are busy with their prayers, and I understand you are in the habit of doing
something even while you are having recreation. So that is one of the obligations. It is a life of
toil and sacrifice, but that is not after all, the greatest obligation. The greatest obligation of the
religious life is to be a saint. The religious life, in fact, is the great school of saints, in fact the
producer of our saints. In the calender outside of religious communities are a few of them, but
the majority of them have been religious, particularlythose holy women who have attained to the
odour of sanctity. [Previous sentence is missing words.] Run through the list and, except the
martyrs, how many of them became saints in ordinary environment and not in the cloister? So it
is the great school of saints, and you are all called to be saints. St. Paul said to the Romans that
all Christians were called, but religious are preeminently so. The great obligation after all, is to
rise up to that vocation and to correspond with grace and become a saint.

Now saints are not always certain people that have an enormous willpower, who wear
iron chains around their waist and sleep on beds of thorns and flagellate themselves a portion of
every day and fast to the limit of their physical endurance, and do all the wonderful things that
some particular saints have done. When they had a particular vocation that way, that was
accidental. That is not something absolutely necessary or essential to being a saint. A saint is
really just a person who is entirely holy, and an entirely holy person is one who belongs entirely
to God, and is dominated and directed by the spirit of God and grace, perfect in obedience to all
the inspirations of grace and does everything because she recognizes it is God's will that she
should do it, and belongs entirely to God so that nothing in her life could be singled out and
excepted from the rest on which the sign of the cross was not impressed, and which would not
issue from a super natural motive of the love of God. That is what we are called into religion for,
to love God supremely, to belong entirely to our Divine Master, to do everything to please Him
and to have no affections apart from Him, crucifying, mortifying everything that is an
imperfection, that could in any possible way be a sin because it would be contrary to the Divine
Will.

And so the struggle of the Sister is in all things to be holy, and that is her great and her
supreme vocation, the obligation of her state. The better she succeeds in realizing that vocation,
the happier a religious she will be. I do not mean by that that she will be exempt from crosses on
that account; on the contrary the crosses may multiply. I do not mean that she is not going to
have any suffering, because oftentimes the greatest saints had the greatest suffering, but there
was something their suffering could not destroy, and that was their deep interior happiness,
contentment, satisfaction with their state and those indefinable consolations which Our Lord
gives to those who are willing to suffer for Him, whatever form the suffering may take.

Another characteristic of the good religious, and something that is an obligation, is to

manifest the charity of God, not only the supreme love of God Himself, but the charity of God
towards others. She must be unselfish, she must manifest within the cloister loving charity
towards her Sisters, towards her Superiors, and that is really one of the beautiful fruits of the
religious life as it is exemplified by true religious. It is a wonderful thing for a large number of
women to live together, oftentimes from different nationalities with all these racial differences
and natural dispositions, some like one thing and some like another, some have some tastes,
some have other tastes, many have idiosyncracies or peculiarities. For when you become
religious you do not lose altogether those things that are natural to you, and yet living in
harmony and peace together and having a real Sisterly affection for each other, that is of itself
one of tho evidences that you are living not by nature but by grace, that according to your
supernatural state, supernatural grace is infused into your heart, supernaturalcharity.
 Of course, even in the best regulated communities there are exceptions, Sometimes
Sisters do have an antipathy to each other, and some very decided antipathy, and some are very
great trials to their neighbors. If an individual Sister finds that she is a trial to her neighbor, she
ought to analyze it a little bit and find out the cause it. She very likely will find she is a very
natural Sister and not supernatural. You can put up with a whole lot with someone if that
someone is a saint. They may have the infirmities of age, or they may have certain peculiarities
of one kind or another of the natural order. If you see they are very, very holy, you will be more
patient and will be ashamed of yourself if you show anything but charity towards such a one.
But if somebody shows characteristics that are downright selfish, it is a little more difficult to be
charitable towards such a one, and if a Sister finds out by a little self-examination that she is
selfish and that it is her selfishness that is making trials for her Superior and her companions,
then she wants to modify the selfishness and get rid of the natural woman in order that by grace
she may be more holy, more wrapped up in the Sacred Heart and that her peculiarities will be
merged into the divine love.

There is, also, this tremendous responsibility which the Sister has as to the good name of
the Society or Community to which you belong. Take when she comes in contact with people of
the world, she is always to conduct herself in such a way that the good reputation of the institute,
the ideal of what a Sister ought to be, is not destroyed in someone else’s mind by her acting in
any other way than a Sister should act, and that is the reason why you should appreciate some of
the regulations that are made in your Rule about your conduct when you come in contact with
people outside. There is sometimes a temptation to think that somebody won't esteem you
enough if you hold too strictly to the regulations, that they would think more highly of you if
you were more familiar, on easy terms with people in the world. But you are making a mistake.
They do not expect those things, they will think more of you if you keep your Rule, if you draw
a circle around you in the cloister.

So as a result of this retreat increase the appreciation of your state. If you meditated upon
it day and night you could not possibly exaggerate the dignity and the privilege which is yours,
and as the most precious things have to be paid a high price for, count cheap all the sacrifice, all
the discipline, all the labor, all the trials, all the toil that come in your religious experience. If
you have the right faith and the right appreciation of the religious life, you will be like St. Clare
who at the end of her forty odd years of penance, when somebody said something about all she
had endured, all her penances and sicknesses and all the afflictions, she said, "Why it seems to
me as nothing, nothing in comparison to the joy that I have experienced in the blessedness of my
state." So it should be with us.

Document 41
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
193-201. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

OBEDIENCE

Fourth Conference

August 17, 1926

"He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,"

We spoke yesterday morning in our conference upon the religious life in general and how
necessary it is for us to really appreciate what a wonderful favor from Almighty God it is to be
called to be a religious and, therefore, we should be enamored of our state so that all temptations
from the world, the flesh and the devil that might assail us with the object of destroying our
religious vocation, will meet with a determined resistance, based upon deep humility and
reliance upon God that, inasmuch as He has called us here, He will also supply the grace that we
need to be faithful and triumph unto the end.

Now we will begin to consider the fundamental principles of the religious life. The
religious life has as its foundation three vows, the Vows of Poverty, Obedience and Chastity. As
there are in the God-head three Persons, as three Persons constitute the unity of the God-head, so
in a way in the religious life there are three fundamental principles. The unity of their
observance constitutes the success and harmony and essence of the religious life. We will speak
this morning about Obedience.

In the three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity, although charity is mentioned
last, it is the first in rank, and so in the order of the three vows. Obedience stands first, that
represents the supreme sacrifice which we can make to God and because it is the supremest of
them it ranks the highest. By Chastity we renounce satisfactions and sensible pleasures of certain
kinds, which, if onehas the vocation, may be entered into with a good conscience and with the
divine blessing and for multitudes of people have even been the means of sanctification, but this
is renounced by the religious.Poverty is the renunciation of material possessions external to
ourselves. One has to do about our carnal nature, for we are created male and female; and the
other with the desire of those things whichminister to our carnal and material nature and, also, to
our intellectual nature, and in a certain degree to our spiritual nature in material things around
us. But when one takes the Vow of Obedience andpractices it, it is one’s will and affections and
all that is really ourselves, which is surrendered absolutely to God. That is what Obedience in the
religious sense means. Many a man goes wooing and selects his bride and she assents to his
wooing, and they come before the altar, join hands and the woman makes the vow of obedience
and thereby she practically surrenders herself, belongs to him. So in religion the espousal of the
bride to the Heavenly Bridegroom means the surrender of ourselves in entirety, our will, our
affections, all the capacity of our body, all our energy and all our strength.

That is the chief of the three religious vows. It should be especially emphasized by the
Friars and the Sisters of the Atonement because of our special vocation of Atonement, for the
Atonement was wrought by Christ as the supreme test of His obedience to the will of God. God
had made first Adam, surrounded him with every consideration, everything that was necessary
for his happiness in his earthly state. He held nothing back from him, but just one little test of
obedience. He had everything else that he could possibly desire, or wish. There was nothing
withheld from him for his perfect happiness, but having a will, being a free agent, he must give
evidence to God that, given that free choice, he would always choose to obey, always recognize
God to be the Author of his being, the Author of his happiness, and serve Him faithfully.
Therefore, it was necessary that there shouldbe this test. Unfortunately, he used the test against
God, allowed himself to be persuaded by the companion that God gave him to follow her
example, when she had been seduced by the siren voice of Satan, and so he put forth his hand
and ate, and all the chain of sin and rebellion, cursing, blasphemy, misery, war and pestilence
and shame that has followed, all the bells of the world jangling out of tune because of man's
primary disobedience.

And Our Lord came to raise up a new race, to offset the children of disobedience by the
children of obedience, that is to say, the children of the Atonement, and as we are exalted, the
Friars into the first Congregation, the Sisters into the Second, to set forth this great doctrine of
the Atonement, where we are as a city set on a hill, we must manifest preeminently the spirit of
obedience.

The Reformation was the rebellion of the strong nations of Northern Europe against
authority, against the Vicar of Christ, against the touchstone of obedience, they were strong-
willed people. It was the Welch that produced the Palagians, the heretics who asserted that man
was strong enough in his own will to obey God, did not need grace, could get to Heaven by his
own will power. That was the characteristic of that strong Northern will, and today the Anglo-
Saxons and the Germans and the Scandinavians are the most willful and strong in their minds of
any people in the world, and it was in their wills that they rebelled against the authority of the
Vicar of Christ, That was the beginning of the Reformation.

When God wished to raise up certain Orders of religious to oppose this rebellion and stop
the exodus from the ranks of the Churches, of those who were being led by these wilful men, so-
called reformers, He chose a soldier, a man who had been trained in the discipline of the army
and who recognized that the success of the army depended upon absolute obedience to its chiefs
and leaders. He was a leader himself and commanded others, he was ambitious of worldly glory,
he understood what obedience was. God chose him to found a magnificent body of men for a
special purpose, like his army, so that when a Jesuit is told to go, he goes, if told to come he
comes, and this wonderful discipline of these trained men has been one of the most astonishing
developments of later Catholicism, and it has aroused against them the hatred of the devil who
sees that power because of the discipline of obedience.

In a certain way our holy Society is called upon to carry on a work which is
consequential upon the work of the Jesuits. The Jesuits were to stay the desertion from the
Church. The special vocation of the Society of the Atonement is to bring back to the unity of the
Church those that have gone astray, and we must do it as disciplined men and women, strong in
obedience and, therefore, whereas for all religious obedience is paramount, for us it is especially
paramount, even as our Mount of the Atonement lifts itself up above all hills that stand around
about it. So we should manifest this wonderful obedience, and certainly thus far in its
development the Second Congregation of the Society of the Atonement has manifested a large
amount of this discipline and in its subjects a fine display of that obedience.
 Sometimes Superiors out on the missions may find it difficult to obey orders that come
from home and perhaps would be disposed to criticize the orders that come and say, "perhaps if
Mother was down here and saw the situation, she would change the order." Nevertheless, it is
that discipline which makes the Society strong and is winning admiration and regard in the
Church at large for the Sisters of the Atonement, which increases the demand for them on new
and difficult posts, because they have done well in those places where they are already placed,
but they would not have done well had it not been for this discipline and unity in their carrying
out all the orders and directions that come from home. So it is for the Sisters who are gathered
together in this retreat, a large portion of whom are from the mission houses that have been
established already, and some to be sent to other outposts to be established still further from the
centre, to carry with them that spirit of obedience which is essential to the triumph of the
Institute in its corporate capacity and for the sanctity of the individual Sister who desires to
please the divine Master, and Whom we cannot please except through obedience.

Now obedience must not be an obedience that is simply formal and external. It must be
interior, because God looks not on the outer appearance of man. God looketh on the heart. He
readeth the interior and He is pleased with the motive behind the act of obedience, and of course,
that motive is the divine love. Love is the fulfilling of the law, it is the only kind of fulfillment
that pleases and satisfies God. We may honor God externally by prayers and praises "with your
lips, but your heart is far from me, therefore your worshipping is not pleasing to me."
So, therefore, do not let your obedience be an exterior obedience, because we desire to
please
the Superior in the hope that it will gain us favor or promotion. It must be done sincerely,
profoundly, deeply and always from the supernatural motive of divine love, which saves it from
anything like slavery because it is done for the Divine Master. St. Paul called Jesus his Master,
himself His slave. Now a slave in those days absolutely belonged to its master, not only to do
with him as he wished, but to take his life. There was a certain Roman senator who was very
fond of a carp he had in a pond and he had a slave thrown in every day to feed it. So it is with
that devotion we have to Christ. We belong to Him entirely in religion. Therefore, when we
render Him obedience in our Rule, or the commands of those over us, we render it to Christ
because He is the Author of the Rule, the quintessence of the wisdom and experience of the
centuries where founders have been taught what are the best regulations and rules for religious
and, therefore, that comes from God. So when we keep the Rule, we keep God's commands for
us, and when we obey Superiors we obey them because they are over us in the Lord.

In the Catholic Church we know that the supreme authority of Christ rests in the Vicar.
When the Vicar of Christ divides the world into dioceses and puts bishops over them, and the
bishop in the diocese then divides the diocese into parishes and puts priests over the parishes, he
may be a fine priest, and again he may be anything else but a fine priest, but he is the authority
of Jesus Christ in that parish nevertheless, to administer the Sacraments and be obeyed by the
people, even though he may be more or less disagreeable and tyrannical. So in religion we
render obedience to the Superior, whether she is a fine Superior, or whether she is a very
original Superior, or a very weak Superior for she represents for the time being at least, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Now those that I am talking to are two kinds. The majority of you are subjects. There are
a few Superiors, and there may be some that are now in the subordinate capacity who may later
on be chosen as a Superior. Now it is a very responsible position, that of a Superior, for she has
to give account to our Lord of how she manages, takes care of the direction given to her and, of
course, one of the things that a Superior is to do is not only to exact obedience from her subjects,
but one of her chief concerns ought to be to interpret the mind and heart of Christ to her
subjects, which of course, is one of love, He that really desires that His subjects should be
happy.

When a man marries, he receives the vow of obedience from his wife and takes her
home, and usually the right kind of a husband's chief concern is that his wife should be happy,
and one of the chief concerns of a Religious Superior is that her subjects should be happy, and
she should try to cultivate therefore, not the heart of a task-master, but the heart of a mother. She
does not want to be like the Roman lady who sat with her stiletto in her hand while her slaves
waited upon her and every once in a while gave them a jab with it, because of her tyrannical
disposition. On the contrary, a true Superior gives her directions with so much love that it is not
so very difficult for her subjects to obey her, because love begets love. Now there is a very nice
description of a model Superior and I am going to read it, not that the subject may criticize her
particular Superior and say, "Well, my Superior is not that kind of a Superior, she is anything
but that, she is just the opposite." That is not the idea. I am reading this for the benefit of the
Superior.

The Model Superior

"Perfect obedience is rendered without human respect. It allows no regard,

favorable or unfavorable, to interfere with its discharge. It obeys one superior as
well as another, for each superior represents the authority, and speaks in the name
of God. From a human viewpoint there is considerable difference among
Superiors. One is highly gifted by nature and grace for her arduous position. To
rectitude of character she joins a great store of prudence and delicate tact. She has
a large gift of sympathy, which enables her vividly to appreciate the individual
situation, the personal tastes, feelings and inclinations of each Sister, and to
consult them in her official capacity as though they were her own. She plays no
favorites, but metes out justice, fairness and equity to all without distinction.

"If a Sister be of a rich or a poor family, if she be clever or clumsy; pretty

or homely; gainly or ungainly of manner; native or foreign born, a saint or a
sinner; it makes no difference in the Superior's attitude or patronage. She is the
same good mother to all. She abhors sycophancy, and frowns on parasites of
every form. Not a detective herself, nor even unduly inquisitive regarding her
subjects, their conduct and their affairs, she detests busybodies and talebearers,
and lends no ear to malicious, crafty, designing or intriguing informants.

"She takes her subjects as they are, and not as in the ideal conception they
ought to be. She never takes herself too seriously, however high and responsible
her position. She is a stranger to moodiness and variability of temper and manner.
In her external conduct, at least, she is always the same, true to her high,
disinterested and noble self."
Then you want to remember, the subjects do, that Superiors have great deal to try them
and sometimes they may show a little impatience. You want to make allowance for that.
Sometimes they are under very great strain, or perhaps they are not feeling right up to concert
pitch and perhaps they are so familiar and so closely associated with their companions that they
take the same privilege that parents do often in the world. You have all been brought up in some
family in the world and you know that fathers and mothers sometimes are not so very particular
to conceal their impatience in the presence of their children, they are disturbed and upset by
something and sometimes they let it out on the heads of their children. So if sometimes
Superiors are a little impatient or scold a little more than they think they ought to, that is a good
chance to exercise patience and be like children in the family who do not take it too seriously
when mothers get angry with them, because they know that back of it they love them just the
same. So we must make allowance for Superiors. They have a tremendous amount of troubles
and burdens on them, and although the ideal Superior is always even-tempered, nevertheless
when the Superior actually shows a little bit of human nature, then is the time for the subjects to
be patient and take the obedience even if there is a little bit more of scolding about the
administration than she thinks the ideal Superior might administer. But as far as the Superior is
concerned, that is one of the things she must watch herself about, that she be a model of patience
and that she recollect herself, and whereas she has to be firm and strong in giving her directions,
that she does it with as much kindness as is possible under the circumstances.

"If she must err she prefers, with St. Francis de Sales, to err on the side of
leniency rather than on that of severity. She is not autocratic, high-handed and
sweeping in her decisions, but moderate, thoughtful and considerate, open to, and
even inviting suggestions from the interested parties. According to the rule laid
down by St. Francis of Assisi for the superiors of his order, she acts in such a
way, that her subjects can speak to her as masters to their servants. She is kind
without being officious; she is helpful without being maternalistic. She is warm-
hearted, patient and long-suffering with the foibles and shortcomings of her
subjects, even as our Lord was with those of the Apostles. She sincerely
appreciates the work and good will of the Sisters, and lets them know and feel it."

That is a mighty good thing. Of course, the ideal religious does not look for any praise or
appreciation of what they do. They are quite content if they get the appreciation and praise from
OurLord, but at the same time it is rather nice when we do something that those over us
appreciate it and extend a little praise and commendation now and then when it is deserved. I
think it a very excellentthing, and since it adds to the happiness and cheerfulness of the worker,
it is a very good thing for a Superior to let her subjects know that she appreciates the way in
which they are cooperating withher in the work of the mission.

"She sincerely appreciates the work and good will of the Sisters, and lets
them know and feel it; and she takes care not to abuse or overwork the so-called
‘willing horse.’ She is scrupulously loyal and trustful in regard to the
confidences of, or secret information concerning those under her. She is
eminently unselfish, devoted and self-sacrificing, taking the lead in her
conscientious obedience."

Now that matter, "eminently unselfish," should be a characteristic of every religious,

whether she is a Superior or a subject. Whenever sins crop out, that is the unregenerate
individual, that is not the one that is transformed into the image of Christ. We are all to be
reflections of the King, Who gave Himself to the utmost, to the last drop of blood in His body.
Pattern after that mother who gave herself with equal generosity in harmony with her divine
Son. He chose for the Blessed Virgin, even as a creature, to be equal to the generosity of God,
Who is without limit. So that is one thing in your examination during the retreat, whether you
are a superior or whether you are a subject, ask yourself, "Am I selfish?" And if I am, I must try
to eliminate the selfishness, because that runs up against obedience and everything else that
constitutes harmony and happiness and the perfect operation of a religious community.

"She bears in mind that the least governed community of good Sisters is
the best governed; and that, whilst it becomes a religious to be like a child in
obedience, it is not the part of a good superior to treat the Sisters under her as
children, but rather as equals, not unlikely possessed of greater gifts of heart and
mind than herself. She gives them all possible room, in conformity with the holy
rule, for the expression of their own individuality, personality, initiative and
energy, knowing very well, that authority and obedience have not the purpose to
check and choke, but rather to lure and bring out the best there is in the subjects
in the line of ability and virtue. She wisely shrinks from over-centralization of
power, realizing that subjects will have no sense of responsibility, if they are
jealously entrusted with none."

The Superior is not to do everything herself, but see how much work within reason can
be given to others to do, for the more the individual is developed in the general service, the
better it is, as the saying is, "Two heads are better than one," so four hands are better than two.

"She never evinces haughtiness, vanity, or self-complacency in her

manner because of her elevation, but aims to be the real servant of her subjects, in
every way their reliable pal and trustworthy chum. She recoils instinctively from
anything like an effort to hold her position, or seek a promotion by servility and
flattery towards higher superiors; she will expect confirmation in her charge only
from a regard to the faithful and successful discharge of her duties. Eschewing all
hypocritical wincing and whimpering under the real and pretended burdens of her
position, she manifests a sincere willingness to resign her office in favor of a
successor, and step down to take her place among the rank and file at a moment's
notice, without resentment or chagrin.

Well that for the most part, is the kind of Superiors that you have to deal with in the
Society of the Atonement, but as things develop God does not always permit such Superiors to
rule over communities, as it is not always the ideal priest who rules over a parish. Sometimes
God permits the other one for the greater sanctification of the individual. Sometimes if you have
too nice a Superior, you do not get the proper development in some of the virtues of the religious
life. It is like being brought up in a household where you have everything, just lovely, yet you
have your encounters, and sometimes as a part of the training that is permitted, like St. John of
the Cross whose own brethren shut him up and treated him like a prisoner in one of their own
monasteries, and it only developed him and made him stronger and perfected him in virtue.

There is in this connection just a word. We have said a good deal about Superiors, There
is always a danger of the wrong kind of ambition creeping in. Somebody might say "Now I am
tired of being a subject, I want to be a Superior and I am going to just see if I can not be a
Superior. That is the thing I want to be." If they start out in that way they are starting wrong to
begin with. There used to be a saying that bishops should be selected from those that had to be
compelled to take the office. Gregory the Great, for instance, when he heard that the Roman
people were calling for him to be Pope ran off out of the city and hid himself in a cave. They
had to drag him out, and that is the kind of Popes and Bishops they were looking for in those
days, and it is usually the kind God selects. There is a tradition (I do not know how true it is)
that on one occasion St. Dominic brought a man possessed by a vicious devil to be exorcized by
the saint and before he began the exorcism, as is often the custom, he exhorted him to answer
certain questions, and Dominic asked him what class of religious were most largely represented
in Hell. The devil answered--whether he said true or not I do not know--"Superiors." Now if
there are any Superiors that go down to Hell it is not the humble ones who are called when they
do not want to, but there are ambitious ones that want to get a Superiorship when the Lord has
not called them, and sometimes they get their gratification, and perhaps those are the ones that
the devil referred to.

Now let us all strive as religious to be very humble and to place ourselves absolutely in
the hands of God and to desire above everything else that our religious life should be a school of
obedience, not merely externally, but with our whole heart, that no matter where we are sent, we
will go with the utmost cheerfulness and thankfulness, because our Lord has commanded it and
to be so glad to be in a position where we know from the time that we get up in the morning
until we go to bed at night that we are obedient to the will of God, and obey our Rule to the best
of our ability in those who are put over us in the Lord.

"She always remembers, that she has not made the community, but that
the community has made her; that the community can easier get on without her,
than she without it; that she is not necessary or indispensable, but can be quickly
and easily replaced, and possibly to the advantage of everyone concerned. The
adage: Treat your friends as though they were one day to be your enemies; and
your enemies as though they were one day to be your friends , she applies
inasmuch as she treats her subjects as though on the morrow they were to be her
superiors.

"She is humble enough to consult her subjects as to the management of

affairs, and is grateful for good advice properly given, knowing the monopoly of
good judgment and sense was not given to one alone. She literally embodies in
her attitude the words of Christ: 'Whosoever will be the greater among you, let
him be your minister, and he that will be the first among you, shall be your
servant.’ In a word, in the eyes of her subjects she is every inch a woman of God
and a true religious, a pattern and an inspiration for those who are fortunate to be
under her."

If any subject should come to her Superior sometime and venture to make some
suggestion, do not toss your head and say, "I am Superior," but listen, and listen in the spirit of
humility, because sometimes God takes the fools of the world to confound the wise and it is
always well. "In many councillors there is wisdom," said Solomon, and it is a good thing to
listen, and listen patiently, because sometimes there may be some light thrown on the matter by
the subject, some idea that you know nothing about and she knows, something which would
change the whole complexion of the affair. So it is well for the Superior to be a good and patient
listener, and in a way that her subjects will not be afraid to speak to her. But of course, when the
Superior has made her decision after the subject has made her information known, it is the duty
of the subject to obey because it is for her the will of God.

"In a word, in the eyes of her subjects she is every inch a woman of God
and a true religious, a pattern and an inspiration for those who are fortunate to be
under her."

Doubtless many a reader will pause here to exclaim, "The very picture of my own dear
superior. May God bless her!"

"It is easy to obey such a superior. The love she inspires and the
confidence she invites render it spontaneous and delightful. Obedience being thus
rendered sweet, the whole life of the convent appeals. This explains why masters
in sanctity asked God to give them sympathetic, wise and kind Superiors. What
parents mean in the life of a child, superiors represent in the career of a
religious."

Document 42
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
25-30.]

POVERTY
August 18, 1926
Sixth Conference

"Our Lord Jesus Christ being rich, became poor for your sakes that through His poverty
you might be rich." St. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians xiii, 9.

We have already dealt with the first and chiefest [sic] of the religious vows-- Obedience.
Next in order we will consider Poverty. We said yesterday that we should excel in obedience
because the Atonement was based upon obedience. "He became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross." Today we might say that we should excel in poverty because we are the
children of the great Patriarch of Poverty, Saint Francis of Assisi. Of all the saints down through
the ages, many of whom have given a wonderful example of holy poverty, St. Francis stands
foremost among then all, because poverty with him was a great master passion. In his poetic
mind he conceived poverty to be the spouse of Jesus Christ and he vowed himself to Lady
Poverty and in his loving nature he was devoted to her to the nth degree. As He himself puts it,
our Blessed Lord declares that poverty was with Him in the manger at Bethlehem, that it was
with Him in the humble home of Nazareth, in the carpenter shop with his father, Joseph, that it
pursued him through all his public ministry, even when there were times when He was separated
from His mother, that it followed Him on the way to Calvary, and although His Blessed Mother
stands at the foot of the cross, His spouse, holy poverty, embraced Him on the very cross itself.
Therefore, in imitation of his Master, St. Francis was determined to be true to Lady
Poverty and, consequently, he has left his impression on all after ages as the great apostle of
poverty preeminently. St. Francis exercised himself in poverty with the greatest
conscientiousness: in the matter of food it was to be the poorest food, and that even was often
times sprinkled with ashes so that any delectation which he might take in the eating of the food
might be destroyed. He loved a habit of rags and if perchance he met on the street or highway a
poor man clothed more wretchedly than himself, he was ready to exchange habit with him.
Sometimes in fact, he would strip himself altogether and let Divine Providence provide him with
another robe of some sort; and strong even in death, he had them take him out of his bed,
sprinkle some ashes in the form of a cross on the floor of his cell and he lay there in nakedness
as His Master lay upon the cross. As long as it would take a friar to walk a mile, even so, too, his
last breath was devoted to Lady Poverty.

Now why should God call religious, particularly Franciscans, into this life of poverty? It
is not that God is not generous. Being a prince and a king I should expect that He would want to
clothe His
spouses in choicest raiment, surround them with the greatest luxuries. All those things are stored
up for the life of beatitude when sin has been eliminated, for sin after all, is the fly that spoils the
fragrance,sweetness and excellence of the ointment. Our Lord made an atonement for the abuse
of material things on the part of man and since we are His mystical body, those that are most
intimately associated with Him are asked to share with Him the same atonement. He said to His
Apostles, "Beware of the sin of the Pharisees, covetousness."

God is declared to be a jealous God, so written by His finger on the stone which He gave
into the hands of Moses, who might proclaim His utterances to the people that they should not
bow down and worship any creature or any image that was a contradiction to that devotion and
honor and love which belonged to Himself, and even while He was writing with His finger on
the tables of stone this very law, He saw with His own eyes the children of Israel down in the
valley below urge Aaron, the priest, to cast into a mold the ornaments of gold which they had
despoiled the Egyptians of, and there came out of the mold a golden calf which they bowed
down and worshipped. Trace back the fall ofour first parents; it was through the sight of the eyes
and through carnal appetite, when she that it was fair to look upon and good to eat, Eve put
forth her hand and took of the forbidden fruit. Money isloved because it is that by which we
acquire material possessions, lands, houses, sheep, oxen and can surround ourselves with the
luxuries of the world, the services of our fellow men, like Dives who fared sumptuously every
day, clothed in fine linen. This creates in man a love for these material things so that he rests in
them, and they become a passion, a ruling passion, and they shut out from his heartthe love of
God, so that Our Lord said, "It is more difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle," because these material things
become to him a passion and they take the first place and crowd out the consideration of God.
And if these material things come into a clash, and one or the other has to be sacrificed, the
Commandment of God is sacrificed.
How many men may be upright, have a certain amount of integrity, to a certain degree,
but when it comes to a question of wiping out all their material wealth and making them poor
they compromise with their conscience, compromise with justice and they will violate the
commandments of God for the sake of the material things. That has been the history of the world
and the bloodshed that has literally glued together with human gore the pages of history-- largely
battles over material things, battles over lands, wealth. Consequently, God, recognizing how
deeply man had sinned because of covetousness, because of the sight of his eyes and the desire
of the flesh, and how the prince of this world had made playthings of men, constantly subdued
them by bribes of a material kind. [Previous sentence is incomplete.] He saw to it that when He
came into the world He would live a life of poverty, using only just as much of material things
as it was necessary to keep body and soul together, a shelter over His head, something to cover
His nakedness, and that is all. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests, but the son of
man hath nowhere to lay his head." He possessed not even a habitation.

Certain holy women followed Him and His Apostles on their missionary journey to
minister to them; they had nothing and He gave instructions to take nothing in their purse, to be
absolutely dependent on charity as they went about. Although He held in the hollow of His
hands all worlds, all space, He made Himself dependent upon alms for His daily maintenance as
He went about on Hispublic mission. When it came to His death, He was content even to omit
the robe that had been woven by the hands of His beloved Mother, without seam, which was
given over to the hands of the robbers who played a game of dice whose it should be, whereas
the other garments they parted among them, leaving Him to die in nakedness.

Out of the generosity of His love, He was not content with that, but even the blood of His
veins He poured out to the last drop of His Sacred Heart. Thus He gives us the pattern and
sample, which St. Francis appreciated so highly and sought to imitate so zealously.
Consequently, the state of perfection, the state of those who would follow immediately in the
footsteps of Christ, has been and always will be the state of poverty, and consequently, the
religious should love Holy Poverty. It is the love of poverty which not only takes away the sting
from a state which the world looks upon with contempt and dismay as though it were the
greatest misfortune that could happen to anybody, to be penniless and poor, but it is the state
which the religious embraces with the poor, not only because they have the example of Christ
but because they understand the sacrificial motive behind it.

We make an atonement for the sins of the world and the wrongs of the age in which we
live by striving as far as we can, according to our Rule and state of life, to live a life of holy
poverty. Consequently, a Sister's dress is as plain as it can be, the materials are not extravagant,
the habit is of wool of the plainest texture, and as far as the veil is concerned, linen about the
face, which is I understand of cotton fabric of a very cheap kind; so the costumes of the Sisters
are certainly not very expensive. In all our Houses, I think Superiors and all the Sisters combine
to exercise the greatest amount of economy and care in the expenditures, even for those things
that are necessary, and no food tastes so sweet as that which is given directly through alms,
through the gifts of those who know that the Sisters are poor, and in their poverty, for the love of
Christ, give them their clothing and their food as well as the very house in which they live.

Then there is another very important aspect of poverty, and that is the effect it has upon
us spiritually. As we have said already, the possession of material things, comforts and luxuries,
only engender in the heart of people in the world the spirit of pride, but it also tends to alienate
them from God. However, on the other side, poverty, the separation from material things, the
detachment from them, gives the heart freedom to love God and to depend not upon material
things for its comfort and its joy, but upon that which is purely spiritual. St. Francis was not only
the devotee of Holy Poverty, but he is called the Seraphic Father. Seraphs are in Heaven
completely absorbed in God and they live in a state of continual ecstacy of contemplation of the
glory, the power and majesty of God, and they forget everything else, and so St. Francis if it had
not been for the compelling command of God to go and labor for the souls of others, he would
have gone off and retired in contemplation of Almighty God, but God was using him to bring
back warmth into the heart of the world and draw innumerablesouls to Himself, who had been
turned aside from the world and gone into Alvernia or the Carcere, or some cave aside from
men, where he could exercise himself in the most absolute poverty, for after all, community life
requires a certain amount of expenditure of material means, and a community cannot practice to
the same extent the poverty which St. Francis loved so much. It is this wonderful uplift of spirit
and rapture of soul in its reach out towards God that gave him the title of seraphic Father.
Therefore, the great apostle of poverty, instead of being a wretched beggar, a miserable man,
because of his poverty, because it was evangelical poverty, was only the happier on that account,
because it detached him so much from material things that he could be more absorbed in God
and his spirit resting in God was uplifted on the wings of prayer and his soul was radiated by the
joy of the Holy Ghost,

In visiting Assisi and looking at things from just the material standpoint, from the
standpoint of the world, from the way the world looks at things (which looks at things from the
material and externalside) one would find it difficult to see anything very inspiring about, we
will say, the monastery of the friars, the Portiuncula and the great church that has been erected
over the little Portiuncula. Go through the monastery. There is plenty of dust around and when
you look up to the roof you see the cobwebs hanging down, probably had not been dusted for
two or three hundred years, and the habits of the friars are certainly dirty enough, and they come
and sit down at the table and you are confronted with macaroni. Certainly there is nothing very
inspiring about it all and you would not be enthusiastic about that kind of life at all, if you would
just see it from the external standpoint.

Some of the Capuchin Fathers in Rome especially seemed to be very anxious to imitate
St. Francis, because certainly their habits were very, very dirty and their beards were unkempt
and they certainly looked like the very effigy of poverty, so much so that they ventured to
criticize the one who was in the car, to Father Rigo, Minister General of the Third Order
Regular, "Oh but," he said, "they are the people the poor love, they think a lot of them." I say
that externally there is not anything about poverty to a person that looks at things from the eyes
of the world that is at all appealing, it is rather repugnant. It is the interior that makes up for all
of that, the richness of the spirit and the indwelling of the Presence of God, and that was what
was the joy of St. Francis and his original friars, and that is what constitutes really the joy and
happiness and inspiration of the sons and daughters of St. Francis down through the centuries.

So we must realize that one of the great purposes of poverty is to detach us entirely from
resting upon material things and turning within and realizing that the kingdom of God is within
us, and that after all, material things are not what makes the happiness of a living being. They
say that what converted Saint Francis Borgia, one of the Superiors General of the Jesuits after St.
Ignatius, and one of the contemporaries and a high man at court, especially devoted to the king
and queen, who was a very beautiful woman, was that when she died, he was one of those
delegated to attend upon the court funeral and immediate guard on the queen, and in that warm
climate after a number of days he was appalled at the change of that beautiful face and the
corruption was so repugnant that he began to meditate upon the vanity which is purely material,
which led him to resolve to forsake all those vanities and serve God.

So, material things of themselves are nothing, they only breathe corruption and decay; it
is the life which is in the body that animates it, which is the thing, and the life and spirit come
from God, for God is life and joy and love, sweetness, beauty and everything that is desirable.
Consequently, for the religious, detachment from material things brings her into that state where
she herself can find her peace and joy in God. So that it is not merely because Christ willed to
make an atonement for the sins of the world that He and those that were immediately associated
with Him, beginning with His mother and foster father and blessed apostles, that we should be
enamoured in the midst of the world to the life of poverty. It is not merely because He set an
example, it is not merely because St. Francis set us an example, that we want to be loyal and
faithful to that, but it is really because that particular Vow is the means in its exercise of our
becoming spiritual religious, to know more intimately God the Holy Ghost, to rejoice in His
consolation and His inspiration and to have the witness in our own conscience that we are
pleasing to God, and that detachment from these things kindles the fire of divine love, because
that, as we take these material things and throw them on the fire they cause the fire of divine
love to burn all the more brightly in our soul. So that is to be remembered, in regard to Holy
Poverty [previous sentence is garbled].

Then I think there is another reason why our Lord loved the poor. He said, "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." He preached the Gospel to the poor. When
St. Johnsent his messenger to our Lord, asking, "Art thou the Christ, or do we seek for another,"
He sent them back and said, "Tell John, to the poor the Gospel is preached." Those that go on the
missions meet there poverty in the most glaring form, as has been described to us, for instance,
by Father Gavan-Duffy of India; the poverty of the people there is indescribable, you see in the
pictures how thin the children are, their arms are like pipe stems, it is all because they are
undernourished, millions and millions of them. The same way in China, the rank and file of the
people are desperately poor.

So we are to be among them as if they were part and parcel with ourselves, and if we are
not, if we get too luxurious, we belong to a class of our own, we are no longer part and parcel of
the poor, our association is with the people who have fine estates and we are more at home with
them than we are with the mass of the people, of the poor, and that is another reason why Our
Lord calls us to this poverty, so that we may feel fellowship with those that are poor.

Try to remember all those things and try to put it into practice and the discipline of your
life and in the personal, individual practice of your own life as a private, individual religious.

Document 43
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
174-179.]

BLESSED SACRAMENT
Ninth Conference
 Thursday Evening
August 19, 1926

We spoke to you this morning on the Vow of Holy Chastity, and there naturally follows
as a consequence, a conference on the Blessed Sacrament, not only so, but this is Thursday, the
day of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament and a very suitable time to speak about the
Adorable Sacrament.

We said this morning that it was only by the grace of God that we could live
satisfactorily in the state of chastity. There are people, many of them, who without any particular
grace, have continued in the state of singleness and kept themselves undefiled in this state, but
chastity is something more than simply preserving the virginal state; it is a grace by which, being
espoused to the Heavenly Bridegroom, we love Him with an exceedingly great love beyond that
which even verydevoted spouses in the world love their husbands, and that is only by reason of
supernatural infusion of the divine love into the souls of men. Our Lord said that He came to
kindle a fire on the earth until He was straightened, until His work had been accomplished, and
that fire was the divine love which He Himself kindles in our hearts.

There is no other explanation of the wonderful spectacle of the thousands and tens of
thousands of women all over the world, wherever the Catholic Church is, living their life in
community, in the service and worship of God, in their convents, hospitals and schools, and all
kinds of charities, enduring all kinds of hardships and suffering and even death, and persevering
in this state of life, and there is no explanation of the secret of it except this wonderful love
which burns in their heart for the Heavenly Bridegroom.

Now that which fosters this love and causes it to burn up and kindle within us, is the gift
of Our Lord Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the very heart and center of the
religious life, that is our exceeding great privilege in having come out of the world and
assembling ourselves in the religious houses, that we practically live under the same roof with
our Heavenly Bridegroom.

In a most intimate manner we receive Him every morning in Holy Communion, and thus
He penetrates our very inmost being in a way that, however affectionate and loving, a husband
cannot embrace his wife in the world, for after all, it is external, but yet, we receive Our Lord in
Holy Communion,we receive God Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, the whole Christ, entering
our lips and penetrating the inmost recesses of our heart even as He said, "He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him." So that our life is a life of most
intimate union. Our Divine Saviour would not only have us live under the same roof with Him,
abiding with us in the tabernacle and in the Mass, where He is lifted up as the great victim
between Heaven and earth by the priest, not only dwelling in our chapels, which are for the time
being a part of the court of Heaven, but He enters into our interior and penetrates our whole
being and lives in us in this wonderful union, and all this is the fruit and the result of the Blessed
Sacrament. Therefore, we should have, of course, a most wonderfuldevotion to the Holy
Eucharist.

St. Thomas of Villanova, one of the Augustinian Saints, was once called to the bedside
of a convert Jew to whom he had already given Holy Communion, but before dying this convert
wished to tell him something, and it was to this effect that, while he was still not a Catholic he
had a very earnest conversation with one of his Jewish companions one evening as they were
walking abroad discussing very earnestly between them whether the Christ of the Christians was
the Messiah that was to come, and as they discussed the question unsolved, he looked up into the
sky and between the drifted clouds he saw a chalice and a host and at the same time he heard a
voice saying, "This is your salvation," and there came into his soul a great light and
understanding, and from that time he had no doubt whatsoever concerning the truth of the
Catholic Religion. It is a very precious thing to have the same faith in the real presence of Our
Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion.

It is told of St. Louis, who, with St. Elizabeth, is the patron of the Third Order of St.
Francis, that on one occasion the noblemen of the court rushed into his presence and announced,

"Oh King, your Highness, come into the chapel, people are in great excitement, the
priest is at the altar and Christ is visibly present, the people are seeing Him," and the king, to
their surprise, did not move, and then he said,

“That may be very well for the people who need some evidence of that
kind. As to the Real Presence of Our Lord, I believe that He is always present in
Holy Communion, I do not have to see Him with my eyes.”

So confident and strong was the king's faith that he did not go to the church to see the
manifestation of a Presence which he believed in so devoutly. It is also told of the same king that
when he was arrested in the expedition before Damiata, he became a prisoner of the Sultan, that
negotiations were made for his release from imprisonment, and when all the documents were
signed and the Sultan was to attach his signature to the agreement releasing the king, he paused
with the pen in his hand and asked as a hostage for one of those little white hosts that the king
showed so much reverence and devotion to. The king had during the time of his captivity the
privilege of a chapel and the attendance of a chaplain, and the Sultan had often watched the
king’s devotion when he received Holy Communion, and he felt confident that if he could have
one of the hosts as a hostage that it would be the best evidence that the king would consent to the
agreement, but it showed the respect and reverence of the king, and inspired the mind of the
Mohammedan Sultan.

I need not urge the Sisters to show reverence and devotion to Our Lord's presence in
Holy Communion, for your conduct and training has always been in that direction, but there is
always room for greater appreciation of that wonderful presence and greater devotion to Jesus in
the Blessed Sacrament. Some of the Saints have been so permeated with the sense of the Divine
Presence that their soul would have a kind of sensible feeling of the presence of Our Lord in the
Holy Eucharist, like the instrument that has been discovered by a Jesuit to give warning before
there is going to be an earthquake or a great storm, or like the barometer which shows that a
storm is approaching because of its sensitiveness. St. Paul they said had that sensitiveness, so
that when he approached the church he did not go inside and see whether a light was burning
before the tabernacle, he knew before he entered the church whether Our Lord was present or
not.
This has been given even sometimes to little children, as, for instance, Little Nellie of
God. Perhaps you have heard the story of that little Irish child, which had a good deal to do with
the decree of the Pope regarding daily Communion. This child of five or six years old
manifested such a supernatural understanding of the Blessed Sacrament that in her few years of
life she was allowed to receive Holy Communion. And a test was made when she was sick in the
hospital, by a priest bringing to her a host that was not consecrated, and the child cried out and
said, "That is not my Lord." It was revealed to her, in the purity of her soul, that it was not a
consecrated host. And the same test has been given to some of the other notable saints.
Catherine Emerich was tried two or three times and she would always say that the host brought
to her by the priest, if it was not consecrated, was not Our Lord. But we have no extraordinary
perception of that kind. We are content to exercise ourselves in faith, but certainly there are very
great degrees of development of our devotion to and our love for Our Lord and our appreciation
of His Presence, which are yet possible with us and, indeed, we ought to be encouraged always
to try to cultivate a deeper and increasing devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

It is a very great privilege that some of the Sisters are appointed to serve as sacristan,
and they should appreciate that privilege. You have in the sacristy a picture of the Little Flower
as a sacristan, and she would be a very good model to imitate in that regard. Imagine how
lovingly she handled the hosts when putting them in the chalice ready to be consecrated by the
priest, how careful she was about everything pertaining to the altar. And I think this is a case on
which we can readily express the appreciation Our Lord Himself must feel towards the Sisters of
the Atonement, because certainly, although their altar is of wood and very humble, it is always
cared for most lovingly. The linen is always spotless and there is a great deal of love in the
Tabernacle Room in the work of making beautiful vestments, not only for the priests here at
home, but for those to whom they are sent elsewhere.

In the Sixteenth Century at the time of the Reformation, a revolution took place up in
Greenland, and as a result priests put to death. Catholics were put to death and churches
destroyed, so that perhaps only a few of the faithful remained. Fifty years after this revolution, a
German Catholic visited Greenland over Christmas, and he described how in a certain house the
Catholics nearand far were assembled on Christmas Eve. They had no priest. They had no Mass
but they did the best they could. Some traveled over long stretches of snowy waste and
assembled in this house, the owner of which was a venerable man of seventy years with snowy
hair, and at a little table in the corner of the room, after they had sung some of their hymns and
said some of their prayers, he took out of a drawer a receptacle in which was a soiled, decayed
with age, and more or less worn corporal, and with great devotion he held it up before the people
and with trembling voice he said, "Fifty years ago on this corporal rested for the last time the
body and blood of Jesus Christ in Holy Mass. I served that Mass." And so, with the tears
streaming down their cheeks they reverenced and venerated this relic, this sacred piece of linen
that had touched the body and blood of Christ. It was all they had of the Mass, and perhaps they
showed more reverence and devotion to that corporal that once touched the body and blood of
Christ than many of us do with all the solemn and beautiful ceremonies of Mass itself, even at
midnight or Christmas Day.

Let us, therefore, try in this retreat to keep our appreciation of all that the Blessed
Eucharist means to us, and in your Communion tomorrow morning especially try to renew all
your consecration to Our Lord. Most of you now have made your Confession, you have been
absolved, your sins have been washed away in the Precious Blood, renew your holy resolutions
tomorrow, on Friday, the day on which Our Lord made His glorious Atonement on the altar of
the cross and pray Him to penetrate you with an ever increasing love and absorption in Himself.
 This is the Octave Day of the feast day of our Mother Saint Clare and we sung that
beautiful hymn at Mass in her honor this morning, and while we are speaking of the Blessed
Sacrament we must not forget her own special devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Forty
years she lived her life of penance and a large portion of that time she was confined to her bed,
but when she could not do anything else with her needle she would make linen into corporals,
purificators and other linens for the altar. They say St. Francis used to send about irons for the
making of hosts.

There are two stories concerning that which first associated the blessed Lady Clare with
the monstrance. Which is true, I am unable to say. The possible one is where she is standing out
on a balcony outside the convent and holding aloft a monstrance in which is the Blessed
Sacrament, as the Saracens are climbing the ladder scaling the wall of the convent, and Our Lord
present there manifested His power in somewhat the same way as when they came forward to
arrest Him on thenight of His betrayal. He cast one glance at the soldiers and they fell backwards
to the ground, and only when He permitted it could they lay hands on Him. The other is that she
was confined to her bed. She asked a Sister to bring the hosts to her in the ciborium in the
tabernacle and she knelt down before Our Lord and said,

"You know we have abandoned the world, we have abandoned

everything. You know how we hold our holy chastity so sacred. We are ready to
die for it. We have no protector but you and you must protect us from these wild
Saracens that are seeking to destroy us."

She also prayed for the city, and God answered her prayers, drove the Saracens back, and
Assisi as well as St. Damian's was saved from the marauders.

Let us realize that the same Eucharistic King is in our tabernacle, that we can come to
Him at any time. We cannot see Him. We cannot even see the hosts for the door of the
tabernacle, but that is no obstacle to Him. And there before Him let us make known our wishes
and our desires. We are not beset by Saracens, but we are beset by evil spirits prowling about
seeking whom they may devour, and we need protection from them. Let us always commend
ourselves to the protection and guardianship of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that the powers
that are against us may have no success or triumph over us.

And, of course, there is the great place, too, to intercede for sinners, for those multitudes
of people in the world outside who are constantly sending their petitions to the Sisters to pray for
them. [They] present their prayers, not only to Our Lady of the Atonement but to Our Lord
Himself in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a beautiful thing to think of those midnight watches
maintained every night, where two Sisters get up to watch before the tabernacle, and use that
time especially for intercession.
We hope the time will come later on when, in the development of the Institute, the time
of the watch and prayers will be further extended so that practically always there will be
someone watching before the tabernacle, praying and interceding for others, and at the same
time showing Our Lord that they do not propose to leave Him alone. Somebody must be like
Mary sitting at His feet, while Martha was taking care of the preparations for dinner. We have to
minister to the material needs of Our Lord as He is represented in His Mystical Body on the
earth. "Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it unto me," But at the same time, in
the tabernacle He is Our Lord, waiting there in power, and when we are worshipping before the
tabernacle we are like Mary sitting at the Master's feet.

And it is to be remembered that in those three wonderful texts which our Blessed Lord
gave to us as the basis of our Institute, the third text is St. Paul's description of the institution of
the Blessed Sacrament. There is a divine order, a sequence, in those three texts: the Holy Ghost
preparing the way for the Incarnation, this text came first; and the central text, which deals with
the Atonement, the great sacrifice of Calvary; and the third is the extension of that sacrifice
through the Mass and through our Lord's Eucharistic Presence down through the ages, so that we
may enjoy Him at the present time.

It is part of the wonderful inspiration which came to the Father Founder, I think, in
connection with those texts that before we came to Graymoor we sat down and wrote out what
should be the purpose of this Institute, and one of the them was that we should receive Holy
Communion every day. At that time even in the Catholic Church it was not customary for
religious to receive every day, and it took in fact, the decree of Pope Pius X to convince the
Reverend Mother that that was the proper thing, for she was afraid that if the Sisters received
every day that they would get too conceited about their sanctity, and yet, this principle was put
down in writing before we came to Graymoor. So I am sure Our Lord wants us to be peculiarly
devoted to Him in the Blessed Sacrament and, therefore, while congratulating the Sisters upon
your evident devotion to the beauty of worship and the divine places in connection with it, the
Liturgy, and all those things, that you will still go on in the path of righteousness, shining more
and more unto the perfect day in your devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and your
reward will be that your love for Him will increase and your sanctity and all that which
constitutes Holy Chastity. [Previous sentence is garbled.]

Document 44
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
70-75. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

CHASTITY
August 19, 1926

"Thou art all fair, my love, there is not a spot in thee."

Words of the Canticle. Although these words are primarily applicable in their fullest
acceptance to our Blessed Mother ever virgin, the Immaculate Queen of Heaven and Earth, yet
our Lord addresses them to those souls whom He has espoused to Himself and those souls, of
course, should be inflamed with the most ardent and intense desire to deserve the high
compliment the altogether lovely One thus pays them. As Our Lord Himself is a model of
obedience, so our Blessed Lady is the model of Holy Chastity and we should always keep her
before our eyes and strive as beautiful children, to walk in her footsteps. As the virgins follow
our Lord whithersoever He goeth in His kingdom, we should follow after our Immaculate
Mother during her earthly pilgrimage.

Theologians have discussed among themselves what God found most attractive in the
Blessed Virgin and in the opinion of some it was her humility, others that it was her chastity,
but as humility is the mother of chastity they are very closely associated together. When the
Archangel Gabriel suddenly appeared in the presence of the Judean maiden while she was at
prayer, and meditation, and overwhelmed her with that startling announcement, her anxiety
about her virginity was evidenced by her answer, "How can this thing be, seeing I am a virgin?"
or words to that effect, which showed how paramount it was to her, and some saint has said that
God loved her all the more on that account and was content that she should be His mother.

Very exalted in the Scriptures was the place that was given to the virgins, "How beautiful
is the chaste generation with glory." That is voicing God's estimate concerning holy Chastity. In
the first sermon He preached, as far as the evangelistic records go, Jesus Himself, the King of
virgins, said, "Blessed are the pure and clean of heart, for they shall see God. " That is a promise
not merely of the hereafter when we attain to the Beatific Vision, but it is also true in a very
large measure in this world. Who can so well see God as the one who carries within her bosom
the virgin heart of purity and chastity? [Previous sentence is unclear.] She holds her converse
with God. She banquets with Him. She lives in the atmosphere of the sense of His loving and
tender affection. She feels around her spiritually the embrace of His loving arms. Therefore,
chastity ought to be in the eyes of a religious as an exceedingly precious and beautiful diamond,
transcending in value anything else, so that for that treasure she would be willing to sacrifice,
nay rather perish, than part from it.

We said that Obedience was the chief and first of the three Vows, but Chastity is
fundamental, like humility, and essential. Without that foundation it would be impossible to be
an acceptable religious in the sight God. Without chastity, no matter what other virtues there
might be or what obedience rendered to Superiors and the Rule and Constitution instead of
taking pleasure in such an obedience, immediately and straightway religious would become
abhorrent to Our Lord as an adulterous wife would be to a chaste and faithful husband. [Previous
sentence is unclear.]

In regard to temptations against holy Chastity, there are differences in this regard, as
there are in the other rules. Sometimes one finds difficulties in the Vow of Obedience,
according to their constitution and nature and disposition. Somebody else finds it especially
difficult to observe the Vow and virtue of Poverty, with others the sacrifice of the religious life
and the trial and struggle that they have comes in regards to chastity. It is sometimes said that
the Vow of Chastity is the trial of younger religious and obedience of the older ones; as one
grows older sometimes it grows more difficult to obey and vice versa in regard to chastity,
because when we are young the blood pulses through the veins more strongly and impulsively,
and the urge of vitality and energy and the sex passion is stronger. Of course, this is not the case
with those who indulge, because for those who gratify and indulge carnality, it becomes a task-
master and tyrant more and more, but where one resists they have the consolation of knowing
that as they grow older the need of resistance and the sacrifice made to conquer becomes less.
Some have difficulties in this way, others have no difficulties, but because one has no
difficulties they should not on that account become presumptions and say, "There is no
particular need for me to take precautions on that account; I can go free and easy and throw
away the safeguards, because I am not troubled that way. I can afford to be a little more free
and unguarded than some of my Sisters who are not tempted." It would be very presumptuous
to take that line because "Pride goeth before a fall.” In this particular temptation the greatest
humility is always necessary. We must remember that it is a supernatural virtue. One of the great
evidences of supernatural grace that we have received is that we can live in this state, because it
was practically unknown before the coming of Christ.
We read a great deal about the vestal virgins. The Romans were exceedingly proud of
their vestal virgins. If a conqueror was riding through the streets on his return from a victory and
a vestal virgin encountered the procession, it would immediately stop and show their respect to
her. If a criminal was being lead to execution and he met a vestal virgin, she had the right then
and there to demand the release of the criminal. That was the honor of the Romans to the vestal
virgin. But there is another part of the story; the Romans did not presume to request certain of
their ladies to be virgins always. There was a certain time and service and after that she was
privileged to get married, but even so they were not going to run any risks about it. They had
police around the virgins because they were afraid they might not be strong enough to persevere
and they wanted to make sure about it.

So that if so many holy women live together in convent life and observe this great grace
of Chastity, it is a tribute and an evidence of the supernatural grace that is given to us. That is
one reason why the Protestants, that is to say, of the Menace type, are suspicious of the
religious communities. They can hardly believe it is possible that a number of women live
together, and live in holy Chastity. But it is the supernatural grace that is infused into the soul of
the virgin that not only makes that life possible, but makes it positively delightful, if one is in the
state of grace, so that she would not in any manner of means exchange it for anything else and is
filled with intense desire to safeguard this holy grace given by God. But it needs, as I say,
always the grace of humility and we must watch the beginnings.

The beginnings might be quite hidden from the eye of the individual religious. One
particular peril to which religious are exposed, there is an old proverb in Spain, which has been a
country of religious since the beginning of Christianity, so they all know about it, that there
ought to be a wall between a man saint and a woman saint, which does not mean that just
because they have become very saintly there is no need any further of precaution, because just
on those lines sometimes lies the danger. There may be a certain spiritual affinity, out of that a
great reverence rises up then a sense of loving to converse about holy things, but downright in
the background we have not changed our nature, there lies the sex urge nevertheless and if it is
ever allowed to assert itself (there may be a little hand touch or a glance of the eye and it begins
to surge up, but it is not going to be suspected so easily), the more it is gratified the more
determined it becomes, so that little by little it sweeps away all the barriers that properly belong
between the religious, with sometimes dire, sad results. Therefore, one has to look out for the
beginnings and to observe all the proprieties and to rejoice in those walls which in the wisdom of
Holy Mother Church have been built up by the community.
 An important thing, for instance, our Sisters should stay down here in their convent and
our Friars should stay up on the Mountain, and any familiarities between the Sisters and Friars
should always be tabooed to safeguard protection for the Friars and the Sisters. But they cannot
always be observed because some of the Friars have got to come down and minister to the
Sisters at the altar and hear Confessions, or on the missions it is necessary that if there is only
one priest celebrating for the Sisters to have conversation with him about the work. [Previous
sentence is unclear.] At the same time there is the danger and it is, therefore, necessary to be
watchful. A Sister must always watch over her interior to see that she does not got interested in
any good and holy religious, or in a good and holy priest beyond those things that are purely
spiritual in their nature, and that there is no springing up of the natural affections that find a
certain fascination which is purely physical in its origin and nature. And these things are to be
watched, watched prayerfully, watched carefully. You value your happiness and your peace of
mind as a religious and the love and joy which you have in the religious life, but I can tell you
that if you ever let any carnal attraction come into your soul, your peace and joy will fly out the
window, and if you indulge it and persevere in it and it leads to anything of a serious breach of
chastity, the convent will become a very different place. You will not look at it with the same
eyes at all. All its charm will be gone and all the attraction for the tabernacle will be spoiled.
This has been the experience of communities again and again with Sisters who have been
unfaithful to their Vow of Chastity.

Sometimes there is an urge to get away from the convent altogether, it becomes an
unendurable place to them, next to Hell and they are ready to escape, and sometimes they do
escape back to the world. You can imagine how our Lord feels towards such religious and a
religious who has fallen in chastity the words of Scripture are changed in that case. Instead of it
any longer being true of her "How beautiful is the chaste generation with glory," [it is] how ugly
and hideous is the unchaste generation with shame. And instead of "Blessed are the pure of
heart, for they shall see God," becomes "Cursed are the unclean of heart, for they do not want to
see God."

Certainly Eve did not want to see God after she had fallen through the seductions of
Satan. She and her husband went and hid themselves. The last person they wanted to see was
God. Then the secret shame that must be in the heart of a religious when she is playing her life
of hypocrisy with her Sisters; she knows they are good and pure, she knows if they know what
was being done in secret, her unfaithfulness, how they would look at her and how their very
association with her is a reproach to her.

So beware of beginnings, watch and guard and pray that this precious and holy gift of
God, which makes you so beautiful in His eyes, may never be tarnished or taken away from you,
and if sometimes the sex urge should make life hard, allow your imagination to run away with
you and think about the difficulties of married life. Remember what St. Paul says, he holds up
the virgin life, and says those that are married shall have tribulation in the flesh, and if you were
a priest and sat in the confessional and heard Confessions of married women, sometimes you
would thank God that they were faithful. Horrible things they are suffering, sometimes good and
virtuous women. The passion of their husbands sometimes knows no bounds and subjects them
to all kinds of indignities. Be all the more grateful and thankful if you see a beautiful young girl
just graduated from her convent school, where she had been under the training of the Sisters, in
the innocence and beauty and sweetness of her soul and the happiness of her young life she gets
married, and she may have a good husband, but you cannot help thinking how much happier and
sweeter she was in those days of her adolescence.
It is the glory of virgins to preserve that youthful innocence, although they grow old, and
it is sometimes remarked how much younger nuns are than those that embrace the marriage
state, and certainly it is true of all the faithful of Christ.

You cannot value too highly that wonderful gift of chastity, nor esteem it too great a
price the value of exercising yourselves in the virtue as well as the Vow of Chastity, and no
matter what the trials may be let no lure of a passing impulse or gratification of the flesh lead
you to be betrayed because after all, what is the sex passion? A physical thing, belongs to the
same class as appetite, the desire for something to eat, something to drink, and we know how
short-lived all those things are. You may be very hungry, sit down to the table, eat about fifteen
minutes, or ten minutes, and then the desire is gone. So it is with the other. Sometimes those
who indulge, especially if they know it is contrary to conscience, are filled with anxiety
afterwards. I have heard them say that they would give a thousand dollars two minutes after they
had violated God's law, "Thou shall not commit adultery," if they had never done it.

So with all the safeguards you have and all the grace that is given, it ought to be an easy
matter to bring that desire always into subjection so that it may not violate Holy Chastity. Then
having tender consciences you ought to understand that there is a vast difference between a
temptation and a consent to the temptation, which makes it sinful. The Imitation says, there
comes a thought, then there comes a greater imagination, then a sense of pleasure, a motion of
the passions, and finally consent.
All the other things may occur, but there will not be any question of sin at all, provided
consent is not given. We must remark that there are prowling around hosts of incarnate devils
and they are sometimes permitted by God to abuse the minds of the purest with imaginations
with things that are most foul and detestable to a chaste and pure soul. Even St. Catherine of
Siena, a wonderful virgin to whom Our Lord showed such wonderful marks of His favor, for
years was tormented by terrible, foul imaginations in her mind, and when our Lord finally
appeared to her, she reproached Him and said, "'Where have you been that you allowed me to be
thus tormented?" and His answer was, "All that while I was in your soul, protecting you and at
the same time admiring your loyalty." So do not be disturbed, especially those who are inclined
to be more or less scrupulous, in regard to those vile imaginations, because they are suggested
entirely by foul spirits, who, like good angels, have a way of communicating their thoughts to
us, but as long as they are resisted, rather than being to us a cause of reproach, they add to our
virtues and our merit.

There is one thing that sometimes comes into a Sister's life and which, of course, has to
be treated with the greatest horror and distrust, against which she must struggle with her might,
although it may not be wholly conquered, that is, the solitary sin against chastity, it is a very
serious thing. Of course, it is not a violation of virginity, but might be a cousin to it. Some
theologians say it is. If some nun comes to Confession and says, "I have committed adultery
with myself," it is to be looked at very seriously from that aspect, and something to be fought
against, and I recommend to anybody who is tempted that way to make a special prayer to Our
Lady of the Atonement and remind her that she owes her freedom from all unchastity to the
intervention of the Holy Ghost on her behalf, Who watched over her and saw that she was
conceived originally without sin and kept her by His holy guardianship without sin afterwards
and to ask her especially to entreat the Holy Ghost that you may be kept by His grace and
protection from the assault of anything that militates against Holy Chastity.

I will conclude this conference with a little story of a school girl who had a birthday, and
her mother, mindful of her, sent her a birthday present. When she opened the little box, it
contained threepackages labeled One, Two and Three, and the request that they be opened in the
order of their numbers. When she opened the first package, to her delight, there was a beautiful
mirror and on it was, "As you are now," and she looked in the mirror and saw a reflection of
herself as she was then, and this naturally pleased her, because she was a beautiful girl. The next
package opened, startled her, because it was a skull. On that she read the inscription, "What
you will be." The third package pleased her most of all. It was a beautiful golden statue of the
Blessed Virgin, and under that was the inscription, "What you ought to be." So keep always the
image of our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of the Atonement before you, remembering that what
God expects of you and what you ought to be is a true daughter reflecting in the mirror of your
soul the image of our Immaculate Mother.

Document 45
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
173-180. Fr. Paul Wattson’s talk is given to Atonement Sisters.]

THE CROSS AND ATONEMENT

August 20, 1926

"God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified u o me and I unto the world."

Our Retreat is almost over. That is one of the characteristics of things in this world, they
are always beginning and always ending. We look forward to something, take long journeys,
participate in some great or important event, perhaps make great sacrifices, and after a very short
time it is over. Hundreds and thousands of people came from all parts of the United States, from
far distant countries even the ends of the earth to the great Eucharistic Congress, and an
enormous amount of preparation was made for it, then there was the thrill and wonder of it, and
now it is among the things that are past, yet the fruits thereof will abide and the memory of it
will linger probably with thousands and tens of thousands who attended it, always unto the end.
So you looked forward to this Retreat, entered into it and it is now very close to its end. I trust
that the fruits thereof may be permanent and the memory of it a treasure.

It is very natural that tonight we should make our conference on the Way of the Cross,
this is Friday, the day on which Our Lord died for us. Our Seraphic Father St. Francis was very
fond of a favorite saying of St. Paul, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." It was when
kneeling before the Crucifix that he heard the voice of the Master saying, "Go and rebuild my
church which is tottering to ruins." It was his summons and his message, and with that prompt
obedience which characterized him, and accepting it as a command, he started to rebuild that one
little church on the outskirts of Assisi, St. Damian's. He rebuilt three churches in Assisi and its
environs and then God called him to larger work of rebuilding the love of God in the hearts of
men and renewing the face of the world.

In a vision God showed him much armor, shields, spears and breast-plates, and upon
them all was the sign of the cross. At first Francis thought he was to be a soldier like the
crusaders, win a great reputation with material arms, but he was afterwards taught that he was to
be the founder of a militia of Jesus Christ and all their armor should be marked with the cross.
His life was short and it was full of the cross. He performed miracles, raising the dead, repeating
the scenes which followed the footsteps of Our Lord, through Judea and Galilee, but in the midst
of it he himself was smitten with great infirmities, weakness, staggered along, and sometimes he
could not do even that and had to be lifted to the back of a mule. He suffered from blindness and
then at last on Mount Alverna Our Lord visited him, pierced him in the hands and feet and side
with the wounds of the Crucified, and those wounds burned and hurt him dreadfully, and he
suffered excessive agonies from them, but he never complained.

Once, out of pity for his sufferings one of the brothers attending him suggested that the
Lord treated him severely. St. Francis was so indignant that it was difficult for him to forgive the
brother, and as a protest he threw him out of the house and declared that if the Lord gave him a
thousand times as much to suffer, he would suffer it gladly, which manifested his spirit and love
and those fountains of joy, concerning which we read in the Scripture, "He endured the cross,
despising the shame, for the joy that was set before him." And so it should be with the religious,
we should love the cross in spite of the suffering that is associated with it, for after all, in human
experience in its last analysis, what is sweeter than suffering?

A Good Friday well spent is apt to give to the soul of the penitent a sense of interior joy
greater than the triumphs of music in the Alleluias of Easter Day itself. Now one of the great
gifts of the Franciscan family to the Church is the Stations of the Cross. St. Francis himself was
a great and successful crusader. He went not only to the crusades of Damiata, but he was not
satisfied with that; when there was a defeat and the soldiers were driven back and they did not
get any farther towards the Holy Land, he with two companions made the journey on foot,
arrived at the Holy Land and visited the holy places and established some arrangement by means
of which his Friars have been guardians of the holy places ever since, and what hundreds and
thousands of men by arms failed to do, with no other arms than those of the spirit St. Francis
succeeded in doing. The Franciscans originated the Stations of the Cross as a substitute for
going actually to Jerusalem on foot, and the Holy Popes have endowed these Stations of the
Cross with Indulgences instead of making a physical journey visiting the Holy Land and the holy
places, especially Mount Calvary.

And since Franciscans have originated this devotion and contributed it to the Church, so
that no Stations of the Cross can be erected in a church except by a Franciscan Friar, unless in
the absence of such Friar the Bishop delegates someone else to do it, we ought to have a
devotion, a real devotion to the Stations of the Cross.

Now the difficulty with us poor creatures is that when we do something over and over
again we get kind of callous to it. I remember when I was a young Anglican clergyman, I got
hold of a book with the Stations in it (we did not have any Stations in the Church), but just
taking those stations and meditating on them on Good Friday brought a good many tears to my
eyes, but I must say that it is a long time since the Stations of the Cross have brought any tears to
my eyes. We go through the formal way and it is hard to stir up our hearts, but for St. Francis
just the thought of Christ's sufferings was enough to start the tears from his eyes, but even that
being so, we can use the Stations of the Cross as a form of meditation that will be very fruitful
and we ought to try to cultivate a way of doing it, not merely going through them formally when
somebody reads them and we sing a hymn. That is all right, if we do it with the proper intention
and in the spirit we should have. Even though we are not struck by any emotions, God sees fit to
grant us indulgences and graces nevertheless. But there is such a thing as bringing the Way of
the Cross into the very warp and woof of our existence, and that is by trying to apply them to
ourselves, and as a sort of helpful suggestion let us mentally make the Way of the Cross, part of
them at least, now.

We first of all come to the First Station and we behold our Lord standing there
condemned, the sentence has been passed that he should be executed, and by the judgment of
Pilate he is bound to be led away to Calvary. Now a Sister making that station can think of the
time when she turned her back upon the world to enter a convent. As far as the world was
concerned, sentence was passed, she was dead to the world, she was henceforth to follow the
Crucified. There is a beautiful symbolism of this when priests are ordained and the Bishop
anoints the palms of their hands with holy oil, because those hands are going to handle the body
and blood of Christ, the purificators are bound around their hands and they are led away because
from now on they are victims bound, as it were, to the Cross and to that great sacrifice of
Calvary which is perpetuated in the Mass. And so you might think of your entering the convent,
for in the judgment of the world at least, you are a foolish person who is going into a prison,
going into a kind of series of deaths, dying to all the pleasant things which the world holds dear.

Then you come to the Second Station and you see them bring out the heavy cross and put
it on the shoulders of the Victim of Calvary, and you think of your own cross, you think that our
Lord has set out His challenge, "Unless a man take up his cross and follow me, he cannot be my
disciple," and by your experience you have learned that the cross in some form or other is ever
with you. A good religious prepares her mind at the beginning of the day, "Now I expect to
encounter the cross in some way or other today, and I must prepare for it to take it in the right
spirit,"

Sometimes a religious, when something runs contra to their expectation, runs up against
them like a cross, they get excited and they lose their temper and begin to rave against it, or the
first impulse is to scold. Now we want to have the same mind which "was in Christ Jesus." The
cross was very heavy, exceedingly heavy. He was going to find it heavier still before He got to
Calvary, but, nevertheless, He received it with joy because it was to be converted into a ladder
by which He would climb up to Heaven. So prepare your mind when these crosses come to take
them in the right spirit. If you take them in the right spirit, they not very long afterwards become
a crown of rejoicing. Many a religious that looks book on the past believes that invariably the
things that have been the heaviest cross, have been the greatest source of satisfaction.

I often look back at the time when I was required to stand up before an Anglican
congregation and preach about the Pope. I think it was absolutely the hardest thing I have had to
do in my life, but I get more enjoyment out of it than anything in my life. We can oftentimes
transmute the cross at once into a crown of rejoicing by taking it in the right spirit. So let us be
prepared for the cross. St. Paul of the Cross in anticipating of his vocation would see crosses
before him in vision, and he was so trained in his mind and so eager for them that he would run
forward to meet them instead of trying to walk the other way. So as we stand and contemplate
our Lord upon His cross, let us try to have the same spirit about it. It is said that one saint had a
very bad sickness of epilepsy, which is a very trying thing for any priest or minister of God, and
he used to speak of it as "My sister epilepsy." Lidvina suffered with a loathsome disease which
constantly formed little sores, but she had trained herself so that she recognized it as a cross from
God, and she received it like some of those prisoners of Tyburn waiting for their execution in the
dungeon, which was infested by rats that ran over them, and by and by they created a friendship
with the rats and were companions, much as Sisters enjoy the consolation of having a pet cat in
the convent.

St. Benedict Labre, the holy beggar, had his emulation of Lazarus. They said his poor
rags were infested. with vermin, and when the insects were going to escape he would put them
back in his old rags. It is not just the thing for us to do, but it is the spirit of the cross as
manifested by him. St. Peter of Alcantara, the great Franciscan Father, and friend and spiritual
director of St. Theresa, used to do something of the same sort.

People in the world may pity us and see the drudgery of the religious life, and yet
religious themselves look at it very differently. Those little Franciscan Sisters of the Poor down
in New York with their labors day and night in the hospitals, when they are not working they are
praying or taking their short rest, and yet, as far as they are concerned they are happy about it
because they have the spirit of the cross, "Having joy set before Him, He endured the cross,
despising the shame."

Then in the Third Station we see our Lord under the extraordinary weight of that cross,
sinking down to the ground, but always rising up again and persevering, and in that we may see
His sympathy with us in our weakness and our infirmities. We all want to be perfectly good; we
do not want to have any imperfection of sin. It is a sorrow to us when we go to Confession if we
have to acknowledge our besetting sins, and on account of these weaknesses and infirmities we
fall many times, but it ought to be a consolation to see Our Lord fall, too, and pick himself up
again. Some say that is one of the definitions of a saint, one who falls and picks herself up again.
So we never allow ourselves to be discouraged because of a thorn in the flesh that Satan burdens
us with, even as St. Paul had a thorn in his flesh, which was a mortification to him, and when he
prayed Our Lord to take it away, He simply said, "My grace is sufficient." So it is a consolation
in times of our weaknesses to know that Our Lord will strengthen us, that He will undoubtedly
give us the victory over those sins that so easily beset us, when we want to do something, and
yet we sink down in weakness and physical exhaustion.

Then in the Fourth Station, He meets His mother. Surely Our Lord must have been
greatly consoled, surrounded as He was by His bitter enemies, when He saw His mother coming
leaning on the arm of the beloved disciple, and it certainly was a consolation to Him, though it
may have increased His suffering to see her suffering so intensely, seeing Him in such a plight,
but they consoled each other. And this brings us to the fact that religious have dear ones in the
world, and although Our Lord said, "Except a man hate his father and mother, his sister and
brother, he cannot be my disciple," He only meant it insofar as it was a rivalry to His claims
upon us, and a religious who has abandoned relatives in the world is not thereby to forget them
altogether. They are to think of them lovingly and pray for them and bring to them as much
consolation as they can. Sometimes they are permitted to see them and they ought to use those
opportunities to bring as much consolation and happiness and inspiration to them as they can, by
their holy example and that affection which they carry within them supernaturally in the
religious state.

As one stands before two Figures that loved each other, there must be this thought:
neither of them allowed their affections to stand in the way of the divine purpose. Mary did not
weep and beseech her Son to exercise His power to escape from His enemies and not to go on to
Calvary. Both of them recognized the divine will and she encouraged Him and he was
strengthened in His purpose by the vision of His mother and not thereby turned away from the
call of God and the purpose of His Father.

So sometimes the thought of parents and friends becomes temptation to the religious and
makes in them a kind of divided allegiance. That, of course, is to be thrown aside. If there is any
such thing when you meditate upon that particular Station of the Cross, renounce it.

Then we come to tho scene of Simon Cyrene being compelled at first, and afterwards
with joy, to carry the cross. That particular station ought to be a great source of consolation to
us. Our Lord, says St. Paul, is crucified afresh by the sins and ingratitude of those for whom He
shed His blood. On the other hand, it must be an immense consolation to Him when He looks
down upon a world of wickedness to see so many devout religious, so many holy nuns who are
living a life of innocence and doing so much good for the love of Him and helping Him to carry
His cross, helping Him in His mystical body to work out that "which remaineth of the sufferings
of Christ for His body's sake." So how consoling must have been the faithful religious through
the ages to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They have been like Simons to lighten the burden which
still rests upon Him.

Then we come to St. Veronica, and here we say,

"How I envy her, what a privilege to wipe the blood sweat from His brow.
What a joy to have received as a reward the impression of His sacred
Countenance upon her veil."

But we must not forget that Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you did it to the least one of my
brethren, you did it to me." We have representatives of Christ all around us; the children in the
missions represent the Christ Child, or His mother, and as we minister to them we are
ministering to Him. He accepts it that way. Or if we visit the sick in the hospitals and minister to
them, it is our Lord we are ministering to. Remember that famous scene of Martin, a soldier, at
Rome, meeting a poor man who had no cloak, who was shivering in the winter wind; Martin
took his sword and cut his coat half in two, and he saw in vision someone wearing his coat up in
Heaven, it was none other than our Blessed Lord, and he heard Him say to His companions,
"This is the coat that Martin, the Roman soldier, gave to me." Thus bringing home the same
teaching.

Than we see the women lifting up their voices and weeping and lamenting, expressing
their sympathy and sorrow for Christ. That sympathy was appreciated by Him, and He wants us
to be the interpreters of the sympathy of His loving heart to those around us, the sorrowful, the
afflicted, the disconsolate, the discouraged, whosoever is in need, and if we show them
sympathy, our Lord accepts it in the same way He accepted the weeping of the women at
Jerusalem. But He said something else, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your
children who are guilty." We may not have cause to weep for our own sins, we may have
sorrowed over them long ago, and sins which we commit now may not afflict our consciences to
such a degree, but we have certainly cause to weep in sympathy for the sorrows of the Church,
for the wickedness of the work [rather world ?] in the way sinners are going down in such
multitudes to Hell. There is plenty to mourn about and weep about in that penitential spirit
which is so acceptable to Christ, and so effective in turning aside the wrath of God from the
transgressor. Let us cultivate this spirit of penance and pray as we stand before that particular
Station of the Cross, that God will give to us the gift of holy tears.

Then we stand before Our Lord being stripped of His garments, about to be crucified.
They take everything away from Him, they take the lovely robe which that loving woman had
made for Him, the "vestment woven without seam," and His garments were parted among them.
That ought to be a great consolation to us when things are taken away from us. As we go on in
religion it may be that God strips us more and more of things that we are fond of, of things that
we enjoy; perhaps we had some particular work and we got very interested and were called
away; or there may be some special place or special companion very dear to you, the Sister is
taken away, you are separated and things are taken away, but sooner or later there have to be
these separations anyway, and if the Lord provides them to make us more like Himself, then we
ought to be glad about it. Anything that makes us more after the image of Christ crucified
and permits us to follow in His footsteps surely ought to be looked on as a grace from Heaven.

Moreover, God gives a certain joy in addition that is sweet to the soul when we please
Him. There are so many things that we would never do ourselves; we would never be eager in
mortification, we have not got the spirit of the saints who of their own will did these things
voluntarily and went through these trials, we would never throw any ashes over our food and
take away the last element of taste to it, it would be a little bit too much for us to go even
without a little salt. Therefore, if we were left to ourselves we would not do it. So if God comes
along and takes from us anything to lead us more in His own spirit by which He was stripped of
all things, then we should thank Him for it.

Then we come to that scene where the cross is laid down as an altar and He is the victim,
the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world, and at last there is to be a holocaust,
so He is stretched out on the altar and the nails are driven through the tender hands and feet. God
is merciful to us, He does not call any of us to such extreme suffering as He Himself endured,
but sometimes He does call His elect to very great suffering. How often as a religious goes on
that strength in which she has rejoiced as a giant to run her course, where she had been able to
do something and enjoy her work, is succeeded by gnawing pain inside, do not know what it is,
discomforting, some weakness, and by and by she discovers she has cancer or some other painful
disease; and she suffers, she suffers, she continues to suffer, day in and day out, months and
months and months, and sometimes even years. Take the case of Sister Mary Anna in the early
days of our Institute, who was so long an invalid and in the end suffered so intensely. Religious
are called by Our Lord to be victims on the altar like him, and if they can only realize the
reasonableness and have the same spirit and the same purpose, how wonderfully blessed those
sacrificial lives become.

And then there is the death of Our Lord. We are called upon to die over and over again
for this thing and that thing and the other thing, as religious, but at last comes the end of all and
we die. Sometimes it comes very suddenly and very unexpectedly, but more often in some form
of sickness that is a real agony, and when such a time comes the religious finds fortitude and the
power of converting even the pain into something akin to joy because she realizes her
association with Our Lord. I remember once meeting a very cheerful patient in a convalescent
hospital, where all of them never expected to get well, or at least most of them, just lingering
suffering, and this very cheerful one said, "Oh, how our dear Lord must love me. I have had
twenty-five operations." It is that spirit of the cross and wonderful faith that makes so many
happy deathbed scenes, even though they die in agony. And so as we contemplate that, we look
forward to our own death. We cannot expect everything to be rosy. We thank God for all the
happy experiences we have had in religious life and we prepare ourselves for the cross.

Then comes the next Station, the Thirteenth. Our Lord has commended His spirit into the
keeping of the Father, and now they take His body down from the cross, Nicodemus, St. Joseph
and St. John, and they lay it in the arms of His mother. That is a beautiful scene and ought to be
a very consoling one for religious. Some day there is going to be a funeral in the convent and
one of you will be the one who will occupy the casket. It is a nice thing to think about that when
that day comes you will be surrounded by loving Sisters, your companions, the ones who knew
and understood the record of your life. It is quite a wonderful thing when you think of the
martyrs that their bodies should have been taken care of by loving ones and reverenced. Some of
the saints whose bodies rested, like St. Stephen's, for example, in some undefined place, God
gave special revelation to some saint that years and years afterwards it might be honored.

So Our Lord in the dispensation of His providence usually provides for religious and
they can look forward with confidence that after death they will be lovingly cared for by their
fellow religious, and that there will be a funeral, Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and priests who
have known them and honored them will be there to officiate. In our case our own Friars carry
the body to the resting place, and here will be loving friends present who will weep in memory
of their Sisters and tell of her good deeds, and she will be laid to rest beside the other Sisters in
God's Acre to await the final trumpet, but she will not be forgotten. Her Order provides Holy
Sacrifices of the Mass and prayers. I hope that you will not go away without at least taking a
little journey up to your God's Acre and kneeling and praying for your Sisters who are gone
before you, and perhaps invoking them, and treasure the memory of those that have gone. That
is one of the teachings of the Stations of the Cross.

Lastly we see them lay the body to rest in the tomb. That should inspire in us that prayer
which Balaam was moved by the Holy Ghost to pray even when he was said to curse the
children of Israel. He lifted up his voice and instead of cursing said, "Let my soul die the death
of the just, and my last end be like to them." So we may pray as we meditate, “May my last end
be like my Lord's and Master's. By following Him faithfully all the way through, then my last
end will be like His.”

Although they laid His body to rest, He did not tarry long; on the third day He arose
again, and He has promised that our bodies shall rise also again. His loving providence will
watch over the grave. It may be defaced, men may lose all track of it, but He will not forget the
body of His spouse. He will watch over, and when He comes and Gabriel’s trumpet blows, He
will once more welcome the body that has so long laid in the sepulchre, and "God shall wipe
away all tears from the eyes of His elect and there shall be no more mourning, or crying, or
weeping." All those things shall pass away and this body that has borne the cross and toiled with
Our Lord and endured with Our Lord, and agonized with Our Lord, will rejoice with Him in that
wonderful celestial joy and delight through eternity.

So by using the Stations of the Cross in this way and making private meditations and
remembering the passion of Our Lord, it may be an inspiration to us and may God in the
alchemy of His love quickly convert your crosses into crowns of rejoicing, for after all, we are
the children of the Seraphic Patriarch who went over the hills of Subasio praising and
magnifying God, concerning whom the prophet long ago said, "they shall enter Sion with
everlasting joy upon their heads," [Isaiah 35:10] and although the minor notes, the melancholy
notes, the funereal notes, will find expression in your life, in the toil of the Children of the
Atonement, I trust that always the cheerful chords will be dominant, and surely they will be in
Heaven.

Document 46
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II 61-
63.The talk of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., is given to Atonement Sisters. Of note is that he calls
himself their “Father.”]

OUR ATONEMENT VOCATION

Retreat Conference

August 21, 1926

At the conclusion of our Retreat we want to look at the bright side of our vocation. First
of all, I want to tell you how proud I am personally of the Sisters of the Atonement, of the
record you have already made and of the things that you are going to do in the future for the
extension of the Kingdom of God.
As your Father, the spiritual daughters of the second Congregation have always been a
source of comfort and strength to me and have caused very few of the gray hairs which I happen
to possess at the present time. The future looks very bright; we are standing on the threshold of
another very important departure, the first House established beyond the limits of the
Portiuncula, two thousand miles to the South in far away Texas, the Lone Star State, and they
are still there holding the fort, with another house in Texas, with the prospect of further
development in the great Southwest as time goes on.

But now another great departure is going to be in an entirely different direction to the
great Northwest, the first time that the Society of the Atonement in its corporate capacity passed
beyond the borders of America to go into the Dominion of Canada and into that vast territory
which is now being developed, the Alberta section and on the coast of Vancouver. This
enterprise will bring the Sisters farther away from the center, making it all the more necessary
for them to hold strong communion with the Motherhouse. In the development of any army, the
farther they go from the central point, the more difficult it is to maintain the lines of
communication, which are essential for the success of the work. There was a very disastrous
defeat administered to Greece three years ago; they were very ambitious to wipe out and hold
their enemies, the Turks, and they sent an army to Persia in charge of a very great military man
and tactician. He led all his army out into the desert and pursued the enemy until they got away
from their base of supplies, so he administered a tremendous defeat.

So the farther we go away from the center, the more necessary it is that the lines of
communication be maintained, and the Sisters, the farther off they are, need all the more to
preserve the ideals of the home and central house, and to be faithful to those ideals and the
orders and directions which they receive from the Mother General. I need not specially stress
this. This new mission is going to take some vary practical crosses. No doubt during the long
cold winters and the primitive conditions that exist in that new country God will give the Sisters
courage and a supernatural joy in their trials. They will hardly experience anything more
primitive than the Reverend Mother did when she came into this valley twenty-eight years ago,
went down to an old house hardly more than a barn and the dish cloth froze in front of the
kitchen stove, and I do not think there will probably be more than that in Smokey Lake, yet in
spite of her rather delicate bringing up, she was very happy that winter amidst all the trials and
primitive crosses that were handed out to her.

Then the Vancouver mission is in a seaport and it suggests still further development,
suggests perhaps a trip some day carrying the Sisters to the Philippine Islands, perhaps later to
the coasts of China and then on down to India, It represents new development and still further
expansion and you are preserving thereby the traditions of Graymoor, because after all, the
Reverend Mother was the pioneer. Before the Friars came, she came to prepare the way as St.
John Baptist. All the Sisters have shown to a great extent the metal of St. John Baptist as far as
preparing the way is concerned. We hope that later on the Friars will follow them into these
various sections and into those enterprises of God. You will go out with the consciousness of the
divine blessing upon you. Surely God has manifested that already, the missions you have
undertaken have prospered greatly, have been productive in the salvation of souls from the
greatest to the least of them, and we feel confident that it will continue to do so.

We are to think today at the close of the retreat about Our Lady of the Atonement. It was
quite fitting at Mass to have that hymn to Our Lady of the Atonement. When I heard it, I said,
where did that come from? I do not remember finding that in the hymnal. I will have to look that
up when I get back. They do not sing that on the mountain. Than I remembered that one of the
Brothers Christopher upon the mountain had composed it, and I rejoiced that it should have been
brought into use. There is a saying about our Lord choosing the weak and foolish to confound
the wise. Some of us have been trying to compose a hymn to Our Lady of the Atonement. Mr.
Richey, for instance, has been trying for quite a while, and I have been thinking about it, but I
never get any further than thinking about it. We rejoice, therefore, that we have that hymn to
Our Lady of the Atonement. You are now working on your missions to make Our Lady known
more and more by the beautiful title of the Atonement and feel the wonderful confidence in her
motherly love [which] towers each and every one of you.

She took the trouble to appear twice in St. Francis House and once upon the Mountain to
tell us to invoke her by the title of the Atonement. She must have a very great love for this
Institute and, therefore, the Sisters may always shelter themselves under the mantle of her
maternal protection and feel that they will not look to her and appeal to her in vain.
 Then there is something else that should thrill us at the present time, and that is that we
are approaching so closely the Seventh Centenary of the going to glory of our Seraphic Father,
As he looks down from his throne in heaven upon his children scattered over the face of the
earth, he must rejoice in his heart to think how God has fulfilled his gracious covenant promise
to him and made his children so foremost, particularly in the pioneer work of the mission field in
sending souls to Christ and extending the kingdom of God and the empire of the cross. And I am
sure that as he looks down on the older branches of his institute he looks down particularly upon
this child of his old age, as Jacob he must regard it as the Joseph of his old age, the Society of
the Atonement. Looking over our little fruit farm on the Mountain yesterday, my attention was
called to a little pear tree that is about to burst into bloom, a very young and very tender one. I
suppose the first blossoms will be nipped by the frost before they produce ripe fruit, but
nevertheless it shows the promise of the future, and so the Society of the Atonement is like a
branch of the Seraphic Vine which is just about bursting into flower in the promise of the future
harvest. I am confident that it is a source of joy to our Seraphic Father. So we can look up with
special confidence to Our Lady because of her predilection towards us, promising us to enter
into the Catholic Church in these later days, under such a wonderful title which must inevitably
rank among the first, for what is more important in our religion than the Atonement.

Our Seraphic Father must regard with love this institute of ours and, therefore, the Sisters
may with all the more confidence go to him as your Seraphic Father in your trials and
difficulties, and particularly in your efforts after greater sanctification, and your desire and
petitions for greater love of God. Go to St. Francis with special confidence and ask him to pray
for you that he, the Seraphic Saint, may intercede with God as Elias did on Mount Carmel, that
God would send down into your hearts ever increasingly the divine love, a flame which urges us
on, makes each able to do things that otherwise would be difficult. For in our own strength we
would be like the chariots of Pharaoh when the horses went through the Red Sea and the wheels
came off and they dragged heavily. For us to do those things in our own strength is like driving
chariots without the wheels on, whereas God puts the wheels on by supernatural grace, and
urged on by the mighty power of love, it is easy to do things which otherwise would be
impossible. So, we can go to Our Seraphic Father, St. Francis, and ask him particularly in our
favor to obtain from God an infusion of the fire of divine love and charity in our hearts and
souls.

So God bless and strengthen you, and make the memory of this Retreat sweet and
fragrant in the corridors of your soul, and at the same time a source of strength and grace to bear
the crosses and trials, whatever they may be, that you will encounter in your own sphere of
activity and in your own piece of the Lord's vineyard, which He has given you to keep in His
name.

I call down upon you the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the
blessing of Our Blessed Mother of the Atonement, the Blessing of our Seraphic Father and of all
our other holy Patrons.

Document 47
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
202-203.]
 LOVE

Retreat conference

Sunday Evening
September 19, 1926

In the special time of this retreat during the Seven hundredth Anniversary of the death of
Saint Francis, let us sit at the feet of our Holy Father. Suppose we make the keynote of this
retreat the effort to get a larger measure of the love of God, and as that results in a greater love
towards our neighbor let us ask it of Saint Francis, who was a glorious example in this regard.
He is the Seraphic Saint, likened unto the Seraphs who constantly contemplate God and are in an
ecstacy of joy, wrapped around by the flames of that fire, of that divine fire of love which is of
the very essence of God Himself.

For a retreat to be a successful one requires, of course, silence. Let me impress upon
your mind in the start that you are going to spend it as much as possible alone with God, as the
manifestation came from our Master to His Apostles, "Let us come apart and rest a while."
Being so closely in juxtaposition with each other, not only at the time of the retreat, but in the
crowded convent, the only way to preserve recollection and the spirit of contemplation and of
prayer, is to keep the silence, so that you may be still and hear the voice of God speaking within
you.

Another aspect of the retreat which I would recommend to your consideration is the
suggestion of Our Lord that it is a rest time. Perhaps you begin it physically tired. In that case it
would be well to make it, as far as the Rule permits, a time of physical relaxation and rest,
particularly at the beginning until the body being better rested, you be in a better spirit for
spiritual things. Rest does not necessarily mean inaction. There is the activity of the spirit and of
the mind and of the heart and of the devotions of the retreat, and this ought not to interfere with
the phase of the rest. There should be a time of relaxation, of repose, of listening to what God
has to say to you, either through the audible voice of the retreat master, or through that still,
small voice of God Himself speaking within the soul. Take, therefore, the attitude of Magdalen
at the feet of Jesus listening to His words. Say to yourself during the retreat, "Speak, Lord, for
Thy servant heareth."

God, as He looks down from His throne upon you all, reads the secrets of your heart. He
understands your needs. He understands what you were thinking about. He realizes your
imperfections more quickly than you do yourself, and He may have a different message for each
oneof you during the Retreat. Listen for the message. Some of the conferences may appeal to
one of you, and some particularly to another. Many of the things said will not apply to you
individually, but surelyin the course of these conferences, which will cover the fundamental
principles of the religious life, some of them certainly ought to have a personal message for each
one of you, and when that message comes to you, “be not hearers of the word only, but doers,”
so that having ears to hear you drink in the message and accept it for what it is worth and what it
signifies, and correspond to any admonition that God may give you, either for the correction of
faults, or for spurring you on to a more ardent running in the way of holy perfection.
 Now Saint Paul says, "covet the best gifts” and as the divine love is going to be in a
special manner, as I trust, the keynote of this retreat, begin at the beginning of it by making a
most perfect oblation of yourselves as you can as a victim of love on the altar of sacrifice unto
God, and ask with importunity and faith, like Elias on Mount Carmel, for this fire, this caritas,
this supernatural love which Our Lord said that He came on the earth to kindle in the hearts of
men. As we said in our sermon this morning, love it is that makes the world go round. It is the
most inspiring, the most urgent, the most impelling thing that there is. If it has an earthly object,
it still has its urge and its impulse and its power, but the best of all love is the love of God, and
that is after all the most impelling and most delightsome and most desirous of all loves, and that
is what we are called into religion for, primarily to excel in that first and great Commandment,
"Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole soul, thy whole mind, thy whole body, and
thy whole strength."

So let us trust that the fruit of this retreat will be to intensify, deepen and strengthen in
the hearts of every retreatant the love with which you came into this retreat, towards God and
towardsyour neighbor.

Document 48
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
84-90. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

OBLIGATIONS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE

Retreat Conference
September 20, 1926

We will devote today to the consideration of the religious life. This morning, the
advantages and the glory of it; this evening, the subject of our conference will be the obligations
of the religious state.

You will remember the case when St. Peter addressed himself to the Divine Master and
said, "Lord, we have left all to follow thee. What, therefore, shall we have?" and He told them
that they should sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and then He went on to
say, "If any man leaves father or mother...and in the world to come life everlasting," It is well
for us to have a high appreciation of our state, not only for our own encouragement to bear the
burdens of the life,because it is the principle of divine economy that precious things you have to
pay for, things cost, and the religious life is built upon the principle of sacrifice. Man is willing
to make great sacrifices if heknows that he is going to get an abundant compensation in the end,
but if there is no compensation it takes the heart out of enduring the cross.

Consequently for our own perseverance in the religious life and its difficulties and its
trials, it is well for us to understand and appreciate what it is, its advantages, both as far as
eternity is concerned, and then we must not forget or depreciate the advantages it has in this
world. There is a second reason if you do something for somebody you are pleased if they
appreciate it. If after you have done your best you find that they only find fault and grumble and
are disgruntled, and even abuse you for it, you feel at least disappointed, if not hurt and
wounded. And certainly God manifests His goodness towards us in religion, His love, His
predilection, and the more appreciative we are of it and the more gratitude grows up in our heart,
the more we please Him. Surely there is a very fragrant incense to rise up in the nostrils of God
in the praise and gratitude and appreciation of His good subjects on the earth, and consequently,
the more we appreciate the blessings, both temporal and spiritual and eternal which God bestows
on us in our state, the more pleasing we are to God in consequence, and we are apt to receive
more graces on that account, because when somebody appreciates what you do for them, they
are impelled to do the more, and in that regard perhaps God is not so different from what we are.

Now beginning on the material side. When Abraham was going to be called by God to
separate himself from his people, God took him up and down the promised land, showed him
how fruitful it was, flowing with milk and honey, and he said, "This land will I give you and thy
seed after thee." Then He called him to detach himself from his kindred and his country and to
go out and dwell now in one place, now in another just like religious.
The religious are very migratory, as you know. You are here today, next year you are in
some other place. Some of you have jumped around the United States to a considerable degree,
even though our Institute is still small in these its early days, and some of you will probably go
even farther when we have Houses all over the United States, the prospect of which does not
seem so very distant. Abraham made a sacrifice, he was obedient, he pleased God in that regard,
but certainly God rewarded him in a material way in this world. Although he had no abiding
city, he had riches in abundance and fruit and sheep multiplied upon him, and a large number
not only in his immediate family but the servants that were in attendance upon him were devoted
to him.

So when religious are called out of the world, they are called to make this supreme
sacrifice, separate themselves from their parents, friends, acquaintances in the world, to abandon
whatever they have, come in the state of poverty, entirely surrender everything. But as a matter
of fact, how does God treat them? Usually at least, if we could judge from the religious of this
country, He treats them very finely. The other day we read about the magnificent estate of
George Gould down in New Jersey, bought by, I think, the Sisters of Charity or the Sisters of
Mercy. So they stepped right into this magnificent estate. The other day the Carnegie estate,
where millions had been spent, was taken over for a novitiate by the Jesuits. You can go up and
down the Hudson and see these magnificent estates that are in the possession of religious
communities. We had a conference several years ago down at Mount St. Vincent, which was the
castle of a great actor. The Sisters bought that beautiful place up on the Hudson River, and they
have expanded it until the castle is only one element. They recently put up a large building for
their girls’ school. We were up in Albany sometime ago and we went out to a magnificent estate
there in charge of the Madames of the Sacred Heart. And you can go all over the United States
and find these magnificent estates and buildings occupied by the spouses of Christ, whether they
are institutions for teaching girls or hospitals, or whatever they may be, for the general benefit of
humanity. Nevertheless, there they are and the Sisters are occupying them.

There called upon us the other day several Sisters and one of then introduced herself as a
sister to the woman who is occupying the John Reid place up in Waterbury. Now if you ever
looked in on that old house and then went into the barnyard and saw the manure and everything
heaped up, and looked in on that family and compared it with the state in which her sister lived
as a Sister of Mercy, probably in one of these beautiful convents or academies, you would see a
contrast. So that I think on general principles, in most instances, our Lord is very generous to
His spouses and He does give them even materially an hundred-fold more than they are likely to
possess in the world.

Take our own case. We came to Graymoor without anything, and when I walked up the
road I was cogitating where I was going to lay my head and I said, "Foxes have holes and the
birds of the air have nests, but the founder of the Society of the Atonement has not where to lay
his head." I had not thought it long when Mr. Davis came along and picked me up in his
buckboard, and it was not an hour until I was standing on the top of the Mount of the
Atonement. And not long after that we were able to purchase it. And Mr. Rockefeller has not
got money enough in his foundation to buy it, we value it so highly. And certainly people who
come both to the convent and to the top of the Mount of the Atonement are filled with
admiration, not only ordinary people but people that have traveled all over the world, for this
wonderful gift God has given to us.

So if other religious have cause to thank God and appreciate their home, we certainly
have our "Beulah Land" of the Atonement, this beauty God has given to us. I just want to read
you a little sketch here that is rather difficult to repeat, but it illustrates the matter. Considering
the profits of the religious life we are not to have in view the material gains, although these are
not inconsiderable and deserve more attention than they usually receive from those who are
called to leave their home and forsake the fine prospects the world holds for them.

Let us say that you meet a companion and friend of your childhood whom you have not
seen for twenty or thirty years. You ask her, "Mary, how are you getting along?" She replies
with an air of complacency,

"Agnes, I cannot complain. God has been and is very good to me. I have a
fine position of honor, respectability and trust. People look up to me with
respect, confidence and reverence for the uniform I wear. They praise my
character and ability because of the firm of which I am a member. My position is
a life job with perhaps minor changes of environment. I am sure of my free
subsistence, daily meals as long as I live. My clothes are not rich, but they are
always in style and very becoming. My home is not sumptuous, but convenient
and cosy in its way. It will always be my home, in fact I have a number of such
homes in various cities. When I am there, I am not a mere guest, but I belong
there, it is my home. In case of taking sick, I shall be received in a hospital, given
rather particular care by Sisters and nurses. The best surgeons and doctors will
take my case in charge and do their utmost. The company of which I am a
member is made up only of virtuous and holy persons, noble-minded and self-
 sacrificing men and women. Otherwise they could not belong to the firm. When I
die my funeral will not be pompous, but will be conducted in state. My burial
place will be simple, but it will be well kept, remembered with honor and
devotion. Many Masses will be said for me when I die and incessant prayers will
be offered up by pure and holy souls for an early release from purgatory.”

On this Mary said, "I congratulate you. God is good to you, indeed,"

This is your very case. Why then grumble and find fault with God? How true that is in
your case. You have a position of honor, responsibility and trust. People look up to you with
respect, confidence and honor, if not for the uniform, then as a member of the firm. How true
that is of every Sister who goes out into the world. You might [not] have diamonds sparkling all
over your fingers and probably the men would sit up in their places and not jump up when you
come in. With your uniform they usually get up, touch their hat and offer you a seat. Wherever
you go you are treated with honor and respect because they reverence your uniform, they
reverence your habit. They say, "Here is a holy nun of God," and they hold you in high respect
and confidence and esteem on that account.

Your position is a life job, that is true. When you once make your final vows you are
protected in that life until death by the Church, unless you are so very cantankerous, or get into
such a violent passion that you do not deserve to remain in the community and measures have to
be takenagainst your outbursts. Nobody can separate you from the life except if virtue departs
and you violate your vows.

You are sure of your food. It may be simple, but it will always be provided by the bounty
of God. Your clothes are not rich, but always in fashion and very becoming. Take those two
sisters, the one up at Waterbury, the married woman, and the Sister of Mercy; there was the
contrast. There was no question about which costume was the more becoming. The costume,
etc., elevated the lady "from the dung heap and put her among the princes of the people." It is
that way, oftentimes you see a Sister among her relatives. When you see the refinement and
development of the training of the religious' life, the aristocratic air, because after all, they are
spouses of Christ, of the highest royalty that there is in the universe, and that atmosphere around
the religious habit is, indeed, one that is very becoming, certainly much more so than the style of
dress that the women wear now in the world.

The home is not sumptuous, but it is convenient and cosy in its way, and oftentimes
convents have grounds around them more beautiful than those of the beautiful estates of
millionaires. There are a number of such houses in various cities, and you are not merely a guest
there, but you belong there. Some people have a house in New York and one on Long Island or
down at Palm Beach, but the Sisters have Houses of their order all over, and they have the
privilege of going from one place to another, and they know that wherever they are, it is their
home. On the way back from the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago we fell into conversation with
two Sisters. They seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and one of them was
enthusiastic about the providence of God. Just at the close of school and hard work she was
selected by her Superior to go to the Eucharistic Congress, something that she was not
expecting, but something she was appreciating to the limit.
 Then I heard her say they had Sisters in Philadelphia, on Long Island, others in
Washington and she was going over a long list of Houses she was going to take in and visit
before she went back to California. So that even from the standpoint of having homes and
houses in different parts of the country, the rich have not anything over you.

And you know that if you get sick, you are not put in a ward, there is a special part of the
hospital reserved for the religious, and you have the best care and best attention, medical and
otherwise that can be given you. If you were a nurse or a doctor and you went to the hospital,
theywould not look after you quite so well. Thus it is Our Lord in His love takes care of His
spouses.

Then this matter of companionship,

"My company is made up only of virtuous and God-loving persons. The

persons may be different in mind, but they are honourable, self-sacrificing men
and women, otherwise they could not be members of our firm. "

Now that is a wonderful matter, this matter of association. We had a Brother down in
Texas, perhaps he thought he ought to go home for his mother's sake. Anyway he went home to
take care of her. He writes once in a while and he tells about the kind of people he rubs up
against in the factory, their vile conversation, their filthy talk which he has to be associated with
and cannot get away from. How different from the association which one has in holy religion!
Here again we have something to be exceedingly thankful for. When it comes to dying and we
come to consider the enormous advantage the religious has over even the best of Christians in
the world, because they know where they are destined for. [Previous sentence appears
incomplete.]

But that is only the material side. The spiritual side is where the immense advantage of
the religious life over the life of the world comes in. We spoke in the Mass yesterday morning
about the great commandment of God, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart
and with all thy strength," and how there is nothing that promotes the happiness of the individual
so much as to fulfill that commandment, for after all, happiness is something inside, it is not
external. One might be surrounded with a golden palace of Nero, one might have all the glory
that attended upon Solomon, and yet they might be miserable in the midst of it. Oftentimes
people who have those things to the greater degree are the most miserable of men.

But happiness is something inside and one can be supremely happy under circumstances
of external discomfort, and there is where the beatitude of the religious comes in. It is the grace
of God in their hearts, the sense of the Divine Presence, the satiety of the desires and thirst of
their heart, because God having made their hearts to love, and more especially to love Himself,
in the fulfillment of that love they find their heart's contentment, as is expressed in that beautiful
prayer of ours, "Oh, God, who hast prepared for those that love thee all that we can desire...."

Now the Religious who is truly in a state of grace, who is truly united in her interior
with God, has Heaven in her soul. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," the
kingdom of God is within you; it is not the external appeal of things, it is the invisible things of
God that are the basis of our eternal life, whether in this world or in the world to come. And
everything conduces in the religious life for the religious to love God and to find her satiety, her
rest, her joy in God. There is where the immense advantage of the religious life comes in. God
looks down from Heaven upon the earth with its sin, its misery, with all the efforts of the
votaries of the world to find pleasure, ruining health, spending immense sums of money on
personal gratification, and seeing all the sad results, what a consolation it is to Him to see the
world dotted here and there with convents, where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered up
every day and His holy spouses receive Him every day, and how they render divine praise,
coming to choir again and again from their duties, and as they go about their duties saying
Paters, Aves and Glorias and in their hearts sing the Magnificat.

That to Him is an oasis in the desert of the world, and the Religious are united to Him.
They echo and feel in their hearts the same satisfaction and joy, and so they can hardly contain
themselves as they praise God for the state into which He has led them. I am now sixty-three
years of age. I have lived at Graymoor for about twenty-eight years, and a large part of my life
was in looking forward to and in the development of a religious vocation. And I can say to you,
and I can say it withperfect honesty, that I am more imbued with the religious life today than
anytime of my past experience, and if I was to see our Lord today in person and He would say,
"Well have I fulfilled my promise to you, for I gave you a hundred-fold more for responding to
the call than you could have gotten in the world under the most favorable circumstances," I
would say, "Lord, not a hundred-fold, but a thousand-fold and a good deal more."

And so I trust it will be, and I am sure it will be with all the Daughters of the Atonement
here present in Holy religion, providing you always are true, you are always faithful, you always
correspond to the obligations and requirements and duties of the religious life, and deserve it
because of your fidelity, because we serve a Master who not only has the most generous
disposition toward us, but He has the capacity, He has the unlimited power to make His spouses
rich in graces, in the real things that count, and so you are truly multimillionaires as far as
Heavenly riches are concerned, and the real riches of God, even in the present life. And so by all
means appreciate the fact and render your thanks to God and be grateful, and so you fortify
yourselves also against any temptations against your vocation.

There are experiences which we have to go through which are not delightsome. We have
burdens to carry. We have crosses that weigh down upon us. We must go through the desert. We
must experience everything. We must taste of Our Lord's sorrow. We have trials and hardships.
We are called to a life of martyrdom, a long life of martyrdom. Our Seraphic Father Saint
Francis was very ecstatic and sometimes raised up in contemplation and prayer, and Leo went
out one morning and Francis was raised so high in the air that Leo could only touch his feet, and
the next day he could not touch him at all because he was soaring above the tree tops. But it was
not long after that that he went through some terrible sufferings of soul and sufferings of body
previous to his glorious death. So we must realize that to be a true religious there is a long
martyrdom, but as Saint Clare said, as Saint Francis said, as all the great saints said, those things
are only like the funeral notes of a black Mass, which are scattered here and there among the red
Masses and the white Masses and the green Masses with their joy notes. Taking it all the way
through, the notes and chords in the life of a Religious are jubilant, they are not melancholy,
they are not the minor notes of sorrow.

So as we stand on the threshold of this Retreat, looking toward as to have, some of you to
be clothed in the religious habit for the first time, others to make your Vows for the first time,
others, already Professed, to go forth perhaps to a new home being prepared for you in a far
distant country among strangers, or in a home already established in some mission house, let it
be with confidence in the divine love, let it be with somewhat the same spirit with which Our
Lady went forth into the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth, meantime singing the songs of
Sion in her heart, knowing that her God dwelt within her, not fearing the fatigue of the journey
because of the crown of rejoicing that was more dominating, more permanent, more abiding,
more eternal.

Document 49
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV 31-
38. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., addressed this talk to Atonement Sisters. Of note is the frequency of
the words “Consequently” and “Now” to begin a sentence. It is Fr. Paul’s style.]

POVERTY
September 21, 1926
Tuesday Morning

Today we will dedicate to holy poverty, make that the subject of our conference this
morning. This ought to be a welcome theme to the daughters of the Seraphic patriarch, the
Poverello of Assisi, the one who stands preeminent among all the Saints of God as the mighty
apostle of Lady Poverty.

Saint Francis early in his career having renounced the inheritance of his father, greatly to
the disappointment of the latter, clothed himself with cast-off garments and bare-footed, felt
himself free as the herald of the King. And as King Solomon asked God for wisdom and the
prayer was granted to such an extent that he became the wisest of men in the world, Saint
Francis asked poverty and God granted it to him to such an extent that he actually became the
poorest man in the world, and that is one of his great distinctions. This is the prayer which he
addressed very fervently to God,

"Lord Jesus, give me a strong and absorbing and abiding love for my holy
spouse poverty. She was with Thee at Bethlehem, accompanied Thee to Egypt,
went with Thee to Nazareth, joined Thee on Thy missionary tours, escorted Thee
up Mount Calvary, and even when Thy Mother Mary remained beneath the cross,
Thy spouse mounted the cross with Thee and finally she kept Thee company in
the grave which was not Thy own. Give me, Lord, an ardent and undying love for
this Thy holy spouse."

We may well echo this prayer of Saint Francis, and in confidence that God will answer it,
try to put into practice in our religious life, both as individuals and as a community, the
principles of holy poverty.

First of all, let us look at Poverty from the standpoint of the Atonement. God is the
Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift, and He is most generous, there is nothing
niggardly about God. The terrible thing about the human family is that they substitute the
creature for the Creator, and because of the corruptness of our human nature they have taken the
things that God gave them and set them up in opposition to God and these have become snares
which have led them away from the pure and unselfish love of God, and consequently they have
been to them as idols, as, for example, when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt they
took with them all the jewels and preciousstones, the things of great value which they could
carry, in their passage across the desert, that they might have much when they came into the
promised land which, out of the generosity of God, flowed with milk and honey and in the midst
of the desert when Moses communed with God on Mount Sinai and the people should have been
in union with him waiting for the message he was to give to them, they went to Aaron and asked
him to make gods for them, and they brought their gold and silver to him and they melted them,
they made a golden calf, then they set the calf up and worshiped it, and alas, their descendants
have been characterized ever since with a great disposition to look after the material wealth of
this world and revel in it.

Our Lord said to His Apostles, "Beware of the sin of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy and covetousness." Covetousness is one of the things that is written in the law of God,
"Thou shall not covet," and to covet is to desire to possess material things, wealth, which is the
leaven in the hand of God, and then turn it against God making it an element of corruption.

Now our Lord, although He was the Possessor of all things, in making atonement for the
sins of the world, willed to be born in a stable, a desolate place, and to be clothed with the
garments ofpoverty and to live a life of poverty and He culminated it by a death of nakedness,
and the same motive that was behind His poverty should be behind our poverty. We have
embraced that life and we desire of course, not only the vow but the virtue of poverty, and we
should be very anxious to realize it all the way through, that is, to keep our hearts entirely
detached from creature-worship of every form and kind, so that we ourselves may realize within
us is the kingdom of God, that the thing to worship is God himself, that the Holy Ghost has
made our bodies His temple and that our joys are to rise from a spiritual source. As we are called
particularly to the life of atonement, we are to live this life of detachment as far as our duty and
our office will permit, from material things.

Now it is sometimes easier to live a life of poverty when you are by yourself than when
you belong to a community. For example, when we first came to Graymoor it was quite an easy
matter for the Father Founder to go and live in a paint-shop up the road, and enjoy it utterly, but
when subjects were added to him he had to have a house of course, just like the Mother had to
have a house for the Sisters, and as time goes on and the family increases there must be an
increase of buildings, and we have to use the material medium of money that is given to us in
alms to build this building, and for a community life things have to be in proper order and
system. Consequently what the individual might do, the community cannot do. That is one of the
things that troubled Saint Francis a great deal. He worried about the house which was built in
Assisi, for he thought it was a little too fine, he wanted to tear it down, but the community said,
"Hands off, we built that house," and when they came to him that way, Saint Francis was
content, but the regulation and order of things requires certain material operations.
We spoke the other day about how grateful we ought to feel to God and appreciate that
He gave us such a beautiful place, for having given us a beautiful mountain and a beautiful
location for the convent; it is the garden of the Lord and we should keep it, for Saint Francis said
even the poor had flowers, and he loved flowers. We have to keep these things in a proper way
and we have the external worship of Almighty God. The church is the palace of the King and,
therefore, it ought to be according to our means, made beautiful, but the struggle of the
Community is, that the individual should be in the midst of these surroundings, in our interior
life at least, constantly striving to live as poor people, as a poor family, and that ideal should
always be before the superiors as well as the individual members of the Community and if in the
future existence of the Community (for a Community requires certain things according to the
times, for its development) there might be things regarded more or less as luxuries and which an
individual hermit living in a cell would dispense with,there is still the effort which the individual
religious should make to practice personally all the greater poverty and detachment as far as that
is possible, and to carry it even to the smallest details.

One of the things that is inherent in the life of poverty is that we resign all proprietorship
over everything and, consequently, the individual religious should seek to be very painstaking
about the matter of not getting attached even to trifles, and such is the natural covetousness of
our nature that one can become extremely attached even to trifles. There was a priest who
several years ago came to the Mount of the Atonement and wanted me to receive him, and after
consideration I said,

"Well, we will test you out first as a Tertiary priest, and if you show that
you have the qualities necessary for the religious life, we will be glad to receive
you because being a young community, we need priests already ordained."

The next morning he came to me and said, "Father, there is just one thing that I want to
ask you. I have a dog that saved my life once and I think if I left him he would die out of grief
and so I would like to bring him along." Well, I considered the matter (we had several dogs
already). I knew he could not be down at the novitiate, and if he was up at one of the other
buildings he would be a source of distraction. So, I said to him he would have to leave the dog
behind him, and thinking that perhaps he had exaggerated a little, I said, "If you gave the dog to
some good friend, he would not die after all, and then without distraction you could live the
religious life," but he preferred the dog and he never came.

There is a story told, believed to be historical, of a very wealthy man in the days of
Gregory the Great, who lived in Rome and renounced everything, sold all of his possessions,
went into the desert and became one of the hermits of Egypt. Whereas Gregory having an
enormous patrimony, when he became an Augustinian, retained the administration of his estates.
He was the builder of a monastery and the revenue of it maintained the monks, and afterwards as
Pope he continued to exercise his patrimony, using it for charitable religious purposes
exclusively, entertained large numbers of poor at his table every day, and things like that,
building churches, using it for the extension of the kingdom of God. One day this monk who had
renounced all things saw our Lord in a vision and addressed Him and said, "Lord, thou knowest
that I have left all to follow Thee. I sold all my estates, and there is Gregory. He did not sell his
estates, he is still administering them," and Our Lord said,

"Yes, I appreciate the fact that you left everything and Gregory retains the
jurisdiction over what is his, but in spite of the fact that he has maintained
jurisdiction over his wealth, he is much more detached from it than you are from
that black cat which you brought into the desert with you."

And so sometimes the dead fly that spoils the ointment of the sacrifice of the religious, if
not exactly a black cat, is some other trifling thing to which they are attached, and become more
or lessattached inordinately, and that spoils their poverty. So it is a good practice, if not the
custom which I think prevails in some communities, of giving up on a certain day each year our
devotional objects, even the holy pictures we have, so that we do not become attached even to
our prayer book. There is a grave responsibility in connection with poverty.

Of course, every Superior must have a generous, not a penurious spirit, in ministering to
her subjects, she must look out for them, take thought of their needs and see that whatever is
necessary may be provided for them, and do it not in a niggardly spirit but according to the
means and ability in her hands, in the spirit of generosity, as a poor mother who had very little
income, nevertheless tried to give her children the best her poverty could afford, the spirit that
animates the mother in the world who will burn the midnight oil and sit up late working and
toiling to provide a better dress for her daughter, whereas she herself is willing to wear almost
anything; so that when Sisters come to their Superior to ask for things, she ought not to give
them things grudgingly, or to take an attitude as if all belonged to her personally, because they
do not, they belong to the community and every member of the community is not like a child,
but is a coordinate member of the firm, and to make them feel that it is a pleasure for them to
grant their requests, and so make it all the easier for the religious individually to ask for and get
the things they use, and thus the good Superior makes it easier for the individual religious to
exercise herself in poverty, in the virtue as well as in the vow.

On the other hand, religious are made up of two kinds. There are some people who are
very sensitive, very delicate, very shrinking, it is a great difficulty for them to get enough
courage to ask for anything, they would rather go without a thing, even when they need it, than
ask. Of course, if that is your characteristic you must overcome it. There are other people
constituted differently, and they are naturally bold and aggressive and do not hesitate to ask, and
to ask sometimes even when they do not need things. They have to be very careful whether they
are asking for, or asking for more than, what they ought to ask for.

Sometimes Superiors are very much embarrassed by the character of a Sister. She not
only asks for things which are actually needed, but she asks for things that are not needed, she
asks for preferences, she asks for permission to do this, permission to do the other thing and
consequently, it is an embarrassment to the Superior, who does not like to refuse, but oftentimes
does so constrained by the importunity of the Sister. Now if one has that kind of a disposition,
they want to reflect about it and recognize it as such, and restrain themselves. Of course, if there
is such a characteristic in a subject sometimes it is the duty of the Superior to regulate her
requests and not to give her all that she asks for, for fear that she might waste or squander it, or
ask for more than is really needful in harmony with holy poverty, and consequently perhaps in
the mind of that individual Sister she says, "Well, now, the Mother is not obliging, she is stingy
about it," and begins to criticize, whereas perhaps the fault is only in herself.

Now let us realize how our poverty must be accompanied with that spirit of generosity. It
is aiming at the crucifixion of something which is very displeasing to God, and that is selfishness
especiallyGod is love [This sentence appear incomplete.]. He shows His generosity in the
prolific way in which He has surrounded Himself with creatures and beings that are subject to
Him, and in a world teeming with all kinds of life and animation. He takes care of the birds in
the air and fishes in the sea, and shows the generosity of His nature, so that the religious should
not be selfish. She should be always ready to spend and be spent for others. And especially for
you missionary Sisters. That is something that ought to characterize you, that whatever you have
you do not have it for yourself, you have it for the benefit of others. As far as you personally are
concerned, your time, your energy, your strength, your very health is given gladly in service,
spending and being spent for others. And then as far as material things are concerned, you are
like the good mother who, if anything comes to her, she puts it away for her child.
And so the true religious is always generous, filled with the spirit of charity, giving
whatever comes to her generously and freely for others, and thus by that spirit of generosity
constantly manifesting the spirit of Jesus Christ, There is a record of one of the abbots of a
monastery, I think the Benedictines, who was walking along absorbed in the Passion, in the
grounds of the monastery, when he was approached by a poor man asking an alms. He did not
have anything to give so he gave him his cloak that he might go and sell that. The abbot
proceeded to go on with his meditation upon the Passion when another beggar approached him.
Having nothing this time, he gave him his scapular. Then a third beggar approached him while
he was still absorbed in his meditation, and there was nothing to do this time but strip off his
tunic, even to that. About that time one of his monks arrived and was surprised to see his abbot
entirely stripped, and said to him, "Father Abbot, have some robbers come and stripped you?"
"Yes," he said, pointing to a picture of our Lord on the cross, "that is the robber who has
stripped me." That illustrates the spirit which characterized our Seraphic Father.

Although he was extremely penurious as far as he personally was concerned, he was

generosity itself as far as everybody else was concerned, more particularly about the poor, and if
he met anybody poorer than himself, he was not only distressed, but he was perfectly willing to
exchange the rags of the poor man and give to him his better tunic. And it was a great difficulty
to keep a habit on the back of Saint Francis, because of his spirit of generosity. And that is really
at the bottom of a truly religious spirit, generosity.

We must look out, too, for the community spirit which sometimes brings religious into
ill-repute because people in the world get an idea that these religious are all the time looking
around for things and begging things right and left, and that they themselves live in luxury, and
that their ambition is to amass wide estates, and sometimes for themselves. And there might be
some element of truth in that, because we have to look out for this spirit of acquisition, which is
a characteristic of humanity, and to cultivate the spirit of stripping ourselves constantly out of
the spirit of generosity and to make an atonement for the greed and selfishness that is in the
world, and being a missionary community, the very necessities of the missions will probably be
one of the safeguards of any tendency toward acquisition.
It is true that in the Union That Nothing Be Lost we try to increase our revenue all the
tine, but we know that it is for the extension of the kingdom of God and for the aid of the
missionaries, and I hope that if the Union That Nothing Be Lost ever accumulates revenues that
none of those revenues will be used by any of the Community in a selfish way to clothe
themselves in luxury while the needs of the Church are wanting. But I see as the Sisters expand
more and more and they go into poor missions, there will always be a great demand upon the
Mother House to supply these needs, and it ought to be one of the elements of incentive behind
economy in all things and not to spend an unnecessary penny, because the more there is saved
the more there is to go out from the central source to aid the missions and the needs of those who
are really in distress.

Now one of the special fruits of a life of poverty, and which ought to appeal to us
particularly is that, it begets spirituality. As I have tried to impress upon you on sundry
occasions, obedience inreality is devotion to God the Father, worship of the most sweet will of
God the Father; chastity is devotion to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ in the love of the
virgin for her Spouse; poverty is really devotion to God the Holy Ghost, and the more we
consecrate ourselves, the more we keep ourselves independent of attachment to material things,
so that we are just as happy in a hovel as we would be in a palace, and more so, and just as
happy if our food was the plain necessities of life, like bread and water and the things that are
essential to keeping body and soul together as if they were delicate viands, then we will have
that joyous spirit within us which characterized our Seraphic Father who always was the joyous
saint even in the midst of his greatest physical sufferings. He was always ready to sing, and he
scandalized Brother Elias in his last hours by the brethren around him and asked them to sing
with him “The Song of the Creatures,” which Brother Elias thought was not proper because if
people heard the singing they would think the brethren were rejoicing over the death of Saint
Francis instead of mourning, which in the eyes of the people would be the proper thing.

Now let us pray that God will always keep us true to the spirit of Saint Francis. There is
one thing that I think people who are generous in their alms to the Friars and Sisters of the
Atonement, see by The Lamp that we are not interested just in money for ourselves, for which
we put in appeals from all sorts of people, but that we appeal for the missionaries, and they think
these people at Graymoorevidently are not selfish, and because they think that we have the spirit
of St. Francis and his friars, they give to us as they gave to Saint Francis and his friars, because
they believed that they were really poor and had made themselves poor for Christ's sake and for
the common people. We must maintain that spirit, not hypocritically in pretending it, but in
reality, because right down in the very inner most depths of our soul we have the virtue of
poverty as well as the vow.

There is another thing, however, which I might say, and that is that, poverty does not
necessarily mean that we should be "penny wise and dollar foolish." For instance, in the
development of our Institute the times come when sometimes we have to expend large amounts
on faith, like, for instance, going down to Washington and buying property for $90,000.00 (?)
for our seminary, and then expect the Lord to provide us about $50,000.00 a year to pay for and
develop it. Well, some people might say, those are extravagant ideas for people who are vowed
to poverty, but we must remember that Saint Francis despised the money and at the same time he
had enormous faith that God would provide for his friars, and that no matter how many there
were of them, the great God would be able to take care of them. So, sometimes Religious
Superiors with a vision for the future well-being of their Institute have to do things which seem
to be very large and very extravagant, but they do not do it in the spirit of covetousness, they do
it in the spirit of faith in God, Who knows that it is going to develop, and when he puts
somebody in a position those people at the head have got to look after these things; they take
counsel with God and they get their inspiration from God when they go into those things because
that is part of their office.
That does not mean that necessarily as a result they are departing from the spirit of holy
poverty. I say that because there might be in the minds of some of the Sisters a disposition to
think that perhaps the Mother was departing from the lines of poverty, for instance when she
invested so large a sum in the securing of a tract of land down at Long Beach. The Mother
hopes, and I trust, that it may develop some day into a retreat house where the Sisters may be
able to minister to a large number of guests, and at the same time cast a spirit of religion over a
section of the seaside which ordinarily is given over to sin and indulgence. So that must be
careful in our mind not to measure poverty always in pennies, because sometimes we have to
exercise it on a very much larger scale than that, but always exercising it, whether it is in pennies
or whether it is in dollars.

As we began with Saint Francis, with whom the Alpha and Omega was holy poverty, we
end with him, and may God give us the grace as his true children never to be untrue to his spirit.
When he was dying, having been true to poverty always, he wished to be true to the very last the
very habit that clothed him as he lay upon his couch, he saw to it that it was only loaned to him
by the Superior. He did not want it to be regarded as his habit at all, and then he requested as the
end approached that even that habit be taken off, and that one of the friars be sent to walk the
distance of a mile and back again and during that time he had some ashes strewed in the form of
a cross upon the ground, and stripped of his clothes as Christ died naked on the cross, he lay
naked on the bare earth that he might thus manifest by his last act his fidelity to Lady Poverty
unto the last.

Document 50
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
129.]

PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THE ATONEMENT

Sisters’ Retreat

Sept. 22, 1926

As Sisters of the Atonement you ought to have a very great devotion to the Precious
Blood of the Atonement. It is a very ordinary thing for a Sister to go to Confession, and
sometimes, her confession does not take more than two minutes, and yet if she were the only
person in the world it would have been necessary for her salvation and for her forgiveness for
Our Lord Jesus Christ to have gone through all His agony and to have shed His precious Blood.
It was an awful cost that Christ paid for the Sacrament of Penance. He showed His predilection
for it, for He was no sooner on the cross than He began to plead with the Father that men might
have the benefit of the Blood that He was shedding to make an Atonement for the sins of the
whole world. His first words were, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He
pleaded with His Precious Blood to make an Atonement even for the sins of those who were
putting Him to death.

Document 51
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
180-186. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

BLESSED SACRAMENT

September 23, 1926

This is the day which we are dedicating to the consideration of the Vow of Chastity. We
spoke this morning of the glory of virginity and how watchful we should be to guard and
protect and preserve so inestimable a gift. The natural complement of such a meditation is one
on the Blessed Sacrament.

We have already pointed out to you that obedience is the vow which we observe best
when we are devoted to the Most Sweet Will of God the Father; that poverty finds its expression
and reality in devotion to God the Holy Ghost, and religious chastity, the state of holy virginity,
finds its expression in devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, in fact, without the Blessed
Sacrament the convent, I fear, would be a desert. It would lose its charm and attraction; it would
be impossible, no matter how wonderful the Rule was, how magnificent the discipline, to
maintain and keep together the community. What the sun is to the planets upon their orbits
around it, so is the Blessed Sacrament in the life of the individual nun and the community at
large. They all revolve around the Real Presence, Jesus in the Mass and in the tabernacle. It is
where they go to find their life and inspiration and their happiness and their contentment, the
preservation and the fulfillment of their Vows. Without It the life itself would be impossible.

God has made the human family male and female, and in nature He has put certain
affections and attractions, as the desire of the wife towards her husband. God took her out of his
side, converted a rib of Adam into Eve, and the consequence is attraction, and the married life of
the world is based upon that mutual attraction and, therefore, it is explained under that likeness.
But if the principles of the religious life are simply figments of the imagination, if there was not
some supernatural infusion into the heart of the religious of a genuine love for the Heavenly
Spouse, a love which transcends the love of the ordinary wife for her husband, why then there
would be no religious life. One might carry it out for a while exteriorly, but there would be no
heart in it, there would be no satiety of the inward desires and consequently, the community
would go to pieces.

It all centers in the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord said, "Whosoever eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him." And in that union of those that have consecrated
themselves to Him, there is a going out of the love and of the affections and of our whole being,
so that when we are faithful in our Communions, then it becomes second nature of the religious
life and it becomes as supernatural for the religious to love Our Lord patiently and devotedly as
it is natural for the woman in the world to love her husband, one is according to grace and one
according to nature. So that the evidence of the reality of Our Lord's presence in the Blessed
Sacrament we judge by its fruits, we know it by our own personal experience, that if it was not
for that union which we have through our Communions then that satisfaction of our interior
desires centered in Him, would not be there.
 It is difficult for people who are not of the Catholic religion to understand the religious
life, as Mrs. Avery up the road, talking confidentially one day to the mother of one of our
Sisters, said, "Are not those queer people who live in the convent?" She thought they must have
several screws loose in their head, for any such life as that it is difficult for them to understand
because it does not come within the scope of their experience. As a matter of fact, look at the
religious life, its discipline, the constant mortification of our natural disposition, the tiny cell, the
bed of straw, the same garments day in and day out of the simplest kind, getting up at a certain
time every day, doing the same prosaic things, Mass, then breakfast, then work, then more
prayers, dinner, more prayers, more work in the afternoon and then some more prayers, supper
and a little time of recreation, when generally they are busy. Then they go to bed, then that is all
there is to it; and then you have to be mortified all the time. Every time you turn around you
know you are obeying somebody, not doing it just because you want to. Then you go out on the
missions and it is hard work all the time, and sometimes ordinary people would have a real
distaste for it.

There is a picture in The Lamp this month of one of the Sisters (Sister Clementina) with a
black youngster in her arms, her face all beaming with affection. That is not natural because
ordinarily people do not love the dark skinned people very much, and yet the Sisters enjoy all
those things. There must be a wonderful something, and, of course, the something is the union
that we have interiorly with the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, His presence in the
Blessed Sacrament. He infuses into the souls that are united with Him a supernatural love, a love
which is the beginning of the fulfillment of that first and great commandment, "Thou shall love
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul and thy whole mind and thy whole
strength," and as a consequence, growing out of that commandment, because the fire is inside of
it there goes heat out of the furnace, there goes the natural love of our fellow men, love for the
children, love for the poor, for the unfortunate, love for the souls of men. And after all, by that
love, which is simply the same impulse that burned in the heart of Christ Himself, those labors
for others have become a joy for us and as far as the thirst of the human heart is concerned, it is
satisfied, it is satisfied in God Who made it for Himself. And all this is the fruit and result of that
union with our Divine Lord which comes and takes place through Holy Communion.

When the Holy Ghost came upon the Blessed Virgin and she conceived and bore in her
womb the "Word made Flesh," there was a wonderful love that sprung up in her heart for the
Divine Infant even before He was born, and her whole being went out to Him in love afterwards,
and she loved Him as never a mother loved her offspring. And the same Divine Infant gives
Himself to us in Holy Communion, gives to us the same flesh and blood which He derived from
His mother, and in some mysterious way He takes possession of us and we become bone of His
bono and flesh of His flesh, and as a mother loves her own flesh and blood, we are loved by Our
Lord because we practically become part of Him in this wonderful result of Communion. This
is, indeed, a most marvelous, a most amazing, most astonishing thing, but, thanks be to God, it is
the greatest of realities, and upon that basis is the wonderful success of the religious life. We see
probably a hundred thousand religious in this country, and you see Sisters all over the world
going out into the vastness of the wilderness, and yet, going with that courage and confidence
that is actuated by that supreme confidence and trust and love in our Blessed Lord.

Ask the natural woman who would shrink from leaving her home to go up to Alberta,
Canada, or over to Vancouver. Our Sisters are going with cheerful confidence because they feel
that our Lord is going with them, that He will not forsake them and is with them and actuating
them by His love and sustaining them, just as He does in Sour Lake, Texas, or anywhere else
where the Sisters may go. Now that is a wonderful thing, and the only explanation of it is the
reality of the Blessed Sacrament.

When I was an Anglican I tried to build a community up on the Mount of the Atonement.
People came up there, but they did not stay very long. They left and there seemed to be
something lacking. There was certainly not as much grace in the Anglican Church as there is in
the Catholic Church, otherwise the religious life would be more prolific among them. There are
a few communities that exist, but they are rather slack in their numbers and do not have the same
grace that is in the Catholic Church. Now the things that we are familiar with, the things of every
day, we sometimes do not appreciate by the very fact that they are daily occurrences. Now there
is the custom of the faithful even in the world, if they can manage it, to receive Holy
Communion every day, and an altogether prevailing rule in religious communities, there is at the
same time a certain amount of danger of lack of appreciation because our Communions are
every day.

I think I told you in the last retreat-- some of you were present at that time-- about a
certain revolution taking place in the sixteenth century up in Greenland, where the Catholic
Church was practically obliterated, priests were either driven out of the country or slain, and just
a handful of Catholics remained in that far Northern country, and yet it was a custom on the day
before Christmasevery year through the long winter night -- and it was almost endless night
through the trackless wastes of snow -- for those few Catholics to travel many miles to come
together in a certain cottage at the foot of a hill in a rather sequestered place. And when they
assembled there, the venerable head of the house, over seventy years of ago, with his hair
bleached white as the snow outside, would arise and after the roll was called to find out that the
faithful only were there, he would speak to them and say, "Fifty years ago I served the last Mass
that was celebrated in Greenland," and then he would take out of a basket the corporal that was
used at that Mass and hold it before the people and say to them, "On this corporal rested the
sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the last time that Mass was said.” And then
he would invite the people, with tears streaming down their faces, as a substitute for their
Christmas Communion to venerate that cloth, now beginning to decay, that fifty years ago was
only a corporal at the last Mass celebrated in their country, and in earnest entreaty they would
cry to God to hasten the day when they might have a church again. See what those people
sacrificed because they lacked the Mass and this was the nearest approach to it, the venerated old
corporal on which fifty years ago Mass had been celebrated.

Sometimes very thoughtlessly we come in to Mass and our thoughts wander and we are
distracted, even at the time we receive Holy Communion, and there are no tears rolling down our
cheeks on account of our Communion. Many a young man goes through a seminary and spends
long years in study, twelve years or so, preparing for the priesthood. When at length the day of
Ordination comes, he is tremendously excited and all his friends are, and it is with unusual
trepidation and a feeling of emotion that he comes to the altar to celebrate his first Mass, and
then all his friends in the church are so interested because it is his first Mass, and yet, every other
Mass He celebrates until the day of his death is just as stupendous as the first one, it is the same
Lord of Glory who comes down, it is the same tremendous act of Consecration He performs
when He says the words, "Hoc.... "
 We are such strange creatures that what we do every day becomes a sort of matter of
habit. We do not realize and appreciate what it is, and so it is necessary for us to try to stir
ourselves up to greater devotion and greater appreciation by our meditations and our
conferences, and by the special efforts we make from time to time for the greater honor and
devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. And surely God wills us in our holy Society to
make one of the prominent themes of our life, devotion to Him in the Blessed Sacrament. "Oh,"
we might say, "that is the same with all religious communities," and yet, we do know that when
God gave us our three texts, He meant thereby to impress upon us fundamental things of
devotion, and so we have these three texts, one in relation to God the Holy Ghost, one in relation
to the Most Sweet Will of God the Father, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
Whom we have now received the Atonement," a possibility of obedience because Christ became
obedient to death, even unto the death of the cross, and then that description of the institution
of the Blessed Sacrament which is used in the Mass of Corpus Christi. So certainly God has
impressed upon us a special devotion to our Eucharistic Lord, and it is all so wonderful, the
“length, the breadth, the height, the depth of the love of Christ.” Who shall comprehend it? We
ought not to allow custom, familiarity, daily practice of receiving Holy Communion to lessen in
any degree our devotion to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Thank God, we have not any cause to urge or spur our Sisters or Friars either as far as
that is concerned, to get up in the morning and be present at Holy Communion. We have no
difficulty of that sort on the Mount of the Atonement. The Mother has not any difficulty as far
as the Sisters here at the convent are concerned. They are all ready and eager for their Holy
Communion, and none of them would deprive themselves of it unless the case was a rather
extraordinary one, and yet, our capacityof appreciating the Real Presence of Jesus can be
increased, and it ought to be increased, first of all by praying to God to give us a larger capacity
of appreciation of Our Lord in Holy Communion so that as we grow older instead of becoming
less devoted to the Blessed Sacrament because it is always with us, our appreciation of what it
means and our love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as the fruit of our Holy Communions and
our devotion in every possible way ought to increase.
Then we have the duty of showing our devotion and reverence to Our Lord in the
Blessed
Sacrament by making the sanctuary as beautiful as we can. Certainly the Sisters are doing
something in that regard by your Tabernacle Guild, and certainly the Sisters work hard and
diligently every day to make beautiful vestments and promote the beauty of the sanctuary by
providing vestments which are more beautiful than ordinary vestments, commonly called the
Roman vestments, although in reality the Gothic. [Previous sentence is incomplete.] You do not
see Saint Patrick with one of the modern "fiddle-back" chasubles, as they are sometimes called,
but he is robed in Gothic vestments, so-called. Then the great care Saint Francis had we should
have to keep the church clean. Certainly nobody can find any fault at the Mother House, and I do
not believe that any of the Superiors of the other Houses are careless about that. At least
whenever I visited any of them, I never found any carelessness displayed, and it is a source of
edification and gratification that they are always very careful about the order and cleanness of
the chapel. Although they are very, very busy, they do not neglect the Lord's tabernacle.

Another thing which the Sisters should be very careful about and maintain the position
at the Mother House, and that is in regard to liturgical worship, the recitation of the Divine
Office. It brings you into choir and into the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and there you
render to God a worship and homage which is the earthly reflection of that perpetual worship
which goes on in Heaven. The Benedictines regard the Opus Dei, the Divine Office, their
principal duty, more important than anything else. [Previous sentence is incomplete.] Although
we are missionaries and our time is devoted much to work for souls, nevertheless, the worship
and honour and love of God, the fact that we belong to Him, His service, should be first,
consequently, our Office is a duty to render praise to God, and it should have first place in our
hearts, and we should be somewhat alarmed if we find that we leave our work so reluctantly
and we do not like to hear the bell that calls us to chapel and we think, "Oh, there goes the bell, I
have got to stop this work."

We certainly ought to be interested in the divine praises more than anything that calls us
away from the choir, where we are going to spend some time in the presence of our Eucharistic
Lord. The nearest approach that we have to Heaven is the sanctuary. It is the fulfillment of that
vision which Saint John saw, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them. And they shall be His people and God Himself with them shall be their God." Every
sanctuary, because of the real presence of Our Lord, is a little Heaven on earth. If we could see
them, we would see the Angels adoring Him. Therefore, the duties that bring us into choir,
bring us into proximity to the Real Presence, ought to be in our heart first, and if we find it is not
so, there is something that needs to be corrected.

Then there is the wonderful opportunity for intercessory prayer that the Presence of Our
Lord gives. He is the King and we come before Him to intercede for others. We read in the
Book of Esther how Haman had planned the destruction of all the children of Israel in the
Persian Empire on a certain day, and the king had sealed the decree with his ring, and the day
was approaching and Mordecai called on his niece, who had found favor with the King and had
become the queen, and toldher the situation and asked her to go in and see the king. She said,

"Well, the king has not sent for me a number of days, and if I go into the
king's presence and he does not stretch out his sceptre, death is the penalty, if I
am not invited."

Nevertheless, she fasted and prayed, and when she went in to the king he stretched out
his sceptre. She made her intercession for the people and saved their lives and brought about the
death of their great enemy.

And so when the nun goes before the tabernacle, she is like Queen Esther when she went
in before the king, and there is no death penalty attached, no danger when she goes in before the
tabernacle that He will strike her dead. He is only too pleased to have His spouse come in. He
is too often forgotten. And when you come in before the King, there is your opportunity to
intercede for sinners, to intercede for the world, to intercede for some particular person you are
interested in, to ask for their salvation or for some other favor which you feel they need.

This matter of the watch before the Blessed Sacrament in our convent chapels is a very
important thing, something that I used to look forward to and think about in the days before I
know there was a Graymoor, and it is a satisfaction to see that certain hours during the day are
given up to intercession before the Blessed Sacrament and the precious midnight hour. Let us
hope that some day when the Community is large enough this will be extended so that there will
be at least one convent in every province where we will have something like the Poor Clares, a
perpetual watch before the Blessed Sacrament for the Sisters detailed for that particular purpose;
while others are laboring on the missions these Sisters will be praying for them constantly night
and day and for all the petitions that are sent in to be prayed for by the faithful in the world who
need their prayers.
And as far as the time will permit, I hope that the Sisters detailed for that duty of
intercession will realize what a tremendous responsibility it is. People have a wonderful
confidence in your prayers. They send thousands of petitions to Our Lady of the Atonement to
be prayed for and The Lamp every month gives a list of some of the more striking cases of
gratitude that they express for the prayers of the Sisters. You also know that the Friars in their
Novenas to Saint Anthony and the Little Flower receive thousands and thousands of petitions.
When you go before the tabernacle in those watches, try to realize that it is part of your duty to
pray and intercede with Our Lord for those people who look to Graymoor with hope, [that they]
may not be disappointed in their hope that God will be gracious through your intercession to
grant their favors. We owe them this because we depend upon their alms for livelihood. If those
people do not have faith in our prayers in union with the great Saints we invoke, and send those
petitions to us, where would we be? Who would pay the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-
maker, either here in our convent or on the Mountain? We would have been bankrupt long ago,
if it had not been for those who send in offerings for Saint Anthony, etc., and so would the
Sisters. If it were not for the Novena to Our Lady of the Atonement, where would you be,
excepting God in His providence provided something else? Now if those people offer those
petitions to our great Eucharistic King through us, we should petition Him as Esther petitioned
before King Ahasuerus for her people.

Document 52
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV 62-
69. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters. Of note is the amount of times Fr.
Paul begins a sentence with the word “Now.” It is his style.]

CHASTITY
September 23, 1926

Today we will dedicate to Holy Chastity, and that will be the subject of our conference
this morning.

“Thou art all fair, my beloved, and there is no spot in thee.”

This is the compl[iment] and the salutation of Our Lord to the virgin whom He has
espoused to Himself. Of course, the words in their fullest significance refer to Our Blessed
Mother, who is the Mother of Virgins. When we are dealing with the subject of obedience, we
take Our Lord as the supreme model for imitation, and when it comes to holy virginity, we take
the virgin of virgins, the Mother of Christ and our own glorious Mother, Our Lady of the
Atonement.

Theologians have speculated as to what attracted the divine love towards Mary so that
God should have adopted her as daughter, mother and spouse. Some have said that it was
virginity, others have said humility, one of the Fathers combines the two and says that it was her
virginity that attracted and her humility through which she conceived our Blessed Lord.
 The value that the Blessed Virgin herself places upon virginity is manifested in the
conversation which she had with the Archangel Gabriel when he suddenly appeared before her
with his salutation, "Hail Mary, full of grace," and she was evidently troubled in regard to her
vow of virginity, which she had evidently already made in the consecration of her pure soul to
God. The question, "How can this thing be, seeing that I know not man?" and the very fact that
she held virginityso highly, made her all the more delectable in the sight of God and worthy to
be the mother of His Son. The angel explained to her how she would always be the virgin and,
nevertheless, by special intervention of divine providence, the mother of the Only Begotten Son
of God. Then the Angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary." Very evidently she was troubled at his
presence and thereby she revealed her humility, her fear lest this unspeakable treasure of
chastity, of holy virginity, should be taken away from her.

And so we have in her an example first of all, how the nun, the religious, should put an
unspeakable value upon this holy virtue of virginity, and at the same time how she should be
filled with Godly fear and solicitude, based upon deep humility, lest by any fault of her own, or
any circumstances over which she had no control, she might be bereft of it. I say circumstances
over which we have no control. We can imagine Saint Clare, whose feast we are celebrating
today, what fear came into her heart, blanching her face and filling with terror both herself and
the nuns that came flocking into her room around her sick bed, when the news came that the
dreadful Saracens (you know what the reputation of the Saracens is, and the Saracens had the
same reputation then as the Bolsheviks have now) were surrounding Saint Damian’s and already
climbing up the parapets."What a terrible fear must have come into their hearts until Saint Clare
had recourse to Our Lord and expressed her great fear to Him about the virginity that had been
consecrated to Him at the altar, and then, as you know, Our Lord drove back and paralyzed with
fear these men that were actually scaling the walls of the convent.

So remember that this is an exceedingly precious jewel and it has to be guarded with
great solicitude. How wonderful are the descriptions that are given in Holy Scripture showing
what in the mind of God the holy gift of virginity is. "How beautiful is the chaste generation
with glory," There is an immense amount in that expression of the Holy Ghost. Then we have
Our Lord in His sermon on the mount saying, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God," not only seeing Him with clear vision in Heaven, but they also have special privileges in
their pure souls of seeing the vision of God, and having great faith, expounding spiritual truths
and banqueting at the feast of the great King in the Holy Eucharist and in the Divine Office, in
their meditations and in that sense of the divine Presence which they carry around with them in
their heart, and then will the veil be lifted in the Apocalypse of the hereafter. You know that
wonderful vision that was given to Saint John of the hundred forty and four thousand who
follow the Lamb whithersoever He went. There may be places in Heaven where ordinarily saints
are not permitted to enter, a very interior palace of the great King Himself. In this world, as you
know, are certain places where ordinary people cannot enter in the royal palace and in the formal
quarters of a king and queen, but the ladies-in-waiting, the maids of honor are admitted, and
where gentlemen are in attendance on the king, and they come even into secret quarters of the
king's residence.

And so the very innermost sanctuary of the King of Kings is open, to the virgins who
follow Him whithersoever He goeth, and join in that great song that is sung in Heaven in the
praise of God, that "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and art and is to come."
All the vast multitudes sing that song, and then there is our Lady's own song which must thrill
everyone who hears it in the celestial choirs, the Magnificat. There is a special song which the
virgins sing, that is especially pleasing to God, which Our Blessed Lord loves as a favorite song,
and it is their privilege to sing it.

All these are a few illustrations of what the Holy Scriptures say about virginity. Even
pagan Rome reverenced virginity, they exalted it, almost deified it. They had their vestal virgins
and when a Roman conqueror passed in triumph through the streets of Rome, if he chanced to
meet one of the vestal virgins, the procession stopped, he arose from his chariot and made
profound reverence and greeting to the vestal virgin. And if a criminal on his way to execution
chanced to meet a vestal virgin.by a word she could save him from death. This is also true of the
virgin in religion. Our Lord rises to greet such an one. He shows them special marks of his
favor. There are always, even by the highest representatives of Our Lord in the Church, from the
Pope himself down through the Cardinals, certain courtesies shown to religious. And then they
speak the word of pardon. How many are released from condign punishment of the Almighty
through the intercession of His virgins, Our Lady, who by her prayers keeps purgatory more or
less empty, and Saint Theresa through her prayers it is said saved more souls than Saint Francis
Xavier did by his preaching, and certainly the eloquence of the nun in her virgin soul who pleads
with God for sinners is an eloquence that penetrates the ear of the Most High, so that she carries
pardon on her lips.

But there is another side of the picture, the contrast of it. If it is true "How beautiful is
the chaste generation with glory," when one loses their virginity through wilful sin, then that
saying is changed and we might turn it around and say, "How ugly is the unchaste generation
with shame," The world, no matter how low its standard may be, has a special title for the
woman that has lost her virginity, the woman who becomes publicly a woman of shame. They
call her a fallen woman. If aperson commits some other crime, some other offence against
society, they do not call her that, it is only when she has lost her virginity, her purity, that
something which is inherent in woman, which, when it is taken away, she becomes shameful in
the eyes of men. "Blessed are the pure in heart." One might transpose that and say, "cursed are
the impure in heart." If through wilful sin one who wore the habit should give themselves to a
mortal violation of the holy vow of chastity, the peace of God in the convent is at an end.
Whatever beauty there is in the religious life and in her duties and in her services, ceases. Her
conscience cries out against her. She carries with her the sense that she is abhorrent and
loathsome in the sight of Christ, as a wife who has been untrue to her vow at the altar is in the
sight of her faithful husband.

Now this is to be said in regard to holy chastity, that it is an exceedingly delicate vessel.
It is like a beautiful cut-glass vase, very precious, something like the one which Mr. Brow
showed me on the mantlepiece in his dining room, which was given to him by some wealthy
gentleman in New York. You let it slip from the hand and fall on the floor and shiver, then it is
all gone. It has to be handled with great care, and, therefore, humility is said to be the virginity
of the soul.
One must be very careful about it and very guarded in regard to it, and so Holy Church in
her solicitude to preserve the virginity of her spouses in religion does not do exactly like the old
Roman authorities who put policemen on guard around the vestal virgins to protect them from
espionage, but everything that the wisdom of the Church can do for the cloister is done by
regulations and enclosure and keeping the nuns from contact with the opposite sex, except in the
discharge of their duties and then with every guarding possible. When they go abroad there
should be two of them together in one place. All those things are done with solicitude to aid the
nun in the protection of her vow, and the nun herself in the spirit of fear and humility should
cooperate with all the regulations and never become presumptuous on the subject, for, as I say, a
little carelessness may lead to sad results.

On more than one occasion in celebrating Mass I have had to use a chalice that was bent,
so that when it was on its base it was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and that tells the story of
some careless priest or sacristan, who in handling the sacred vessel allowed it to fall on the floor
and caused the dent. It is always to me a source of great annoyance to celebrate Mass with a
chalice out of plumb. It tells the story of carelessness. So if anyone that is consecrated to Our
Lord in religion ever goes away from the path of virtue, or loses her virginity, it must be due
more or less to her own presumption, or her own carelessness or lack of watchfulness of being
on guard.

Now it is well known by theologians and, also, the teaching of the Bible that this is a
virtue which has to be guarded and protected, that as far as the virtue of virginity and chastity is
concerned, the regulation is that we must keep away from the proximity of danger, avoid
approximate cause, and we cannot be too careful in the matter. There is a story told of a man
dulled in his mind, unbalanced somewhat, who conceived the idea that he was made of glass,
consequently he was very nervous. If anybody came too close to him, he feared that in the
contact he might break his nose or a finger off.

Now some people in religion are not like that, those who have this chastity in glass
vessels, but on the contrary they think they are girded with iron. They think that they can read
any book they choose, meet anybody. They think they do not need any mortification of the eyes
at all, gaze around and see everything and follow everything that is going. They think that they
are impervious to any danger of losing their holy chastity. That would be a very sad position for
anyone to be in because it is not based on fact. When Joseph encountered that great temptation in
Potifar’s house, he did the only thing that could be done. He made an ignoble flight, and
although the amorous wife of Potifar seized on his cloak, he left it behind him, even though that
was evidence against him and he was thrown into prison, but God vindicated him later on.

Now "forewarned is forearmed," and we have not only Professed Sisters here, but the
white-veiled Novices and some of the postulants that will go on to profession and clothing. I
want to point out to you where the dangers lie. There are three things which you want to look
out for. The first one is yourself, for it is possible to commit adultery with oneself. I have often
heard persons, especially of the other sex, say, "Father, I committed adultery with myself.” I
know perfectly well what he means. There is a solitary violation of chastity, and although it is
commoner with men than it is with women, nevertheless it is common enough, alas, with women
out in the world. They say that the majority of the people who are in insane asylums are there
because of God's judgment on the solitary sin against chastity. "Know ye not that your bodies are
temples of the living God?" St. Paul says, "He that defileth..." and it is a defilement, a very great
defilement of this holy temple to play with it for the gratification of the sex passion. I remember
once having to go to see a man in an insane asylum. I never forgot the experience. The lower
part of the building was occupied by demented women. There was a glass along the corridor,
and these women came and scraped with their hands and with their strange faces looked through
the glass, and I could not help wonder in my mind how many of them were in that state because
of this secret sin. If it is detestable in the sight of God in people out in the world, how much
more so if it is committed by those that are in religion?

Then the second one that you have to be on your guard about is your own companions,
because although one may not be conscious of it, there is that latent sex urge and sometimes it
finds its expression in companionship. In the world some very horrible things arc done by girls
in each others companionship, and although it is hard to conceive of a religious going to that
extreme, nevertheless there are certain attractions that are a little bit off the normal. There is
among men that sin of Sodom, a horrible thing. And God wiped Sodom out of existence because
of it. And the very birds today as they come near its site, go clear around it by some instinct that
God has put in them. There is sometimes that thing manifesting itself, if not among those of the
other sex, and even though one may be quite unconscious of it, there is a certain attraction which
certain nuns feel towards others and which has down at the bottom of it this very thing as its
urge and its impulse, though they may not be conscious of it. Consequently, these immoderate
affections very easily disturb the peace of the soul and come in between the virgin and her
spouse, and therefore, you should look out for that.

Then the third one is of the opposite sex, of course. Now ordinarily Sisters are guarded
by their environment, and one in a normal condition by reception of the Sacraments, etc., and by
keeping her mind off sex matters goes quite serenely on in her life and is not disturbed, but
nevertheless there is the slumbering volcano underneath, something that may jump up all of a
sudden and surprise one. I read sometime ago about a young bear cub that was trained as a
domestic animal about the house and seemed to be perfectly gentle. The children played with it
almost like a kitten. One day a young boy had been out shooting, and had shot some birds and he
had them tied by a string, He came swinging them along and the bear came out to play with him,
and in a playful way he struck the bear across the mouth with those birds. The bear got a taste of
blood and the wild animal was rampant immediately and he did not stop until he devoured his
companion.

So there is in us something latent which is like dynamite, it is a very innocent thing

unless there is concussion and then there is an explosion. Therefore, one has to be very careful
about contact. There are certain people that come in contact with Sisters and, therefore, for those
people they want to be very careful. Sometimes you have to have men employed about a convent
and sometimes they come into rather familiar contact with the Sisters. They have great
confidence in them, they rely upon them very much, and sometimes those things lead to
unfortunate alliances. They have done so. I remember when I was still an Anglican clergyman
of being told by a mechanic, I think he was an electrician, of going into a convent to put up the
electric lights, etc., and having gotten into a love affair with one of the inmates.

Then another person who comes into the convent on more or less intimate terms is the
doctor, and therefore, he is to be watched out for, because sometimes in illnesses he comes into
very close contact with the patient and there is danger. I recollect again an interview I had years
ago with Doctor McGarvey, who became a Catholic like myself afterwards, but while this matter
of Rome was agitating his mind, he sort of justified his position. He said to me one day, "Can
not tell all there is inside of the Roman Catholic Church; I am afraid everything is not all right,"
[Previous sentence is unclear.] He told me of an acquaintance of his, a doctor, and some of his
experiences with the nuns he encountered. in the hospitals in the practice of his profession. That
is another little warning.
 Then there is always the greatest care to be exercised in regard to the priest, the chaplains
who minister to the Sisters, especially when they belong to the same order and society. There is
apt to be a feeling on the spiritual side of closer affiliations because we belong to the same
family, brothers and sisters in God. You have to be careful about these things, because the
dividing line between that which is spiritual and that which is simply carnal is sometimes rather
undefined. You cannot separate your soul from your body. Neither can we always draw the line
between what is purely spiritual and what is not spiritual. There is a proverb among the Spanish
that there ought to be a wall between a man saint and a woman saint, and that is just the reason
why walls are put between communities. And as those contacts arise, the nun has to exercise the
greatest care and use all the precautions which Religion provides, lest there grow up little by
little in her heart an interest in the priest whom she serves in the mission, or the confessor, or the
Religious with whom she comes more or less in contact for one cause or another, that does not
spring from an entirely spiritual source and just grows out of that inherent thing which God has
put in us, but belongs to nature.

Now I mention all those things so that you may be on your guard. The overwhelming
majority of our nuns are faithful to their vows. It is an exceedingly sad and very pathetic thing
when any of them ever go astray, but there is such a possibility, and therefore, as this is
something that you want to carry undefiled before the throne of God, watch over it. There is a
beautiful saying of the Psalmist which I hope will be as much impressed on your mind as it is on
my mind, "Keep innocency and take heed unto that which is right, for that bringeth a man peace
at the last."

Now in regard to the matter of Confession. Sometimes it is very difficult for nuns to
confess anything that is a violation of holy purity. If it simply a thought and it is only a venial
one, just a passing thing, then it is not necessary to go into analysis of it every time you go into
the confessional. You simply need to say, "I had an impure thought," and let it go at that. That is
sufficient, and if it is a slight one, it is not even necessary to mention it, because it is not
grievous. But if there has been any real departure from holy virtue, mention it as modestly as
you can, but nevertheless clearly. After all Confession is one of the greatest protections.
Sometimes these unfortunate love affairs that grow up in a community have progressed before
any warning is given to priest or confessor about it at all, because they do not say anything about
it, until it has perhaps gone too far. So when it comes to that matter, do not have any more
hesitation about mentioning it any more than you would have about anything else, because it is
part of our human nature and it is a matter of fact, to be expected and it is to be mentioned in
just the same way that any physical ailment would be mentioned to the physician of the body.

There is another thing. You want to make a distinction between a temptation and a sin.
Sometimes nuns may be very much troubled about horrible thoughts that come to them and
haunt them, and they may think that of itself is a pollution. But it is not. God has permitted some
of His holiest servants to be sorely tried on that score. In the life of Saint Catherine of Siena, for
example, we read that for a long period of time she was dominated by devils that put all sorts of
thoughts intoher, so that her soul seemed to be submerged in filth, that seemed exceedingly
detestable to her. And when our Lord made one of His visits to her, which He did occasionally,
she respectfully asked Him why it was that He left her so long amid such disagreeable
temptations, and he replied, "No, I was not absent from you. I was in the very midst of your soul
all the time, strengthening you and at the same time admiring your loyalty in the midst of the
temptations." So when the thing is simply a temptation, recognize that God permits them for a
test of our loyalty and faithfulness and of your holy vow, and that it is only sin when the will
consents, when we entertain those thoughts and stir up our imagination and take pleasure in
them. But so long as the will rebels and resists and we are praying to get rid of them, that is only
a temptation and trial. It is not a sin. I say that for the consolation of some who may be sorely
tried in that regard.

A certain school girl was sent away to boarding school and she had a taste of her own
weakness at the beginning. Her birthday was approaching and she hoped that at that time she
would hear from her mother, and her hope was gratified--mothers do not forgot--and the day
before her birthday a box of considerable size was received and given to her. When she opened
it, she found it contained three packages and they were labelled Nos. 1, 2 and 3, an indication
that they were to be opened in their order. So she opened number one, a rather small package,
and she was much pleased to find that it contained a lovely mirror, and underneath it was
written, "As you look in this mirror you will see yourself as you are," and she accordingly
looked into the mirror with considerable delectation and said to herself, "Well, now I am a pretty
girl," Then the second package was more bulky and round in shape, and when she opened it to
her horror she found in it a skull, and she said, "What in the world did my mother give me such
a thing as that for?” Then she read, "This is what you will be some day.” This did not encourage
her to open the third package, but she finally did and to her delight there was a beautiful golden
statue of our Blessed Mother and underneath the inscription, "This is what you ought to be."

So for the Sisters let this be your model, our Blessed and Glorious and Immaculate
Mother, Our Lady of the Atonement. She is your model and what she was, you ought to be, and
by the grace of God you will be.

Document 53
[The talk is contained in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., I 37-42. It was
given by Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., to the Atonement Sisters. He describes devotion to Our Lady of
the Atonement and tells the Sisters to spread it among the laity, especially the children.]

OUR LADY OF THE ATONEMENT

September 24, 1926

We now come to the last conference of the retreat. I will say a few words of farewell.
God willing, at the Mass in the morning, after which the "Te Deum" of Thanksgiving is sung,
and I am sure you will agree with me that no more fitting subject of our concluding conference
could be chosen than that of Our Lady of the Atonement.

A mother teaching her baby child to make the Sign of the Cross, taking the little man's
hand, directing it from his forehead to his breast, and from shoulder to shoulder, asking him to
repeat after her, "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," when she
was interruptedby the question, "Mama, where is Mother?" and quite a natural query on the part
of the child in whose life a mother figured so prominently, and indeed, Our Lord said, "Except
ye be converted and become as little children ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven."
 God, in His infinite love, has provided a mother for us. A child is to be pitied who has
not a mother. When we study the history of all religious foundations we find that the servants of
God, the ones that God has chosen and called for the work of laying some new branch of the
religious family, they have always been characterized, by a special devotion to the Blessed
Mother and since the Society of the Atonement called into being in these latter days is a Society
of God's predilection, it is natural to suppose that it will manifest in some way a devotion to the
Mother of God.

I wonder if we appreciate sufficiently the great mark of predilection that God has put
upon it, that He has privileged not only to give us a devotion to Our Lady in common with all
religious communities,but He has privileged us to know the Blessed Virgin and to honor her by
so glorious a title and yet a new title in the Church, Our Lady of the Atonement, even as the
name Society of "the Atonement" was preserved through all the centuries that our Institute might
hold it in these latter days, although it is so obvious and so prominent that one wonders how it
ever could have been preserved. So God has condescended to permit us to invoke His Mother by
a new title. Neither is it a secondary title, it is of the first importance. Our Lady of Good Counsel
might be called a secondary title. Our Lady of Peace, or Our Lady, Help of Christians, or Our
Lady, Refuge of Sinners.

The two most important things in Catholic Theology, the two great pillars on which the
whole super-structure of theology rests are the Incarnation and the Atonement. Any theologian
will concede that, and therefore, when Our Lady permits us to invoke her by that title she is
permitting us to invoke her by a major title, a title beyond which there is not anything more
fundamental or more important, or more essential to the Christian religion. The Incarnation and
the Atonement, those are the two great features, without which we would all have been damned,
we would never have obtained to the beatific vision at all. So I think we ought to appreciate that
great favor shown us by God.

Moreover, in the Providence of God, it has been simply God Himself who has taught us
to invoke Our Lady in that regard. Our Lady herself has been instrumental in teaching us by
those three wonderful apparitions granted to us in the early days of our Foundation, not either of
them to the Mother Foundress or the Father Founder. It had to be through the eyes of others, yet
we have no reason to question the truthfulness of those witnesses, and they have been confirmed
to us, like our Texts, by their special significance.

I mentioned those Texts to my novice-master at Westminster, Maryland, years ago before

we came to Graymoor, and he said, "Oh that is just accident, you just happened to light on those
texts — nothing to that." But afterwards by the unfolding of the Society he became so impressed
with the wonderful providence of God that he at length changed his mind and is now a Catholic
priest and aBenedictine. He tells us that he remembers and prays for the Society of the
Atonement every day. And so if these apparitions of Our Lady had not been so remarkable, so
significant and so (marvelous?),like our three Texts, and developed as they have into devotion to
Our Lady of the Atonement, we might have discarded them. But there they are, Our Lady of the
Red Mantle with the Christ Child in her arms and the Child holding the Cross. By degrees we
have come to honor and reverence her as Our Lady of the Atonement. Therefore, as all Catholics
have their inheritance in Mary from the day when she stood by the Cross and Our Lord said,
"Woman, behold thy son," and to us in St. John, "Behold thy mother," I think that we can lay a
special claim on that Mother's love and solicitude and predilection for us by reason of this holy
Society of which we have the happy privilege of being members, and whatever our Mother has
been to others, we may be sure that she will be to us, and we can bank on that with the utmost
confidence.

Saint Bernard, speaking of the priest, called him "Alter Christus" and in fact it is a very
commonappellation to be given a priest — Another Christ. And St. Bernard says that the Sister
in religion, the virgin espoused to Christ, is Altera Maria, Another Mary, and so in a way you
must look upon yourselves as Mary's double and try as her daughters in religion to reflect the
great beauty and purity and virtue of her soul, and you can be sure that when you have that
desire and ambition that nothing will be more agreeable to our Mother than to cooperate with
you in bringing that to pass.

The devotion that we show to Mary is primarily by prayer. There has been a large
provision made in our Customs for the recitation of the Rosary; every day in connection with the
Divine Office we recite one decade of the Rosary. It seems to me that this is better than having a
special time for reciting the Rosary all at once; it is in a way economizing time and at the same
time, instead of taking the Rosary once a day into our hands to invoke Our Mother, we have to
take it seven times a day even though each time it is but a decade and there is so much in the
Rosary, such depths of meaning and significance; we say the "Our Father" and we rarely analyze
it, we do not take in what it means, we do not dissect it. It is possible to meditate upon the Our
Father one's whole life without taking any other theme, and have an abundance of food, for the
deepest and profoundest reflection upon the mysteries of God and on the various things we
ought to ask of God. In the same way the Hail Mary, and then there are the mysteries, the Seven
Joys and the Seven Sorrows, according to the Franciscan Crown, which takes us over the whole
scope of the life of God Incarnate and His Mother on earth, and following them up into Heaven,
where they are seated side by side on their glorious thrones.

Then there is the motive of intention we put behind the Rosary, and we say it in faith
and God understands our motive and intention. It is the most powerful and most efficacious way
of praying and the Sisters ought to reflect upon the general intentions with which we say the
various decades of tho Rosary every day. They are wonderful intentions and those intentions are
being answered, means such wonderful things not only for ourselves, but for the Church, for the
salvation of souls, the triumph of the Kingdom of Christ .

It is said that Beethoven, when he lacked inspiration for some of his music and his soul
failed to respond to the touch of the keys, in his devotion he would begin to recite the Rosary
until the spirit of music would come upon him and then he would sit down to the instrument and
make it throb withthose soul songs of his. And so when we cannot meditate or when we cannot
pray, or when we feel too sick or too tired, we still have the Rosary to fall back on. When one is
sick in bed, for instance, and the mind is too tired and the body is too racked with pain to form
very much articulate prayer, yet we can hold on to our Rosary, recite our beads, and surely as
Our Mother looks down from Heaven and sees us holding the Rosary in our hands, she must be
pleased.

Then think what a wonderful power there is uniting ourselves with the great multitude in
the world through the Rosary League. These good women come here in the summer to visit the
Hostel. You see how they cling to their Rosaries and how they visit Our Lady's Shrine, and it is
a wonderful thing to think of those thousands scattered abroad who take their Rosaries and
remember Graymoor and unite their prayers with ours every day in the Common Prayers of the
Children of the Atonement and how pleasing it must be to Our Lady herself.

And so one of our duties and one of the things we should take a very great interest in is
to spread devotion to the Mother of God amongst the lay folk, among our associates, for we
must realize that the Society of the Atonement, as a branch of the Franciscan Family, is not
confined to the Friars or Sisters alone, or even to the Tertiaries, but goes out to embrace a vast
multitude, in fact, we have that promise of fecundity that the Children of the Atonement would
some day become as the stars of the firmament for number and the sands of the seashore. So to
propagate the Children of the Atonement, that is one of the great purposes that the Sisters should
always keep before them, and in connection with the vocation of the Children of the Atonement
is the propagation of faith and love and devotion among those that come under the influence of
the Blessed Mother, under that glorious Atonement title.

Then of the mysteries of Our Lady of the Atonement, the best one is the mystery of Our
Lady standing beneath the cross, she is there Our Lady of Sorrows. When she brought forth her
first-born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, that Child was a
joy, there was no pain or travail as woman travails in pain to bring forth her offspring, which is
part of the original curse. God said to the woman that she should in sorrow bring forth her
children. But her travail was that when she stood by Our Lord as the New Adam offering
Himself on the cross that through His death we would live, and so Our Lord died that He might
live and become the New Adam of the redeemed children of God, and Mary became Our Lady
of the Atonement, that is to say, the mother of the Children of the Atonement, and they caused
her sorrow because they were all conceived and born in sin, and she travailed over them in union
with the travail and sorrow of Christ, the new head of redeemed humanity on Mount Calvary.

That is really the significance of Our Lady of the Atonement, our Atonement Mother,
and she still travails over her children, and her children to her are more or less a matter of
sorrow and grief, because many of them, alas, live even in mortal and deadly sins, grieving their
Mother's heart, and yet, she prays for them and struggles for them that at length she may present
them to Our Lord and to God the Father and God the Holy Ghost "without spot or wrinkle or
any such thing." And that travail has come in a measure upon the Sisters of the Atonement, for if
you are to be "Altera Maria" you should be in that respect, you have consecrated your virginity
to God, not that it should be that of a barren woman, but that rather it should be the fulfillment
of what the psalmist says, "A barren woman hath more children than she that hath a husband,"
that is, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, entering into
your missionary work and being willing to go through all the toil and travail, sorrows and
struggles, bearing whatever there is of pain and anxiety in the abandonment of yourself to the
Will of God to become fruitful, to bring forth children unto God.

Just think, for instance, of St. Clare's Mission down in the Bronx and all that it has done.
Whenthe Settlement first opened there were five thousand children in public schools who were
practically growing up without the Church, unconfirmed, not receiving Our Lord in Holy
Communion --- 700 in the parochial school were being cared for, 5,000 in the public schools that
were being neglected.Now after six years of labor there, our Sisters have presented over 3,000 of
these children for Holy Communion and Confirmation, and if the priest can call the people his
children, surely the Sisters who have mothered them and watched over them and instructed
them, took all the pains and troubles with them and brought them to the priest and prepared them
for Confession and Holy Communion, can rightly claim to be their spiritual mother.

See what tremendous offspring that is, and that will go on continually, and that is just
one mission that our Sisters have had. Think of all those children down in Philadelphia who by
the Sisters are being gradually brought to Mother Church, and if their skins are black, their souls
in the sight of God, redeemed by His Precious Blood, are just as white, if not whiter, by virtue of
contrast, and that it is white with radiant beauty in heaven. They look up to the Sisters and call
them their Mothers in God. There are the Mexicans and after a while the Ukranians up in
Alberta and the Japanese in Vancouver, and God willing, before you get through you will
probably have children all over the nations of the earth, and all that your union with Our Lady of
the Atonement and the perfect correspondence which she shall obtain for you from God and the
Holy Spirit and your union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, coupled
with your vocation, will produce in you.

And then there is that other work of bringing back the wandering sheep to the Fold, of
those more ancient sections of the Church. Surely that is a work that Our Lady will be delighted
to have you do for her, and through her assistance and help, for she loves those children. Our
Lord revealed the Father's love for the prodigal son and, of course, Mary's heart is a reflection of
the Father's heart. Almost nothing is said about the mother at home, but she must have been
praying for the wandering boy as well as the father, and the rejoicing with him at the feast and
prepared the fatted calf, just as mother usually prepares feasts today. So we can very well
imagine what love and devotion Our Lady of the Atonement has for her wandering sheep, the
heretics and schismatics, and she longs to bring them back into union with Our Divine Lord into
One Fold under one shepherd. So when our Sisters go about anything in that line, surely they
can bank on the spirit and the appreciation of their Mother, Our Lady of the Atonement.

Then besides the prayer, we must realize that in the missionary work, that which shows
the most honor and devotion to the Mother is to reflect her image in your heart and soul. There
is a story told of a certain young man who placed himself under instruction under a great artist,
but he grew weary of the humdrum tasks of just learning about the colors and about the theory of
art, he was impatient to do something big, and so he besought his master to permit him to
produce, as he thought he could, a most beautiful woman. And so he set to work with great
confidence, but the face was a failure; it had neither soul, not any special marks of beauty, it was
a plain and dull and lifeless face. Then he applied himself to dressing the body of this lady up in
gorgeous apparel, and he placedover all her jewels and ornaments of every sort. The garments
and jewels were so gorgeous that he forgot the homeliness of the face, and he was very much
taken back with what he had accomplished. So when the artist came in he was certainly
crestfallen when he looked at it. The artist shook his head and pointed to the face and said,

"That is a very ugly face, and all this finery only brings out the
homeliness all the more. If you had produced a beautiful face, the draperies and
so on would be a matter that could be dispensed with altogether, and a very plain
dress would have been all sufficient."

And so in the work of reproducing the likeness of the most beautiful of all women in
yourself, the crowned queen of them all, and the mistress and glory of God's creation, that which
is most desirable is the virtues, the purity of Mary and that divine love which glowed so
fervently within her heart and if you accomplish those things, the matter of whether you are
brilliant in talent, or whether you have external accomplishments or not, counts for very little. It
is the beauty of the soul within.
We have had some missionary Sisters of Mary here in the last few days and I took them
up to show them the picture of Our Holy Father which one of their Sisters had painted in Rome,
and when they saw it, they said, "Indeed, that is a very wonderful picture," and then they said the
Sister had gone to her reward and then they remarked that although she was such a wonderful
artist, after all she was a very simple Italian Sister, who came of humble parentage, and then one
day the Mother noticed her first drawing by natural talent--some little figures and things. She
saw the child had talent and she put her under training and developed her into this wonderful
artist that made such beautiful illuminations and such a perfect picture of Our Holy Father, And
so it is in our external form, whether we be large or small, whether we have a fine family lineage
behind us, or no lineage at all, whether we come from aristocratic walks of life, or the peasantry,
or any other particular sphere, the soul is the thing and the interior.

So try to continue to develop within yourselves the image and likeness of Mary, walking
in her footsteps, and because it demands the work of an Artist far greater than you, ask her to
employ for that work the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, as Mary's power with the Holy Ghost is
unlimited and she is the most obedient of spouses, and consequently the one that He will the
most gladly respond to. Our Lady prays for you because you have a good will, because you are
willing to make all the sacrifices necessary and to be diligent in doing your part of the work. She
will gladly pray the Holy Ghost, with His master-hand, as the great Artist, to paint the image of
Our Lady of the Atonement upon your heart and soul, and do not shrink from the sufferings and
sacrifices and all the crosses that are necessary in the process, for remember that Our Lady of the
Atonement is Our Lady of Mount Calvary.

Document 54
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
181-185. Fr. Paul Wattson. s.a., gave the talk to Atonement Sisters. Of note is the frequency of
the word “Now” to begin a sentence. It is his style. ]

OUR VOCATION

September 25, 1926

Our concluding conference will be upon the subject of our Franciscan inheritance. Our
Seraphic Father has been described in the litany which bears his name as the Abraham of the
New Law by reason of his numerous posterity. This is a great and glorious distinction given to
our Seraphic Father and one which is not flattery, it is based upon glorious fact, for he is
prominent among the great patriarchs of the Catholic Church as the one who has produced the
largest family.

There is a parallel between the natural generation and the supernatural generation. The
natural generation began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and has developed into the
human race, and in the human race we have nationalities, in the various nationalities we have
families and some are very proud of their lineage, tracing it back through centuries, especially
those of royal degree. Now the family of God, the family which originated on Mount Calvary
with Christ as the New Adam and our Blessed Lady as the Mother, or the New Eve, has also
developed into its ramifications, and there are, therefore, certain families which are well marked
out in the development of Catholic life.

There is, for instance, the Benedictine family originated by the great saint of monasticism
in the West, Saint Benedict. His sister was chosen of God to be associated with him in making a
Foundation of Religious Women, and so we have the male Benedictines and the female
Benedictines that have come down through the centuries. There are certain marks of this
Benedictine family which, by the operation of the Holy Ghost even after twelve hundred years,
are still characteristics of it. Then there are the Augustinians originated by Saint Augustine, and
we have as the contemporary of Saint Francis, Saint Dominic and the Dominicans, but the
Franciscan family is the largest of them all. Saint Francis was a very prolific patriarch. In his
own day he presided at a Chapter of Mats, where there were five thousand of his own friars
present, and that was by no means all of them. His Third Order increased and multiplied to such
a degree that almost everybody, someone said, belonged either to the Third Order of Saint
Francis, or else to the Third Order of Saint Dominic, and this family has gone on spreading,
developing for the past seven hundred years.

Now in connection with our own branch of the Franciscan family, it is to be noted that
we are the baby, as it were, in the Franciscan family as far as institutes are concerned, and we
might call ourselves the children of Saint Francis, for although in Heaven he is destined in
immortality to live on in perpetual youth for innumerable ages, yet in the measure of time and in
the development of the Catholic Church seven hundred years is a considerable span.

Now to begin the parallel with Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Joseph,
Joseph begot twelve sons and the twelve sons took possession of the promised land that was
given originally to Abraham and they divided it up as their inheritance, and the various tribes
took various portions of it.

Spiritually regarded, coming in these latter days, we like to think of ourselves as Joseph
among the tribes of the new Abraham, that a special portion has been assigned to us of the Lord's
vineyard, and we trust a special section given over to the Franciscan sons and daughters of the
Atonement in Heaven. We may well, therefore, rejoice in our Franciscan inheritance and in that
providential plenitude of blessing and multiplication of the seed of the Atonement which God
has given to us in the holy covenant, and this Franciscan inheritance is truly a wonderful thing; it
is a wondrous thing to think of ourselves as associates of the wonderful company of saints that
have sprung spiritually from the loins of the Seraphic Patriarch and have illuminated the various
ages in which they lived, to address with real consciousness of its genuineness Saint Clare as our
mother, and to think of being associated with Saint Bonaventure and with those glorious and
illustrious saints of the Franciscan family of both sexes.

Today we go abroad in the world and we find marvelous popularity wherever we go of

Saint Anthony of Padua. I do not think that I was ever in a Catholic Church that I did not find a
statue of Saint Anthony there, though there may be such, and that of itself speaks the popularity
among the people because if the people did not love Saint Anthony and demand some outward
expression of his presence in their midst, there would not be these statues, and certainly Saint
Anthony has shown a marked predilection or favor towards our holy Institute. Surely we all, and
in particular the Friars have to thank him for his wondrous help which is always vouchsafed to
us in all our financial difficulties. It is, indeed, something to be proud of that perhaps the most
popular shrine of Saint Anthony in the whole of North America is on the Mount of the
Atonement, judging by the multitudinous number of petitions that constantly pour in to that
shrine, and then that Saint Anthony answers them is indicated by the enormous number of letters
that we are receiving constantly with offerings in appreciation of favors granted.

Now it is very important for us to realize that we belong to this Seraphic family, to drink
deep at its original fountain of the spirit of Saint Francis. Saint Francis is the Seraphic Patriarch,
and that means that he was tremendous in his love for God, and consequently, as the result of it
sequestered his love for humanity. If he had not loved God superabundantly, he would not have
loved his neighbor as he did. The Seraphs are those who burn with an exceeding love of God.
They are absorbed in God. They are so interested in God that they do not pay much attention to
anything else in Heaven. Night and day they are absorbed in God so that the divine flame of fire
springs and leaps out of them. As the fire in the furnace leaped out to embrace those who cast
Sidrach, Misach and Abednago into the fiery furnace, so the fire of divine flame embraces those
Seraphs, and they in return burn with the fiery love of God. And because he burned with such a
marvelous love, Saint Francis is called the Seraphic Patriarch and we should therefore, drink
deeply of this spirit of our Father, which is the spirit of love, divine love.

Therefore, pray constantly for that which is the greatest of all the gifts of God, the love
of Himself, that it may burn within your hearts and you may be Seraphic daughters of Saint
Francis, and then the other will go along as a natural expression of it. A furnace cannot be full of
heat without radiating out the heat to those in its vicinity. So it is that those who are on fire with
the love of God necessarily throw out that fire in love towards their neighbor, especially love for
the souls of their neighbors, and this leads secondarily to the spirit of Holy Poverty.

The spirit of Holy Poverty is not merely detachment for detachment's sake, but it is
because we are constrained to be poor out of charity, out of love for others, out of desire to
spend and be spent and give to those whose need is greater than our own. That was the spirit of
Christ, that was the spirit of Saint Francis, that was the spirit of all those like the Apostles, for
example like Saint Paul, who said, "Being poor yet making many rich. I am ready te spend and
be spent, though the more I love the less I be loved," and that is the spirit and motive. A person
might be extremely stingy, they might not spend anything on themselves and exercise the
greatest efforts to be poor, and yet, they might all the time be exceedingly selfish, exceedingly
idolatrous of money, because they simply worshipped it and desired to accumulate it, but the
spirit of Franciscan poverty is exercising ourselves in the spirit of self-denial and poverty and
economy in order that all that we save may be given for the benefit of our needy brethren for the
extension of the Kingdom of God.

So God has given to us a wondrous society, the Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost, by means

of which we associate with ourselves the members of our Institute who live in the world. When
religious abandon the world it becomes the duty of the faithful in the world to support them and
maintain them with their alms, because they are set aside for the special service of God, just like
the children of Israel, the Tribe of Aaron had no particular inheritance, but all the others were to
give their tithes to support and maintain them in the worship of God because they were to give
themselves to the thanks [sic] of God. So we have the three Congregations and those that are
associated with them, the Rosary League and the Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost, contributing of
their material things for the extension of the Kingdom of God and for sustaining those works
which are incidental to our missionary vocation.

Consequently, we have the financial side of things to consider and take care of. Now we
are to be very careful that we do not fall into the snare of the people of the world. A man starts
out to make money and he starts very zealously, he says, "Now I will give God one-tenth or a
half, and if I get more than is necessary for my family, I will be very glad to spend it all on the
kingdom of God." But as his wealth increases he becomes more self-indulgent, more conceited,
and more selfish. He wants almost everything for himself and begrudges even the residue which
he passes over to God. We must not be that way, but we must always exercise ourselves in Holy
Poverty and economy, using only those things that are needful to observe the life of the poor and
this spirit of self-denial, and then with free and lavish hand as God gives to us opportunity,
distribute those gifts to the poor as Saint Elizabeth of Hungary went down from her palace to
distribute the corn in the time of famine and give alms among the poor, practicing personally
real self-denial.

And thus if we preserve this spirit of absolute self-denial, cultivating the spirit of
unselfishness, and finding our joy in spending and being spent for others, giving everything we
have without stint, not only our alms but our time and talents and strength for the souls of many,
for the extension of the Kingdom of God, then we shall have that spirit of our Seraphic Father,
and at the same time God will richly and abundantly bless us in our work, and what we need,
God will provide in His wonderful way of providing for things.

Then we are to imitate Saint Francis also in his wonderful faith. He believed with an
absolute conviction all the things that had been true. The Gospel to him was a reality. He took
Our Lord's word by the letter and went out and practiced it. And so it must be with us. And then
there is no question about God's fulfilling his part of the covenant, blessing the labors of our
hands and making us exceedingly fruitful in the vineyard of the Lord. When Jacob blessed
Joseph he said he was to be a fruitful vine whose branches run over the wall, and so branches of
our Institute run over the wall of division to gather into the unity of the one Fold even those that
are on the outside, and thus God will bless and cooperate with us to accomplish these wonderful
things if we are only true to Him as our Seraphic Father was true.

We have cause to thank God at the present time. I do not think that as far as her Institute
is concerned, the Sisters of the Atonement particularly, that our Reverend Mother is worried
very much just now, certainly not as much as she was a year ago, and after conducting two of the
retreats of the Sisters I have no anxiety in my own mind as to the results; the condition of the
Sisters is very satisfactory. Of course, we have our imperfections, our faults, our besetting sins
which we have to correct, but there is the inspiration of running more diligently in the way of
perfection. The spirit of the Sisters at the present time is one for which we truly have to thank
God, both the Mother Foundress and the Father Founder, and the Sisters themselves. A year ago
we were anxious about certain manifestations of disloyalty which were cropping up like tares
among the wheat, difficult to distinguish, but they seem to have [dis]appeared. I think that the
Sisters at the present time represent a great spirit of unity, just as the Friars do. I do not think
that there is the slightest indication of any lack of unity among them, the Friars, and I do not
think there is at the present time among the Sisters. And perhaps we have to thank our Seraphic
Father that perhaps for his seventh centenary he has obtained this favor of unity among
ourselves.

In reading the retreat book, it seems to have been in the mind of the author, who has had
a good deal of experience with religious communities, that there must be a good deal of lack of
charity among Sisters in community, judging from the lectures he has given to them, but it
seems that there is no occasion for any such lectures to our Sisters, at least at the present time,
and may God grant it may always be so. No matter how numerous you may become or how
widely scattered the Houses, always have this same unity among you, filial love of the Mother,
be loyal to her, recognizing in her one in whom dwells the spirit of God to give her judgment
and wisdom and counsel concerning the direction of her Congregation, so that that may always
prevail. And then that generous love of mutual affection among yourselves.

Surely as we approach the celebration of the Sevenhundreth Anniversary of Saint

Francis' Transitus into Heaven the prospects of our Institute are very bright indeed and are
encouraging. For the first time, in the month which commemorates Saint Francis' death, our
Sisters will cross the borders to the North and travel far into the Northwest and make, with the
blessing of God, two more foundations, and with their faces still towards the West they will be
looking across the Pacific on to the continent beyond, We look, therefore, through their
instrumentality, to the answer to the prayer which we say every day, that the sons and daughters
of the Atonement may become missionaries in all lands.

Potentially we are that already through the instrumentality of the Union-That-Nothing-

Be-Lost, and we look forward to the day when we shall not only send aid to those that are
already working on the frontier of the kingdom of God, but when we shall send of our daughters
and of our sons to labor themselves on those same frontiers.

So it is with glad hearts that we shall unite now in singing the Te Deum of praise to God,
and may the General Absolution wash away everything, every stain of sin that remains in your
soul, that you may be presented without fault before our Divine Master, and whatever faults you
have discovered, or sins that disturb your conscience, during this retreat, pray more earnestly
that God may take them away altogether and make a firm resolution that you will cooperate with
divine grace to the utmost of your ability in order that, cooperating with God, your prayers may
be fully and completely answered, and both individually and collectively, you may go on to
higher heights of sanctity and holiness, fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "The power of
the just man shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
1928
Document 55
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
145-146. Fr. Paul Wattson’s talk is given to Atonement Sisters.]

CLOTHING AND PROFESSION

November 19, 1928

Beloved Daughters in Christ,

Sometimes people ask embarrassing things, and things that are rather difficult to grant
and sometimes we have to refuse them because the things that they ask are not for the greater
glory of God or for our own benefit. Not so with the request that you have made on this
occasion. We have examined both the postulants who are to receive the holy habit and the
novices who are to be professed, and we are satisfied that you are asking this favor of Almighty
God with your whole heart and that you have so acquitted yourselves that we have the best
reasons for believing and hoping that when the favor is granted you will not lose it by any
unfaithfulness in the future.

We naturally think of St. Elizabeth of Hungary today, that great Patroness of the Third
Order of St. Francis, whose feast we are celebrating, and her example suggests first of all,
devotion to God. That is what must be the primary thing with you. You are asking for a great
thing and that is that you might become the spouses of Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and that
means on your part a tremendous amount of love and devotion to the King of kings, and in this
regard St. Elizabeth of Hungary gives you a fine example. She loved God and was true to Our
Lord under very trying circumstances. Our Lord said, "It is less difficult for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Elizabeth had
not only wealth, but she had royal position, she was brought up in a palace, espoused to royalty,
and there was, therefore, every opportunity for her go be untrue to God because there were so
many attractions. She loved her royal spouse very devotedly, she had all the temptations of
court, she was surrounded by wealth and was called upon to wear a crown, and yet in spite of all
those attractions of the world and all those counterattractions, she was absolutely true to Christ,
as the needle is true to the Pole Star, and not only was she found true in the days of prosperity,
but also of adversity, because the time came when she lost her husband, slain in a distant war,
and when she was driven out of her royal palace and turned adrift in the world.

On one occasion in this state of abandonment she encountered a poor woman whom she
had nursed in sickness. In base ingratitude this woman pushed her into the mud with contempt
and scorn, and yet all through that she was faithful to her divine Spouse and Lord, and coming to
the Franciscan church instead of bewailing her misfortune she asked them to sing a "Te Deum"
that she was found worthy to bear reproach and suffer something for Christ.

So you have this example. Invoke St. Elizabeth that you may always be true, faithful and
devoted under whatever trails or temptations that may come to you with that supreme love which
is to be the master passion of your life.
 Then Elizabeth is, also, a pattern and example to you in another regard. You are not
called to the cloistered life, you are called to the active life of God and that means a devotion to
the souls that He redeemed and ministered to -- His poor. Here we have surely an inspiring
example in St. Elizabeth again. While she was up in the palace surrounded by wealth and
feasting sumptuously every day, she did not forget the poor down in the village, nor the sick.
She went out among them as a queen and they hailed her with true devotion as a mother and
called her so. When there was a famine among the people she drained the storehouses of corn in
order to feed the poor so that reproaches and complaints were made against her, and when her
royal husband met her, supposing that she had her lap full of bread to feed the poor, lo and
behold , in the place of it, he beheld roses and recognized thereby how pleasing her act was to
the will of God. She even went and ministered to the lepers and kissed their sores as she bathed
them out of love and charity. So with such an inspiration you will keep up, I am sure, the
tremendous work of the Sisters of the Atonement, who in all their missions manifest a great love
and devotion to the poor and to the children and to the souls of men, to the outcast and to the
needy.

Only yesterday I saw a picture of one of our Sisters standing on the steps of St. Simon's
Mission in the great city of "brotherly love," Philadelphia, and she was holding by the hand, with
a loving smile on her hand, a child about three or four years old with a face as black as any piece
of coal dug out of the mines of Pennsylvania. Nothing but the divine, supernatural love of Our
Lord would make our Sisters happy in such a vocation, and we are confident that the traditions
of St. Francis and of our Institute will be preserved by you when the time comes for you also to
go out and minister to the poor and to the needy, and sick, the souls of men and of little children.
1929
Document 56
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) VII
147-148. The conference of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., appears to be given to Atonement Sisters. Of
interest is that Fr. Paul states that Rev. Spencer Jones gave the seed thought which he (Fr. Paul)
in turn expanded into an octave of prayer for Church unity.]

CHAIR OF UNITY OCTAVE

January 21, 1929

ORIGIN OF OCTAVE

FOURTH CONFERENCE

I told how The Lamp was lighted yesterday morning. The next development in the
Church Unity vocation of our Institute was the origin of the Octave itself.

It came about in this wise: Just about the time we were preparing copy for the first issue
of The Lamp, there appeared a notable book in England entitled England and the Holy See, the
author of which was the Reverend Spencer Jones, M.A., the rector of an Anglican parish, and the
preface was written by a no less distinguished layman than Lord Halifax, president of the
English Church Union. In this book was set forth very lucidly the position of the Holy See as the
center of Catholic Unity, and it was an essay to inquire whether some of the obstacles which
stood in the way of the return of the Anglican body to its pre-Reformation relationship to the
same Apostolic See, could be overcome. Reading the book, we put ourselves into
communication with Reverend Spencer Jones and he responded with alacrity and became one of
the regular contributors towards the pages of The Lamp.

In the course of time, or about four years after The Lamp was lighted, Mr. Jones, who
had formed the Society of St. Thomas in England, which is a kind of a pro-Roman society of
study on Papal claims, suggested in a letter that it would be an excellent thing to arrange to have
each year on St. Peter's feast sermons preached in the various churches bearing upon the Papal
claims. This was the seed thought which suggested to the mind of the editor of The Lamp the
Church Unity Octave, because it occurred to me that there were two feasts very happily in
juxtaposition in the mind of Our Lord in the prayer Ut Omnes Unum Sint in order "that the
world may believe that Thou, Father, hast sent Me." These two feasts come in the month of
January, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Romeand the feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

The witness of The Lamp was to the Chair of Peter as the center of a Reunited
Christendom and, therefore, it desired to exalt that particular feast and call the attention of the
world to it and to make it the beginning of a time of prayer when the Faithful everywhere, both
within and without the Fold of Peter, might unite at that time in echoing the prayer of our great
High priest that we might all be one. It seemed the best of all times for such united prayer
because it culminated with the feast of the Conversion of the great Apostle to the Gentiles.
First of all we must have unity, and as a result of unity then the world will be conquered,
the cross will everywhere triumph and Christ will be recognized universally as the Saviour of
men.
 Accordingly we began to prepare for the observance of this octave of prayer the coning
January; that was sometime in the Fall of 1907. So we wrote a number of letters, and knowing
how widely interested many of the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church were in the
Society of the Atonement, we had many sympathetic letters from them and encouragement in the
witness we were bearing through the pages of The Lamp. We addressed a notification about this
observance to a number of bishops and priests in the Catholic Church and we received a number
of very encouraging replies, sympathetic letters, assuring us they would be glad to unite with us
at that time in praying
for such a worthy object, and among them was the distinguished Archbishop of Boston, since
elevated to the Cardinalate, Cardinal O'Connell; he wrote a very cordial letter and assured me
that both he and his clergy would be with us in keeping the Octave. We were rather surprised in
fact at the response that we received to that appeal, it seemed to take at once, people seemed to
grasp almostspontaneously the happiness of the idea and so from that, each year the Octave has
been observed with increasing, devotion until now, as you know, it has behind it the authority of
the Holy See and we are praying very earnestly at this time that the Holy Father may grant the
petition of over 1100 Cardinals, Patriarch, Archbishops, Bishops, Vicars Apostolic and heads of
religious colleges in Rome and Superiors of religious orders. That is one of the things which we
ask you to pray for with special fervor during this Octave.

Document 57
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
81-83. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., states, as was the prevalent thought of his day, that the highest
vocation is that to the Religious life.]

VISIT TO THE VINEYARD

Conference of St. Joseph

April 23, 1929

Among the lessons we can take from the life of St. Joseph, the thing I want to bring
home this morning is that especially those who are faithful in their vocation when they are called
of God. St. Joseph stands out preeminently as a fine illustration of this. He was called of God to
occupy a unique position. He was to be the representative of God selected by God the Father, in
relation to His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
For when the Blessed Virgin was about to conceive by the Holy Ghost and bring forth
the Word Incarnate, God selected St. Joseph to be her spouse, to protect her from the penalty of
bearing a child out of wedlock, which was to be stoned to death according to the Mosaic law. He
was to be a protector against all the assaults to be made upon Him by the machinations of the
devil, and to provide for His support that He should have a roof over His head; that He should
live the life of a child in a righteous and holy family. And all those duties that were imposed
upon him by Divine Providence St. Joseph executed in fidelity. He was a just man towards God,
just in all his relations, holy and undefiled, so that all things towards Joseph were directed by
God.
 Joseph was obedient. Whatever God wished him to do, that he did. And as a result God
has been faithful to St. Joseph and put him in a position of responsibility as well; and he having
faithfully discharged that duty when he arrived at the gates of heaven, he received the
commendation: well done thou good and faithful servant.

In God there are no variations or changes. He is not fickle, He lives from eternity to
eternity. He is always the same. He loves fidelity, and He rewards fidelity. Consequently, when
St. Joseph arrivedin heaven he was not to be in a less important position as someone once useful
to the service of God and then tossed aside.

1,900 years have rolled by since St. Joseph's death, and we find St. Joseph after all this
time
exalted as the great patron of the Universal Church of Christ, honored by the faithful on earth,
which reflects his position in heaven. The Holy Ghost in illuminating and directing the Church
in all she does has taught her as the years have gone by not to disregard St. Joseph or relegate
him to obscurity, but he is more appealed to today than in centuries passed. We may assume his
dignity in heaven has not decreased but increased with the lapse of time, and he has a fixed
relationship with the Holy Trinity which will never be taken away from him. He is still
recognized in the unique position of Spouse of the Blessed Virgin, and as the Guardian of the
Incarnate Lord.
Now glorified, he has not been put down from that position, and he will be honored by
God and the Angels through eternity. This ought to bring home to us a great lesson. We too have
been called by God, and we should value our calling and election.

Sometimes those who receive a religious call allow themselves to be influenced to a

greater or less extent by transitory circumstances, and perhaps to let enter their minds some
depreciation of that calling which they have received. Far be it from you. You cannot too highly
estimate your call and what God has summoned you to. First of all, you are called to perfection,
and you know that it has been revealed in the Apocalypse by St. John in his testimony that there
is an exceeding high privilege awarded to the religious. Whatever criticism they may pass
through or receive from men during the course of centuries on earth, we know from the
revelation that has been made, they have high privileges in heaven. St. John saw the exceeding
great multitude of the faithful which no man could number, wearing the white robe which is the
indication of sanctity, of justice, bearing palm branches of victory in hand. Their beauty is
exceeding great.

But he saw also a certain company which interested him very much. The 144, 000
attending the procession of God, singing the canticle which no one but they could sing. They had
the privilege of attending Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. These follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth. They were His immediate associates. Realize what all that means as best you can.
Whatever criticism you may see made or hear upon the Religious; some may say the habit does
not make the monk. That is true, but the habit does represent the monk. It is assumed he is
absolutely devoted to Jesus Christ, that he follows the Lamb wheresoever He goeth, and of the
perfection in the way of the cross. He is always following close after Jesus, and preparing for
that location in eternity. As St. Joseph was brought into immediate relationship to the Christ
Child and the Blessed Virgin, and was never changed in that relationship, his relationship
maintains and continues through eternity. So it will be with you, as one whom God has called to
this faithful and highest calling that there can be in the world. Generally speaking it is the
highest, the noblest, and the most perfect. It is the best.

So let no man take that crown from you, nor the reward that cometh to those that are
faithful. And then realize that whereas all Religious are called into communities, congregations,
that they may serve God in community life, that there are differences in communities. They don't
all remain under the same standard, don't all obtain to the same illustrious position, nor will they
all in heaven attain to an exact level.
We rejoice that we are the children of the Seraphic Patriarch and we believe and accept
the tradition of the Friar to whom was revealed a throne in heaven, glorious and beautiful, and
no one occupied it. And when he asked the angel why that was empty, the answer came back: it
is reserved for the blessed Francis, because he is the humblest of men, and that it was the
brightest of angels who fell from it. So what assurance have we? We who know how God loves
St. Francis, and how faithful Francis was to the call of God, and how he was preeminent as the
one to reproduce the life of Christ in the world. [previous sentence is incomplete] Christ came
down from heaven to bestow the stigmataon Mount Alverna; gave him the honor and distinction
to be the first of all the saints to receive this mark of the Divine favor. This much we know: that
St. Francis, whether he occupies Lucifer's or some other throne, where he will be, there will be
some other members of the great family in the great city of the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore,
we may assume with infallible confidence, that as religious we will be exalted and have
fellowship with the glorious saint who has produced such a wonderfulfamily in the glory of God.

And then we like to think of the Society of the Atonement as the Joseph among the sons
of the Abraham of the New Law, born in the years of His old age. We know Jacob loved Joseph.
We have confidence to believe God loves this child of His loins after 700 years, and the Children
of the
Atonement. And in the light of this God has already given extraordinary marks of His favor. If
you want one illustration let it be the fact that we have the privilege poured upon us of
promoting the titleof Our Lady of the Atonement, under the name of the Atonement. This is of
itself a mark of the Divine favor upon us. The Atonement is no ordinary title. It is a title that
belongs to the greatest things in our age.

There is the story of Sampson of how they had him play for the Philistines. The temple
had two pillars and Samson knew that. He took the two pillars, prayed God to pull them down,
and when he did, he pulled the superstructure down with it in the ruins.

No power of hell could ever get hold of these two pillars of the Incarnation and the
Atonement and pull them down. It would rock absolutely the Catholic Church, Therefore, when
we speak of Our Lady of the Atonement, let us remember we are not giving a secondary or third
order title to its nature, but one of the first. And as it was Our Lady herself that revealed these
things to us in three distinct apparitions, we have the greatest confidence in believing our Society
is no ordinary society. It is one God has created and called into being and shown remarkable
favor, and will continue to show that favor in His election, because it is His own.
And we as the Children of the Atonement have simply to be loyal and faithful to it in our
position. Some may say about the vision that [it] may be imagination. That is not de fide. We do
not have to believe that. We believe it for ourselves that it is something God has taught us as part
of the development of our Institute. I remember long ago when I was a novice in preparation for
coming to Graymoor, in the Holy Cross Order of the Episcopal Church. Our Novice Master was
Henry Sargent. He is now a Catholic priest, and a Benedictine and has his foundation in Rhode
Island. He was more or less disappointed because I didn't give up the idea of the Society of the
Atonement and become one of the Holy Cross Fathers. Then the time came to take my departure
for Graymoor, he asked me to walk with him. I was anxious to have a good opinion of the
Novice Master. I tried to tell him why I thought the Society of the Atonement was something of
God. I told him the things that had happened. But he said that just happened that way. “I don't
believe you have a vocation to found one Order much less two Orders.” He spoke with
contempt. But as time went on and he saw the development, he changed his mind. He prayed for
it he said recently. There is some one who recognized not only the Society of the Atonement but
the hand of God, though he be not a child of the Atonement. He believed us and we believed
with confidence. Then we will have to be faithful to the end.

So on this day of faithful Joseph, when we are recognizing the favor of God, and the
reward that will come to his faithfulness, so with us in the religious life faithful. To reach the
ideal of the religion by what family we belong and to recognize in our Institute the Joseph of his
old age, with special favors to believe and thank God for our vocation.

Document 58
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
208.Fr. Paul Wattson’s talk is given to Atonement Sisters. Of interest is that he calls the Sisters
not only Franciscans but Paulines.]

FINAL PROFESSION

July 20, 1929

Dearly Beloved Daughters in Jesus and Mary of the Atonement

The Father rejoices with you today in your assumption of Final Vows as the Spouses of
Christ in the Society of the Atonement. For six years or more you have been weighed in the
balance and not found wanting. Not only have you been most faithful and true in your interior
life of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, not only have you persevered in the worship of the
sanctuary in the religious performance of the Divine Office, praying before the altar not only
repeatedly during the day, but at midnight two of you have knelt, or some representatives of the
Community, for an hour before the Tabernacle and have prayed and adored. But have you been
distinguished, also, for your labors? You have not only imitated Mary and sat at the feet of
Jesus, but have emulated Martha whose portion was that she serve.

In all the missions carried on by our Sisters they give the impression to the priests and to
those that observe them, of their wonderful diligence. More than once the expression has gone
forth to them, "You Sisters of the Atonement never seem to rest, you are always toiling." So that
under the constraining love of Christ, St. Paul says, you have labored, you have ministered in
His name to little children, you have ministered in His name to the poor and to the aged and to
the sick. Thus far you have labored not only as Franciscans, but as Paulines. St. Paul says he
gloried in the fact that he labored, and he labored more abundantly than all.
 Now you come to the time of assuming for the balance of your life these holy Vows
which you have kept faithfully for the past six years The Saints in the process of their
development on earth were something like the fruit of the tree which comes first in bloom, and
then the little green fruit appears, and that gradually develops, after a while comes the color of
maturity and it is ready to be taken from the tree and put into the garners of him who possesses
the tree. So it is that the process of sanctification is something that goes on, that does not stop.
We are either getting better, or we are getting worse as we grow older; we are proximating to the
perfection of maturity, else we are retrograding. We trust that this process of sanctification,
which has gone on so satisfactorily during the past six years, during the time of probation, will
continue and that you will go on as the years continue, unto perfect ripening and you will be
gathered by the great Husbandman into the garners of eternal life and receive from the lips of the
Divine Master the salutation of love and welcome and of commendation that is contained in our
Covenant Chapter, "God is not unmindful of your labor of love, that ye have ministered to the
saints and do minister." Look forward, therefore, with joy after this pilgrimage of yours on earth
to the final espousals in the great kingdom of glory and the reward -- following the King
whithersoever He goeth, and be numbered among the hundred and forty and four thousand
through eternity.

Document 59
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
206-207. Fr. Paul Wattson’s talk is given to Atonement Sisters.]

CLOTHING AND PROFESSION

September 3, 1929

Ever since God became incarnate and dwelt among us, the manifestation of love and
devotion and consecration to Him has taken the form of the religious life of those that have been
called to leave all and follow Him under the vows of Poverty, Obedience, and Chastity, and it is
a call that is exceptional. It is not the call of the multitude even among the elect, because in the
vision of St. John, as you remember, he saw a great multitude of all nations and tongues and
tribes and peoples of the earth whom no man could number because of their exceeding great
multitude. But he did see another, that company that could be numbered, and, in fact, the
number was named "a hundred and forty and four thousand."

It does not mean there are going to be only a hundred forty four thousand religious in
heaven, it is a mystical number. We have about that number, or very near it, in the United States
at the present time, which is only a portion of the Catholic Church, but nevertheless it is a
number and the multitude of the elect are without number, and consequently, you are to be
congratulated today, first of all in being called in a special manner to a special life. It is
something to be congratulated upon if one is called to heaven at all, to be in any capacity a
member of that great multitude of the elect, but to be one of the chosen who will follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth in His kingdom--that is extraordinary, and it is something to fill
the heart with jubilation.
 So we congratulate you today, both you who are to lay off the habiliments of the world,
the dress of the world, and to be clothed in the habit of religion, and also those who having
passed successfully through the time of their novitiate are now to make their profession and who
will assume for the first time the holy vows which constitute the life of perfection, that is to say,
the principles of that life. But along with every call there comes a responsibility. It was a
wonderful call that Our Blessed Lady had to be the Mother of God and the vehicle of the
Incarnation, but along with that call came certainly grave responsibilities. In fact, one of those
inspired by the Holy Ghost, presiding at the time she was presenting her Babe in the temple forty
days after His birth, said, "A sword shall pierce thy heart." Yet Our Blessed Mother, of course,
filled with divine grace, corresponded perfectly to her holy vocation and failed in no particular.
So you ought to be inspired today with a very great desire to fulfill the obligations of your estate
and to attain to that degree of holy perfection that is associated with the call to holy religion.
Fortunately for us, we are the subjects of divine grace. The Blessed Virgin was full of grace
because nothing less than that would have enabled her to live up to what her vocation meant, and
we have been promised by God, "according to thy day so shall thy strength be," and according to
thy vocation so shall divine grace be vouchsafed to thee, but then we must correspond to grace
and that we may please God and receive the salutation, "Well done, good and faithful servant" at
the end.

So as you receive the habit, or make your vows before the altar for the first time of
Poverty, Obedience and Chastity, let your heart be filled with earnest prayer and supplication
that God will give you the grace to fulfill your holy vocation and to be found faithful.
Remember that always the first thing in it, and the supreme thing in it, is the loyalty, the love,
the consecration of yourself to our Lord Jesus Christ, to be true to Him and under all
circumstances, not only in time of prosperity, but in time of adversity.

When two people come to be joined in Holy Matrimony under the blessing of the
Church, they make a pledge of fidelity and of sticking to each other, being true to each other, not
only in wealth, but also in poverty, not only in health, but in sickness. So that amidst all the
changes and adversities of this mortal life and all the trials that come to you, in all the crosses
that shall be presented to you to carry, not only in the days of sunshine, but also in the days of
storm and darkness and crosses, whatever is in store for you, be true to Our Lord. Saint Paul
says,

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For I am sure that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord."

Now that love ought to be so true, so steadfast and so faithful that, having once assumed
the habit, you will never lay it aside, but the difficulties and trials and tests that God will give
you with that love will only prove and designate it the more clearly and distinctly to be supreme,
entire, so that your love for Christ will be the all-consuming passion of your soul, and that when
at length you have passed through the earthly test you will find that your place will be among
those spouses of His that follow Him through all eternity whithersoever He goeth.
1930
Document 60
[The conference is found in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., III 92-
94.The conference is given to Atonement Sisters. The use of “Now” at the beginning of a
sentence is characteristic of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.]

THE HOLY SPIRIT, OUR LADY AND UNITY

Conference

January 25, 1930

We have come to the conclusion today of the octave of prayer for unity of the family of
God in communion with the Apostolic See, the Chair of Peter at Rome, which is the center of
that unity and Our Lord prayed that we might all be one in order that "the world may believe
that thou hast sent me."

Unity is one of the prerequisites for the conversion of the world for Christ and so our
Octave ends with the feast of the conversion of the world for Christ. And so our Octave ends
with the feast of that chosen, elect vessel, the great missionary of the Gentiles, Saint Paul. And
so today we pray for the conversion of the world to Christ. We should not only pray, but we
should enter into our vocation to help hasten that blessed day when the angel shall proclaim that
the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of God's anointed.

We are a missionary Institute and this octave expresses our vocation which is not only to
prayand work for unity, but it is also to pray and work for the end and purpose and result of
unity in the making up of that vast multitude of the regenerate for whom Christ became man and
became the New Adam, the Head and Father everlasting of the Children of the Atonement, the
children of reunion with God.

When one looks over the Acts of the Apostles, if his eyes are open to notice it, one is
impressed with the promise of the Holy Ghost running all through that account of the first thirty
years of the missionary propagation of the Church of God, first in Saint Peter, then comes the
conversion of Saint Paul, who goes out on his missionary labors. And, taking up the major
portion of the Acts of the Apostles as it was written by Saint Luke, the amanuensis of Saint
Paul, one is impressed how the Holy Ghost comes down in Paul [in reality St. Peter] , speaking
through the Apostle in the various tongues of the multitude. He converts 3,000, who are baptized
that very day, the regenerated, brought into the Kingdom of God, which is the special office of
tho Holy Ghost in that Sacrament, and he confirms the words of the Apostle and makes effective
by signs and words the power which he shows forth. It is, also, expressed by the sanctity of the
Holy Ghost in those souls that were converted during the first years of the labors of the disciples
of Christ.

Now we should realize that it is the Holy Ghost that works through us to fulfill our
missionary vocation and to fulfill also the covenant promise which God has made with the
Society of the Atonement. "Blessing I will bless thee, multiplying I will multiply thee," the
Children of the Atonement, until they become like the stars in the firmament for multitude and
sands by the sea that cannot be numbered.
 Now if you think about the Holy Trinity you will make this discovery if you have not
made it already, that God the Father and God the Son are both productive of Persons in the
Trinity, the Holy Ghost is not. The Father by an eternal generation begets the Son, and the
Father and the Son begotten from the beginning, because they precede the Holy Ghost, produce
the Holy Ghost by that eternal process which is of the divine essence from all eternity, always
present, always operative. But that does not mean that the Holy Ghost is sterile, but the Holy
Ghost proceeding from the Father and Son, full of the divine life, goes forth to produce life in
the created spheres, which are, as we know, almost limitless. He is the Author and Giver of life.
He is so proclaimed in the Nicene Creed, and we have here this promise that those that have left
all, that have "left house and lands and mother and sister shall have a hundred fold in this world,
and in the world to come life everlasting.” That does not merely means material things, but it
means also spiritual things, and particularly for the Sons and Daughters of the Atonement and
the nuns ought to realize how you are to depend upon the Holy Spirit operating through you to
make you prolific in bringing forth Sons and Daughters of the Atonement, in other words, make
you successful missionaries. You have gone ahead of the Friars, we are slower in moving.

As I have said before, it takes about thirteen years to make one of our missionary priests.
Thank God, three of them tomorrow will be ordained to the priesthood, and then after a little
more study they will be able to go out and do some missionary work. In the meantime, you have
alreadyestablished your mission posts in far distant countries. One of the characteristics of our
Sisters is the indefatigable zeal with which they labor and also the success that God gives to their
labors.

Now you are to realize that it is the Holy Ghost working through you and in union with
you. Cultivate, therefore, a deeper devotion to Him and oblation to God, giving yourselves to
Him that in and through you He may multiply and increase the Children of the Atonement. You
know how our Blessed Lady, when the Archangel came to her with the wonderful announcement
that she was to become the Mother of the promised Messiah said, "How shall this thing be?" and
the answer was, "The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee and the holy thing which
shall be born of theeshall be called the Son of God." The operation of the Holy Ghost in the
Blessed Virgin produced the seed of the elect, of the regenerate, and then comes the
multiplication of the seed of the Atonement.

On Calvary we behold our Blessed Lady and hear Our Lord speaking to her and giving
her the Children of the Atonement, saying, "Behold thy son" and to Saint John, the
representative of them all, "Behold thy Mother." Through him behold the children through the
ages, the regenerate, and Our Lady is looking and longing constantly for the increase of those
children no man can number that shall be gathered around the throne of God.

Now you give yourselves up to the Holy Spirit in order that He operating through you
may make you prolific Children of the Atonement by a spiritual regeneration. The Apostles went
out and they spoke and they labored and Saint Paul says, "Paul planted, Apollo watered, but God
gave the increase," and so it is still. So you want to be vessels of sanctification, full of the Holy
Spirit of God, subordinate to His grace, His will, pure and undefiled, full of His divine image,
uniting yourselves by prayer that God may accomplish through you not only His promise of a
hundred-fold increase, but making you wonderful missionaries. We know how in some other
parts of the world women have done such wonderful things for the propagation of the Faith.
Take for example, that family started by Saint Vincent de Paul with its six hundred Sisters
scattered over all parts of the world, going out and ransoming and baptizing infants, bringing
then into the company of the elect, sending so many souls to God. It is such a wonderful thing,
and so it is with our Sisters of the Atonement. We have this promise of fecundity and
manifestation of the will of God, if we correspond to the Holy Ghost as He operates in us as our
Blessed Mother of Atonement did, will we behold the increase. [sentence appears garbled]

So at the close of this Octave in your Holy Communion this morning, offer yourselves to
Our Lord and submit yourselves more fully and completely and entirely to God the Holy Spirit,
that He may sanctify you, control and dominate your thoughts and aspirations and operate with
you for theincrease and multiplication of the Children of the Atonement.
1931
Document 61
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) IV
78-79. Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., gave this talk to Atonement Sisters.]

CLOTHING AND PROFESSION DAY

September 29, 1931

The first thought that comes to me as I sit here, is that question which Saint Peter asked
Our Lord when he said, "Lord, we have left all things and followed thee. What, therefore, shall
we have?" and He said,

"No man hath left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or

children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who shall not receive an
hundred times as much, now in this time, and in the world to come life
everlasting."
It was about this time thirty-two years ago, I think it was on this very day, when I
left the
little town of Westminster, Maryland, where I had gone through the novitiate, in preparation to
making a journey to Graymoor. I arrived on the day before the feast of Saint Francis and I came
up the road and discovered that same afternoon the Mount of the Atonement, where the Friars
now live, and we have seen since then the fulfillment of God's promises in the increase of our
family. Now when you are dressed up in your white dresses and veils and come and kneel down,
you are asking not only to receive the holy habit, but that means practically that you want to be
received as a spiritual daughter of the Father General, and it is a great joy to me to see these new
children coming into our family.

Sometimes in the world, after the order of nature, God gives children to parents, and
oftentimes they are very naughty children and give their fathers and mothers a great deal of
trouble especially in this wayward period in which we are living. But it is different with these
children God gives in Religion, because they are holy and beautiful in their lives, and they are
not naughty.

In the days of Queen Vashti, who lived a long time ago and ruled over Greece and India,
there was a great function in which the queen was prominent. The weather was favorable for the
most part, not like in the cloudy, foggy country of England. The sun would smile down from a
blue sky, so the people began to speak of it as "queen's weather," and recognized it and believed
it to be the smile of Divine Providence upon their queen. It is certainly extraordinary, as we
look back, that the sun smiles down on Graymoor and on Saint Francis House when we have a
Clothing and Profession, and this day is no exception to the rule. Out of a cloudless sky the sun
is beaming down on us today. It is just warm enough to be pleasant, whereas, if it was hot as it
was a week ago, we would be sweltering in this chapel. So let us assume that that is God’s
pleasure.

You are these white-robed ones who are to be washed white and put on the brown habit,
and ask Our Lord that He would permit you to be spouses to Him, and finally to attain to the
vision of God in Heaven and to be numbered among those who follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth, as the bride follows the bridegroom. It is a beautiful feast, that of Saint Michael. Our
Seraphic Father was particularly devoted to Saint Michael, and it was in preparation for the
observance of his feast,that he went up to Mount Alverna, and while there preparing for it, Our
Lord came down from Heaven and honoured him with the Stigmata. Now Saint Michael stands
out in Heaven as especially devoted to God. When the devil through selfishness and pride,
actually was conceited enough to thinkthat he had power to throw God down from Heaven and
reign in the universe, Saint Michael and his angels defeated him with the cry, "There is none like
unto God, there is none like unto God," and was so devoted and loyal and brave that all his
power and beauty and splendor came to him from God, whom God created out of nothing.

And as Religious we, also, should make God supreme, so supreme that we want God to
be everything to us in our life, and do nothing apart from God, and to live our life in union with
God, in the serving of God absolutely and perfectly. That is what we enter Religion for.

And so invoke Saint Michael today that you may entirely transcend selfishness. So often
God gives people things. He endows them with riches, or with great talents, or puts them up in
high positions, or permits them to shine with beauty, or some other characteristics among their
fellows, and then they begin to think about them and get proud and stuck up about them, and use
it all for their own glory instead of for the glory of God. Not so in Religion, not so with you, you
want to be always seeking the glory of God, or in order to carry out the work of the Sacred Heart
for those He came to save and to minister to them in His name, and then as we abandon
ourselves to the service and love of God, He trusts us and blesses us and lifts us up in His
kingdom from the dunghill and places us among the princes of His people. May you always
burn, more and more, with intense love for service and pattern your life after Saint Michael, and
our Holy Father Saint Francis, who loved and admired Saint Michael so much
1933
Document 62
[The title indicates that the speaker is Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. The document has been typed from
an already typed copy located in the Atonement Friars' archives. The retreat is given in Our
Lady of the Angels Chapel, Graymoor, to the Atonement Sisters.]

RETREAT GIVEN BY OUR VERY REVEREND FATHER GENERAL S.A.

WEEK OF JULY 16, 1933

1st.Conference, Sunday Evening

First of all we bid the Sisters from the missions a welcome home. I dare say you look
forward to this annual retreat as an element of satisfaction and pleasure because it means turning
your faces homeward and I trust that the Mother-House will always have a place of love and
affection in your hearts. When the Jews were banished from Jerusalem and taken captive into
Babylon they said, "How can we sing the song of our home in a strange land?" and Daniel who
was accustomed to saying his prayers every day, in the evening went to the window and looking
towards Jerusalem he prayed.

And I dare say in returning you find some satisfaction in relating to your companions the
stories of the success of your missionary labors in your far-flung mission stations. Remember
how Our Lord chose seventy-two and sent them out two and two into all the places where he
was to go later into Galilee and Judea, and when they came back with their reports of how
successful they had been in their labors that even the devils were subject to them, He said, "Let
us go into a desert place apart and rest a while, for they that bear good seed shall doubtless come
again and bring their sheaves with them." I trust that you have brought back some sheaves from
your labors of the past year. Now we are to enter into Retreat and it should be one of the
purposes to rest a while, it is the time of relaxation and repose, not a time for austerities and
watching when others sleep, it should be a time of physical relaxation and rest and do not
hesitate to make it so, it will help you to pray all the more satisfactorily and you will find
spiritual refreshment in communion with God.

Now this Retreat comes at an opportune time for preparation for the celebration of our
Atonement Week which begins next Sunday and this celebration ought to be one of special joy
because it is the 40th Anniversary of the receiving on the part of the Father Founder, of the name
of the Institute. Let us think about that somewhat tonight. We are planning to give you a course
of spiritual conferences in the morning based on the religious life common to all religious and in
the evening we will consider more and give an interpretation of the basic Text of our Institute
and our Covenant Chapter. Tonight we will think about the name.

We believe that God, not man, named our Holy Society and this is a matter of very great
importance. One may say what solid grounds have you for that belief? I remember, after
spending six months of a novitiate at the Holy Cross Fathers in Maryland, and when I was about
to leave to come to Graymoor, the Novice master was somewhat chagrined about it and said, "I
think you should stay with the Holy Cross Fathers," and I asked him if I might have a
conversation with him and tried to convince him that I had a vocation to found the Society of the
Atonement and among other things I mentioned was the "Text" and the "Name" and he said, that
was just imaginary, there are a good many scandals made in the Anglican Church by those who
get the founders' bee in their bonnets. He said I do not think you have a vocation to found one
religious order, let alone three, for I was thinking of the Friars, Sisters and Tertiaries, but as time
went on the Novice master was, himself, thoroughly convinced about the vocation and about the
Society of the Atonement being a real foundation from God and I think he probably keeps up
that practice which he told me was his custom years ago, of a remembrance in his prayers every
day for the Society of the Atonement and he is now a Benedictine in England having found his
way in later years into the Catholic Church.

Now let us review why we believe that God gave us our name. First of all when God
founds a religious community He of course has to call somebody as a human instrument to do
the founding, and this call came to the Father Founder in a very unexpected manner, without any
premonition whatsoever, and it was farthest remote from his childish mind until one day his
father was telling about the Paulists and the interior voice said, "That is what you will do some
day, found a Preaching Order." I am satisfied that was the voice of God, it was not an audible
voice, it was the interior voice which communicated itself to an interior intelligence of the soul
without any vocal sound, but it was, we believe, a call from God.

Now in all the vicissitudes and changes in after years that message left the impression
and was never forgotten. The vocation came seriously, being wrecked a number of times on
reefs and pit-falls that were laid for unwary feet, nevertheless, at the age of thirty the Father
Founder was Rector of a church in Kingston, up the Hudson, and this vocation had since become
so dominant that it was now a controlling thought day and night. In the meantime we had built a
mission church in the railroad section of Kingston and called it the Church of the Holy Cross, a
house had been given to us adjoining the church and we were considering very seriously
resigning the Rectorship and starting this foundation. There were two or three young pious
women of the congregation who professed their willingness to become members of this religious
community for we not only had the inspiration to found an order for men but an order for
women also in connection with it. We knew something about the Jesuits, that suggested Society,
but Society of what? We got this far, that it must be something in connection with the Cross and
Passion of Our Lord.

That was manifested some years ago in the town where I was born, a church was built
and my father asked me to name it. Although it was not a common name in the Anglican
Church I called it Holy Cross. The name Holy Cross was always attractive to me but the
difficulty about it was that all the names I could think about had been preempted by the
Anglicans and Catholic Religious Orders and Communities. There were the Redemptorists, the
Passionists and the Holy Cross and that was about as far as we could get. We thought about,
prayed over it for months, but we could not discover the name.

About this time we began to get acquainted with St. Francis and not having a life, I
pulled down the encyclopedia and read what it said about St. Francis and I was particularly
struck about the account contained therein, where St. Francis was invited by Bernard de
Quintavalle to spend the night with him as he wanted to watch him; he pretended to be asleep
but his eyes were opened enough to watch and St. Francis, as you know, got up and prayed the
greater part of the night. That was enough for him, the next morning he offered himself to be
one of his companions and St. Francis hesitated to tell him to sell all he had and give to the poor
like himself, so he asked him to go to the church with him and open the bible three times and
read out the passage which came nearest his eye, and each time it was "taking up his cross;
giving his goods to the poor; and following Christ" and Bernard went out immediately to his
home and put it into execution. After reading this we thought how much nicer it would be if God
would give us the name as He did St. Francis instead of figuring and thinking it out.

Accordingly on a certain Sunday with this intention in mind after early celebration of
Holy Communion we took the bible to seek in this way the name and as you know we received
more than we expected, we received the name and the three Covenant Texts. We know people
open the bible on many occasions for guidance but why would we regard this as a particular one
and God-guiding the hand that read the Text? Now going back home and writing those texts
down, he had another experience of that interior voice, and it was not what we had intended as
we were going to resign the rectorship at St. John's and take up our residence at Holy Cross and
make a start with this new foundation but the interior voice said, "You will have to wait seven
years!" We continued with our duties as before and two years later went to Omaha and three
years later came back to Graymoor and spent two years in preparation and just seven years
afterwards on the Mount of the Atonement made our profession and the Society was a reality
and just as the voice had said, "You will have to wait seven years before this can be realized."

Now there is some more evidence that Almighty God named this Society and in my mind
this is one of the most striking evidences to confirm this, that is the incident of the Reverend
Mother's Profession when she decided to take the name Francis. The Father General had been
given two names by the Bishop and she wished to receive the name Francis and to make her
profession on St. Francis Day. I said to the Mother, I am sorry that the name Lurana has to go,
but it would not do to discard the name Mary. I knew of many Sisters named Mary Francis but I
knew but one Lurana but if you say so Lurana will have to go and then came the remarkable
evidence when the senior novice came to me one day and told of an experience she had had on
the Octave Day of the Feast of the Ascension [incomplete sentence]. As she knelt in the chapel
about to receive Holy Communion, she saw four angels standing diagonally across the sanctuary
to where Our Lady stands, and not knowing hardly what she said, have you come to do the most
sweet Will of God? And when she returned to her seat she heard distinctly, three times the name
"Lurana" [incomplete sentence]. I said to the Reverend Mother on relating this to her, "Certainly
God does not intend that you discard the name Lurana or He would not have sent four angels
down in this chapel to pronounce the name Lurana and what ever happens that name will have to
be kept and we will take Francis as a Family name of our Institute for both communities," and
the Bishop granted the permission.

The next thought was, this name must mean something because in Holy Scripture no
name was given without a meaning. When Abram was changed to Abraham, which means in
Hebrew, "Father of many nations," and St. Peter, from Simon, "Thou art Peter and upon this
rock I will build my Church." [incomplete sentence] So we began to delve around the Latin roots
and sometime afterwards we found the Greek language contained the meaning of the name
Lurana--Redeemed, lu, "by the blood of" rana sprinkling of Atonement, so we have the name
Atonement. And St. Francis Day turned out to be that year the ancient day kept by the Jews,
Yom Kippur or Atonement, and that is another significance and when we take these two things
together then this gives a strong basic evidence that it is of God's Providence, and after that we
have the three apparitions of Our Lady of the Atonement at Graymoor which taught us to invoke
her as "Our Lady of the Atonement." And since the name Atonement is one of such great
significance it is like the Atonement and Incarnation. It is like two great pillars on which the
structure of the Catholic Faith rests and since the name is so important and God kept it for nearly
nineteen hundred years that He might give it to this Society, this Society must be of great dignity
and importance otherwise; God would not have named it.

Document 63
[The title identifies the speaker as Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.. The document is typed from an already
typed manuscript. It appears to be a continuation of the retreat for the Sisters beginning July 16,
1933. He speaks of his personal encounter with dire poverty of the Franciscans in Naples and
about hearing of Religious Superiors who are interned in institutions for the insane due to
financial worries for their communities. He exhibits a very balanced view on respecting the
human needs when going after spiritual goals, e.g. getting a good rest during a retreat.]

CONFERENCE GIVEN BY OUR VERY REVEREND FATHER GENERAL, S.A.

Monday morning July l7, l933

HOLY POVERTY

We said last night that in the morning meditations we should deal with the principles of
the Religious life in a series of conferences and that the evening meditations would be a de-
velopment or exposition of the name and basic texts of our Institute and Covenant Chapter. We
begin this morning with holy Poverty because we are the children of the Seraphic Francis and he
was the one that laid stress on Poverty among the three fundamental vows of religion: Poverty,
Obedience and Chastity.

God has raised up in the course of the ages different religious founders, who have had
special vocations. Although these all observe the fundamental principles, some emphasize one
more than another. Because of the disobedience of the Protestants who rebelled against the
Vicar of Christ and went into heresy and schism, God raised up to offset the Reformation, Igna-
tius Loyola, who founded an order with great stress on the vow of obedience. But with Francis,
the stress was made upon holy Poverty.

Francis lived in an age when the Church was becoming corrupt on account of material
possessions. Abbots owned vast stretches of land, living in great monasteries, where the monks
devoted themselves to study and prayer, and the abbots were as lords of the estates. Bishops
also had vast estates and went out to fight for their lands, and there was a great alliance between
the princes of this world and the Church as a result of this condition.

Material things had become dominant to such an extent that they were having effect on
the mystical body of the Church, and it was for this reason that God saw fit to call His servant,
who should exalt Poverty to the nth degree, and He inspired Francis with a wonderful love of
holy Poverty.
 You will remember he started in life as the son of a wealthy merchant, born with a
golden spoon in his mouth and that he went forth as a gay troubadour, leading the youth of
Assisi to a life of gaiety and revelry, although in the midst of them he preserved his innocence
and did not sink into gross drunkenness or vice. The Holy Spirit of God moved him, and one
night when leading a revel, he suddenly paused and seemed absorbed and distracted, and
someone laughingly remarked, "Well, our leader seems to be in love." Saint Francis replied,
"Yes, I am in love. I am going to marry a bride of wonderful attraction beyond anything you
know about." They then were curious to know who the bride was, and the answer came later on
when Saint Francis declared his devotion to the bride, holy Lady Poverty.

Here is the way that Saint Francis prayed for holy Poverty:

"Lord Jesus, give me a strong and abiding love for holy Poverty, the
poverty that was with Thee in Bethlehem, accompanied Thee to Galilee, etc.
Give me, Lord an ardent and undying love for Thy holy spouse, Poverty."

You know, too, that the Mother Foundress was also inspired with a very deep love for
Poverty. You know how she has expressed that and tried to impress upon her daughters in
religion that same love, putting it into practice. It is for us, therefore, to try to imitate Saint
Francis in this regard, and as his children, to have the same love and exercise ourselves in the
same degree, both in the observance of the virtue as well as of the vow of holy Poverty.

One may observe the vow by external conformity to the practice of Poverty and yet lack
the virtue. For example, a religious not satisfied with her habit which is beginning to be worn
might go to her Superior and ask for a new habit, and the Superior, out of zeal for holy Poverty,
might answer, "No, you will have to get along with the one you have for a while." The Sister
might conform herself because there was no other way out of it, and so she would be observing
the vow, but at the same time she might grumble and complain and think harshly of the Superior
because she did not get her the habit, and thus she would lack the virtue of holy Poverty.

Now we ought not to think that even if we love holy Poverty we can practice it without
any cross or without any inconvenience. If one practiced the vow of Poverty and there was no
sting about it, it would hardly be the real thing, and, as a matter of fact, for the most part the
religious of the United States are not suffering very much from their vow of Poverty, not nearly
as much as the families from which the majority of them came when they entered religion. For
the most part, those who do receive vocations to the religious life come from the poor.

Persons in the world have poverty, and particularly at the present time when such vast
multitudes of people are out of employment, and consequently their families are suffering and
they have not the necessities of life. That poverty in its practice and inconvenience is a very
different thing from what religious communities have. The religious communities are like royal
princes and people of wealth. Look over our country and see the magnificent institutions held
and occupied by religious communities. The Sisters have to educate the daughters of the
wealthy and consequently they have magnificent colleges and academies, and have lands such as
rival, if they do not surpass, the estates of the wealthy. In fact some of the wealthy found it such
an expense to keep up these estates that they sold them. For example, the magnificent Gould
estate down on the Jersey coast has been take over by some religious community.
 For the most part, the Sisters live like royal princes. They live in these magnificent
buildings, surrounded by large estates, and have everything provided for them, so that often-
times the actual practice of poverty in the matter of really tasting want is a stranger to these
communities, particularly in the United States, which until very recently was a land flowing with
milk and honey, something in contrast with religious communities abroad.

We have received appeal after appeal from the Poor Clares and the Sisters of the
Precious Blood in the different countries of Europe and elsewhere, who during these terrible
times have suffered even for the very necessities of life, and they have tasted real poverty in the
actual deprivation of everything except the barest necessities of life, such as the coarsest kind of
food.

I remember when I was at Naples and was staying at the Franciscan monastery there,
they were extremely poor and deprived of things. I remember they had one kind of bean which
they ate green as it came off the stalks, and the Brothers were walking around with habits
nothing more than rags. They were experiencing something about real poverty, something that
we have not in our own practice of poverty.

I think that our Sisters, compared with other communities in the United States, have
observed a stricter rule, but let us not think that we have any cause to complain about the
severity of the rule and the practice of holy Poverty.

Then there are certain aspects which make it difficult. Sometimes one by nature is rather
timid and that Sister does not like to go to the Superior and ask for anything even if it is
something she really feels she needs, and, not out of love for holy Poverty, but out of self-love,
she does not ask when she ought to ask. When you conscientiously think about it and realize
that you need something, go and ask, and if there is any difficulty about it, you will be
exercising the vow of holy Poverty. Do not hesitate to ask even for the smallest trifle, even if
permission to use a holy card which someone has passed onto you from the outside. Be careful
to get permission, so that whatever you have may not be possessed without any exercise of
poverty.

One may have the covetous spirit of attachment, even to trifles, and it is not unusual in
our restricted life, not having the opportunity to this matter of detachment from everything
material, from anything that deprives us of this entire renunciation of all things, that our wealth
may be in Jesus. [previous sentence unclear]

Now then, for those who are Superiors of the different houses. It is, of course, the duty
of Superiors to look out for the exercise of poverty as practiced in the mission houses, and
when there comes up the question of giving the Sisters this and giving the Sisters that, according
to their need, of course, the Superiors as the almoners of God are always on the side of gene-
rosity and not of stinginess as far as the Sisters are concerned, and wish to give the Spouses of
Christ the things they need. They ought to consider the matter and at the same time not go to
the other extreme of indulgence, of giving them more than the rule of poverty would require or
expect.

I do not think that there is so much likelihood of this springing to the front in our
community. But there is a temptation in some communities for the Superiors to mistake avarice
for the love of holy Poverty. They are anxious to give a good report of the institution they are
running and they come out with not only their accounts balanced, but with a large sum to the
right side, so that they may send a large donation to the Mother House and thus stand in well
with the higher Superiors, that they themselves may be promoted. I am thinking of things on
general principles. They might work their Sisters and tax them beyond what is proper and right
and consequently there might be some bitter feelings on the part of the Sisters that they are taxed
over much, and of course, if the Superior did it for any such motive as that, it would be
displeasing to our Lord and a violation of the law of holy Poverty.

In one way our Sisters might be really thankful to God that they belong to a community
where they do not have to maintain large institutions like these large academies and colleges.
For the Superiors they are often a burden of anxiety and worry. I am astonished to learn
sometime ago that at Mount Hope in Baltimore, where one of our lay tertiary Brothers was sent
for his health, he was informed that in that institution there are quite a number of Mother
Superiors who have been driven there over anxiety about money matters since the recent
financial crash. They had large benefactors and their donations fell off, and with large
mortgages to meet, their poor minds broke down under the strain and they are practically insane.
I think this is one of the benefits of not having large institutions. It saves you from sometime
being a Mother Superior in an insane asylum by going about doing simple missionary labors.

Therefore, have a deep love of holy Poverty and find joy in the practice of it. And after
all, it is the simple life, when we are satisfied with simple things, that give us joy. It is in the
spiritual realm that we find the joy and happiness of the religious life.

Document 64
[The original of the conference is in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s,a. The identification
words are in te handwriting of Mother Lurana White, s.a. The year is not given, but since the
day July 17 is given, perhaps it is part of the retreat that began July 16, 1933.]

POVERTY

Notes of Father's for the Retreat Conference, July l7, on Holy Poverty. [words written by
Mother Lurana White.]

Our Lord Jesus Christ being rich became poor for your sakes, that through His poverty
you might be rich. (2 Cor. 8.9)

Devoted to Poverty par excellence: St. Francis.

"Lord Jesus, give me a strong, an absorbing and abiding love for Thy holy
spouse, Poverty! She was with Thee in Bethlehem, accompanied Thee to Egypt,
went with Thee to Nazareth, joined thee on Thy missionary tours, escorted Thee
up Mt. Calvary, and when even Thy Mother Mary remained beneath at the foot of
the cross, Thy spouse mounted the cross with thee. And finally she kept Thee
 company in Thy grave, which was not Thine own. Give me, Lord, an ardent and
undying love for Thy holy spouse!"

THE PRACTICE OF POVERTY

Getting permissions. Some timid; some bold.

The giving superior. The sick. Avarice not to be mistaken for love of poverty.

Serapius and the robbers.

"Indian givers".

[The following is from two small pad sheets in the handwriting of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., and
numbered 9 and l0. It is not known if they are part of the above conference.]

[incomplete sentence]...this retreat does nothing more for you than to afford you a real
downright good rest both physically and spiritually, it will be an immense asset during the next
twelve months of strenuous work on the missions.

Our first concern in Retreat should be the salvation and greater sanctification of our own
soul.

The warning JESUS gave the 72 when they told almost with boasting and evidently with
complaisance that "the devils even were subject unto them." "I saw Satan (proud Lucifer) fall
from heaven." It was after this He called them to retreat. He feared for them lest their success
should engender the spirit of pride and bring about their downfall. There is a danger in the
missionary Sisters' life that contact with others in the world will play havoc with that "first love"
which must always be supreme in a Religious. St. Francis' question to St. Clare, "Shall I give
myself entirely to prayer or shall I devote my life to preaching and missionary labors?"
Although the answer was given, "To the missionary life", nevertheless St. Francis did not neglect
his own soul. He persevered in prayer and like His Master found time at intervals to go into
retreat.

One of the primary essentials of this retreat is that you concern yourself about your own
soul.

Judas, like the other disciples, engaged in missionary work. Like the others he wrought
miracles and did much good work. But he did not make successful retreats. He did not suf -
ficiently scrutinize...[incomplete]

Document 65
[The original of the conference is typed on the back of scrap paper of the Atonement Sisters and
has a number of unclear sentences and words missing. It appears to be part of the retreat given
by Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., to the Atonement Sisters beginning July 16, 1933. Although the
original does not contain a date, the conference appears to have been given on July l8, l933.
The conjecture rests on the content of his conference of July l7, l933.]

4TH CONFERENCE

THE VOW OF OBEDIENCE

Tuesday a.m. [July l8, l933]

Obedience is the very heart of the Religious. Faith, hope and charity, but the greatest of
these is charity. So the greatest of the vows is obedience. We said yesterday that St. Francis
was called to embrace the vow of holy poverty and some of the other Religious founders are
called to embrace some of the other vows.

The greatest offering we can make to God is of our will because that is what makes us
most akin to God. God created vast worlds, magnificent orbits, and the stars in the sky. Some of
them are of tremendous breadth in comparison to this world in which we live. Yet man is
greater than any of them. Individual man is greater than any of them because he possesses what
they do not. God imposes a law on these vast creations and they obey the law with exactitude.
We can make all kinds of calculations after we have learned certain formulas and we can rely on
them. God has imposed these laws on them and they observe them. There is the watch that
keeps our time that man has made and which is not so exact in keeping time as the earth. In fact,
all our time is based on the sun. Now what does this mean? It means that God has imposed
certain laws upon it and it operates day and night like the earth with exactitude, always on the
dot in the observance of what God has imposed upon it for centuries and centuries for millions
and millions of years. But ever down through those millions of years the earth has never violated
the Laws of God.

The most insignificant man and woman on the earth can stand up and shake his or her fist
in the face of the Almighty and say, "I will not serve. I will not do Your will. I will be my own
master or mistress. I shall follow after my own inclinations of my own heart no matter what
You command to the contrary." That is a wonderful attitude and prayer which they direct to their
Spiritual Father, their God.

When we make an oblation of our will to God we are making an offering of the greatest
we have. The vow of poverty relates to material things. The renunciation of the things of the
senses of possessions such as we can see, feel, touch and handle. When it comes to the vow of
chastity, that is, a renunciation of certain pleasures of the senses or sexual pleasures and
gratifications which are allowed under certain conditions. What doth it profit a man to gain the
whole world and suffer the loss of his immortal soul? The soul is more valuable than the whole
world. So after all the renunciation of certain material things, they are only material. But the
greatest sacrifice is of our own will. When we make a surrender of our will we make a surrender
of everything.

When our Lord and God made man after His own image and put him in the Garden of
Eden and then gave him a test whether he would always do the will of God, He drew a line by
forbidding them to eat of the fruit of just one tree in the garden. There were all kinds of things
to gratify their pleasure and to give happiness to man. But would he always submit his will to
the will of His Creator? He, therefore, tested their obedience by forbidding them to eat of the
fruit of this tree. But they were tempted by Lucifer that great rebel against the divine will whom
God had created so magnificently and endowed with marvelous gifts and power under his
jurisdiction as first of the heavenly hosts. But he fell and sought to ruin God in this new
creation.

He became the tempter and he ensnared and seduced her and then came the dire
consequence. Our Lord came to make an atonement to God for this sin of our first parents. He
offered Himself to do the will of His heavenly Father. He became obedient unto death, even the
death on the cross. By this supreme test of His obedience He set up a new order for the world,
the Children of Obedience. For fallen man strayed and wandered from the Creator. The
Religious are called to be the ones who render supreme obedience to God, perfect, prompt and
entire after the example of our Lord Himself--they who are to follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth in the kingdom of His glory.

This tremendous sacrifice and magnificent offering is most acceptable to God. And I say,
it is the very heart of the Religious life. What is the first and greatest Commandment? It is,
"Thou shalt love Thy Lord Thy God with thy whole heart and soul and the second is like unto it.
Thou shalt love Thy neighbor as thyself. Love is the foremost of the laws and the greatest of
these is charity. So this oblation of the will and obedience to the law which is the law of love, is
the most precious of all and as far as our own vocation is concerned we are to be most devoted
to holy poverty after the example of our Seraphic Father.

As members of the Atonement Family we know the word Atonement means obedience.
He became obedient unto death and made atonement for the world, offering a sacrifice of His
will in obedience, to offset the desecration made by the will of man in turning him away from
His children. We should, therefore, strive to excel in obedience among Religious. We said
yesterday how God raised up St. Ignatius as the Founder of the Jesuits and what stress it laid on
obedience and that characteristic has marked the career of this wonderful body of men since the
time of the Reformation. It should be a mark of the Religious of the Atonement. Without it we
shall not be fulfilling our vocation.

Now obedience is rendered first of all to our Superiors, the Holy Father, the Vicar of
Christ, successor of St. Peter whom our Lord committed the ruling and government of His Sheep
and the obedience we give to the Constitutions and Rule and particularly is it expressed to those
who happen to be our Superiors, the Mother General or the particular Superior of the House
where we may be placed. Our obedience should be first of all a prompt obedience, an
obedience that is ready and cheerful and in order that it may be so, an obedience from the heart.

We must never forget that it is after all God that we obey, the others are His delegates.
He says, "Honor thy Father and thy Mother." When we were brought into this world we were
brought in through the instrumentality of our parents and we honor and obey them. But back of
these earthly parents is God the Father. When we obey them we obey God. They are simply the
delegated ones. God went so far as to say, "Call no man father on the earth as your Father is in
Heaven."
 In the Religious life our Superiors simply represent the will of God and they are His
instruments to whom we are to render obedience which must be prompt and cheerful because we
look to our Higher Superiors in doing the will of God. We should render this obedience
promptly and cheerfully not only when we have an ideal Superior whom we just love, who is so
kind and gracious and considerate and we look upon her like our mothers at home and we know
when she asks us to do anything it is but for our good.

But it may be in the providence of God that we might have a Superior who might be a
misfit and hard to get along with. However, we should render a prompt and cheerful obedience.
It is said of our Lord, when He was l2 years old He got very much interested in talking with the
doctors and theologians in the temple and he was right in His element. His parents went up and
told Him they were to go home and it is said, He returned with them promptly.

In the providence of God Jesus had to obey and subject Himself to some who were not
quite so agreeable, especially when He had to submit Himself in the Garden when the soldiers
came and led Him away before the judgment seat of Pilate. How they struck Him in the face
causing the blood to spurt out. But our Lord submitted. He did not rebel. The same way when
Pilate said to Him, "Knowest Thou I have power to release or condemn Thee?" Our Lord said,
"Thou hast no power over me except what I could call down legions of angels from Heaven and
make short work of you. But you are my master for the time being. I am your subject. I make
no protest." The crown of thorns was placed on His head and He submitted Himself to the
soldiers and stretched out His hands for the nails to be placed in His hands and feet. "He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

So we will agree and submit when we have agreeable Superiors or perhaps [ones
disagreeable to us.] But it should be an obedience of the heart not a reluctant one. Sometimes
we find subjects speaking from the standpoint of Superiors, who obey if they have to but if they
can get away and get around to their own way of doing it. When they do submit they do it just
because they have to and they are just coming around to getting their own way. We know that
that kind of Religious would not be a good Religious. They are the kind that make the Superior
obey instead of obeying themselves. To be a good Religious we must take the example of St.
Paul when he said to our Lord, "What will Thou have me do?" But there are Religious who turn
the thing around and use the Superior and make the Superior say the words which our Lord
addressed to the blind man, "What will thou have me to do?"

Now a word to the Superiors. We know it is a serious thing to be in the position of a

Superior. You have it in your power to be a very observant one and to make obedience a
pleasant and wonderful thing on the part of the subject or the contrary. It very largely depends
upon the attitude you take. A Superior can be proud, domineering, exacting and selfish or
inconsiderate. You can be unsympathetic when they really have difficulties. Sometimes they get
sick or their strength will depart from them for the time being and they just struggle to keep
going. This Superior may be under certain circumstances unkind and drive the subject on and
make her do beyond her strength. The Superior must, therefore, have a loving heart for her
Sisters and remember that she is placed in that position as somebody who has to be the head.
They are her Sisters and she is temporarily placed over them and is just one of them.

Now along with this we should pray for wisdom from on high and be a Superior of love
and sympathy. After all we are co-workers doing the work together on the missions. The
Superior herself usually feels that much is expected of her and that of course sometimes subjects
do not realize in the matter of obedience that the Superior does much more obedience than the
subject. But after all it is a matter of service and the biggest burden of it rests with the
responsibility of it on the shoulders of the Superior. At times it is a heavy one.

Take our Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ at Rome, the Sovereign Pontiff. He is the
greatest of the Hierarchy. You know all the Holy Fathers write after their name "Servant of the
Servants of God." He cannot get away from his responsibilities. He is like chained right there.
We would never think of the Pope battling with the icebergs or sojourning at the beautiful lake
there. He has such great responsibilities--Bishops coming to him with their cares and troubles
from all parts of the world. He listens to them. Great crowds come to obtain an audience. When
he is still tired he must say his Office like the Order Priest.

So the responsibility is similar with our Superiors. We do not realize the burden they all
have, their wants and needs. It is their business to look after them. Things on the mission need
their care and that service is obedience to God and obedience to the subjects as they are the
servant of the servants.

Do not get ambitious to be a Superior but if in the providence of God you get appointed,
do not covet it. It is said in the life of St. Dominic that a man possessed of the devil was brought
to him to exorcize him. Usually they ask the devil questions and he asked what kind of
Religious are mostly represented in his regions and the answer was, "Superiors." And that may
be right.

I spoke yesterday about certain Superiors being in Mount Hope, an asylum in the diocese
of Baltimore, because their poor brains were racked by the anxieties which were placed on them
for the care and burden of big institutions. Ordinary Religious do not ask where the money
comes from. They have everything provided for their needs. But the Superiors have those many
problems to think about, so that it is not a position to be coveted and desired. But be happy to
be a simple Religious who has the work planned out for her from day to day and nothing to
worry about. And I say they are in danger of pitfalls in the ways of Superiors. There is just a
wee bit of truth in what the devil revealed to St. Dominic as there is in many things.

A great tragedy to this Institute occurred through a Sister who was the Superior of the
first house founded by the Community. She was not in herself an obedient Religious and one to
be frank and open with the Mother General. She was corrected and instead of taking it humbly
[words missing]...and finally at a Retreat I had, I did not know it but she had planned with her
Sisters that she was going to take off her habit and leave the Community. Then that terrible
tragedy happened which has left a terrific impression on us all, a tragedy which was the only
way God could save her from a pitfall.

Another thing which we should remember is the position you now occupy as a subject. I
expect obedience of others first of all and subjects should first become obedient themselves.
Horace said, "You cannot make others weep as an actor on the stage unless you weep yourself."
And to be a good Superior and expect obedience from others you must be an observant subject.

So consider this matter of obedience which I have said is the greatest of all the Vows.
[Be] exacting in it and do it all because you worship the most sweet will of God the Father.
That was our Lord's example. Do not forget they are the human ones in God's place and if they
give you a command in the spirit of tyranny, you render it just the same as you look upon your
Superiors as His representatives and you worship the most sweet will of God.

Document 66
[The typed text of this conference of Fr. Paul Wattson,s.a., to the Sisters of the Atonement was
found attached to a sermon he gave on October 7, l933, which is contained in The Words of Fr.
Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., I 142-144. The clergyman from Manistee, Michigan, is
Rev. Ernest Willoughby Jewell.]

FRIDAY EVENING CONFERENCE.

We treated very carefully our Covenant Chapter last night, speaking in particular about
apostates and falling away and we will look a little more attentively to the promises tonight.

"Beloved we had persuaded better things of you and things that

accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward His name in that ye
have ministered to the saints and do minister."

Yours is and has been an active vocation. You are constantly visiting and ministering
and you are saints in the making. You are mutually mingling one with another in community
life. In some of the missions you are gaining souls of men and obtaining the little children and
teaching them things about their holy faith and to receive the Sacraments worthily. It is a great
work of service. It is all a labor of love and desire and we desire that everyone of you do it
worthily and diligently to the full assurance of hope unto the end.

Coming to the end of the retreat, we should be looking forward also to the end of our
earthly pilgrimage which leads through the portals of death to the Promised Land beyond, to the
Beatific Vision--the Land of Promise to dwell with our Lord in one of the many mansions.

Be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise.
St. Paul says, "Labor more abundantly than all in a complete life of toil." So we should also
keep busy in the service of God and not be slothful. For when God made promise to Abraham
because He could not swear by no greater, He said,

Blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. So after
he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the
greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
His counsel confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things in which it
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us which hope we have for an anchor
of the soul.
 Now the counsel of God was given to the Father Founder for the members of the
community in the name and basic texts of our Institute. I remember at Omaha sitting down and
writing out those passages and that was the counsel of God. Then He comes along at a critical
time and confirms it by an oath that we might have more confidence to go forward in our
vocation and thus have confidence in this promise and oath of God that he would bless and
multiply and make the number exceedingly numerous.

This Chapter was a wonderful anchor to us in the early days of the development of the
Institute. We came to Graymoor with enthusiasm and expectation. We were prepared to see the
Children increase right off the reel and we had many disappointments. Sometimes it would
flourish and then something would knock it down.

At length one day, I came down the mountain and told The Mother I thought it was time
to bear witness about the Pope and that the Anglican Church should get back with the Holy See
in the position the Church of England had before the Reformation. We stated our belief with the
result that we were ostracized and instead of getting bigger we were getting smaller at least the
Friars until I only had one companion. One day he was rolling a stone and got a hemorrhage and
had to go to a sanitarium for a year. I was alone until another companion came from California.
That was a fine fulfilment of the Atonement Covenant Chapter.

We had a meeting of members of the Rosary League of our Lady of the Atonement. It
was a little convention in St. John's Church and Sister Mary Francis was there and about nine
others. With my usual enthusiasm I went on to say I foresaw the day when the Rosary League
would be numbered by tens of thousands. I recall Miss Locke (Sister Mary Francis) covering her
face with a smile and thought the Father was getting mystical. But all that has been realized as
far as the Rosary League of our Lady of the Atonement.

Abraham had been faithful in his labors and the promise still remained unfulfilled. He
was almost a centurion [sic] and he still had no sons. Then came Isaac his first born and
following this was a command from God to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. But his faith
did not falter him and he went to fulfil his obedience and make the sacrifice. And so Abraham
during his life did not see the fulfilment of the promise but he believed just the same.

And so the coming generations, no doubt, will see the promise of this multiplying and
growth. But I am sure the older ones have the same confidence as the Mother and Father
Generals. So let this Covenant Chapter be to you something to strengthen you through any trials
you may have.

I remember particularly one Anglican clergyman up in Manistee. I went up and opened a

couple of missions for him and he accepted the teaching of our holy Faith and the future of the
Society. He finally resigned in Manistee and came to Graymoor with his young son and two
daughters. Then came the day when he reproached me for having misled him for coming to
Graymoor and as I walked down the road I remember saying, "You will see. The Society of the
Atonement will increase and develop." Years afterwards he entered the Catholic Church and he
has seen the progress of the Society of the Atonement. I suppose he still [is] where the Bishop
assigned him to a lonely island and I am sure it is a very lonely life and it would have been a
very different story had he believed more in the Covenant Chapter and the promise of Almighty
God.
 In conclusion I hope the Sisters of the Atonement will continue to increase their devotion
to Our Lady of the Atonement and that you will try when you have opportunities to bring devo-
tion to her by enlisting those to whom you give instruction to join the Rosary League and wear
the medal of our Lady of the Atonement and to invoke her and love her and to get people to
subscribe to The Candle, our little magazine. In these days of depression when The Lamp
always has a big deficit the little Candle has sailed through. I do not know how it happens, but
as far as The Candle is concerned there is always a little margin and it pays for itself and it might
have a very larger circulation.

Now when you face away from the Mother House to your missions to labor, have this
Covenant Chapter in mind, His wish and desire concerning you and the prayer on your lips that
you may be found faithful until the end so that you may be numbered among the Children of the
Atonement in glory everlasting. Also about the propagation of the Children of the Atonement
not just by being members of the First or Second Congregations but in the broader sense--in all
the expectations of the Children of the Atonement.

St. Paul speaks of the children of condemnation and wrath but we have been reconciled
by obedience and unity, so that when we by our vow of obedience teach, labor and cooperate
and bring souls to God, we are really then propagating the seed of the Atonement by increasing
the numbers. This should be one of our desires, that it might be found fruitful and thereby we
will cooperate with God and make the Children of the Atonement like the stars of the heavens
and the sands of the seashore. I hope you will all go forth again with the joy of the Holy Ghost
in your hearts as Mary joyfully went into the "hill country" with haste to Elizabeth, walking on
air with the joy of the Holy Ghost within her.
1935
Document 67
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XII
135-137. The title identifies the speaker as Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a. Often he capitalized each letter
of words referring to the Divine. Here he capitalizes each letter of words that do not refer to the
Divine.]

NOTES FROM RETREAT CONFERENCES

GIVEN BY REV. PAUL JAMES FRANCIS, S. A., FATHER FOUNDER

to Postulants at St. Francis' Convent

May 17-25,1935

Conferences held in Convent Chapel, as there was not yet the Blessed
Sacrament in the Novitiate, Nazareth. Father used to stand by the grille near
Reverend Mother's stall, and the postulants, five in the band, sat where the
Tertiaries now sit--just behind the grille, by the door.

May 17: Five in the band. Be reminders and reminded of the Five Wounds. Be Faithful
! Veni Creator Spiritus !

I. The Motto of the Society: "Gloriamur in D.N.J.C. per quem nunc Adunationem
recepimus."

Atonement, the sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the world. St. Thomas More used the
word
first as a reconciliation of two persons estranged. God said the woman's heel and Satan would
bruise each other.

Except a kernel of wheat die, it abides alone. This was applied to Christ; it is applied to
the Children of the Atonement as well. By Communion, we become bone of His bone, flesh of
His flesh, (explain).
As Religious, we are setting out to realize At-One-ment. Religion means "to bind again
in union with God." As novices, we will wear white veils. In the Apocalypse we read of a
multitude in white, who have left the world, and all, to follow the Lamb wheresoever He
goeth.... The novitiate is likened to the engagement period in the world. Its purpose is to take the
first steps in living a life with thoughts and heart in union with God. If we must love creatures,
love them in and through Christ. "O God, Who has prepared......" "IN and ABOVE". That
they may be ONE in US." Therefore there must be nothing between Him and ourselves, or
between one another. To realize this, we work it out through the three Vows, and through
Community Life.

Prayer: Three-fold Salutation.

May 18; Recall: Motto of Society "Gloriamur", and Three-fold Salutation
II. Obedience: Devotion to GOD THE FATHER expresses itself in Obedience. Recall
yesterday's references to Atonement. Separations came from disobedience. Christ became
obedient. "obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis." To come to have a share in the
atonement, in the life of the Atonement, and in union with God, involves OBEDIENCE, because
disobedience separates one from God, and destroys union with God. At Baptism of Christ, words
of God and Holy Spirit "This is my well beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." - "well
pleased" because He wasobedient. When, as a Child in the temple, He was sought with sorrow,
He was found obedient to God's will. At Nazareth "He was obedient". At the well of Samaria He
said, "My meat is to do the Will of Him", and, again, in the Garden of Gethsemane;
"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

Resolve: To have a WILL,- to be OBEDIENT, especially to Reverend Mother's

Constitutions and Rule, - to the very last detail !

Prayer: Anima Christi.

... Obedience to God the Father, -"autem mortem crucis”

May 19: Devotion to GOD THE HOLY GHOST.

III. Poverty; "If any man thirst...rivers of water...this spake He of the Holy Ghost" (St.
John)

POVERTY. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Devotion to the Holy Ghost means NO
devotion to MATERIAL things - estates, money, clothes, things. The more detached we are
from the material, the more attached we are to the spiritual. Examples of St. Francis - the Holy
Ghost as a Breath, a Sword. Nuns are spouses of the Holy Ghost. Repast of crusts and running
water, with a stone for table, and the vault of heaven the refectory dome. Bro. Pacificus...the
throne in heaven,vacated by Lucifer will be for S.N.P.F. and his. PRACTICE not only the vow
but the virtue of poverty. Then we will find thirst for God paramount. "My soul is athirst for
God - for the LIVING GOD." "They that wait on the Lord ...." "Mary went with haste to see
Elizabeth", after the Annunciation, urged on by the Holy Ghost. Poverty and its bearing on the
relation to the husband refers, for us, to the work of raising spiritual children into the At-One-
ment, through our work on the missions, guided by the Holy Ghost.

Ejaculation: Send forth Thy Spirit.

May 20: Devotion to our Incarnate Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

Recall: St. Paul's description in Corinthians. Consider the extension of the Incarnate life
and Atonement. The reception of His Body is associated with CHASTITY.

IV. CHASTITY: the renouncing of all carnal loves, in order to foster and center
devotion in the D.N.J.C. Exercise love to HIM - particularly in Holy Communion. Instil His
life in creatures regenerate through Baptism - by Communion. The tree, organic, reaches its
roots down into the organic and draws these materials into oneness - one substance with itself.
With nourishments required of its own kind, all things grow. His own glorified Body nourishes
Christians - "His own kind".
This is an essential part of being made one with Christ, At-One-ment (cf. writings of St.
Gertrude)... Bone of His Bone, Flesh of His Flesh. In religion, it is the abandonment of self to
live in union with Christ. As spouses of Christ, we are engaged to Him. Be faithful to the
vows of Chastity. Increase the times and depth of the union.

MYSTICISM: the experience of union with God; with Christ of the Canticles; the
happiness and ecstatic experiences increase TO heavenly glory, IN heavenly glory. At some
time in this, the Dark Night of the Soul comes (cf. St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa, the
Canticles).
The Bride is left by the Groom (cf. "The Burning Bush", St. Benedict, St. Francis before
the Stigmata). Heaviness comes in the night; joy in the morning. Incident upon incident
quoted of our own Reverend Mother Foundress's Dark Night of the Soul, and the strength
derived from the privilege of daily Communion.

PRACTICE: Growth in union with Christ.

1937
Document 68
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
84-87. The retreat is calculated from talk no.5 to have taken place in August 1937. Of note is
the number of times Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., begins a sentence with the word, “Now.” It is his
style. The prayer which he refers to, beginning with, “O God, Who has prepared for those who
love Thee such good things...” is the Daily Prayer of the Children of the Atonement. Because of
Fr. Paul’s treatment of Friars and smoking in conference no. 7, the novices mentioned here have
to be friar novices.]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No. 1

[August 1937]

The basic text given the founder when he sought what the name of the Institute should be
is one with which you are familiar, or ought to be. The last great day of the feast, the Feast of
Tabernacles, Jesus stood in the Temple and cried: If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and
drink. He that believeth in Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Saint John
commented onthis and said: now this said He of the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been given,
because Christ had not been glorified. (John 7:57-39)

That is an invitation which we have already accepted. We have a vocation or think we

have a call to the religious life, a call from our Blessed Lord. Corresponding to that call, which
He gave to Peter, James and the apostles: Forsake your nets, follow Me, He said, and I will make
you fishers of men. So we experienced a call: If any man thirst let him come unto Me. Our
Lord called us, and in obedience to that call, giving [ourselves] to Christ, we may expect the
fulfilment of the promise: out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

That is an expression of the abundance with which God fulfills His promise. It is natural
for man to thirst, not only physically, because that is one of the things that God has planted in
man. Itis necessary for him to have a certain amount of water for the maintenance of the body.
If we received no water the blood channels would dry up. We would perish. So just as God has
given us an appetite for food, because without that we would not provide the nourishment
necessary for it, so the thirst has been planted there for water to remind us that the body needs
water, liquid nourishment, and in fulfilling that thirst we supply what the body needs.

But there is another thirst, the thirst of the soul; and it is a thirst for happiness. It is
natural that we should thirst for happiness. God created and predestined us to be happy beings
of joy, happy beings. As a good master or mistress, having adopted a cat or dog, a domestic
animal, naturally wants to make the animal happy, and not just have the animal minister to their
own happiness andpleasure, so God created beings for His own glory and pleasure.

He has revealed to us that He wills that these beings, creatures of His Hand, should be
happy, like Himself. Because man was taken away from the Paradise of pleasure, the garden of
delights in which our first parents were placed, and happiness was replaced by sorrow, and life
by death, Our Lord, in coming to redeem men, comes to call them to happiness. No, there is
something that surpasses happiness, i.e. joy.
 One might run along the stream of contentment, getting a certain amount of happiness
out of life yet never reaching to the thrills of joy. And this God has promised to us, not
perfectly, in this world, but gloriously and eternally in the Paradise of the Blessed, in the joy of
the Beatific Vision and the Blessed. That will come out of the life of the redeemed around the
throne of God.

Now we have this desire, and men as a consequence of this desire are craving for
happiness. They seek it. But they seek it apart from God, where it cannot be found. The
prophet Jeremiah, Ithink it was, spoke of the children of Israel in the name of Jehovah . . . They
have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Water, and they have gone out to seek cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold nowater. And that is what humanity away from God is doing all the time.
They are seeking to create cisterns that will quench no thirst. They are broken cisterns. They
cannot hold water permanently. Indulgence in life brings pleasure, but transitory and never
satisfies.

Riding on the train a soldier spoke of temptation against the sixth commandment,
claimed it was sexual lust. After satisfying it, afterwards he said I would have given one
thousand dollars if Ihad not done that thing. So that immediately afterwards came the reaction
and the regret expressed in his human fashion: “I would have given dollars if I had not done it.”
So that human agencies apart from God have proven broken cisterns. They do not last.
Sometimes a man will build larger barns, and “afterwards my soul shall enter into enjoyment for
I have riches for many a day.” Then came the Lord's voice: “Thou fool, this night the Lord will
require thy soul.” Then what use are riches?

So Solomon, e.g. who had collected enormous wealth, all vanity and disappointment. So
it will always be for those who seek satisfaction and pleasure. Nowhere else but in God, Saint
Augustinetells us in his Confessions, after a life of worldliness, concupiscence, lust,
drunkenness, and all other things in life seeking pleasure, apart and away from God in the world,
he exclaimed, “Oh God, Thou hast made the heart for Thyself, and it can find rest and happiness
nowhere but in Thee.”

So Our Lord lifts up His voice in the temple and invites us to come to Him. He says, I
will satisfy the thirst; I will do more; I will cause rivers of living water to spring up in you. And
by this Saint John says He meant the coming of the Holy Ghost. Now, in religion, if we are
faithful, if we practice those counsels of perfection; if we become, through the virtue of the
vows, perfectly obedient and perfectly chaste, and perfectly pure, then we will realize and be
able to say the Lord has kept His promise. He has given me happiness, more really than I have
capacity to receive.

We have that beautiful prayer of ours, you know: “O God, Who hast prepared... such
good things ...” Only God can do that. Only God can satisfy our desires and surpass those
desires. Saint Paul, having been caught up into the third heaven, when he came back, said he
had seen things that it was impossible to find language to describe; “eye hath not seen, ear not
heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man” to comprehend the joy and glory and
blessedness that shall be ours in that state of beatitude, that we look for as pilgrims crying out of
death and sin into the land of honey. But even while we are in the desert in the stage of
transition from this world to the next, we should experience to some extent at least the fulfilment
of this promise of our Lord in the receiving of the Holy Ghost.

Now there is something more in this promise than just satiety of our thirst. It speaks of
abundance of refreshment flowing up from our midst. While as an individual you do not need a
river to satisfy your thirst. Often two cups full is the limit of your capacity. So there must have
been something else in Our Lord's mind in this description than just the satisfaction of our own
personal thirst in God. My soul has a thirst for God “as the hart panteth after the water so does
my soul seek after Thee."

There is something else. The call of the Father Founder, which he experienced even as a
child: “So that is what you will do some day, found a preaching order like the Paulists.” And
we are to be preachers. We are not to satisfy ourselves simply with our own personal
sanctification. What Christ thirsted for on the cross, it was souls He redeemed. The thirst which
cost the last drop of HisBlood for our redemption.

And we are united to Him, and being united to Him, we ought to experience and share
His thirst in His Mystical Body. That thirst is for the salvation of souls. So we go out as
preachers, as apostles to evangelize the world. And the Holy Ghost is the One Who does, or
ought to do the preaching through us.

For if it is only we who preach, there will not be much fruit as a result on the day of
conversion. The Holy Ghost on Pentecost preached through Saint Peter and his companion. The
result was three thousand souls. The fruits of Our Lord's three years was one hundred twenty
souls in the Cenacle, but the Holy Ghost going out thru the apostles made converts on the first
day of manifestationso that three thousand were baptized. From then on the Church grew
splendidly because they preached not by themselves, but by the Holy Ghost. And the Holy
Ghost was as it were rivers of living water flowing from their interior, irrigating the parched
sands of this world, converting souls, making the word fruitful, fruits of Divine Life. But it is
necessary that the soil be irrigated, otherwise you won't get any fruit. During a drought man
sows seed, the dust storms come and blow it away, with nothing to show for his labor. He looks
eagerly for water from the clouds. Travelling through the West we came suddenly to a paradise
in the midst of the desert. That was because of irrigation by rivers that turn current into that
great Boulder Dam inaugurated by Mr. Hoover, running the Colorado River into the desert.

That is particularly the work of the Holy Ghost going through the devout religious who
has become a preacher. He has received not just enough spiritual water for the satisfaction of his
own thirst, but the Holy Ghost springs up as a river, flows out, irrigates, converts multitudes of
souls.

How beautifully that was fulfilled in the case of Saint Francis. This humble man,
education rather limited, the Holy Ghost enters into him, and he goes out to be a preacher, and
no church is big enough to hold the people. As he preaches, the Holy Spirit comes on these
persons, converts them, changes their life. Multitudes join the ranks of Saint Francis, carry on
his same apostolate. In companywith him other young women join the Poor Clares. Other
multitudes call attention to their work, and ask a rule to live by. And consulting the Holy Ghost,
he gave the Third Order rule. They multiplied with the Tertiaries of Saint Dominic. In a few
years scarcely anyone from King to peasant in the valley that did not belong either to the Third
Order of these two great preachers Saint Francis and Saint Dominic. And so that spread
throughout the world, so that the Holy Ghost issuing from Saint Francis's mouth springing up in
a river went forth to irrigate the soul not merely of Italy, of France, or Spain, but all over the
world. Today we have Franciscan missionaries laboring in all parts of the world. They are just
the coming forth of living water from the mouth of Saint Francis, a glorious fulfilment of that
invitation Christ gave Saint Francis: “Francis go repair My Church.”

Saint Francis was always preeminent for his devotion to God, the Holy Ghost. And as
his sons we ought to have a prominent devotion to the Holy Ghost. And I trust that by the grace
of God operating in your soul God will pour abundantly into your souls, and the Holy Ghost will
give you as it were rivers of living water to pour from your lips evangelizing the world,
stretching like the waters of the Colorado River dammed up that spreads, irrigates the soil
changing it into a land that blossoms like the rose.

We have to understand there are duties and obligations imposed by virtue of the Holy
Ghost taking possession of us. We cannot stand in the Presence of God if we commit sin. If we
are disobedient.You cannot at the same time walk after the flesh and walk in the spirit. They are
contradictory one to the other. You cannot walk after the sight of your eyes and after the desire
of the flesh, and at the same time please God. To keep the body under subjection mortification is
necessary to practice holy poverty if the Holy Ghost continues with you and if the Holy Ghost
through you carries out that mission which God has put upon us: omnia pro Christo et salute
hominum.

Document 69
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
76-79. Of note is that Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., says that upon receiving the second Atonement
Text, he “immediately” saw it meant that the clerics of his Order had to be preachers in the
power of the Holy Spirit.]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES NO. 2

When I was seeking the name of the Institute, imitating Saint Francis as you have heard
read in the Ideals of Saint Francis in the refectory, how when Bernard of Quintavalle, probably
the richestyoung man in Assisi wanted to join him, Saint Francis didn't want to take the
responsibility of telling him to part with all his wealth. They went to the church on April 16 and
after the Mass Saint Francisasked the priest to open the Gospels, probably the Missal, and
received first: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, give to the poor and take up thy
cross and follow Me.” “Take on thy journey no scrip, and only one coat.” Finally, take up the
cross of self-denial. Acting upon that it was not long before Bernard was as poor as Saint
Francis.

I was disappointed naturally after invoking the Blessed Trinity when I came upon the
first text of our Institute. I felt previously the name should have something to do with the cross
and Passion of Our Lord, and it certainly was not in that text. But it immediately flashed in my
mind: “This is to be a preaching Order, and of course if it is to be a preaching Order of clerics
they must preach by thepower and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Suddenly I began to see the
excellence of that text.

Then in the order of the Divine Providence and of the Atonement, the work of the Holy
Ghost, like that of John Baptist prepared the way it had to come first, e.g. it was necessary for
some one to be prepared to be the Mother of the Word made Flesh. It was the special work of
the Holy Ghost to see the Blessed Virgin conceived without original sin and a perfect instrument
fit and worthy to be the medium of the Incarnation. So that was especially the work of the Holy
Ghost.

It was the work of the Holy Ghost also to preserve, after her birth in a state of holiness,
the Blessed Virgin, and at the time of the Annunciation of the Angel, when she accepted the
announcementof the Angel: the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee and the Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God. Again the operationof the Holy Ghost.

Then in her visitation to Elizabeth, she went with haste to the hill country. The reason
was that she was hurried on that it seemed almost she was given wings by the Holy Ghost
dwelling withinher. When she came to the house of Elizabeth, Saint John Baptist, who was in
his mother's womb, leaped to meet his Lord, and there through the Holy Ghost the Blessed
Virgin sang the Magnificat.
So all through the preparatory work of the Incarnation and the Atonement was a work of
the Holy Ghost.

Now, we have the three vows of religion. Fundamental vows common to all religious
congregations. Though some add special additional vows. These are fundamental to all. Poverty,
obedience, chastity. And these are associated, each of them, with one of these three basic texts.

The vow of poverty we link up with the text that speaks of the Holy Ghost. Devotion to
the Holy Ghost expresses itself through the virtue and the vow of poverty. That is the vow Saint
Francisespecially stressed, and which is characteristic of the Franciscans. Then I pointed out in
the former conference, Saint Francis was peculiarly devoted to the Holy Ghost. And the two
things go together,devotion to poverty and devotion to the Holy Ghost.

Men seek their happiness in what the world calls the sumum bonum, the possession of
money, in order that they may buy with money the comforts, luxuries, the things material, riches
and things of life, which ordinarily are supposed to minister to happiness according to the
philosophy: let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. The world's idea the joy of time,
like joy of life, in an auto, supplemented by drink, carousing and dancing, with all the gadgets of
the world thrown in. That is the worldly idea of happiness.

But that is contradictory to the holy life. We have to choose between the material and the
spiritual, and it is the denial and renunciation of the material that increases our devotion to the
HolyGhost. We cannot serve two masters. Our Lord said and Saint Paul says also: there is an
enmity between the spirit and the flesh so that we cannot be carnally minded and spiritual
minded at the same time. And it is by the fulfilment of the vow of poverty, the renunciation of
material possessions, stripping ourselves, as far as we can of material things that we stress our
devotion to the Holy Ghost.
 Saint Francis started out in his career with the idea of being a soldier of a general. When
he went out in war against the Perugians he was taken captive and jailed. He had a vision of
armor with a cross on it. Alone with that he consoled himself to think he was going to be a great
general some day, a successful soldier. It was only after stricken down with sickness in a dark
room, that these materialistic conceptions of his future fell away from him. Then he went to a
dark cave without material luxuries, given repulses, all friends vanished from him, and he got
down to the basic idea ofpoverty, stripped himself as far as possible of all material things,
money and what it buys, and turned within, so that he might experience the real delight which
comes from the Holy Ghost.

Our Lord consoled His apostles when they were sad because He would take His
departure. He said, “It is expedient that I go. For if I go not away, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete,
will not come to you. If I go to the Father, I will send Him to you.” Saint Paul speaks of the
fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, the first three. So that it is one of the fruits of the Holy
Ghost, joy. And by renunciation of all material things and getting down to basic love of poverty,
putting away from us, as far as we can, the luxuries and material riches and comforts, and
embracing His life of self-denial, mortification of the body, we come into the sphere of spiritual
joy. And that has been the characteristic, particularly of those saints that have been like John
Baptist peculiarly ascetic. Take Peter of Alcantara, e.g. he carried mortifications of the body to
great extremes. He was just skin and bones, and yet he did not make it miserable. He was
remarkable for the sunshine of his disposition, because the renunciation of the material had
brought out the spiritual.

So that it is devotion to holy poverty and renunciation of material things by which we

particularly express our devotion to the Holy Ghost, and the more we can live in the virtue of
holy poverty and practice it and renunciation of material things that we will get the spiritual.
[Previous sentence is garbled.] Take this matter of tobacco. If anybody wants to smoke tobacco,
it is because they expect to get a certain amount of pleasure and comfort out of it. However, if
they renounce that and depend upon the spiritual, they will get a vast amount more of comfort
out of communion of the spirit within them than they will surrounding themselves by smoke.
And so it goes with the other forms of renunciation of material things, which, to a greater or less
degree is fundamental to the religious life. Some Religious Orders are more strict in the matter
of renunciation than others are. e.g. Trappists and Carthusians, who confine themselves too
strictly to vegetable diet. They have beautiful cattle, cultivated for exhibition for prizes, and the
Trappists take the prizes, yet they never touch the fat cattle themselves. They don't even drink
the milk, nor eat the butter they have. They have beautiful fowl producing eggs, but for other
people not themselves. That is the particular part of austerity which their founders associated
with that particular life. But the practice of that mortification does not make them unhappy. On
the other hand they are noteworthy for the longevity of their lives. They really live longer than
others because of their diet, apart from spiritual consolations they get.

Now Saint Paul speaks of the body as the vessel of sanctification fit for the Master's use,
and the work of sanctification is the work of the Holy Ghost. He is the Sanctifier, and we should
surrender ourselves to Him in such a way that He may dominate, inspire, and direct us in the
way of sanctification, and hold our bodies under His control and direction in self-denial, keeping
them in a state of absolute purity, so that they may be efficient instruments for the Master's use.
 Our Lord Jesus wants us for example to go into all the world as He commanded His
apostles to preach to all nations. As we said today the effectiveness of our ministrations will be
according to the measure that we are dominated and directed by the Holy Ghost. The greater our
sanctification, the more these bodies are indwelt, energized, illuminated by the Holy Spirit of
God, the more effectiveour ministry will be.

So it ought to be our desire to present our bodies to Christ. Pray constantly, entreat the
Holy Spirit to take possession of them, make them His temple in which He dwells sanctifying
them completely.By mortification and self-denial perfectly surrendering to His domination and
direction, they may be what Saint Paul calls vessels of sanctification fit for the Master's use.

God has great work for the S.A. to do. But it is exceedingly necessary that the Friars of
the Atonement themselves be Godly men, men of discipline, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ,
able toendure hardship, trained in self-denial and bodily mortification, so they may be intensely
spiritual, free from laxities [sic]of life due to indulgences that would make them crippled
instruments instead of effective soldiers in the Kingdom of God battling under the cross.

Document 70
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
72-75]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No 3

“We joy in God through Our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the
Atonement.”

Each one of these texts refers especially to one of the Persons. The first expressly to the
Holy Ghost, the central text more especially to God the Father. For when we say we joy in God,
it is God the Father that is specially referred to. We hear a great deal nowadays about the
Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. But through the Atonement Our Lord brought
us into a new relation with the Father.

He called Himself Son of man as well as Son of God. He became the physical Son of
man, and as the Son of Man He brought our humanity into a new and better relation with God
the Father for all eternity. He has been the only-begotten of the Father, the express Image of His
Glory. And by the Incarnation He drew our humanity into union with His Divinity in His
Person as the Son of God. And this is more particularly the case with the redeemed or as we call
them, the Sons and Daughters of the Atonement.

Saint Paul speaks of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, that is to say the
company of the faithful are being incorporated into the Body of Christ, through the extension of
His Incarnation. And Saint Paul, for example, speaks of: “It is no longer I that live but Christ
that liveth in me. The life I now have in the flesh is by the Son of God. For me to live is
Christ.”
 By virtue of our membership in Christ, we, by adoption and grace became the children of
God the Father, intimately associated with Our Lord in that position. And it consequently brings
us into a wonderful relationship to God the Father.

In the Book of the Apocalypse one of the promises is: “He that overcometh shall sit with
me on My throne, even as I have overcome and am sitting with My Father on His Throne.”

And in His prayer on the night of His betrayal, addressed to His Father, praying not only
for disciples, but for those that should believe on Him, the ministry of their successors. He
prayed that they might all be one, “as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be
one in Us.”

So there is a wonderful unity established between God and man, through the Atonement.
And we have entered into that unity. Now, we should take Our Lord as our pattern in expressing
love anddevotion to our Father in Heaven. This devotion of Our Lord to His Father is very
beautiful. But He finds the expression particularly in obedience, in doing His Father's Will. So
it should be with us.We should express devotion to God the Father by obedience.

We said yesterday it was through the virtue and the vow of poverty that we were to
express our devotion to the Holy Ghost, renouncing and laying aside material things in order that
we might find our joy, our delight, in the Holy Ghost, being led of the Spirit, and not of the
flesh. But when it comes to God the Father our devotion to Him should express itself in
obedience, after the mannerof Our Lord, Who sets us the example as the Son of Man.

The first recorded utterance that we have of Christ is when His parents took Him to
Jerusalem at the time of the Great Feast when He was twelve years old. That is the time when
usually the Jewish son is confirmed. And the Lord stays behind to see about His Father's
business. And His parents take a whole day's journey towards Nazareth before they discover His
absence from the company.,And then they make a trip back, which consumes another day and
wander around the city. Finally on the third day they find Him in the Temple discussing,
arguing with the doctors concerning the law.His Mother reproaches Him, saying, “Son, knew
You not that we sought Thee sorrowing.” And He replied: “Knew you not I must be about My
Father's business.” That is the first utterance. He came into the world with a program mapped
out by His Father, and this program was going to occupy his lifetime. And He was always
diligent in the performance of that program, carrying out and fulfilling all that His Father
ordered and handed Him.

Then He was baptized after He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days
fast which was all part of the program. On the banks of the Jordan He submitted to Baptism at
the hands of John Baptist. Then the Father spake from heaven while the Holy Ghost descended
from heaven in the form of a dove. They heard the voice of the Father saying,”This is My
Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Pleased because He did the Father's Will with
alacrity and with the concern of an obedient son. The Holy Ghost said of Him, "It is written I
am come to do Thy Will, Oh God; Thy law is written in My heart".

On one occasion, passing through the country of Samaria, He and His disciples pass by
Jacob's well. He sends them into the neighboring town to get something for the mid-day meal.
The Samaritan woman comes to fetch a pitcher at the well. He seized the opportunity to speak
about saving her soul. When the disciples come back, they find them refreshed. Perhaps this
Samaritan woman or someone had given Him to eat. He casually remarks, “My meat and drink
is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” That was not always an easy Will to obey, Gethsemane,
e.g., the bloody sweat. His soul is exceedingly sorrowful until death. He says, “If it be Thy
Will, let this cup pass from Me.” He recovers Himself, and says, “Not My will, but Thine be
done.”

Having gone through the program of His Passion and Crucifixion, Saint Paul speaks of
Him as “having become obedient even to the death of the cross.” His obedience came to the
final supreme test. No one has been tested to that extent as was Christ. And had it not been so,
someone in the judgment might have stood up and said: “If you had been tried as much as I have
been, and been in the position I have been, you would not have been obedient either.” But that
could not be said because He was tested to the uttermost in His obedience and it was by
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.

Now, in fulfilling the Will of God, and being true to the vow which we are going to take,
the vow of obedience, we are going sometimes to find the way of obedience pretty severe. It is
not always going to be an easy matter. Sometimes in the enthusiasm and spirit of love we find a
delight in obedience, yet Our Lord said, “Except a man deny himself, take up his cross daily and
follow Me, he cannot be My disciple.”

Obedience sometimes means embracing the cross and carrying the cross was a difficult
proposition to Our Lord. He staggered under it, and fell at least three times on the way to
Calvary, at great pain and suffering to Himself. So you are not always going to find it an easy
way to obey. But know the will of God and do it. You are to express your devotion to God the
Father, doing His will, loving His will, and in fulfilling it.

In the early days of our Institute there was a certain Sister, Sister Mary Anna. She was
the daughter of a soldier, daughter, in fact of one of the staff generals of Robert E. Lee, one very
closelyassociated with him. She had great devotion to the Will of God. Going out ministering to
aqueduct people in winter, when the works were shut down. Although she was a shy retiring
Sister, she wentto Peekskill to get pork to make soup. One stormy day she went out to see an
Italian woman which led to her death, and on account of the action of the heart and the asthmatic
condition brought on bythe cold. Through that last night of her illness she suffered greatly, but
gave expression to the devotion to the Most Sweet Will of God by saying repeatedly: “ I worship
the Most Sweet Will of God, I worship the Most Sweet Will at God.”

One of the most beautiful manifestations of the devotion to the Will of God finds
expression in the life of Teresa Neumann. To come through the sufferings of the Passion once
in a lifetime wouldbe a heroic act with endurance yet for the major portion of the year Theresa
Neumann goes through it every Friday, begins Thursday evening and continues until the
afternoon of the following day, and by the time it is finished she is exhausted, and lies almost
like the Christus, having shed meantime six or seven pints of blood from a body that has not
received an ounce of liquid or solid food in the last ten years. She is oftentimes asked by Our
Lord to assume the suffering of someone else for the sake of their souls, or some other worthy
purpose, and she does not shrink.
 It is not that the sufferings are not real, but so attuned is her will to the Will or wish of
God, that to know the Savior wishes it, no matter how much pain and agony there may be, she
does notshrink. She does not cry out and say, “Lord, You are putting this on too heavy and I
must protest.”

When she volunteered to take the throat disease of a Seminarian in her own town, it came
in the paralysis of her throat with the result for some eight years she was not even able to
swallow thewhole Host, unless she was in ecstasy. She never made any complaint about that, or
lamented that she acted so rashly as to assume that.

In another case she took the TB of another student who was going to be discharged, not
only because of his own ailment of the throat but for his mother. She assumed it for a certain
length oftime. And during that time went through the sufferings of a consumptive in an extreme
case and other sufferings that were most intense. That has been her lifetime.

In childhood she helped support the family. Ever since these afflictions she has looked
forward to that treatment of the Crucified besides the sufferings of someone else to set them free.
Sometimes it is a soul in Purgatory she takes upon herself that they may go free.

Yet such is her training, her desire, and love to do the Will of God that a request on the
part of the Savior that she would submit to these things is sufficient, and she is obedient in
taking and assuming what she recognizes as the Will of God.

So, let us take seriously this vow we are going to make, and take for the last and final
time as a religious, and worship the Most Sweet Will of God. And seek to please God in all
things by perfect obedience, whether to our Rule, by the voice of the Superior representing God,
or whether it be by certain precepts of the Church, which is another expression of the Will of
God; or in some particular Providence of Almighty God, Who might manifest His Will in
sending us to the ends of the earth. I was struck by what someone said the other day of the
hardships they endure in their missionary labors, pretty serious ones too. He said they went
through that cheerfully. They recognized it as the Will of God. Christ loved those souls. He
wanted them saved, so they cheerfully put up with those trials.

And that is illustrated beautifully by our Sisters. Sister Aloysius was frail and delicate,
with heart trouble. Yet she went there under severe conditions. The house they entered was just
a newly plastered house. The plaster was green, the water soaking in the plaster. And the winter
came on. When I visited in company with the Mother General they incidently remarked that
during the entirewinter the ice coated the inside of the kitchen where they had about the only
stove in the house. It never got warm enough to thaw out the moisture in the plaster. They
would go out with the thermometer reading forty degrees below. Yet there was no murmur out
of them.

In California where you come to the opposite extreme. Giving a Retreat, at the Rectory it
was one hundred eleven degrees at night, without thinking of the day. Yet our Sisters don't
complain about that. At Lake Placid they have a summer guest house.
 So make a resolution to be particularly strong in obedience as the expression of our
devotion to God the Father after the manner of Christ Himself. If we do that, God looks on us
and says of us: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Document 71
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
68-71. Of note is that Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., says that not only did God select the three
Atonement Texts, but that He intentionally put them in the order in which Fr. Paul received
them. In the talk he draws a fine comparison between the love found in married life and the love
God has for a Religious and the Religious for God.]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No. 4

The third of our basic texts. It takes the position by a natural sequence. It is the
description of the Blessed Sacrament which is contained in Saint Paul's epistle to the
Corinthians, the same chapter as for the lesson of Corpus Christi Feast.

I say it was the proper order of sequence, which is one of the indications that in the
selection of these texts there was the Divine mind, not merely in the matter of the Name, but also
in the texts themselves. It said, for example, the first text deals with the Holy Ghost and the
promise of the Holy Ghost was a preparatory one both for the Incarnation and the Atonement of
Jesus Christ. The office of the Holy Ghost was first of all to prepare a proper vehicle of the
Incarnation in the person of the Blessed Virgin, for the mother of the Incarnate Word, must have
no defilement administered to herby the hand of the serpent. And the work of preparing that
holy instrument was peculiarly the work of the Holy Ghost. She was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, without original sin. It was the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, Who kept her all her life
without any corruption of sin. And, as the Angel announced to her when she asked how can this
thing be, the reply was that that holy thing shall becalled the Son of God.

So Christ the Savior was conceived by the Blessed Virgin by the special operation of the
Holy Ghost. So that that was all preliminary work. Consequently, the Holy Ghost is the first
One introduced to our attention. Then, the second text, which contains the Name, contains also
God the Father, “we joy in God” means the Father. Then having consummated the sacrifice on
Calvary, made an Atonement for the sins of the world, there was to be both the extension of the
Incarnation and of the Atoning Sacrifice of Calvary in the Blessed Sacrament. And so by a
natural order therefore, comes this third text in the description of the institution of the Blessed
Sacrament.

We have linked the first text with the vow of humility. The way of devotion to the Holy
Ghost is through the virtue of humility. The renunciation of material things that we may find our
joy inthe Holy Ghost.
 The second text is associated with the vow of obedience, because that is the way we
express devotion to God the Father as Our Lord Himself did. "My meat and drink is to do the
Will of Himthat sent Me". So it is by perfect obedience, fulfilment of our vow, we will please
the Father and show in a most acceptable way to Him our devotion to God, even the Most Sweet
Will of God theFather.

Now the third text is associated with the vow of chastity. Christ gives Himself to us in
the Blessed Sacrament, and we express our devotion to Him in the Blessed Sacrament by the
virtue of holy chastity.

The vow of chastity is the renunciation of marriage and all that that involves. In the
mystical way the religious are the spouses of Jesus Christ. In the Apocalypse Saint John having
seen the multitude which no man can number, scattered out of all the nations of the earth,
kindred tongues and peoples clothed in white robes, representing the justice of the saints, and a
palm branch of victory they gained in overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. But he was
fascinated with a special company apart from the multitude which could not be numbered,
because these could be numbered, one hundred and forty four thousand. That does not mean the
number of virgins espoused to Christ in religion ultimately to attain to their place following the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth will be confined to one hundred and forty four thousand. There
are about one hundred thousand religious in the US today, we hope the majority will attain to
their predestined position in the high court of heaven.
But it is comparative, like the mystical number of the elect, represented by the one
hundred fifty three big fish Saint Peter and his companions caught and drew to the shore,
representing all those to be drawn to the shores of eternity. So we do not know how many
religious, but undoubtedly a very great number. That is typified by one hundred forty-four the
square of twelve, a mystical number itself, four multiplied by three.

Now Saint Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians runs a parallel. A man and his wife, and
Christ and the Church. He says the wife should be subject to the husband even as Christ is the
headof the Church. Then He runs along. He interlaces one with the other in parallel passages,
so that the Church is sometimes spoken of as the bride of Christ, but in a peculiarly significant
way we are tobe part of the bride of Christ.

As we use the word religious, not that other Catholics are not religious, but we are
prominently so. So this mysticism in regard to the whole body of the elect as being the bride of
Christis set forth in an eminent degree by the religious and it is fulfilling his vow of chastity that
he prepares himself for the Divine espousals. And the love which the husband, the bridegroom,
would ordinarily bestow upon the bride of his choice, or vice versa, the love of the bride for her
husband, that is to be found in a very eminent degree in the devotion which we have to our
Blessed Lord.

And that supernatural love and that grace of holy chastity is given to us and mainly in the
Blessed Sacrament, and when we come to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, it ought to be
somethinglike the lovers meeting in their trysting place together to themselves where they can
express more fully the love they have one for another.

The altar ought to be the trysting place where we express our love for Christ, and where
He expresses His love for us in the Blessed Sacrament.
 We spoke of Teresa Neumann last evening. One of the most wonderful things in regard
to her life is the evidence that it gives of the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament,
and thewonderful love which she has for the Blessed Sacrament. And the love on the other hand
which Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament shows towards this particular spouse of His.

Although she never entered the convent, from childhood she intended to join a certain
community in Germany that were to be foreign missionaries. That was the idea and thought,
when she was struck with sickness that prevented it being realized.

There is at the same time a great expression of love for the Savior, and it manifests itself
peculiarly in her Communions. It baffles science, of course, that a woman should continue for
over ten years in an apparent state of health, and sometimes rather buxom health, and yet not eat
anything or drink anything but the explanation of Teresa Neuman, herself is, she is nourished by
the Blessed Sacrament in receiving Holy Communion. Our Lord imparts to her nourishment
Himself that maintains her body in a state of physical health and strength and that is the only
nourishment she has.

She is not the only one through whom we have this same phenomenon, e.g. one of the
stigmatists in the past generation. She went for fourteen years without nourishment except the
BlessedSacrament. That is an astounding thing.

In the morning if she has to wait for her Communion, there is delay, she feels a great
faintness and sometimes faints away, but as soon as she receives the Blessed Sacrament she is
revived. I saw her in Paschal time, when she has not to undergo the agony of the Passion. And I
was expecting to see a rather emaciated person, knowing of this long fast of ten years duration, I
was so surprised when the Pastor took us into the parlor of the Neumann house, and someone
appeared on the scene stout, like German peasant women are. I figured it must be Teresa's
mother, Frau Neumann. And I was there for fully ten minutes when Father Stephen said this is
Teresa Neuman. I thought it was her mother all the time. I hadn't any idea she was fasting. I
contrasted that in the light of the picture of one of the fakirs of India who had gone through a
fast of some seventy five days and he was a skeleton, all bones. I contrasted that picture with
Teresa Neumann, ten years without food. That wonderful demonstration that Our Lord can
sustain the body as well as the soul if He wills.

We look therefore in our Communions for the grace to keep that vow. It is a rather
astounding thing that so many religious can take that vow and keep it. And it would not be so
unless for the special grace that is received in the Blessed Sacrament.

In fact it is one of the most astounding things in the mark of the Divinity of the Church,
that she presumes that priests as well as religious refrain from matrimony, and have no other
bride but the altar.

No Protestant institution would ever dream of undertaking to ask men to do a thing like
that. The old Romans were proud of the vestal virgins, only a limited number of them. They
honored them equal to the emperor. But even the Romans did not expect them to be virgins
forever, only up to a certain age. Then they were allowed to marry. They did not trust them
either. They were inspected to see that they were real virgins. We do not limit the time either.
 So it is a wonderful thing, only an illustration of the supernatural grace that is given to us
that we can live that life.
It is said there was a militant Presbyterian, Doctor Breckenridge, who was fierce in
attacks on the Church. This was when Archbishop Hughes was head of the Diocese of New
York. He engaged the Archbishop. He was treating the subject of celibacy. He asserted on the
platform that a man could not preserve himself chaste for a year. The Archbishop came back:

“Why you don't want us to believe that separated from your family you
could not remain that way when away from your family.”

We need to be very watchful. Chastity after all is a very precious and tender and delicate
virtue and might be broken. And if broken it is very difficult to piece together again. Avoid
occasions of sin. Be watchful, particularly as missionaries. We have to demonstrate to people
and have to come in contact with persons of the opposite sex of all ages. But let it be only in the
line of our duty, and keeping ourselves otherwise from temptations of that nature. But in
humility pray very earnestly to God that the grace of chastity may always be yours and
increasingly so as you go on in the religious life.

Document 72
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
59-64. In this talk Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., states that in August, 28 years previous, he went to see
Archbishop Falconio, the Apostolic Delegate in Wash., D.C. He notes that the day of this talk is
the anniversary of his departure for Washington. In August 1909 he departed for Washington on
the 12th. Hence, the day of this retreat talk is Aug. 12, 1937.]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No. 5

The gentleman introduced himself as Father Johnson of Omaha. He told about the
Associate Mission in this city of Nebraska which was all news to me. He then went on to
explain that the head of the associate mission had resigned, the Reverend Mr. Matthews, the son
of Chief Justice Matthews of the United States, and he had been sent by the chapter of the
associate mission to the East to find some successor to Father Matthews.

Attending a college commencement he met a Mr. Griswold, and in conversation with

him he suggested he see the rector at Kingston. I had had a mission at Hudson with Doctor
Griswold, who later became Bishop of Chicago. Perhaps I had talked to him about the matter of
my purpose and desire of founding the S.A. Perhaps that suggested Mr. Johnson coming to see
me. He was struck by episcopal lightning too. Today he is Anglican Bishop of Denver,
Colorado. He began to talk about the Associate Mission. I began to think about the SA. I said
do you think there is any likelihood I should resign Kingston here and go to Omaha that I
become superior there and ingraft them into the SA? He encouraged me to believe I could.
 It was solely for that reason I resigned that parish, a nice one indeed, gave up the nice
rectory and twelve hundred dollars a year, which in those days was quite sizeable. Of course,
there were other things to the rectorship besides that.
I consulted my mother who was with me, my father having died a little before. She was
willing to go with me. There was a room separate from the rest. I decided to go. The
munificent salary attached to the mission was fifteen dollars a month. That approximated
Franciscan poverty.

So I went to the West, pledged service for three years. Things were going along
satisfactorily. Meantime I had gotten into correspondence with the other Foundress of the future
SA.
Everything was planned for her and two companions to come to Omaha and establish
themselves at Saint Paul's Mission, not far from Saint John's Mission, where a nice Parish Hall
could be converted. By this time it was 1898. I came there 1895.

Everything was looking prosperous and I was quite delighted at the prospect when
something unusual happened. One of the associates with me at that time was a Mr. Colt. He is
now I think at the Third Order home of the Capuchins at Garrison. He had been a school
companion of mine at Saint Stephen's, with an impediment in speech, stuttering badly. The
doctor in charge of deaf mutesprevailed on him to take care of the work for deaf mutes. So he
was ordained for that and married, like most Anglican Church ministers. He became convinced
of the Catholic Church, and became a Catholic giving up the ministry. When one has got to be
an Anglican minister there is a certain character established upon him. He began to argue to
himself, he could not see any difference between the grace he received from the sacraments in
the Anglican church and those he received as a Catholic, so he converted back again. His wife, a
pious woman, got in touch with the Archdeacon in Brooklyn, and rather inclined to organization,
started the lay sisterhood, nursing and visiting the sick.

They agreed to separate, and living apart, he came to Omaha. We found work among the
deaf mutes. He was quite happy with the work. One day he came with a long face. Got a letter
from his wife. She decided to come back into the Catholic Church. Got in touch with the Sisters
of the Precious Blood. That had a double edged effect. It not only upset him, but me. I began to
have a question mark. I thought I settled the question years before by reading books. But on the
Feast of Saint Peter on my way to one of the missions, I missed the train. So, on my way back I
went to the Catholic Cathedral, and went as near as possible to the Tabernacle, talked to Our
Lord there. Told Him this Roman question popped up again, and I didn't know what to think
about it. What of the Papal claims or the Anglican claims? I asked Him to make things clear to
me.

So it was I pulled books down from the shelf, pro and con arguments. And on the 4th of
July it came to me at last with the force of a clear vocation that the Papal claims were true. The
first thought was: it was all up with the SA. So, I said a Te Deum. The only thing to do would
be to finish my time pledged, three months more, go into retirement, and finally make the
decision, which action I took. Told the Bishop my situation, resigned at the end of time of
pledged service. I wrote Mother Lurana and two companions, telling her my successor as head
of Associate Mission, Father Howard, would be willing to receive them. In fact, being at Saint
Paul's Church, they would have the parish house built at Saint John's and he welcomed them.
The result was, as you know, the two Sisters, Martha and Ruth, came out, but Sister Lurana
remained at Warwick.

So after my term of service was completed, I came East, met Mother October 3rd, the
time Saint Francis died, about sunset. In the meantime things began to react concerning the SA.
These last three months of my ministry in Omaha were extraordinarily blessed. I built
the mission church at Hancock and a rectory before I left. The Sister that came out, Sister
Martha, helped confirm my opinion that the SA was something God wished to be founded,
because she told me how she came to join Sister Lurana: on the Feast of All Saints she woke up
the walls of her cell disappeared, looking into the sky she saw the huge letters Atonement. It
seemed innumerable angels grouping themselves in letters.

It was that apparition that made her feel she should leave her Sisterhood and unite in the
formation of the SA. That helped to strengthen my faith in the matter that after all God wished
it. Then there began to form in my mind the vocation of the Society, that is to say, it was at least
for a while to bear witness to the Papacy as the center of unity, and call back to that unity the
Anglicans in particular, who had gone astray and separated from the Holy See at the time of the
Reformation not by the fault of the people, but by the act of the king and his daughter Elizabeth.

So we went into Retreat for three days when I arrived at Warwick, and finally the both of
us seemed quite clear that God's will wished we dedicate ourselves jointly to the Society's
foundation.The termination of it was on Friday morning, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, and
it is noticeable that the Feasts of Our Lady are associated with every step almost in the
development of our Institute.

This crucifix Mother had purchased in Rome, took it to Assisi, visited the churches; the
Sacristan touched the tomb of Saint Francis with it. She brought it back to America. Just before
I left Omaha a girl I converted gave me one. I gave that to Mother. I made it an act, an outward
and visible sign of the consecration of ourselves to the work of founding this Institute.

While that was going on, there was great exhilaration of spirit. I had no doubt at all it
was the will of God. It is surprising how rapidly one can pass from certitude to extreme doubt.
That is whathappened on that day. I had no sooner left that hallway, gone downstairs into the
rather large mansion of the Whites, whether it was his Satanic majesty I don't know, but again it
was the interior voice, not outside, that communicated itself to the intelligence of the soul, quite
as distinctly as if those words were spoken. I was called a fool, reminding me I had promised
when leaving Omahato imitate Saint Francis. I was in the East, had no money, and no place to
go. I would not accept any salary, even if that was offered, according to my principles. And the
voice said: “You should have nothing to do with this woman. You have no business staying in
the Episcopal Church. You should enter the Catholic Church and join the Passionists.” I was in
torment.

I could not tell whether the voice was from above or below. All I could fall back upon
was receiving the Name and the text. So, as I came to my room, I saw lying there the Bible
Sister Lurana had loaned me to use during the time of the Retreat and the conferences. So I
made another appeal, addressed to Our Lord:
 “I am perfectly willing to give this all up and go join the Passionists, but I
onlywant to do what You wish me to do. Please give me a clear message, one
way or the other, if You intend to give a message to guide me in that matter. Or
let me have a message that has no connection so that I will know I am not to get a
message whatever.”

Then came what if I had gone through the Bible I would have found nothing more clear
and explicit than that same Covenant Chapter. We begin with the words: Heb. 6:4ff.

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have both tasted
the heavenly gift and became partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 Who have, moreover, tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world
to come,

6 and then have fallen away, to be renewed again to repentance; since they
crucify again for themselves the Son of God and make him a mockery.

7 For the earth that drinks in the rain that often falls upon it, and produces
vegetation that is of use to those by whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from
God;

8 But that which brings forth thorns and thistles is worthless, and is nigh unto a
curse, and its end is to be burned.

9 But in your case, beloved, we are confident of better things, things that promise
salvation, even though we speak thus.

10 For God is not unjust that he should forget your work and the love that you
have shown in his name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints.

11 But we want every one of you to show to the very end the same earnestness
for the fulfillment of your hopes;

12 So that you may become not sluggish but imitators of those who by faith and
patience will inherit the promises.

13 For when God made his promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to
swear by, he swore by himself,

14 saying, I will surely bless thee, and I will surely multiply thee.

15 And thus after patient waiting, Abraham obtained the promise.

16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and an oath given as a
guarantee is the final settlement of all their disagreement.
 17 Hence, God, meaning to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the
unchangeableness of his will, interposed an oath,

18 that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to deceive,

we may have the strongest comfort - - we who have sought refuge in holding fast
the hope set before us.
19 This hope we have, as a sure and firm anchor of the soul, reaching even
behind the veil,

20 where our forerunner Jesus has entered for us, having became a high priest
forever according to the order of Melchisedech.

Then I straightway opened up a Graymoor letter from Sister telling about Graymoor, and
in the course of this account of it was said that these ladies had found a church in the valley
abandoned,and they were moved to restore it on reading the Life of Saint Francis' restoration of
Saint Damian's. And the very time they got that church ready was the very time in coincidence I
was receiving the name.

So, God was preparing Graymoor when I received the name. We came finally. Founded
the Mount of the Atonement in July 1900. The Friday after the seventh Sunday after Pentecost,
the anniversaryof receiving the texts, profession took place. That was the literal fulfilment of
that message I got: “You will have to wait seven years for this to be realized.” But all the
while, of course, God did notintend we should stay outside the Fold of Peter. He was directing
all that; that was according to His Will and plan. Only instead of rushing off, as suggested by
the adversary, God had plans to be developed before that occurred. Of course, that was an
essential step to me in order that blessing He might bless, and increasing He may multiply the
children of the Atonement, the members of our Institute,until they become like stars in the
firmament for multitude.

So came the time of our corporate reception into the Catholic Church. This is the day 28
years ago that I set out, about this time to go to Washington, to New York during the night, and
Washingtonon Friday morning, to call on the Apostolic Delegate. When I came back on the
Octave of Saint Clare's day I wrote the Pope. The days went by. Of course, we didn't get any
answer immediately. Finally it began to be towards the end of September I said to Sister
Lurana, “When do you think we will hear from Rome.” Mother Lurana said, “ I think on Saint
Francis Day.” That came and went but Rome remained silent. Then I said, “It seems to me of
all the days on which to receive the answer from Rome will be our Covenant Day.”

So, according to custom, I came down from the mountain at noon. The Sisters came into
the convent. Brother Anthony, my sole companion on the mountain. He was present, and
according to invariable custom we read the Covenant Chapter. I harangued a bit:

“We have been expecting great developments of our Society, only to have
those hopes thrown down, as it were, because we get smaller instead of larger.
But we should persevere, nevertheless, because we should remember when God
made that promise to Abraham, He let him get to be ninety nine years old before
he got a single son. Then when Isaac became a youth He ordered him to be put to
death. His faith didn't stagger at that, because God could call him back to life.
 We have not waited as long as Abraham. We must be of good courage. God will
bless the children of the Atonement some day.”

Then I went down to the place on the road where we received mail about twelve o'clock.
I no sooner got to the gate, the postman came along and handed me the mail, quite different
from what we get today. I didn't have the courage to look at them, but buoyed myself up on the
way up the hill, with well, precious things like diamonds are done up in small packages. I got in
front of the Convent Chapel. Out of the cloister came the Mother, and, as I held the little
package in my hand, with a glance she said that top letter is postmarked Washington. As I
looked it was Apostolic Delegation,Biltmore Street...Sure enough the Pope had received my
letter, and saw no obstacle in the way of our being received and, after being tested, the Rule of
our Society approved.

So there came that glorious message which meant so much to the glorious life of our
Institute from the Holy Father on Covenant Day. That Covenant Chapter should be a source of
courage and faith to all the Friars in days of trouble and adversity, in days of opposition it may
be, in the days of persecution when our faith will be tried. But always remember what a
tremendously solemn Covenant promise that is by God.

But two immutable things by which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have sure
confidence as an anchor of the soul set before us that reaches into the veil, so that Christ's
forerunnerhas gone before His priest forever, after the order of Melchisedech. Also we should
notice the naming with which the Covenant Chapter begins, to renew those who fall away, for
they put to open shamethe Savior. [Previous sentence is garbled.]

Pray for our utter fidelity to this holy Institute, which God Himself founded. Let us be
strong in faith, and have confidence in Almighty God, Who made the Covenant promise, that
blessing I willbless, and multiplying, I will multiply the members of our Institute, until they
cannot be numbered.

And let us look forward to the day when, having passed through the time of trial, of test,
of probation on the earth, that we shall be numbered among the one hundred and forty four
thousand that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth in His glorious Kingdom in Eternity.

Document 73
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
56-58.]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No. 6

All religious founders of the Catholic Church have devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Thank God, the SA is not an exception.

Our devotion is first of all to the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost. Then Our Lady of the Atonement, then our Seraphic Father Saint Francis.
 We know how devoted our Father Francis was to the Blessed Virgin, and his great son,
Saint Anthony was particularly devoted to her Assumption into Heaven.

We often assert that the SA is an Institute that God Himself called into being, and
evidence of this is the greater because the Blessed Virgin has taken part in its foundation. Equal
glory that it has been given to us the privilege of invoking the Blessed Virgin under a new title.
And it is no third rate title either. There is nothing so fundamental, so important to the Catholic
religion as the Incarnation and the Atonement. They are the great central pillars upon which rest
the superstructure of the whole Catholic theology. Therefore, when we invoke our Lady by that
title we are invoking her by a title of the highest dignity. And we should never forget that in the
early days of the Institute she should have appeared on three distinct occasions.

The first occasion, as you know was on the Gospel side of the altar of the Convent
Chapel, that bears the name of the Portiuncula Chapel, Our Lady of the Angels. She did not
appear unaccompanied. She was with the Divine Infant in her arms, so it was an apparition with
Our Lord too.

Then strike one in the case of Sister Amelia wearing a red mantle, her heart in her
outstretched hand. We readily recognize the significance of the red mantle, that was worn in
honor of the Precious Blood of the Atonement-- just as the Prince of Wales appeared in a
uniform to suit the particular regiment--so Our Lady of the Atonement wore a red mantle in
harmony with the Passion.
Then here on the mountain, as was most fitting, we had the scene of the Atonement itself,
Our Blessed Lord hanging on the cross of the Atonement, the Blessed Virgin kneeling in an
attitude of prayer, while appearing between them a white globe, signifying the world redeemed
by the Precious Blood of the Atonement,

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, and if they
be red as crimson, they shall be made white as wool.” (Isaiah)
Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, is the Mother of the children of the Atonement. Her boy
in
Bethlehem was the Son of God. She brought forth her first-born Son wrapped in swaddling
clothes and laid Him in the manger. That was a sort of brother of the other son born by
regeneration in times to come. Of those sons there was to be an exceeding great multitude which
no man could number, the children of Mount Calvary, the Children of the Atonement.

Let us consider, first of all, what the relationship of the Blessed Virgin is to the Three
Persons of the Blessed Trinity, by virtue of the Atoning sacrifice on the Cross. For it is to be
remembered thatit was by the anticipated merits of Christ's Atonement that the Blessed Virgin
was guarded originally exempt from defilements of the human family, Adam and Eve. She
owed her salvation to Our Lord'sAtonement sacrifice, so that when she sang the Magnificat
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior.” So, He was her Savior as well as others. So this wonderful
relationship the Blessed Virgin has is due to the Atonement. [Previous sentence is garbled.]

First of all she is the daughter of God the Father, then the mother of God the Son, the
Spouse of God the Holy Ghost. In this exalted position which she has we derive great benefits
and dignitiesbecause we are her children, thereby we became children of God the Father by
adoption and grace, and we are intimately united with God the Son, constitute part of His
Mystical Body, and we are introducedinto a wonderful relationship through the Holy Ghost.
When she asked the Archangel Gabriel, “How can this thing be?” How can I become a
mother of the Most High One, the answer was: That High One that shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee.

And the Holy Ghost has come upon us and we have by virtue of our theme the children
of the new Eve, just as the new Adam. [Previous sentence is unclear.]We have this wonderful
relationship with God, and as the children we inherit the royal dignity of the Mother.

We should often think of all that the Atonement has brought to us, and brought it through
the medium of Our Lady of the Atonement.

Now as Our Lady standing by the Cross participated in the suffering of the Christ, her
Son, making Atonement for sins of the world, suffering with Him in perfect sympathy, as the
sons and daughters of the Atonement, after the manner of Our Lady herself we must share in the
cross, passion of Our Blessed Lord, and we shall understand that. Therefore when sufferings are
to come along we should not rebel against them but rather rejoice in them and the opportunity of
suffering in union with Christ. Saint Paul speaks of the great trials and sufferings and
persecutions on the Christians of his day, that these are not to be considered in comparison to the
glory to be revealed. We make up that which remaineth of the sufferings of Christ for His
Body's sake, the Church.

Our Lord informed His own chosen disciples that they were not to escape the cross, that
they were to share in His sufferings, in His crucifixion and death, so that only one escaped actual
martyrdom, and went through the form of martyrdom at least being cast into the burning
furnace of oil, coming out unscathed through Divine Providence, because God willed his life
prolonged, and that he should not shed his blood.

So that we should realize as Mary is the Mother of Christ the suffering Savior, her
children of the cross must not expect to go scot free through their earthly pilgrimage in the
sufferings of Christ and being associated with the sorrows of Our Lady herself. [previous
sentence garbled] But then we are to look forward beyond the present trial to that great day
when we should behold the Body of the King, and that wonder which Saint John said in the
heavens, the great wonder, he called it.

Saint Paul says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of
man, the glory to be revealed.” He saw many wonderful things which he described, but the great
wonder was the woman clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars and the moon as her
footstool. Then that glory of the Mother shall be shared to a wonderful extent by the children
when they attain heavenly glory, the children entering the household to participate in the joys
and honors of the mother.

We know how mothers always want to bestow on their children, even to deny themselves
something. I remember my own mother, her favorite part of the chicken was the neck.
Reflecting afterwards, her favorite was not because she primarily liked it; father wanted the
breast, the rest went to the children. The neck was her favorite by choice of self-denial.

So we can be quite sure that her great love will see to it that the children have an
abundant share in her joy and position. So we have to look forward with eagerness towards it.
Saint Paul says to depart hence, to be with the Lord is far better. Nevertheless as part of the
ministry he was willing to carry on as desired by the Lord.

In our meditation this afternoon, you will remember how it said the Blessed Virgin was
longing and she died of love. Longing to be reunited with her Son in heaven. That drew her
soul out of the body. As we go along in our earthly pilgrimage our longing should be intensified
and increased, and it is well for us to meditate on these things to realize what it all means to be
children of Our Lady of the Atonement, and let us by all means increase our devotion to her,
promote her honor and glory particularly under that glorious title Our Lady of the Atonement.

Document 74
[ The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) XIV
50-55. Of note is the number of times Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., uses the word “Now” to begin a
sentence. It is his style. He begins the talk by giving a definition of a saint. He talks extensively
about friars and smoking .]

RETREAT FOR NOVICES No.7

I think your life has been quite edifying and quite promising for the future. Each of you
should aim at nothing less than to become a saint, i.e., one who corresponds to the Holy Will of
God in obedience, keeps himself unspotted from the world, and so corresponds to grace that
there is no fault in him. And that is what constitutes a saint.

Now the principle vow, and most important of all of them, is the vow of obedience, and
the fulfillment of the other vows is only inclusive because in fulfilling the other vows you will
only be obedient to the Will of God. That imposes this upon you so that you might fulfil your
vocation, and attain at last to be among the one hundred forty-four thousand who follow the
Lamb whithersoeverHe goeth.

Now obedience is not always easy. It demands sacrifice. When Our Lord came into the
world to do the will of His Father, He was going to make a great sacrifice as His Father wanted
that He should make that sacrifice because it was the Will of His Father and He looked forward
to the consummation of obedience, when He could say on the Cross “It is consummated,” it is
finished.

It was the terrible sacrifice of Himself He made on Calvary, pouring out the last drop of
His Blood. So He became obedient even to the death of the cross. So that the religious life is
constitutedso that we may constantly be making some kind of sacrifice, offering something to
God. And it is for that reason mainly that in the Rule that is laid down, there are provided
mortifications and physicalsacrifices, renunciations, which we have to make. And now I am
approaching the point of this particular conference.

It will probably be a disappointment to some of you to be informed by me that you are

not to be permitted to exercise the mitigation about total abstinence. Having heard that certain
Friars at Washington have been granted, it is quite natural that you have been looking forward
perhaps to receive the same yourself, but such will not be the case.

It was a great disappointment to the Father General, when at the General Chapter, owing
to the fact that some of the Friars at Washington had disobeyed the rule and were involving
themselvestherefore in a double sin, and at the same time putting themselves in an attitude of
deceit, so that when they were asked whether they had smoked, in order to protect themselves
they were forced to lie, which was an added sin to the other so that it was considered under those
circumstances it might be well to grant them the mitigation of the Rule. And then certain of
those who had already reached the Priesthood, desired to have that mitigation for themselves.
Consequently, a resolution was passed.

Now the matter puts the Father General in a position where he has to choose between
seeing that the Rule be enforced or else to let it go altogether and be destroyed. And we are still
strong in our conviction that the rule itself is a very wholesome one and gives opportunity to
make sacrifice which ought to be readily accepted on the part of the Friars. And at the same
time that it is more pleasing to God and more perfect on the part of the Friars that they should
abstain from tobacco rather than adopt the mitigation even among the clergy to smoke.

We have considered the situation. We have come to the conclusion a mitigation will
have to be given those who reach Orders, if they desire, but that we can enforce the Rule and
enforce it completely, in spite of certain ones violating it clandestinely in the future. That is by
taking care that future students be given clearly to understand that they will be expected to keep
that Rule, and that no mitigation will be allowed them until they reach the priesthood, when, if
they desire, mitigation will be granted.

Also the same thing with the Novices. And we are going to take precaution in regard to
that. We are going to put it in the Questionnaire:

“Have you smoked, or do you believe you will be able to give up

smoking. If not, do not put in your application at the college. If you are a
student and cannot keep the rule, please drop out, so that we will not have the
burden and expense of your education, and get some one who follows the Rule.
We prefer that. We have plenty of applications. We are sure we can get a
sufficient number of those who will willingly and joyfully keep the Rule.”

So, it is going to be in your case. You are going to ask me to take the vows. I will ask
that you seek no mitigation and that you will not in secret or publicly with the members of the
communityor externs violate the Rule.

Now, having said this, let me give you some reasons why we think that Our Lord
Himself wishes that you should continue, as I trust you have during the time of your Novitiate,
to abstain fromthe use of the so-called filthy weed.
 To start with: God asks sacrifice of us, voluntarily made in religion, and these things
deal with the giving up to a greater or less extent the use of the things ordinarily used by men,
food, drink and super indulgences such as things like narcotics. It is only, therefore a question
on the part of the Founder of an institute what he shall put into the Rule in the way of
mortification and denial and renunciation of physical things. We know, for instance that the
Trappists and the Cistercians have a very rigid rule as far as food is concerned. They make a
total abstinence of all meat, confining themselves strictly to a vegetable diet, for instance at
Ochra they have trained beautiful cows to take prizes at county fairs, but they themselves not
only do not touch the meat, but do not drink the milk. They have lovely foul yet do not take the
eggs. They come in from the world; they understand that is something that is going to be
expected of them, and they know the rule will be rigidly exercised. Yet they come willingly and
go through life joyfully in the observance of that rule, looking upon it as a sacrifice for Almighty
God, and make it joyfully. One of their rewards is they live to a long life, because although a
great deal of deprivation, the diet is a healthy one. The body corresponds and life is prolonged
thereby.

The Franciscan rule is not excessive in the matter of denial of food. During three days a
week we abstain from meat, but it is not, after all, very much beyond the requirements even of
Lent for the ordinary faithful.

And it seemed to me that in making our rule to deny ourselves of liquors and narcotics
would be a blessing. These are not necessary and sometimes by the indulgence in them
excessively scandals and harm come to religion, particularly in strong drink, because it is a
horrible thing to see an intemperate priest, especially a religious, when he acts as a drunkard.
So the observance of that rule would be beneficial to them and it would be a self-denial
that
would not do them any harm.

Then in regard to smoking, the same way, to some when they have acquired the taste it
may be a certain amount of self-denial. If it is, there is something to offer Almighty God, which
is pleasingto Him. The very fact that it is a self-denial. At the same time it wastes much time,
because some people much addicted to cigarettes, e.g. cannot exist hardly an hour in the day
unless they have a cigarette in their hand, and it leads to much waste of time that might be better
applied in some other way. Besides there is expense and cost, and the money is saved. So that it
seemed to me a very excellent deprivation, and at the same time one that would be pleasing to
our Blessed Lord because:
we are supposed to present these bodies of ours to our Blessed Lord in order that He might use
them in His ministry. When He went up to heaven He said to the disciples, His apostles, “As the
Fathersent Me, so send I you.” I commit My ministry to you in My Name, in My Person
persona Christi.

As Saint Paul puts the expression:

“You are to go and represent Me to men. More than that Our Lord
Himself takes possession of the body, so that in and through this body He may
express His ministry. It is no longer I that live but Christ that liveth in me; and I
 can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by the life of the Son of God Who gave Himself for me.”

We invite Jesus Christ to dwell in us every time in Holy Communion we give these
bodies that He may live in them and express His love.

Now, if Our Lord was Himself to come back and exercise His ministry I don't think any
of you could conceive of His going around preaching with a cigar in His mouth, or handling
cigarettes. I can hardly imagine Our Lord Himself doing that. And we offer ourselves to Him
that He may express Himself through us. And I believe that He would want us to do just as He
would do Himself, and as He would not smoke Himself, if our body belonged absolutely to Him.
So I don't think He wants us to smoke when we represent Him in the ministry. We are supposed
to be an alter Christus.
Saint Francis is glorious because he is the most perfect imitator among the saints. As
sons of Saint Francis we should desire to be the same according to the measure of grace that God
might give to us. Then when we receive Holy Communion we become the ciborium of the
Blessed Sacrament.
Now the law is very strict in regard to the priest going up to the altar, he must be careful
about ablutions, washing his hands again at the altar before he touches the Blessed Sacrament,
becauseGod expects him to be clean.

Now when you take nicotine your body does not become physically clean, it becomes
more or less unclean because of the nicotine itself which enters into the blood and expresses
itself physically. If you observe someone, a constant smoker of cigarettes, particularly if he
inhales, you will notice his fingers become soiled. Men will offer the Blessed Sacrament with
hands that are just coated with nicotine. Certainly one would not take an old pipe, filled with
nicotine and put a host in it. And you would not smoke in the church. You would think that
would be a desecration to the Presence of God.

Saint Paul says: “Know you not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.” If
irreverent in the outward temple, how about your inner temple when it becomes God's temple
and the ciborium. So, we wish to do what God wishes. I am sure He would say: I prefer when
you present your body, a vessel of sanctification, you present it free from nicotine.

There is another aspect. Drugs and narcotics when they are used create a demand for
themselves, and they gain a certain mastery over the one who indulges them, that's notorious.
When one becomes addicted to drugs he may have the best intentions in the world. But he will
be utterly unable to resist the demand the drug will dominate, subject, him to beyond any power
he can resist. It is true also of narcotics.

I was visited once by the Provincial of the Franciscans when I had an operation
occupying a hermitage on the top of the mountain. I was talking about Brothers Christopher,
how some were addictedto drink and we could not get them away from it. Well, he said, I
sympathize with these men, I could not get along without that-- an acknowledgment the snuff
box had gotten power over him, that it was his master.A Guardian told of one of the fathers in
this province, a very austere man, ascetic. Finally he woke up to the fact that the snuff box had
got the domination over him, and he determined withall his will to get away from it. And so he
put the snuff box on the top shelf in his library so he had to climb to reach it. Yet the control
over him was so great he had to climb up one day for it for the last time. He found he had
emptied it. It had called him so many times during the day. So it is a certain mastery, and
illustrates nicotine may become a rival to Our Blessed Lord, in His claim of the devotion of your
body.

Like some woman might be in the matter of chastity. That impressed me one day when
makingthe Corpus Christi Procession. The priest gets to the point of being under domination of
the habit so Mistress Nicotine can say:

“You claim this priest is the spouse of yourself, you claim his first
allegiance. I have an influence over him, I have a bigger claim over him than
you have. If it is a choice between you or me, he would have to accept me
because I have gained such an influence over him.”

You don't want divided allegiance. You want absolute domination of Our Blessed Lord.
Nothing in your bodies to gain control over it that would rival Him at all. As far as domination
over this body, the temple of the Holy Ghost and a vessel of sanctification fit for the Master's
use, it is going to be an easy matter for you to keep this rule, provided you unite your will with
that of God and say, “For the love of Christ I gladly make the sacrifice.” Then you will have
peace and real joy in the observance of the regulation.

Some have said that it created unhappiness. Well, I suppose it did on the part of those
seminarians who disobeyed the rule and secretly filched it, and then became afraid the Father
General might find out and put a penalty on them. First of all a bad conscience for disobeying,
and the secret indulgence was offset also by the fear and then the possibility too of having to tell
a lie, which would be a grievous sin in itself, and consequently that created an unhappy
atmosphere.
But if all had obeyed the rule, and done it joyfully and gladly as a sacrifice which God
asked them to make, why that would have put the whole matter in an entirely different
atmosphere, and thereforeinstead of lessening their happiness it would have increased it.

Now then, why should any Friar wish to smoke? Well, he would have to say it would be
a pleasure to me. It is soothing, I get physical enjoyment and contentment out of it. That is the
reasonI want it. Then the social fellowship two or three smoking together. And it is because of
that, one would wish to smoke. But here comes Our Lord along with the principle of
renunciation, sacrifice, giving something up. Saint Peter said, “Lord, we have left all to follow
Thee; what, therefore, shall we have?” He said,

“You shall have twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. But no
man hath left home, wife, children, land, for the Gospel, but he shall receive in
this world one hundred-fold more and in the life to come life everlasting.”

And that means not substituting for these things but satisfaction or happiness which one
might have by reason of these abstentions, renunciations, you shall have a hundredfold more joy.
If we sacrifice a physical indulgence for Christ's sake in the Gospel, you have the promise you
will get a hundred-fold more from the real source of all enjoyment, i.e., God Himself. Rejoice
in God and the Holy Spirit can shed abroad within your soul more satisfaction, more real joy and
happiness, than all the cigarettes and the Havana cigars in the world. There is no doubt about
that at all. I had rather fifty thousand times base my happiness on infusion of joy in me by the
Holy Ghost, than I would for all the physical things that there are in existence. I know positively
that I would only be disappointed.
The challenge that Our Lord made: I have two faults to find. They have forsaken Me,
the fountain of living water and hewn for themselves broken fountains that can hold no water,
i.e., physicalindulgences that create a certain amount of physical contentment or whatever you
may call it. [Previous two sentences are not clear.] Men are doomed to disappointment, whereas
you cannot be disappointed in God. And He certainly will reward what we do, giving one
hundred times the real joy and contentment from God Himself, Who is the joy Himself, the
glory, the Holy Ghost.

So I trust you will not only make this promise but will keep it, that we will never have
any cause to think you are violating in secret, and persevere. In the end when the time comes I
hope atleast the majority of you mill be so flooded with the real beneficial results from
abstinence from tobacco, from the spiritual standpoint that you will not ask for any mitigation,

Here is the pre-profession pledge I have prepared for you to sign:

Father General, I ask you to admit me into the Friars of the Atonement.
I solemnly promise to abstain until I reach the Priesthood, neither will I ask for
mitigation; and if I find I cannot keep it strictly I will voluntarily withdraw from
the Society....
No Date
Document 75
[The original of the conference is typed on the back of scrap paper from the Atonement Sisters
and has a number of incomplete sentences and words missing. There are also cumbersome
expressions which perhaps are due to the one who recorded the conference rather than to Fr.
Paul Wattson. The Conference is given to Atonement Sisters.]

THURSDAY MORNING CONFERENCE 8TH CONFERENCE

[no date]

"Let us love one another for love is God. He that abideth in charity abideth in God and
God in him."

There is nothing greater in the Commandments of God than that we should love. When
the lawyer asked, "What shall I do to obtain eternal life," our Lord said, "Keep my
Commandments." And he asked the lawyer, "What is the greatest commandment?" and he
answered correctly, "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God etc., and the second, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. This do and thou shalt have eternal life. Preeminently in the Gospel
teachings nothing is exemplified so much as this commandment of love. As He goes on His
earthly ministry to them He preached. He did not give a new commandment. It was the one
given to Moses, "that ye love one another."

This commandment of love should best be fulfilled by the Religious and fraternal charity
should flourish among us. There is a distinction [between] amor the Latin word for human love
and the word that was introduced in the New Testament, caritas. Caritas does not mean just
ordinary human love. It is the divine love coming down from heaven and infusing into the
hearts of the faithful. So we have the word charity for us particularly as Catholics. And the
place where this love should flourish most abundantly is among the Religious not only the love
for God which is supreme but for each other in God.

In the main we think that that love does flourish mostly in Religious communities rather
than in the world. We have often remarked that the love which Religious bear for their spiritual
mothers or fathers excels and surpasses the love which ordinarily these same Religious had
towards their earthly parents and I think it is true. As the Sisters' love one towards another sur-
passes that which is manifested in ordinary families-- and I think as far as I have been able to
judge there is a very great degree of that love binding you together in your community life and
there is nothing but this supreme love of God and our union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus--then
that fraternal love flourishes among the members of the community. [previous sentence garbled]

Happy is the community where this love is exercised on the part of all the members
towards all their companions. That would indeed be the ideal community. But sometimes it is
not existing in the hearts of some of the members of the community and as the darkness or
shadows are made more visible where the light is greater than where it is absent, so often times
we find in Religious that where charity flourishes on the one side its absence is manifested in
extreme severity. For example, the Carmelite St. Theresa, [who] was called by God to reform
not only the Carmelite nuns but the men also, reformed a very great number of the Carmelites in
Spain. Of course, there were some who did not take kindly to the decision of a woman and
resented her interfering. They became brutal, bitter and atrocious to St. John of the Cross, who
was their head and her spiritual director. He was elevated to the altars of the Church. Both are
great Saints. The story is told how they were conversing about the affairs one on one side of the
screen and the other on the other side and they were lifted up in the air and were lost in contem -
plation of the Adorable Trinity.

But the hatred that was manifested toward St. John of the Cross by some of his fellow
Carmelite brethren was atrocious. They actually shut him up in a prison and treated him in a
barbarous manner. When he died they might have shown their sorrow but instead they took his
body and put it in lime so that it might be destroyed.

This seems incredible but the lack of charity they had took its opposite of vice to the
limit. Sometimes this has been manifested not only by men but by women Religious also. It
should be a matter of very grave concern to any Sister who finds in searching her heart that she
has not that kind of love towards her Sisters, but the opposite--a proud, discontented heart with
aversions and even malice, striking with her tongue as a sharp sword or by her behavior
displaying this animosity and lack of charity.

If you have the happiness of the community at heart, do not be one of the discontented
elements in it by your lack of Sisterly love. Sometimes it manifests itself in a kind of particular
friendship for one of the other Sisters to the exclusion of the balance of the community. This is
usually unfortunate in some of the little communities, for example for a number of the houses
opened there will be only four Sisters at the time. Now suppose that it is the Superior and three
others. Suppose two of these three Sisters strike up a friendship with each other and at
recreation want to get together and have their own conferences and the third is left out in the
cold and must feel this indifference and slight and in the presence of the other Sister may take on
the attitude of two is company, three is a crowd.

Now there are holy friendships in religion which are blest by God, quite proper and all
right. In a large community two Sisters may be very holy yet have a special friendship for each
other and this friendship may be all right and acceptable to God. God loved the twelve Apostles
but there is one particular described as the Apostle Jesus loved. When our Lord made the
remark at the supper table, St. Peter did not know whom He meant. He leaned over to St. John
and laid His head on his breast and He whispered who the particular one was. Therefore, a
friendship can be very holy, pure and a good thing.

But particular friendships too often bring not to a community things that are spiritual but
those that are earthly. They are regulated not from the soul but from the body. Those
friendships are particularly dangerous and rather dangerous to those who participate in them.
They have a detrimental effect upon the community at large for [they] may be very unpleasant
and harmful. Consider the matter from the standpoint of your Confession and with firm purpose
of amendment [see] whether you are observant in the community by your fraternal charity or
whether you radiate its opposite. Sometimes it finds its expression in criticism and fault finding
to your companions.

St. Paul says, "Charity is kind, charity thinketh no evil, charity endureth all things." That
was one of the great virtues of Brother Masseo--charity. He is the one we referred to in a
previous conference that partook of the banquet on the bank of the little stream with St. Francis.
He went into the church and he testified afterwards about St. Francis, saying the very breath
threw him across the church.

Well, Masseo was extremely charitable. On one occasion he was going about with one
of his companions. They met a grand lady all dressed up and the companion looked at her and
began to criticize the lady for her fine dress. Masseo remarked that underneath the fine dress she
may be wearing a hair shirt and the dress may be only to conceal it. [We may be] walking in the
garb of penance with down cast eyes and admired by the world wherein we may not be as
observant as this lady. This was his attitude of mind and he appeared to one of the Friars after
his death. The Friar particularly noticed the beautiful luster of his eyes and asked why it was.
The answer was because of the beautiful charity of his soul that found its expression after his
death in this beautiful and remarkable way.

You are to bestow charity to those outside. Because you have charity in your hearts [you
will be able] like St. Paul to labor more abundantly so that the Sisters [may] have the energy and
love and work very hard. We see them down in Philadelphia, working among the darkies, the
most despised race, of the South at least, the colored people, and showing such love and interest
in those who are the subject of their labors. One of the Mother's most favorite pictures is the one
of the Sisters, present here today, holding two colored pickaninnies in her arms. [handwritten
addition states "omit" from "We see them down" to "in her arms"] That same spirit of love finds
its expression in so many other ways.

We have in the Diocese of Ogdensburg the story of a family the Sisters found who had
strayed away from the Church. The Sisters were frequently calling to see them and Father H.
seeing them calling on them so persistently said, "Your work is thrown away. I and my assistant
have done our best." But the Sisters continued their calls and after about the seventy-fifth time
they finally got the family fixed up and they returned to the Church. Charity and love for those
souls impelled them to visit such an enormous number of times not only for the children's souls
but for their parents. Now cultivate this holy grace of charity, fraternal charity, charity among
ourselves and charity towards those outside and beyond the convent enclosure.

There has been elevated to the altars of the Church, John Golbert, who was not always a
saint but something brought it about in this fashion. He lived in the days when there were many
wars and battles, not on a large scale but between small villages. Sometimes within a city they
would revolt and fight in the streets. For example in Naples [when you] come down from the
large mansions to the street you only see the bare walls and outside the door. This is just as they
looked in those ancient days when they had to build walls to protect their homes as the people
were after each other with swords a large portion of the time.

In one of these feuds a certain man killed the brother of John and John thought that he
must revenge himself. He would not rest until he did what the man had done to his brother. So
on a certain occasion John watched behind some bushes along the highway because he had been
informed that his enemy would pass there. He had to wait a long time and it chanced [that] on
Good Friday about the time our Lord died, three o'clock, the man came along, the murderer of
his brother. Not expecting any danger, John rushed out and overpowered him and took away his
weapons. He lifted up his dagger and pushed it into the man's breast. The man made an appeal
to John and reminded him that this was the hour that Christ was crucified. He put his arms out
in the form of a cross and besought John to spare him for the love of Jesus Christ, for the love of
Him that laid down His life, saying "Father, forgive them". Instead of killing him there arose in
John such a love that passing into the city he went into a church and thanked God for the grace.
John left the world not only full of charity but as a saint on the altars of the Church.

Therefore, count as a most precious treasure from God the gift of charity that expresses
itself not only in love of God but in our neighbor and in our community. Do not exercise your
sisterly charity on one or two but let it be universal. If some Sister is cranky or nervous and has
peculiarities that are difficult to overcome and forgive, love her in spite of that for even in the
world people love those whom they have an attraction for and their love is very strong. But
charity is that which endureth and loves them [all]. They are united in the Heart of Jesus. If
sometimes you feel you have some cause not to love your Sisters, ask how does the Sacred Heart
love this Sister. If I am united with the Heart of Jesus, I must love what He loves.

Document 76
[The document appears in The Words of Fr. Paul, edited by Fr. Titus Cranny, s.a., (1952) II
147-149. Fr. Paul Wattson’s talk is given to Atonement Friars.]

FINAL PROFESSION AND FIRST VOWS

[no date]

Tomorrow is a day of tremendous importance in your life, one that ought to be

remembered always. On the First Friday, as I was going down the Mountain, I saw the Hahns
filling an automobile. Mr. and Mrs. Hahn were coming up to have a Mass said and to be present
to receive Holy Communion on the 20th Anniversary of the wedding of man and wife, father
and mother after 20 years. That first marriage day no doubt was vividly impressed upon the
memory of the two who that day, kneeling, received Our Lord in Holy Communion as Christian
man and wife. And if they should live for 50 years in marriage, but with extraordinary pomp
with all their friends they would be celebrating the 50th Jubilee.

Now when a Friar comes to the time when he makes his Final Profession, it is as it were
the consummation of his espousals to Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The previous years are probational
in their character. The Church gives a certain time to test out their sincerity, their perseverance,
and then comes the final espousals, which are like the bride and bridegroom when they stand
before the throne joining hands for better or worse until death do them part.

With this day, in these espousals, death does not part the bride and bridegroom. Death is
only the passageway to the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb in Heaven, where, in a fixed state
the hundred forty and four thousand, who are the spouses of Christ, follow the Lamb
wheresoever He goeth. It is not to be measured by 50 or 100 or thousands or millions of years. It
goes on into eternity. And as for those who are to assume the vows of religion for the first time,
it is with you also a very solemn time, because whereas these vows that you assume will only be
for a year, you would be shocked and horrified if someone told you it was only for a year,
because you are entering with the desire and purpose of persevering until the end, and being
finally numbered amongst the Saints of God and Spouses of Christ through Eternity.

Now you cannot realize too vividly what a tremendous thing religion is for those who
embrace the rule of perfection. “We joy in God through Our Lord Jesus Christ by Whom we
now received the Atonement.” Union with God. It is nothing short of that and it is a union not
like a binding together into a federation of labor, for instance, of 10,000 or a hundred thousand
workmen who have their labor unions. This union is closer than the union which existed between
Damian and Pythias, or David and Jonathan. They were dear friends, threw their arms around
each other's neck, and perhaps they were separated as indeed Jonathan and David were separated
never to meet again in life until the shocking news came to David that his friend was killed.

John, the beloved disciple, leaned on the breast of Our Lord at the Last Supper. Christ
had penetrated his interior and become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, so that we have
this wonderful union with God, as Our Saviour said:

“If ye love Me and keep My commandments, not only will I come and
abide with you, although I am with you always until the end of the world, but my
Father will come and take up His abode with you also.”

On another occasion He said: “Let not your heart be troubled; I will send the Comforter
to you. He will come and abide with you.” So there we have the indwelling of the Three Persons
of the Adorable Trinity. We should not forget that. It is the primary thing in religion. It is to live
a life of union with God, and in a perfect manner, because we should be perfect in our obedience
to God because it is an outrage to this God Who dwells in us not to be obeyed, hearkened to, to
be resisted by our wills. We should have no other will than the Divine Will, and to have the
Blessed Saviour love us so exceedingly and give Himself for us ought to give back to us a love
transcending the love of the spouse for her bridegroom. Consequently this holy chastity is the
keeping of our bodies chaste and pure, and our hearts disentangled from any creature of God, no
matter how lovely, nothing that shall rival or dispute the mastery of Jesus over us. And then to
have our bodies as the temple of the Holy Ghost and to keep them pure and undefiled and to be
subjected in all things to His inspiration and to the impulses of His love, and to hearken to His
voice, speaking to us in conscience, directing us and illuminating our understanding, making our
bodies vessels of sanctification fit for the Master's use.

These are the realities of this union that we have in Christ and the consequence of these
vows you make as the spouses of Christ: holy obedience, holy chastity, holy poverty. That is to
say, to keep yourselves detached from creatures. You do not need anything if you have God.
God has all things. Certain things are necessary for life. These Our Lord promises to give. That
we praise God for the gift whether or not touched by any way that leads our hearts astray in
finding its center in God, all our happiness, consolation ought to be in God. [Previous sentence is
unclear.] He is sufficient for all those things.

So, as you stand on the threshold, renew your acts of consecration. Pray for the grace of
always living in the state that is perfectly pleasing to God. We can set before our eyes the ideals,
but it is really a tremendous contest and a supreme effort and an effort that must engage all the
moments of our life, always to continue in a state of grace, always to be obedient, always to be
faithful, always to be true, always to be just, always to be true to our vow of holy poverty and
the effort and the will to accomplish all these things must be a daily effort.

This morning I am very sorry that I failed. I heard the house rule reads when one is
called in the morning to get up immediately. I felt tired this morning: I listened to the flesh. You
omit your shave and get up and down in time to get to Chapel. But as matter of fact I did not,
and came late. That is just one illustration how we are going to be tested every day for obedience
in some way or another. So it is an effort, and not an easy thing to be a true Religious, always
faithful, obedient, always just, always holy, and it is going to demand of us constant
watchfulness, unceasing vigilance, mortification of the natural man, something by which we
shall have to strain ourselves daily, to conform our will to the Divine will, and in all things to
obey God. But, that is a beautiful thing set before us. So by the consecration of all our powers to
God, to be vessels of sanctification fit for the Master's use, and live as ideal religious. [Previous
sentence incomplete.]

Let that vision never depart from your eyes, but pray you may have the grace to be
always faithful, always struggling for greater perfection; for the path of the just and of the
religious ought to be like a shining light that shineth more and more into the perfect day.

Then, beside your fidelity to God, you owe some to the holy Institute into which you
have been received, and which is giving you a great privilege of living the religious life. So be
loyal and faithful to that. Let it have in your affections a place of supreme devotion. We may
admire Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, and other societies in the Catholic Church, but the one
we love the most and are most deeply attached to, is our awn beloved Society. And we ought to
feel a great spirit of gratitude to Almighty God that He created such a Society, and that He called
us to be members of it and among the first members, so that in after generations when the
history of the Society is written perhaps your name will figure in it, like the name of Brother
Giles, or Brother Angelo, or Brother Juniper, or some of the other first companions of St.
Francis. May our dear Lord vouchsafe you the grace of final perseverance, and our Blessed Lady
of the Atonement pray for you that you may be beautiful Friars, holy and elect, forever
rendering glory not only to God, but to the Institute of which you are members.
 INDEX

Aaron, high priest..........38, 39, 97, 252, 283 Albany 278

Abel, son of first parents......................17, 18 Alberta, Canada.......................273, 291, 304
Abraham of the New Law.............................. Alexander, conqueror...............................154
Abraham of the New Law: St. Francis of Alexandria 29
Assisi................184, 232, 306 alienation of the affections.........................61
Abraham, Patriarch24, 32, 54, 55, 87, 103, alienation of the mind................................61
110, 117, 124, 170, 175, 233, All Saints Retreat...................3, 7, 13, 14, 79
277, 307, 320, 339, 349, 350 Alleluias 266
377, 378 alms 253, 284, 286, 287, 294, 309
absence of God.........................................178 Alps 82
abstinence from meat.................................60 altar 29, 118, 122, 138, 209, 271
Achan 20, 84 altar of oblation..........................................64
acquaintances 278 Alter Christus 302, 385
act of interior union with God ................163 Altera Maria 302, 304
active life 314 Amalek 37, 97, 98
Acts of the Apostles.................................327 Amalekites 41, 44, 98, 99
Adam and Eve, first parents.. .194, 252, 290, amenuensis 149
306, 361, 380 amiability 198
Adam, first parent.....20, 110, 140, 167, 184, amor 391
211, 225, 245 Ananias 94
Adam, first parent .....................................51 anchor 170, 178
addicttion to drink....................................385 Angelo, Bro. 396
addicttion to drugs...................................385 Angels 8, 14, 18, 30, 44, 65, 81, 105,
adiunari 190 216, 225, 238, 293, 319, 339,
adjunare 153 376
admonitions of Holy Spirit......................194 Angels 179
adoption 367 anger 95, 162
adulterers 27 Anglican Church.......63, 108, 110, 129, 131,
adultery 57, 298 135, 197, 291, 350
adunatio 153 Anglican claims.......................................375
advantages of Religious Life...................277 Anglican Orders.................................63, 125
adversity 213 Anglicanism 131
affection 217 Anglicans 106, 131, 134, 376
affections 178, 212, 244, 263, 290 Anglo-Saxons 245
Africa 82 Anima Christi prayer...............................356
aged, the 322 Anna, Profetess..........................................24
Agog 41, 42, 100 Anna, Prophetess...............................54, 238
Ahasuerus, King ......................................294 Annas 201
Alaska 213 Annunciation 356
Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel..........365 Annunciation to Mary................................26
anxiety 149 Franciscan Sisters of the 103, 110,
apathy 114 117, 123, 125, 134, 139, 143,
apologetics 86 193, 206, 209, 212, 272, 287,
apostasy 32, 44, 147, 155, 161 314, 337, 351, 370, 378
apostates 133, 349 Franciscan Sisters of the .............241
Apostles 28, 54, 85, 253, 308, 328, name of................................337, 361
366, 392 Our Lady of the 73, 95, 99, 109, 123,
Apostolic Delegation, Wash., D.C...........126 191, 202, 215, 227, 233, 259,
apparitions 72, 73, 136, 185, 221, 274, 265, 274, 295, 301, 340, 351,
302, 320, 339, 376, 380 379, 381, 396
appetite 264 Sisters of the.................................258
appreciation 292 Society of the29, 32, 66, 75, 76, 104,
aqueduct near Graymoor..........................369 115, 119, 123, 126, 131, 133,
Aqueduct, New York State......................125 134, 203, 205, 226, 273, 278,
Arabia 63 367, 369, 374, 375, 380
Archdeaconry, Greenport, N.Y........129, 131 Society of the ..............................320
Aretas 63 Sons and Daughters of the...233, 367
aridity 179, 210 Atonement 153, 245, 355
Ark of the Covenant...................................98 Children of the....148, 157, 160, 172,
Armenians 53 176, 180, 221, 245, 303, 355
army 245 Franciscan Friars of the......245, 292,
Ascension Day.........................................189 294
Ascension of Jesus.....................................67 Franciscan Friars of the Atonement
Asiatics 55 .........................307, 309, 328
Assisi 122, 202, 254, 259, 341 Franciscan Sisters of the.....245, 246,
Associate Mission, Omaha...............121, 374 291, 292
Associate Mission, Omaha, Neb..............170 Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement
Associates of S.A.....................................134 149, 154, 162, 172, 222, 304,
Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary.......379 309, 329
At-one 29 Our Lady of the. .158, 179, 184, 220,
At-one-ment 45, 106, 107, 180, 194, 355 294, 301
Atonement 3, 8, 13, 15, 32, 38, 63-65, Society of the......149, 150, 220, 245,
67, 69, 70, 86, 105, 118, 133, 318
137, 190, 194, 197, 208, 211, Sons and Daughters of the...170, 310
212, 225, 232, 233, 251, 259, Atonement Day, 7th Sunday after Pentecost
260, 283, 320, 339, 367, 368, ..........................................108
371 Atonement family............................233, 234
Children of the 4, 8, 25, 32, 38, 42, Atonement for sin....................165, 178, 346
52, 55, 63, 83, 103, 104, 106, atonement for sins.......15, 28, 253, 255, 283,
107, 110, 116, 124, 226, 232, 287, 289, 381
272, 320, 351, 378, 380 Atonement name received by Fr. Paul
Family of the..................................55 Wattson, s.a......................190
Franciscan Friars of the......117, 134, Atonement name, given by God.....156, 170,
138, 139, 195, 273, 367, 383, 180
387 Atonement Seminary of the Holy Ghost,
Franciscan Friars of the ..............233 Wash., D.C. .....................288
Atonement Sisters precede Atonement Atonement word, etymology of...............190
Friars in establishing missi Atonement, etymology of word...............190
..........................................273 Atonement" word lettered in the sky.......376
Atonement Texts 123, 157, 164, 170-172, atoning sacrifice of Christ..........................15
174, 180, 189, 190, 194, 197, attachment to creatures............................206
208, 219, 260, 292, 302, 340, attemding Mass on Sundays.....................222
350, 361, 364, 365, 367, 371, attractions 290
372, 376, 378 attributes of God........................................43
Atonement Texts ....................105, 108, 109 Augustinians 285, 306
Atonement Week.............................189, 337 austerities 58
Austria 108 Benvenutus, Rev. ....................................143
authority 81, 82 Bernadone, Peter .....................................158
automobile 365 Bernard de Quintavalle............................338
avarice 344 Bernard of Quintavalle....................157, 364
Avery, Mrs. 117, 290 Bersabee 210
awfulness of sin..........................................86 Bethlehem 22, 251, 283, 341, 344, 380
Baal 45, 56, 99 Beulah Land 278
baby 307 Beulah Land of the Atonement................233
Babylon 186 Bible used on Covenant Day....................376
backbiting 27 birds 203
bad habits 96 Bishops 214
baker 294 black man" 121
Baker, Mr. 128 black veil 148
Baltimore 92, 119, 124, 125, 136 blasphemy 245
Baptism 96, 208, 356 Blecke, o.f.m., Rev. Edward....................118
baptism of Jesus.......................................368 Blood of the Atonement...........................194
Baptismal vows..........................................39 blood test 214
baptized, the 73, 74 body as temple of Holy Spirit..................386
barley loves and small fishes.....................95 body, as temple of Holy Spirit.............91, 96
barometer 258 Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.256
battleship 211 body, the 162, 165, 182, 191, 194, 271,
bearing the cross........................................57 272, 284, 364, 366, 367, 384,
Beatific Vision26, 62, 76, 80, 168, 179, 190, 395
216, 261, 333, 349, 362 Boleyn, Ann 98
beauty 334 Bonaparte, King Jerome ...........................65
bed 120, 290 Bonaparte, Napoleon..................................82
Beethoven, Ludwig..................................303 Booth, Edwin 128
begging alms 54 Boston 99
bell 293 Boulder Dam 363
Benedict XV, Pope..................................198 boyhood of Jesus........................................29
Benedict XV, Pope .................................220 Braddock, Gen. Edward.............................23
Benedictines 117, 122, 135, 286, 293, 302, branch of Seraphic Vine..........................274
306, 396 breath, Holy Spirit as...............................356
Benediction of Blessed Sacrament.............33 Breckenridge, Dr......................................374
Benedictus canticle..................................172 briars 148, 150, 162
benefactors 253, 343 bride of Christ, Church as........................372
Benson, Msgr. 220 Bridegroom (heavenly)....................244, 256
Benson, Rev. 121 Bridegroom, Christ as heavenly.................39
Bridegroom, heavenly..........................13, 14 Brother Fly" name......................................23
brides of Christ.........................................212 brotherhood of humans............................195
British Empire133, 237 brotherhood of man..................................367
British Honduras......................................213 Brothers Christopher........125, 138, 274, 385
broken cisterns.................................190, 362 Bungalow, Graymoor...............................210
Bronx, N.Y. 304 butcher 294
Brooklyn 120 Butler, Pa. 115
Brooklyn Citizen newspaper....................129 Buxton, s.a., Sr. Mary Clare............122, 123
Brother Ass 199 By the bye 129
Byran, My 104 Carthusians 366
Cain, son of first parents............................20 casket 271
Caiphas, high priest..................................201 catechism 123, 154, 168, 231
California 280 Cathedral College.....................................227
called to be a saint....................................242 Catholic Cathedral, Omaha......................375
called to be Saints................................94, 97 Catholic Charities.....................................160
Calvanism 198 Catholic Church 13, 38, 42, 55, 58, 73, 83,
Calvanists 198 97, 104, 106, 123-125, 137,
Calvary 17, 26, 37, 45, 64, 369 140, 149, 153, 155, 173, 193,
camel 252 212, 220, 239, 246, 256, 274,
camel 313 291, 306, 307, 320, 376
Canada 273 Catholic Citizen newspaper.....................131
cancer 271 Catholic Faith 154
Candle, The 222 Catholic families......................................104
Candle, The 351 Catholic League.......................................135
candlestick-maker....................................294 Catholic soldiers.......................................132
Canticle of Brother Sun.............................76 Catholic University, Wash., D.C.............233
Canticle of Canticles................................261 Catholics 240
Canticles 357 cattle 366
Capuchins 254 cave 120
Capuchins at Garrison, N.Y.....................375 celibacy 174, 374
Caput et Mater, St. Francis House, cell 137, 290
Graymoor.........................227 Cenacle, Jerusalem...................................363
Carcere 254 center of a reunited Christendom.............198
caritas 391 Chair of St. Peter at Roma Feast..............198
Carmelite Order.......................................176 Chair of St. Peter at Rome Feast..............317
Carmelites 58, 60 chalice 114, 257, 297
carnal appetite 252 chaplain 257
carnal attraction........................................263 chaplains 299
carnal loves 356 Chapter of Mats...............................203, 306
carnal nature 190, 244 chariots 193, 274
carnally minded .......................................365 charity 31, 42, 43, 69, 71, 80, 84,
carnally-minded.......................................158 107, 110, 113, 137, 167, 175,
Carnegie estate.........................................278 195, 223, 242, 244, 253, 275,
carousing 365 286, 345, 393
carpenter shop 30 Charity of God...........................................44
Carroll, Rev. 95 chastity 3, 150, 287, 356, 395
carrying the cross....182, 215, 239, 241, 242, chastity vow 59
277, 323 Chastity, virtue of ...........................219, 297
Chastity, vow of 110, 113, 153, 173, 174, children of God the Father.......................367
176, 177, 227, 256, 259-261, Children of Israel..21, 25, 29, 190, 252, 283,
289, 323, 345, 362, 372, 374 293, 308
Chastity, Vow of .............................217, 297 Children of Obedience....107, 109, 165, 245,
cheerfulness 179, 250, 370 346
childhood of Jesus................................24, 29 childron of Israel......................................234
children 139, 183, 255, 261, 270, 291, China 255, 273
322, 333 China 176
Children of Israel......................................76 Chinese 55
Children of Disobedience. .21, 107, 165, 245 chivalry 204
choir 168, 177, 293 confessors 299
Christ's sacrifice on cross.........................190 confidence in Covenant Promise.............350
Christian Brothers......................................93 Confirmation, Sacrament...........................95
Christian Science.......................................57 Confirmation, Sacrament of.....................193
Christian unity126, 131, 136, 153, 213, 245 Confirmation, Sacrament of ....................304
Christian unity ................................309, 317 Congregation for the Oriental Church.....221
Christmas vacation...................................201 Conroy, Msgr. James.......................127, 128
Church Militant....................................8, 196 conscience 96, 99
Church Unity 84, 86, 108, 196 consecrated nuns......................................207
Church Unity Octave......116, 135, 171, 198, consecration of Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana
317, 327 to found the S.A...............376
ciborium 259 consent to temptation...............................264
ciborium, the body as a ...........................385 consolation 163, 194
cigar 385 Constitutions and Rule of Atonement Sisters
cigarette 384, 385, 387 ..........................................356
Cincinnati 233 Constitutions of Atonement Sisters 167, 186,
Cistercians 384 196, 346
Clementina, s.a., Sr. ................................290 contemplation 58, 60, 168, 176, 183, 254,
Cleveland, Pres. Grovor ..........................233 282
Clifton, Bish. 196 contemplation 275
cloistered life 314 contrition 40, 43, 86, 200
clothes 356 contrition for sins.....................................169
Clothing and Profession...........313, 322, 333 convents 256, 281
coal 139 conversion 91-93
cockle 200 conversion of non-Christians...................107
Cold Spring, N.Y.....................................128 conversion of sinners...............................223
Coleman, Bish. Leighton.................118, 119 Conversion of St Paul Feast.....................317
Colorado River.........................................363 Cook, John 135
colored troops 212 Corinthians, letter to ...............................371
Colt, Anson 375 corporal 258, 259, 292
Colt, Mrs. 375 corporate poverty.......................84, 205, 228
comforts 253, 365 corporate reception of S.A.123, 125,
Common Prayers of the Children of the 127-129
Atonement........................303 corporate reception of S.A. into Catholic
Communion of Saints....................9, 51, 196 Church..............................378
Community Prayers.................................105 corporate reunion.....................................133
Confession and Communion once a month corporate reunion of Church of England. 197
..........................................222 corporate reunion of S.A. .......................135
corporate submission of S.A....................108 178, 322, 337, 340, 349, 350,
Corpus Christi 109 377-379
Corpus Christi Feast................189, 209, 371 Covenant Day 147, 153, 170, 378, 379
Corpus Christi liturgy..............................292 Covenant Day (Oct. 7).............................127
corruption 225, 350 Covenant Promise..............................32, 110
coryphaeus 197 covenant promise of St. Francis...............274
Council of Florence...................................53 Covenant Text339
Council of Trent.........................................74 covetousness 41, 68, 204, 205, 226, 252,
counsel 171 283, 284, 288
courage 39, 180, 273 Cowley Fathers........................................124
Covenant Chapter 31, 69, 110, 123, 127, creation 13, 14, 23, 54, 80
147, 153, 155, 161, 162, 169,
Creator, God 283 Davis, Joseph 119, 278
creatures 113, 114 Davis, Rev. William.................................180
criticism 148 Davis, Rev. William Howard...........115, 118
Cross and Passion of Jesus.......................338 Day of Atonement....................................178
cross of Christ 17, 18, 21, 26, 38, 39, 70, 97, deaf mutes 375
105-107, 109, 212, 221, 267, death 17, 18, 225, 271, 294, 394
338, 339, 344, 346, 347, 369 Death of Christ...........................................28
crown 215, 313 decay of body 17
crown of thorns................................179, 347 Declaration of Independence...................124
crucifix 83, 118 deed to buy Graymoor.............................189
crucifixes 32 deeds 16
crucifixes used for Covenant Day............376 definition of a saint..................................268
crucifixes used for Covenant Day ...........170 Demas 149, 150
crucifixion of Christ...........................20, 197 democracy 137
Crusade 53 detachment 204, 308, 356
crusaders 266 detachment from creatures....3, 25, 177, 217,
Cults and Religions of India book...........122 395
Cure of Ars 66 detachment from material things....204, 207,
cursing 95 253, 255, 287, 342
Cusack, Bish. Thomas.....................135, 138 Devil 7, 8, 17, 23, 26, 37, 57, 71,
Cyrus 82 76, 82, 83, 87, 93, 96, 105,
daily Holy Communion...........................258 107, 134, 147, 150, 161, 170,
Damascus 93 181, 194, 195, 199, 203,
Damian and Pythias union.......................395 217-219, 224-227, 236, 240,
Damiata 257, 266 245, 250, 259, 263, 264, 268,
damned souls 21, 24 300, 318, 334, 346, 348, 355,
Dan 210 371, 376, 378
dancing 365 devotion to God the Father .....................356
Daniel, Prophet....................26, 51, 186, 337 devotion to the Holy Spirit......................356
dark night of the soul...............................357 devotions to Blessed Virgin Mary in May
darkies" 393 ..........................................198
darkness 7 diamond, chastity as a..............................261
Daughter of God the Father title..............380 dignity of religious life ...........................243
David and Jonathan union........................395 Dimond House.........................................116
David, King 20, 21, 30, 39, 192, 210 discipline of religious life................241, 290
David, King 82, 83, 100 discouragement..................................17, 225
discouragment 268 Divine origin of S.A................................124
disease 17, 27 Divine Providence 84, 118, 124, 132, 153,
dish cloth 273 183, 201, 204, 233, 241, 252,
disloyalty 148, 309 280, 294, 295, 302, 309, 319,
disobedience 56, 83, 100, 108, 133, 136, 333, 339, 347, 348, 364, 370,
197, 211, 356 381
dissension 161 Divine Providence ...................................271
Dives 99 Divinity of Christ...........................14, 66, 82
divine economy........................................277 dog 216
divine love 71, 86, 158, 175-177, 181, Dominicans 306, 396
186, 194, 243, 246, 255, 256, Doran, Rev. Alva W........................118, 121
282, 305, 308 double witness of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.....63
Divine Nature of Christ............................109 dove 368
Divine Office 120, 122, 167, 281, 293, 296, Drain, Rev. Patrick..................................128
302, 321 Drexel, Mother Catherine .........................94
drudgery 164 Emperor of Rome....................................373
drug addict 27 enclosure 219, 297
drug addiction 385 England 108, 116, 122-124, 133, 135,
drunkard 384 138, 196, 333
drunkards 27 England and the Holy See........................108
drunkenness 61 England and the Holy See book...............317
dsiciples, seventy-two..............................236 English Church Union.............................317
dulia 80 English speaking people..........................136
dung heap 176 English speaking separatists.............196-198
dust storms of Texas................................105 English-speaking people..................116, 131
earth 261 enthusiasm 224
earth, planet 81, 82 envy 160, 226
earthen vessels..........................................140 Ephad 46
earthly affection.......................................174 Ephesians, letter to ..................................372
Easter Day 266 epilepsy 268
Eastern Christians......................................82 Episcopal Church.............................321, 376
Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die Episcopalians 124
..........................................365 Equatorial Africa........................................57
ecstacy 275 Erastian captivity.......................................46
ecstasies 60 essence of the religious life: union with God
Eden 83, 86 ..........................................220
eggs 366 estates 280, 340, 342, 356
Egypt 29, 64, 66, 283, 285, 344 Esther 100
Egyptian tomb104 Esther, Queen 294
Egyptians 252 eternal punishment.....................................31
Elias, Bro. 287 Eucharist 7, 9, 25, 28, 39, 45, 66, 73,
Elias, Prophet 274, 276 85, 91, 95, 99, 100, 109, 110,
Elisha, Prophet...........................................56 140, 143, 157, 172, 174, 176,
Elizabeth I, Queen...........................196, 376 186, 195, 208, 209, 219, 221,
Elizabeth, cousin of Mary........................103 223, 289, 292, 296, 304, 371,
Elizah, Prophet...........................................56 372, 385
Emmerich, Sr. Katherine ....................65, 66 Eucharistic Congress........................241, 265
Emperor of Japan.....................................132 Eucharistic Congress, Chicago................280
Euchasrist 256, 260, 263 expulsion 219
Europe 53, 203, 342 extension of the Kingdom of God...........308
evangelization 363, 364 extension of the kingdom of God ...........287
Evans, Henry 121 Ezechiel, Prophet.......................................26
Evans, s.a., Sr. Amelia.....121, 123, 185, 380 faintness 373
Eve, first parent...17, 86, 110, 116, 224-226, faith 9, 22, 31, 38, 45, 54, 60, 63,
252, 263, 346 71, 83, 88, 103, 104, 119,
evil 7, 26, 87, 107, 114 136, 162, 176, 178, 204, 220,
evolution 220, 232 225, 243, 244, 257, 258, 276,
examination of conscience.........................93 288, 294, 296, 303, 345, 378
examination, self............................15, 16, 40 faith without works....................................57
example, preaching by...............................54 fakirs of India 373
Excelsior" poem.........................................66 Falconio, o.f.m., Archbish. Diomede.....118,
Except a grain of wheat...".........................46 126, 127, 135, 378
Except a grain of wheat..." ......................104 false gods 45
excommunication.....................................147 familiarities between S.A. Friars amd S.A.
expiation 65, 73, 153, 218 Sisters...............................263
families 306 first parents 17
famine 17 fishers of men 361
Farley, Card. John............................127, 129 five barley loaves and two fishes....128, 134,
fasting 52, 60, 99, 236 137-140
father 305 Five Wounds of Christ.....................182, 355
Father of many nations" name.................339 five-point rule for children......................222
Father, God the 3, 13, 30, 56, 62, 63, 66, 79, five-point rule for Children by Fr. Paul
81, 92, 109, 165, 220, 287, Wattson, s.a......................222
289, 292, 318, 346, 356, 367 Flagellants 53
fatherhood 55 Flannigan, s.a., Sr. Aloysius............139, 370
Fatherhood of God...............................79, 84 fleece of wool 99
Fatherhood of God ..................................367 flesh and blood.........................................7, 8
faultfinding 27 Florence, Italy 17
faults 309 foreign missionaries.................................373
fear 23, 39, 92, 295 foreign missions.......................................107
Feast of Tabernacles................................361 foreign missions, S.A.Friars in................138
Feasts of Our Lady featured in development forgiveness 85, 86
of S.A...............................376 Forty Hours Devotion..............................209
fiddle-back chasuble................................293 foundation at Graymoor.............................53
Fidelis, s.a., Bro.......................................138 Fountain of Living Water........................362
fidelity 21, 32, 212 Four Last Things........................................17
fidelity to S.A...........................................379 four rivers in Paradise .............................103
final perseverance.....70, 147, 150, 155, 161, four, a symbol 103
186, 396 Fox, o.f.m., Rev. Matthew ......................119
final perseverence................................21, 46 fragments of humanity.............................140
Final Profession.......................................321 France 63, 363
Final Profession and First Vows..............394 Francis Joseph, Emperor .........................108
final vows 147, 279 Francis, name 339
finger of God 252 Franciscan Crown....................................303
fire 276 Franciscan family..............55, 150, 266, 303
fire of Hell 27 Franciscan inheritance of S.A..........306, 307
Franciscan missionaries...........................103 Gabriels, Bish. Henry...............................128
Franciscan poverty...................................375 Galilee 337
Franciscan rule.........................................384 Garden of Eden..................56, 140, 306, 346
Franciscan Saints statues, Graymoor.......105 Garrison 83
Franciscan Sisters of the Poor..................268 Garrison, N.Y.119
Franciscan spirit.......................................106 Gavan-Duffy, Rev. ..................................255
Franciscan, S.A. is.....................................38 Gaynor, Major ...........................................98
Franciscans 53, 322 General Absolution..........................180, 310
fraternal love 391 General Chapter.......................................383
freedom 205 generals (military)....................................212
Friars Minor 53, 58, 119 generosity 140, 286
friends 269, 278 Gentiles 128, 134
fruit farm, Graymoor...............................274 gentleness 9
Fruits of the Spirit....................................366 George Gould 278
fundamentals of Society of the Atonement Germans 245
..........................................104 Germany 65, 133
furnace 217, 291
Gethsemane 28, 92, 166, 214, 368 Graymoor 278, 333
Gibbons, Card. James..............125, 131, 136 Great Feast of the Jews............................368
Gideon 45, 99 Greece 273, 333
gift of holy tears.......................................270 greed 27, 287
Giles, Bro. 396 Greeks 53
glass making 71 Greenland 258, 291
globe 72 Greenport, N.Y........................................129
glory of God 13, 334 Gregory, Gordon .....................................185
glory of Religious Life.............................277 grievous sin 166, 386
God's Acre, Graymoor.............................271 Griswold, Dr. 374
God's predilection: the Society of the grumble 341
Atonement........................301 grumbling 61, 215, 279
gold 40, 42, 54, 82, 252 Guardian Angel..........................65, 179, 236
gold, frankincense, myrh...........................25 Guardian of the Incarnate Lord................319
golden calf 252, 283 Guardians of a Community..................41, 42
Goliath 9 guardians of the holy places.....................266
Good Friday 266, 267 Guiding Principle, Holy Spirit as..............81
Gospel 140 habit ( robe) 9, 32
Gothic vestments......................................293 habit (garb) 118, 120, 126, 135, 161, 162,
Gould Estate 342 169, 238, 240, 252-254, 279,
grace 150, 161, 199, 203, 212, 231, 287, 288, 297, 319, 323
242, 245, 262, 264, 281, 290, Hahn, Mr. and Mrs...................................394
291, 323, 367, 380, 396 Hail Mary prayer......................................122
grace, divine 8, 18, 21, 23, 39, 43 Hail Mary" prayer............................223, 303
grace, supernatural...............................93, 98 Halifax, Viscount (Lord).................135, 317
gratification 281 Ham, son of Noah......................................20
gratification of sex passion......................298 Haman 293
gratitude 182, 277, 294, 396 Haman 100
Graymoor 21, 83, 84, 99, 105, 106, 108, Hancock, Neb., mission church ..............376
119, 134, 171, 186, 221, 222, Hannibal, Gen............................................82
227, 234, 339
happiness 143, 159, 193, 204, 242, 245, 104, 113, 179, 190, 195, 216,
281, 361, 362, 386 225, 239, 245, 254, 257, 261,
happy Reigious.........................................366 272, 293, 296, 307, 310, 319,
hardships of a missionary........................370 334, 372
hart 363 Heavenly gifts 85
Hastings, Sr. Margaret, n.s.a....................339 Hebrews 6 31
hatred 245, 392 Hell 19, 24, 26, 31, 44, 83, 94, 96,
hatred for sin 211 113, 211, 225, 250, 270, 320
Havana cigars 387 Henry VIII, King. .20, 84, 98, 108, 133, 196,
Hazlewoo, s.a., Sr. Martha.......................375 376
Hazlewood, s.a., Sr. Martha.. .115, 116, 120, Henry VIII, King ....................................131
121, 125 Hereford, Tex.110
health 114, 225, 281, 323 heresy 42, 57, 65, 74, 82, 133, 220,
heart of religious life................................256 340
heart, the 87, 114, 123, 210, 252, 369, heretics 198, 209, 220, 245, 305
380 hermit 284, 285
heart, the 3, 8, 38, 42, 150, 223, 290, Herod 25
291 Hierarchy of Catholic Church....................81
Heaven 13, 21, 25, 26, 55, 58, 61, 66, High Priest, Christ......................................21
72, 79, 81-83, 88, 93, 98, High Priest, Christ as.....................18, 24, 28
Hindus 123 108, 121, 126, 130, 134, 136,
Hiram 51 137, 149, 154, 157, 160, 162,
Holden, Rev. Billy ..................................129 165-167, 173, 175-177, 180,
holiness of God..........................................71 183-186, 190, 192, 194, 200,
Holland 155 202-204, 206, 207, 215, 217,
holocaust 271 220, 221, 223, 226, 239, 254,
holy card 342 260, 265, 284, 289, 291, 292,
Holy Communion 28, 39, 71, 95, 97, 99, 296, 304, 318, 328, 341, 351,
104, 107, 109, 117, 121, 123, 356
126, 167, 177, 193, 196, 210, Holy Spirit of God . .361-363, 365-368, 371,
231, 232, 235, 241, 256, 257, 377, 379, 385-387
259, 260, 281, 290-292, 304, Holy Thursday...........................................67
339, 355- 357, 370, 373, 385, holy women of Gospel.............................253
394 homesickness 227
Holy Communion nourishes Vow of honor 114
Chastity............................373 Honor thy Father and thy Mother" .........346
Holy Cross Church, Kingston, N.Y. 338, 339 Hoover, Pres. Herbert..............................363
Holy Cross Fathers..................117, 118, 337 hope 21, 71, 178-180, 225, 226,
Holy Cross Novitiate, Westminster, Md..337 244, 345, 377
Holy Cross Order.....................................321 Horace 349
Holy Cross, name.....................................338 horror of sin 86
Holy Family 29, 42 horse 81
Holy Ghost College...........................95, 109 hospitals 256
Holy Ghost Tower...................................233 host 257, 259
Holy Land 266 House of Bread, St. Francis House,
Holy of Holies178 Graymoor, as......................85
Holy Spirit of God 3, 8, 13, 24, 52, 54, 56, House of David........................................241
59, 64, 81, 91, 95, 103-105, household duties.........................................40
Howard, Rev. 375 Immaculate Conception dogma...............124
Howard, Rev. Walter S............................115 Immaculate Conception Feast..........115, 137
Hudson Highlands....................................148 Immaculate Heart of Mary........91, 233, 304
Hudson River 54, 120, 148, 278 immortality 225
Hughes, Archbish. John...........................374 impatience 163
human race 306 imperfections 150
Humanity of Christ..............................13, 65 Imperial Guards.........................................76
humility 8, 40, 45, 70, 87, 103, 104, Imperial University, Tokyo.....................132
110, 147, 150, 155, 200, 244, impure thought.........................................300
250, 261, 295, 297, 371, 374 Incarnation 191, 208, 237, 241, 260, 320,
Huntington, o.h.c., Rev. James.115, 117-119 322, 323
Hur 38, 39, 97 Incarnation of Christ...19, 27, 173, 221, 302,
hyper-dulia 81 365, 367, 371, 380
hypocrisy 283 Incarnation of Jesus...............51, 64, 71, 340
iconoclasts 45 incearse of S.A. members........303, 328, 329
Ideals of Saint Francis book....................364 increase in members of the Society of the
idiosyncracies 242 Atonement........................350
idolatry of material things........................190 increase of members of S.A.............124, 138
idols 45, 283 increase of members of Society of the
If we had the Anglicans with us..."..........136 Atonement........103, 104, 109
Illuminative Way.......................................28 increase of S.A. members........................333
Image of God's Glory...............................367 India 82, 176, 255, 273, 333
Imitation of Christ, book..........................264 indifference to creatures...........................114
individual poverty....................................205 Iscariot, Judas 237
individual submission......................133, 134 Islands of the Sea.......................................82
indulgences 136, 267 Israel 98
indwelling of the presence of God...........254 Italian boys 123
indwelling presence of God.......................71 Italian children.........................................193
ingratitude 182 Italian woman 369
innocence 264 Italians 125
inordinate affections................................206 Italy 82, 363
Inquisition 60 Jacob, name of.........................................127
insane asylums...................................99, 298 Jacob, Patriarch..24, 117, 233, 274, 309, 320
instincts 180 Jacob's well 166, 368
institutions of Religious Communities....341 Japan 132, 134
intercession 178 Japanese 55, 304
intercession for sinners............................259 Japanese-Russo War................................132
intercessory prayer...................................293 jasper stone 9
interior life 321 jealousy 159, 161, 196, 219, 226
interior voice 339, 376 Jehovah 362
intermediary instrument of Atonement....137 Jeremiah, Prophet..............................56, 362
intimacy with seculars..............................150 Jerusalem 29, 117, 234, 267, 337, 368
investiture (clothing) of Fr. Paul Wattson, Jessup, Rev. Charles........................129, 131
s.a.....................118, 120, 121 Jesuit martyrs 221
irrigation of land......................................104 Jesuits 38, 68, 132, 149, 212, 213,
Isaac, Patriarch. 24, 117, 175, 233, 307, 350, 245, 254, 258, 278, 338, 340,
378 346, 396
Isaiah, Prophet...........................................56
Jesus Christ 62, 64, 73, 85, 109, 225, 236, joy 3, 21, 25, 44, 56, 62, 67, 69,
319, 342, 361, 366, 378, 394 76, 106, 149, 159, 164, 171,
Jesus, Christ 3, 14, 29 204, 205, 212, 227, 243, 254,
Jews 20, 37, 53, 83, 128, 134, 257, 268-270, 272, 273, 275, 287,
337 291, 303, 309, 323, 337, 343,
Jews 160, 173, 182 362, 365-367, 371, 382, 386
Job of Old Testament.................................59 joy 263, 281, 282, 333
Joel, Prophet 53, 56 Judas, Apostle 40, 344
John, name of 133 Judea 337
Johnson, Rev. Irving P.............................374 Judgement, Final..................................19, 21
Johnston, Rev. Irving ..............................121 Juniper, Bro. 396
Jonathan 39 Keble, John 108, 197
Jones, Rev. Spencer ................108, 134, 317 King Sin" a 42
Jordan River 99 kitchen stove 273
Joseph Arimathaea...................................271 knights 120
Joseph of Arimathea................................221 knowledge of God......................................19
Joseph of Arimathia...................................70 Korea 109, 123
Joseph of Old Testament 166, 233, 266, 274, Kreger, s.a., Sr. Ignatius..........................150
298, 320 labor of love 349
Joseph of the Old Testament............307, 309 labor unions 395
Joshua 37 ladder 268
Joshua. successor of Moses........................97 Lady Poverty 55, 68, 69, 204, 205, 251,
Joshua, successor of Moses........................56 282, 288
journey, life as a ........................................94 Lady Poverty. 341
lake of fire 24 lepers 69, 314
Lake Placid, N.Y......................................370 lie 383, 386
Lamb of God 14, 28, 30, 64, 346 lieing 57
Lamb, Frederick.......................................121 lienation of the will....................................61
Lamb, s.a., Bro. Leo................................121 life 225
lame man at gate of temple......................130 lilies 68
Lamp, The 46, 54, 63, 116, 126, 131, limbo 67
134, 136, 351 limousine 159
Lamp, The 317, 318 Lincoln, Pres. Abraham...........................128
Laodicea 99 Lincoln, Pres. Abraham ............................93
Laodiceans 69 liquors 384
last Mass on earth.....................................121 Litany of Loretto......................................220
Lavelle, Msgr. Michael............................172 Litany of the Holy Name.........................232
laxities 367 Little Flower 258, 294
Lazarus of parable......................................99 Little Flowers of Saint Francis................218
laziness 114 Little Nellie of God..................................258
Lead, Kindly Light" hymn.......................197 littleness 172
League of Nations....................................165 liturgical worship.....................................293
Leaning Tower of Pisa.............................297 Living Church, The .................................134
Lee, Gen. Robert E. ................................369 living water 206
Lee, Gen. Robert E, ................................124 Lloyd, Rev. Arthur...................................134
Lent 384 Lloyd, Rev. Arthur ..................................132
Leo XIII, Pope.............................................9 Locke, s.a., Sr. Mary Francis...................350
Leo, Bro. 282 Long Beach house of Atonement Sisters. 288
Long Island 280 luxury 204, 253
Long Island City, N.Y.............................129 Lying 96
long life 366 macaroni 254
Lord of the World book...........................121 Macedonia 68
Lot's wife 239 Macedonian Christians...............................17
love 3, 26, 39, 40, 42, 45, 56, 66, Madames of the Sacred Heart..................278
69, 71, 74, 79, 83, 95, 174, Magi 25
206, 209, 214, 223, 225, 226, Magnificat canticle. 172, 179, 225, 281, 296,
246, 247, 256, 259, 275, 277, 365, 380
281, 290, 337, 346, 366, 368, Mahomet 57
370, 372, 373, 391 Malachi, Prophet........................................56
love affairs 300 Mammon 27, 46
love for God 307, 323 Man of Sorrows.......................................241
love of Christ 106, 110 Manistee, Michigan..................................351
love of God 205-207, 252 mankind 80
love of money 215 Manning, Rev. John ................................131
loyalty 323 manure 278
lumber camps 92 Mar's Hill 55
Lurana, name 339 marauders 259
Lusitania 124 marriage 372, 379
lust 133 married life 264
Luther, Martin57, 108, 197 Martha, sister of Lazarus.........................235
Luther, Martin .........................................133 Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary.........183
luxuries 158, 159, 365 Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus.260, 321
Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus. .......238 masturbation 265
martyrdom 60, 63, 100, 282, 381 Mater et Caput, St. Francis House,
martyrology 63, 82 Graymoor.........................110
martyrs 17, 25, 29, 55, 159, 242, 271 material gifts 85
Mary Magdalen........................................276 material possessions.244, 340, 365, 366, 371
Mary, Mother of God.......................306, 323 material things158, 165, 215
Mary, Mother of Jesus 3, 9, 13, 19, 22, 26, materialism 160, 204
29, 33, 45, 55, 56, 60, 65, 70, matrimony 323
72-74, 81, 99, 103, 105, 116, Matthews, Chief Justice Stanley .............374
122, 136, 143, 159, 165, 179, Matthews, Rev. Paul................................374
190, 194, 199, 200, 202, 208, Matthews, Rev. Paul ...............................121
220, 224- 226, 232, 236, 241, Maturin, Rev. W. B..................................124
249, 251, 261, 265, 269, 271, McGarvey, Dr. ........................................299
282, 283, 291, 295, 301, 303, meat, abstinence from..............................384
320, 344, 351, 365, 371, 380, meditation 52, 58, 200, 272, 296
381 Melchisedech 178, 378, 379
Mary, name 339 memory of past sins...................................62
Mary, sister of Martha.....................238, 321 Menace, The 262
Mary, sister of Martha ............................260 mental prayer 60
Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus.........183 Messiah 117, 160, 192, 257, 328
Maryolatry 220 Mexicans 304
Mass 120 Michigan 117
Masseo, Bro. 393 Middle Ages 76
Masses 279, 282 Midian 46
Midianites 44, 99 missionaries in all lands, S.A. as.............310
midnight vigil of prayer...........................321 missionaries to non-Christians, S.A. as . .126
midnight watches.............................260, 294 missionary Institute, Society of the
midnight watsches before Blessed Atonement as a.................327
Sacrament.........................210 missionary life344
Mikado 132 Missionary Sisters of Mary..............232, 305
Milan, Italy 17 missionary vocation of S.A.....137, 139, 308
military obedience....................................213 missionary work...............................305, 328
milk 366 missions 130, 139, 246, 290, 294
mind, the 8 missions of Atonement Sisters.................235
minimum on self, maximum for God......139 Mistress Nicotine.....................................386
miracles 53, 181 mitigation 383
Miriam 76 mixed marriages.......................................100
misers 139 Modernism 220
miss ionary Institute: the S.A...................203 Mohammedans.........................................257
mission field 57 monasticism 306
Mission House of Atonement Sisters.......240 money 252, 284, 308, 356, 365, 366
Mission House, N.Y.C.............................132 money, Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a., does not
Mission Houses.......168, 176, 180, 207, 263, carry.................................126
278, 280, 309 Monster Beer Barrel...................................98
Mission Houses of Atonement Sisters.....246 monstrance 39, 259
mission of S.A.........................................136 Mordecai 100, 294
mission to lapsed Catholics......................107 Morocco 159
missionaries 55, 72, 95, 137, 140, 222, Morrell, Mrs. 94
287, 293, 364, 374 mortal sin 16, 40, 65
mortgages 343 Motherhouse of Atonement Sisters,
mortification 29, 31, 45, 46, 52, 57, 73, 75, Graymoor.........................273
110, 143, 236, 241, 268, 290, mothers 381
298, 341, 364, 366, 367, 382, motto of Society of the Atonement: We joy
396 in God..............................355
Mosaic law 318 Mount of the Atonement.........................284
Mosaic Law cleansings..............................71 Mount Alverna.................119, 266, 320, 334
Moses, Prophet20, 29, 37-39, 71, 73, 88, 97, Mount Alvernia........................................179
98, 252, 283, 391 Mount Calvary.........................267, 283, 344
Moslems 53, 60 Mount Carmel 274, 276
Most Sweet Will of God...........168, 369-371 Mount Hope, Baltimore...................343, 348
mother 247, 301 Mount of Ascension...................................26
Mother House of Atonement Sisters, Mount of Atonement................................135
Graymoor.160, 167, 180, 186 Mount of the Atonement 73, 74, 99, 120,
Mother House of Atonement Sisters, 122, 148, 149, 189, 227, 245,
Graymoor.........234, 287, 293 278, 291, 333, 339, 378
Mother House, Graymoor................103, 110 Mount Sinai 283
mother love 206 Mount St. Sepul chre, Wash., D.C...........119
Mother of God the Son title.....................380 Mount St. Sepulchre, Wash., D.C............159
Mother of the Faithful, Mary...................105 Mount St. Vincent....................................278
Mother-House of Atonement Sisters, Mount Thabor 223
Graymoor.........337, 343, 351 Mount Zim 29
motherhood 55 Mrs. Gregory 28
mule 266 Nazareth Novitiate, Graymoor.................355
multum in parvo.......................................138 needle 313
murderers 27 Negroes 207, 212, 290, 304, 314
murmuring about superiors......................148 Nero, Emperor.................................159, 281
mustard seed 132, 134, 135 Neumann, Frau ........................................373
mysteries of Our Lady of the Atonement Neumann, Teresa ............................369, 372
..........................................303 new Adam 167, 304, 306, 327
Mystical Body of Christ 42, 51, 52, 64, 74, new Eve 184, 232, 306
94, 153, 181, 190, 216, 221, New Jersey 278, 342
252, 260, 269, 363, 367, 380 New Jerusalem.....................................92, 94
mystical numbers.....................128, 134, 372 New Mexico 139
mystical union with Christ.......................180 New York City.....................27, 92, 118, 120
mysticism 357 Newman, Card. John Henry . . .108, 133, 197
Nabuchodonosor, King..............................82 newspapers 120
Naples 342, 393 Niagara Falls 212
Napoleon, Bonaparte..................................76 Nicene Creed 328
narcotics 384 Nicodemus 70, 117, 221, 271
National Apostasy" sermon......................197 nicotine 385, 386
nationalities 306 Noah, Prophet 56
Nativity of Blessed Virgin feast.................65 non-Catholics 74
Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary ............225 non-Christians 82, 176
Nativity of Jesus.........................................22 Notes from Father Paul"..........115, 123, 129
nature 203, 290 Novena to Our Lady of the Atonement. .240
Nazareth 22, 29, 66, 251, 283, 344, Novena to Our Lady of the Atonement...294
368
Novena to St. Anthony....................240, 294 obligation to pray for benefactors............294
Novena to the Little Flower.....................294 obligations of Religious Life...................277
novitiate 148, 355, 383 occasions of sin, avoidance of.................374
O God, Who hast prepared for those..." Ochra, Trappist monastery.......................384
prayer...............................362 odor of sanctity........................................242
O Salutaris hymn.....................................128 Ogdensburg Diocese................................393
O'Connell, Card. William................132, 318 old age 243
O'Keefe, Msgr. Cornelius G....................127 old Eve" 209
oath 171, 178 Old Friary, Graymoor..............................135
obedience 3, 22, 41, 83, 85, 92, 107, Old Testament25
108, 133, 136, 148, 186, 211, Omaha, Neb. 350
212, 214, 223, 225, 242, 245, Omnia pro Christo et salute hominum.28, 29
250, 261, 292, 346, 351, 356, omnia pro Christo et salute hominum motto
361, 368, 369, 382 ..........................................364
obedience, virtue of ................................214 Omnia pro Cristo et saluted hominum.....137
Obedience, vow of 110, 113, 153, 165, 212, omnipotence 92
214, 227, 244, 289, 323, 345, one hundred and forty four thousand virgins
349, 362, 369, 371, 382 . 164, 169, 175, 182, 372, 382
Obedience, Vow of .................................261 one hundred and forty-four thousand virgins
oblation 276 .........................212, 319, 395
oblation of self...........................................70 one hundred and fourty-four thousand
oblation of will to God.............................345 virgins..............231, 296, 322
oblation to God..........................................17 one hundred fifty three big fish...............372
one hundred fold......................................104 Oxford, Eng. 124
Oppici, o.f.m., Rev. Francis ....................123 Pacific Ocean 310
opposite sex 174 Pacificus, Bro. .........................................356
original sin 185, 191, 365, 371 pagans 136, 137, 153
orphanage 176 pain, physical 27
Orthodox Church.....................................173 paint shack 120
ostensorium 9 paint-shop; Palace of Lady Poverty.........284
Our Father" and the Hail Mary" in time of Palace of Lady of Poverty................120-122
need..................................223 Palagians 245
Our Father" prayer.....................79, 223, 303 Palm Beach 280
Our Lady of Good Counsel......................302 palm branches 64, 319
Our Lady of Mount Calvary....................306 Papacy 203
Our Lady of Peace...........................220, 302 Papal blessing 180
Our Lady of Sorrows.......................241, 303 Papal claims 317, 375
Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, Graymoor Papal infallibility......................................124
..........................................380 Paraclete 95
Our Lady of the Atonement title..............380 parents 269, 278
Our Lady of the Atonement, picture of...222 particular attachments..............................195
Our Lady of Victory Feast.......................376 particular friendships...............................392
Our Lady, Help of Christians...................302 Paschal 118
Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners...................302 passing of the Saints..................................73
Our Lady's Guest and Retreat House passion 133
(Hostel)............................303 Passion and Cross of Christ.....................157
Our Lady's Hostel, Graymoor..................128 Passion and Cross of Christ ....364, 369, 381
outstretched arms.....................................105 Passion and death of Christ......................272
Oxford Movement.......44, 46, 108, 131, 197
Passion of Christ................27, 28, 63, 67, 87 penance of the will.....................................62
passion of the Saints............................62, 64 penance of tongue......................................59
passion of the Society of the Atonement...63 Penance, Sacrament....62, 70, 86, 93, 96, 97,
Passionists 147, 149, 171, 338, 376 100
patience 43, 83, 110, 162, 170, 183 Penance, Sacrament of........8, 15, 20, 24, 28,
patience of the Saints.................................64 126, 168, 199, 236, 259, 289,
Patriarchs 67 300, 392
Patrick's Purgatory" account......................31 Penance, Sacrament of ............222, 223, 304
Patrons of Society of the Atonement.......275 Pentecost 56, 363
Paulines 322 peoples of the world...................................19
Paulists 338 perfection 154, 202, 209, 231, 319, 323
peace 3, 8, 45, 63, 99, 161, 165, permissions 342
297, 366 persecutions 381
peace of mind 263 perseverance in vocation..........................227
Peekskill, N.Y..........................................369 Persia 273
penance 45, 46, 57, 64, 73, 162, 243, Persian Empire.........................................293
270 Perugians 365
penance of heart.........................................58 pestilence 17
penance of mind.........................................58 Peter's Pence 126, 132, 136
penance of the heart...................................62 Pharaoh 20, 38
penance of the mind...................................61 Pharisees 68
penance of the tongue................................62 Pharoah 193, 274
Philadelphia 124, 136, 393 Portiuncula Chapel, Graymoor................380
Philadelphia 92 Portiuncula Indulgence feastday..............232
Philippines 123 Portiuncula, Assisi.....42, 218, 232, 234, 254
Philistines 100 Portiuncula, Graymoor.......42, 45, 227, 232,
Phillip, t.s.a., Bro. (John Reid) ..............139 233, 273
physical relaxation...................................275 posterity 306
physician 218, 299 postulancy 148
pickaninnies" 393 postulants 355
Pilate 347 Potifar 298
Pilate, Pontius 267 Potifar's wife 166
Pilate, Pontius .........................................201 Potter, Norman F.....................................138
pilgrimage to John Reid's home...............139 Poughkeepsie, N.Y. ................................117
pipe (smoking).........................................385 poverty 114, 120, 139, 159, 205, 278,
Pit, the 27 342
plague 17 poverty (evangelical) ..................84, 85, 110
planetary laws .........................................345 poverty of Holy Family.......................25, 30
pleasure 361, 366, 386 poverty of St. Francis of Assisi..................47
plenary indulgence...................................221 poverty, evangelical......3, 25, 41, 42, 55, 58,
Pole Star 313 60, 68, 69
Poor Clares 294, 363 Poverty, virtue of.............207, 262, 283, 288
Poor Clares 342 Poverty, virtue of ....................341, 343, 345
Poor Clarets of the Immaculate Conception Poverty, vow of 113, 153, 158, 186, 193,
..........................................159 202, 205, 207, 227, 251, 282,
poor, the 69, 158, 160, 270, 291, 339, 288, 308, 323, 340, 341, 356,
341 364, 365, 368
poor, the 204, 205, 253, 255, 308, 322 power 260
Pope, Head of Catholic Church 81, 84, 106, power of God 39, 44, 88, 104, 140, 163
107, 120, 123, 125, 131, 132, praise 88
135, 137, 193, 198, 203, 213, praise of the Saints.....................................75
245, 246, 305, 340, 346, 348
prayer 8, 22, 24, 29, 31, 37, 42, 52, Precious Blood of the Atonement....289, 380
58, 59, 67, 73, 92, 97, 104, predilection 277
114, 137, 147, 161, 168, 176, presumption 23
210, 222, 236, 237, 254, 282, pride 106, 165, 200, 219, 253, 334
283, 290, 302, 338, 344 priesthood 149, 292
pre-profession pledge on smoking...........387 Priesthood of the Laity...............................28
preachers 207, 363, 366 Priests 81, 95, 299
preachers, Franciscans as ..........................53 Prince of the Apostles, The .....................108
preaching 30, 203, 204 Prince of the Atonement..............29, 33, 107
preaching on the street corners...............129 principles of religious life........................244
Preaching Order...............................338, 364 Prior, Ernest 128
preceding Atonement Friars, Atonement Pritcher, Mr. 128
Sisters...............................328 Pro-Roman party......................................134
Precepts of the Church.......................99, 167 Prodigal Son parable................58, 59, 61, 99
Precious Blood of Christ......................18, 29 Profession of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a..118, 189
Precious Blood of Jesus....85, 126, 137, 167, profession of Mother Lurana White, s.a.. 189
205, 211, 214, 231, 253, 259, Profession of vows of Fr. Paul Wattson, s.a.
304, 363, 380 ..........................................378
Profession, religious...................................29 purity of the Saints.....................................70
promise not to receive a salary by Fr. Paul purpose of amendment...............................86
Wattson............................170 quarreling 27
promise not to take a parish by Fr. Paul Queen of Peace title.................................221
Wattson............................170 Queen of Saints title.................................221
Promised Land.............98, 99, 277, 283, 349 Queen of Sheba..........................................26
promoting devotion to Our Lady of the racism 213
Atonement........................382 radicalism 160
Propagation of the Faith Society..............221 raiment 158
prophecy 197, 203 re-Baptism 63
Prophets 67 re-Confirmation.........................................63
prophets, Franciscans as ............................53 re-Ordination 63
propitiation for sins..................................211 Real Presence of Jesus in Eucharist.........257
Protestant ministers....................................74 Rebecca 175
Protestantism 54, 57, 72, 86, 104, 133, 198 reconcilers, vocation of..............................86
Protestants 106, 134, 197, 220, 262, 340 reconciliation 8, 56, 63, 85, 106, 194, 355
Protestants and St. Francis.......................126 reconciliation of Anglicans and Protestants
proto- martyrs of Franciscan Order.........159 with Pope.........................106
prudence 130 reconciliation of sinners...................126, 137
Psalms 192 recreation 290
Pulpit of the Cross.............................56, 121 red devils" name.........................................23
punishment 140 red mantle 123, 221, 380
pure in heart 296, 297 red mark of Calvary...................................63
pure of heart 261, 263 Red Sea 38, 76, 274
Purgatory 31, 57, 65, 73, 80, 94, 279, redemption 166, 181, 363
296, 370 Redemption of Captives Order................185
Purgatory 196 Redemptorists 338
purification 31 refectory 59, 122, 168
purificators 259, 267 reform 203
purity 71, 99, 150, 161, 210, 225, Reformation 55, 86, 107, 137, 245, 258,
305, 366 340, 350, 376
Reid, John 138, 139 rest time 275
Reid, John 95, 278 Resurrection of Jesus...........................67, 75
relatives 269 Retreat for Novices.361, 364, 367, 371, 374,
Religious as spouses of Christ.................372 379
Religious communities.............................196 retreat house 288
Religious founders...................................340 Retreat House, Washington, D.c..............228
Religious life 113, 277, 346, 361 retreat master 276
religious life 231 retreat silence 236
Religious state 113 retreat time 199
rent 240 revelation 79
repairers of the breach.............107, 116, 198 reverence 257, 263, 296
reparation 62 reverence to Angels..................................80
repentance 61, 130, 155, 219, 377 reverence to Eucharist................................81
Rephidim 97 reverence to God........................................80
reputation 243 reverence to humans..................................80
resolutions 178 reverence to Jesus Christ............................81
responsibility 323 reverence to life.........................................81
reverence to Pope.......................................81 Rose Leaves from Our Lady's Garden......54,
reverence to souls in Purgatory..................80 131, 132
reverence to superios of Communities.......81 royal priesthood.........................................28
reward 140 Rule of Atonement Friars................370, 382
rich man 252 Rule of Atonement Sisters......155, 199, 212,
riches 190 215, 241, 243, 246, 250, 253
Richey, Rev. James Arthur Morrow........274 Rule of Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement
righteousness 8, 14, 83, 225 ..........................................107
Righteousness of Christ.............................57 Rule of Friars Minor..................................69
Righteousness of God................................44 Rule of Society of the Atonement...........107
Rigo, t.o.r., Rev. Arnaldo........................254 Rule, religious life......................................42
ring 293 rum 96
River Jordan 368 rum-selling 98
rivers of living water 190, 193, 203, 362-364 Russia 213
robber and St. John, Apostle......................74 Ruth, Sr. 115, 375
robbers 27 S.A. monogram........................................212
Robinson, o.f.m., Rev. Pascal .118, 119, 127 S.J. monogram.........................................212
Rock of Peter Foundation........................205 Sacrament of the Atonement, Penance......86
Rock of Peter, S.A. takes stand on the.......76 Sacraments 62, 106, 109, 225, 246, 349
Rockefeller, John D.................................278 Sacred Heart of Jesus 27, 28, 38, 65, 91, 95,
rocking chair 207 140, 149, 174-176, 180, 186,
rod 97 195, 205, 210, 212, 214-217,
Roman fever" 197 221-223, 239, 243, 253, 269,
Roman vestments.....................................293 290, 304, 321, 334, 391, 394
Romans 82, 262 Sacred Scriptures.............147, 261, 296, 377
Romans 5:11 105, 337 sacrifice 83, 181, 182, 205, 243, 277,
Rome 29, 193, 254 306, 382, 384
root of all evil 158 sacrifice of Calvary..................................216
Rosary 9, 104, 105, 222, 224, 302 sacrifice of Christ on the cross.................153
Rosary League of Our Lady of the sacrifice of lambs ......................................64
Atonement.......105, 109, 176, Sacrifice of the Mass. .28, 31, 208, 258, 260,
221, 222, 303, 308, 350 267, 281, 290
rose bushes from Assisi...........................233 sacrifice on the Cross.................................64
sacrifices 39 Samaritan woman....................................368
sacrificial love206 Sampson of Old Testament......................320
sacrificial motive..............................206, 253 Samuel 41
sacrilege 114 Samuel, Prophet...................56, 83, 100, 226
sacristan 258, 297 San Angelo Castle....................................193
sacristy 122 San Damiano Convent.....................209, 266
safeguards for chastity.............................264 San Damiano Convent, Assisi..................296
Saints 14, 17, 18, 24, 44, 55, 58, 59, San Daminano convent............................259
65, 66, 71, 81, 82, 196, 216, San Daminao Church...............................378
395 sanctification 18, 24, 38, 96, 113, 143, 190,
saints in the making.................................349 204, 223, 224, 227, 244, 274,
salvation 8, 22, 98, 113, 294, 344 322, 363
salvation of souls....137, 167, 208, 209, 273, sanctification 344
363 Sanctifier, Holy Spirit as 185, 223, 306, 366,
Samaria 29, 368 371
sanctity 260, 319 sensual pleasures......................................345
sanctuary 293 sensuality 106
sandals 8 separated brethren....................................140
Santa Barbara, Cal...................................210 sepulchre 272
Saracens 209, 259, 296 Seraphic Family...............................184, 203
Sargent, o.s.b., Rev. Henry......................321 Seraphic Father: St. Francis of Assisi......254
Sargent, Rev. Harry.................................337 Seraphs 254, 275, 307
Sargent, Rev. Harry R. Sargent.......117, 119 Serapius 344
satiety 281, 290 Sermon on the Mount................................84
Saul, King 41, 42, 83, 100 Serpent, Devil 86
saving souls" 104, 106 Serra, Rev. Junipero ................................103
Scandinavian 245 Servant of the Servants of God" title.......348
sceptre 294 Seven Joys of Blessed Virgin Mary.........303
Schilling, o.f.m., Rev. Godfrey...............119 Seven Sorrows of Blessed Virgin Mary. .303
schism 42, 65, 82, 133, 340 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost......108, 109,
schismatics 305 197, 378
schools 256 seventy-two disciples...............................344
scrupulosity 264 sex urge 263, 264
seat of wisdom.........................................192 sexual pleasures........................................345
Second Commandment............................205 Shechinah 178
See of Peter 9 ship of the Atonement..............................169
Seed of the Atonement.............................105 sick, the 268, 270, 314, 322
self exam 52 sick, the 107
self love 43 sickness 27, 178, 183, 225, 240, 259,
self restraint 46 271, 323
self-denial 45, 57, 80, 97, 99, 139, 217, Sidrach, Misach and Abednago...............308
241, 308, 366, 367, 381, 384 sign of the cross...............................266, 301
self-examination......150, 162, 200, 223, 243 silence 167, 231, 236, 275
self-love 226, 227, 342 silver 82
selfishness 206, 249, 287 Simeon of New Testament.........................24
seminarian 292 Simon Magus 93
sensible pleasures.....................................244 Simon of Cyrene......................................269
sensual gratifications................................190
sin 8, 14, 15, 18, 21, 24, 43, 61, Sisters of the Precious Blood, Brooklyn,
65, 70, 80, 83, 85, 95-97, N.Y...................................375
100, 134, 190, 191, 194, 198, Sisters, religious.........................................95
204, 211, 219, 223-225, 242, Sixth Commandment...............................362
245, 248, 252, 264, 268-270, skyscrapers 93
281, 283, 288, 297, 298, 300, sloth 349
362, 364, 371, 380, 383, 386 smell 27
sinners 165, 211, 294, 297 Smokey Lake, Canada.............................273
sins 155, 166, 169, 309, 310 smoking (tobacco) ..........................383, 384
Sister of Mercy.........................................278 Smyrna 69
sisterly love 392 snuff box 385
Sisters of All Saints..................................124 social fellowship in smoking...................386
Sisters of St. Catherine............................135 Socialists 100
Sisters of the Precious Blood...................342 Societas Adunationis...............................106
Society of Jesus........................................212
Society of St. Thomas......................179, 317
Society of the Atonement created by God.
..........................................123
Society of the Atonement founded by God
..........................................380
Society of the Atonement, created by God
.........................185, 320, 396
Society-of-making-at-one"......................106
Sodom 239, 298
softness of world .......................................46
soldier 245, 266, 270, 362, 365, 367,
369
Solomon, King....20, 82, 159, 160, 250, 281,
362
Solomon, King ................................199, 283
Solomon's temple.......................................51
Son of God 367, 371, 377, 380
Son of man 367, 368
Song of the Creatures...............................287
Sophia University, Tokyo........................132
sorrow 304
sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary........381
soul, the 345
soul, the 8 St. Catherine of Siena..............................300
souls 137, 162, 181, 184, 209, 254,
291, 293, 314, 363, 370
soup kitchen 125
Sour Lake, Texas.....................................291
South Wales 135
Spain 159, 262, 364, 392
spirit of independence..............................110
spirit of schism ........................................110
spiritual director.......................................162
spiritual gifts 85
spiritual life 154
spiritual minded ......................................365
spirituality 287
spiritually minded............................191, 215
St. Edward the Confessor........................196
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.........257, 308, 313
St. Elizabeth, cousin of Mary. 282, 351, 356,
365
St. Elizabeth, cousin of Mary .................192
St. Francis Borgia....................................254
St. Francis Chapel, Graymoor.................184
St. Francis Day.........................................339
St. Francis Day (Oct. 4)...................120, 127
St. Francis de Sales..............26, 97, 198, 248
spiritually-minded....................................158
Spouse of God the Holy Ghost title.........380
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin...................319
spouse of the Holy Ghost.................158, 185
spouses of Christ..............................216, 313
St. Patrick 293
St. Alban's church....................................115
St. Andrew, Apostle.................................137
St. Ann, mother of Mary .................191, 192
St. Anne, mother of Mary........................224
St. Anthony of Padua.......179, 294, 307, 379
St. Anthony's Monastery, Thompson St.,
N.Y.C...............................127
St. Augustin of Hippo..............................362
St. Augustine of Hippo..............63, 191, 306
St. Barnabas Church, Brooklyn, N.Y. ....129
St. Benedict 218, 306, 357
St. Benedict Labre....................................268
St. Bernard 26, 302
St. Bonaventure........................................307
St. Bridget of Sweden................................61
St. Catharine of Siena..............................264
St. Catherine Emerich..............................258
St. Catherine of Sienna..............................54
St. Christopher's Inn, Graymoor..............205
St. Clare of Assisi...26, 53, 60, 73, 160, 179,
209, 218, 237, 243, 282, 295,
307, 344
St. Clare's Mission, N.Y.C......................235
St. Clare's Mission, N.Y.C...............193, 304
St. Clare's Settlement, N.Y.C..................160
St. Clement's Church, Philadelphia.........124
St. Didachus 28
St. Dominic 9, 202, 203, 208, 250, 348,
363
St. Dominic 306
St. Francis House, Graymoor.. .30, 119, 149,
172, 179, 232, 274, 333, 355
St. Francis Industrial School, Eddington, Pa.
.....................................93, 94
St. Francis of Assisi 3, 8, 23, 33, 38, 41-43,
46, 53, 55, 60, 65, 67-69, 72,
73, 76, 80-82, 84, 93, 110,
119, 121, 122, 126, 150, 157,
160, 179, 182, 184, 189-191,
202, 204, 205,208, 218,
 231-233, 236, 237, 240, 248,
251, 253, 259, 266, 272, 274,
275, 282, 288, 293, 306, 309,
320, 334, 338, 340, 344-346,
356, 357, 363, 364, 375, 376,
378, 379, 385, 393
St. Francis tomb, Assisi...........................376
St. Francis Xavier....................132, 176, 296
St. Francis' Chapel, Graymoor...................73
St. Francis' House, Graymoor......51, 85, 235
St. Gabriel, Archangel.......94, 199, 371, 381
St. Gabriel, Archangel ....190, 192, 261, 295
St. Gertrude 357
St. Gregory the Great...............................285
St. Gregory the Great ..............................250
St. Helena 109
St. Ignatius Loyola...................................254
St. Ignatius of Loyola..............113, 340, 346
St. Ignatius of Loyola, exercises of ....15, 40
St. Isaac Jogues........................................221
St. James, Apostle............................220, 361
St. Jane de Chantel.....................................26
St. Jerome 74
St. Joachim 241
St. Joachim, father of Mary.....192, 224, 226
St. John Capistran..........................37, 53, 54
St. John Golbert.......................................393
St. John of the Cross....26, 59, 249, 357, 392
St. John the Baptist...56, 130, 223, 255, 273,
364, 366, 368
St. John the Baptist .....................................3
St. John the Baptist Church, Graymoor....76,
117, 122, 210, 212
St. John the Baptist Church, Graymoor ......7
St. John, Apostle.70, 74, 130, 197, 232, 238,
271, 296, 361, 362, 372, 392,
395
St. John's Church, Graymoor...................350
St. John's Church, Kingston, N.Y....170, 374
St. John's Church, Omaha........................121
St. John's College, Graymoor..................227
St. John's in the Wilderness Chapel.........378
St. John's Mission, Omaha.......................375
St. Johnthe Baptist Church, Graymoor....135
St. Stephen, first martyr.......................17, 25
St. Stephen, proto-martyr....................64, 86
St. Stephen's College, Annandale, N.Y.. .375
St. Teresa of Avila.....26, 176, 182, 268, 357
St. John’s Church, Kingston, N.Y.. 108, 109,
338, 339
St. John’s House of Studies, Graymoor.....95
St. Joseph, husband of Mary...22, 29, 30, 60,
159, 165, 241, 251, 318, 319
St. Louis Hermitage, Graymoor..............385
St. Louis, King.........................................257
St. Luke, Apostle.....................................149
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque...................216
St. Martin 21
St. Martin of Tours..................................270
St. Mary Magdalen..............................44, 54
St. Mary Major Basilica, Rome...............220
St. Mary's Church, Oxford.......................197
St. Mary's Church, Oxford ......................108
St. Mary's Convent, Peekskill..................122
St. Mary’s Hospital, Bklyn, N.Y...............98
St. Matthew, Apostle.......................174, 199
St. Michael Archangel.............................105
St. Michael, Archangel....................119, 334
St. Paul of the Cross.................................268
St. Paul, Apostle.....3, 18, 21, 57, 68, 87, 93,
136, 149, 150, 182, 317, 327,
347, 362, 366
St. Paul's College, Tokyo.........................132
St. Paul's Day 116-118, 120
St. Paul's Friary, Graymoor.....................227
St. Paul's Mission, Omaha.......................375
St. Peter Feast 375
St. Peter of Alcantara......26, 58, 59, 72, 268,
366
St. Peter, Apostle......9, 56, 57, 87, 121, 129,
130, 137, 147, 277, 327, 333,
339, 361, 363, 372
St. Peter's Square.....................................193
St. Phillip, Apostle...................................139
St. Pius X 260
St. Pius X 132
St. Pius X, Pope.......................108, 209, 378
St. Simon's mission, Phila........................235
St. Simon's Mission, Philadelphia. .207, 304,
314
St. Stephen of New Testament.................271
St. Theresa of Avila................58-60, 72, 391
St. Therese of Lisieux..............................258
St. Thomas Moore....................................355
St. Thomas of Villanova..........................257
St. Thomas' Day...............................137, 138 talents 309, 334
St. Veronica 269 task-master 247
St. Vincent de Paul..................................329 Taylor, Dr. William.................................122
stars of sky 345 Te Deum hymn........128, 200, 310, 313, 375
state of perfection....................................113 Te Deum" hymn.......................................301
state of grace 396 temperaments 195
stealing 57 temple 3
stigmata 119, 136, 179, 182, 266, 320, temple at Jerusalem..............................29, 30
334 temple in Jerusalem.................347, 361, 368
stigmatist 373 temple of Jerusalem...................................92
sting of Poverty........................................341 temples of God, humans as .......................80
stinginess 140 temporal punishment..................................31
stone, a 39, 51, 52 temptations 62, 87, 225, 244, 262, 264,
stones 9 282, 300
street car 139 temptations to sin.................................16, 18
strong drink 384 Ten Commandments..........................99, 167
Sts Simon and St. Jude...............................76 terminus ad quem.....................................197
Sts. Crispin and Crispinian........................63 Terrace, The 170
Subasio 272 Tertiaries of S.A..............................128, 134
suffering 18, 31, 62, 65, 67, 80, 106, Tertiaries of Society of the Atonement....303
114, 242, 282, 341, 381 Texas 108, 273
suffering of Christ............................369, 381 Texas, departure of Atonement Sisters to103
sufferings 181, 182 thankfulness 162, 250
suffrages 196 thanksgiving 44, 88
Sullivan, s.a., Rev. Stephen.....................373 The Lamp 136
Sulpician Seminary, Wash., D.C.............233 Thessalonica 150
Sulpician Seminary, Washington, D.C....201 Third Order of Society of the Atonement..73
Sultan 257 Third Order of St. Dominic.....................307
sumum bonum365 Third Order of St. Francis 55, 117, 118, 135,
sun 133, 289 139, 257, 306, 313, 363
sun, the 345 Third Order Regular................................254
sunny disposition.....................................366 thirst for happiness...................................361
superiors of a Community.............58, 65, 72 thirst for water361
superiors of Communities 148, 156, 160, thorns 148, 150, 162
199, 201, 212, 214, 242, Three Orders of S.A..................................46
246-250, 284, 285, 288, 293, Three-fold Salutation...............223, 224, 355
342, 346, 347, 370 Three-fold Salutation to Our Lady of the
superios of Communities.............81, 83, 110 Atonement..........................95
supernatural motive.................162, 163, 215 Threefold Salutation................................123
sweetness 198 Threefold Salutation to Blessed Virgin Mary
sword 179 ............................................41
sword, Holy Spirit as ..............................356 Tiber River 193
tabernacle 259, 260, 290, 293, 294 Tice, Mrs. 128
Tabernacle Guild......................................293 Ting family 95
Tabernacle Room.....................................258
tobacco 96, 366, 383 Tolouse, France........................................203
toddy 138 tongue 96
Tokyo 132 torture 159
training members of Societyof the Unity 106
Atonement..........................75 unity between God and man....................368
Trappists 149, 366, 384 Unless a grain of wheat fall..."........167, 355
tree 356 Unless the grain of wheat..."............208, 225
trials 150, 239 Uriah 166
Tribe of Aaron.........................................308 Ut omnes unum sint motto for The Lamp
Trinity, Holy 81, 92, 109, 157, 171, 173, ..........................................116
179, 190, 221, 224, 226, 319, vale of tears 178, 179
328, 364, 379, 392, 395 Valley of Destruction"...............................97
Trinity, Holy 19, 25, 42 Valley of Rephidim....................................97
trumpets 46 Vancouver 273, 291, 304
trust in God 76 vanity 362
truth 8, 147 Vashti, Queen 333
tuberculosis 17, 370 Vatican 203
Turks 53, 273 vegetarian diet366, 384
turtle 96 venial sin 16, 86, 211
twelve tribes 233 Vespers 120
twelve tribes of Israel...............................277 vessel of election........................................94
two edged sword........................................63 vessel of sanctification.............................366
two great pillars of Catholic theology: the vessels of sanctification...........................204
Incarnation and t......221, 302 vestal virgins 174, 262, 296, 373
Tyburn 268 vestments 258
Tyre 51 vicarious suffering...................................369
Ukranians 304 vicissitudes 150
ulster coat 120 victim 208, 214, 267, 271
Umbrian Valley........................................203 victim in Mass257
undernourished children..........................255 victims of love.........................................181
unemployment..........................................341 vine 309
unhappiness 17, 386 Vineyard, Wash., D.C..............................318
uniion with God.......................................290 violent temper 198
Union That Nothing Be Lost Prayer and its virgin 238
Principles..........................105 virgin birth of Christ .................................45
union with God 8, 15, 18, 28, 38, 60, 72, Virginia 124
104, 106, 109, 143, 153, 157, virginity 173, 175, 176, 238, 261, 289,
163, 165, 181, 184, 190, 216, 295
219, 220, 223, 232, 281, 334, virgins 261, 264, 295
355, 363, 395 virtue of Chastity.....................................176
Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost.137, 139, 176, Virtue of holy poverty.....................366, 368
200, 287, 308 virtue of poverty......................................356
Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost prayer.......138 visions 26, 60, 268
Union-That-Nothing-Be-Lost rule...........139 visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary............103
Unitative Way 18 Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth...............365
United States 131, 139, 221, 278, 323, 341,
372
vocation 8, 22, 29, 32, 38, 40, 41, 52, 194, 199, 202, 207, 209, 212,
63-66, 81, 86, 106, 107, 140, 218, 224, 226, 227, 231, 233,
147, 149, 150, 153, 155, 161, 234, 242, 244, 245, 272, 282,
163, 166, 180, 185, 190, 191,
 306, 318, 323, 327, 340, 346, wealth 69, 114, 158, 159, 190, 204,
349, 361, 382 278, 283, 313, 323, 334, 362,
vocation of Church unity.........................211 364
vocation of S.A. forms in Fr. Paul Wattson's wealth of Religious Orders........................41
mind.................................376 Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt ..............116
vocation of unity..............................195, 196 wedding feast at Cana................................85
Von Hindenburg, Gen..............................213 weeds 148, 150, 162, 200
vows of reilgion.........................................41 Welch 245
vows of religion...............................110, 365 well of Jacob 92
vows of Religious....................................355 Welsh people 133
Wales 122 West, Rev. Floyd Edgar ..................120, 121
Walker, Gen. John G...............................124 Westminster, Maryland............................302
Walker, Gen. John George.......................369 Westminster, Md......................................115
Walker, s.a., Sr. Mary Anna...124, 168, 271, Westminster, Md. ....................................333
369 wheat 200
Wallerstein, Bro. Anthony.......................378 Whirlpool Rapids, Niagra Falls...............212
Wallerstein, s.a., Bro. Anthony.......138, 350 white globe 185, 380
Wallerstein, s.a., Bro.Anthony 116-118, 124, white robes 319
125, 127 white veil 148, 355
war 17, 165 White, Annie Elsie...................................116
war 245 White, s.a., Mother Lurana 53, 84, 107, 115,
warfare (spiritual) .....................................82 120-122, 126, 127, 132, 134,
wars 195, 212 135, 147, 167, 170, 180, 186,
Warwick, N.Y..................115, 147, 170, 375 189, 193, 198, 209, 228,
Washington Retreat House......................162 232-236, 246, 260, 273, 284,
Washington, D.C....119, 126, 135, 162, 378, 288, 292, 302, 309, 339, 341,
379, 383 348, 350, 355, 357, 370, 375,
Washington, Pres. George ......................124 378, 379, 393
waste 205 widowhood 238
watches before Blessed Sacrament..........294 wilderness 291
water 361 Will of God 51, 148, 165, 170, 171, 183,
Waterbury, Conn..............................138, 278 195, 199, 201, 209, 211, 212,
Wattson, Electa................................375, 381 221, 242, 245, 250, 251, 289,
Wattson, Rev. Joseph Newton.................375 292, 304, 314, 329, 347, 349,
Wattson, s.a., Fr. Paul 76, 92, 108, 109, 115, 368-370, 378, 382, 395
117, 123, 125, 127, 134, 136, Will of God 80, 83, 91, 93, 94, 105
138, 139, 155, 157, 162, 163, will power 198
170-172, 189, 193, 197, 200, willpower 242
201, 205, 206, 218, 220, 222, wisdom 180, 183, 204, 283
232, 233, 241, 260, 267, 271, Wisdom of God..........................................44
278, 281, 291, 302, 309, 321, Wise, Rev. James ....................................121
333, 338, 350, 361, 363, 364, wolves 194
370, 373, 375, 381, 383, 384, woman clothed with the sun....................381
396 women 238
Way of the Cross..............................266, 272 Word of God 13, 24
weakness 268 words 16
work 23
World War I 108, 136, 137
world, the flesh and the devil....97, 244, 372 Yom Kippur 339
world, the flesh and the devil"...................37 You will have to wait seven years..." interior
worldliness 203 voice.................................378
wrath of God 21 Young, Rev. Charles Herbert...................121
zeal of Atonement Sisters........................328
Ziglak 100