Association of St Jeanne Jugan Retreat 14-16 October 2024

Franciscan Centre Godalming

Little & Poor

Following in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi & St Jeanne Jugan

First Letter of St Peter 5: 5-11 (ESV)

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

St Francis of Assisi

Letter to the Entire Order 26-29

Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble,

and let the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God,

is present on the altar in the hands of a priest!

O admirable heights and sublime lowliness!

O sublime humility! O humble sublimity!

The lord of the universe, God and the Son of God,

so humbles himself that for our salvation

he hides Himself under the little form of bread!

Brothers, look at the humility of God,

and pour out your hearts before him!

Humble yourselves that you may be exalted by him!

Hold nothing back of yourselves for yourselves,

that he who gives himself totally to you may receive you totally

 

Prayer from the end of the Letter to the Entire Order

Almighty, eternal, just, and merciful God, grant us in our misery to do for You alone

what we know You want us to do, and always to desire what pleases You.
Thus, inwardly cleansed, interiorly enlightened, and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow in the footprints of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And, by Your grace alone, may we make our way to You Most High,
     Who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity, and are glorified God all-powerful forever and ever.
Amen

A Salutation of the Virtues

Hail, Queen Wisdom!
May the Lord protect You, with Your Sister, holy pure Simplicity!

Lady holy Poverty,
may the Lord protect You, with Your Sister, holy Humility!

Lady holy Charity,
may the Lord protect You, with Your Sister, holy Obedience.

Most holy Virtues,
may the Lord protect all of You from Whom You come and proceed.

There is surely no one in the whole world
who can possess any one of You without dying first.

Whoever possesses one and does not offend the others possesses all.

Whoever offends one does not possess any and offends all.

And each one confounds vice and sin. Holy Wisdom confounds Satan and all his cunning.

Pure holy Simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the body.

Holy Poverty confounds the desire for riches, greed, and the cares of this world.

Holy Humility confounds pride, all people who are in the world and all that is in the world.

Holy Charity confounds every diabolical and carnal temptation and every carnal year.

Holy Obedience confounds every corporal and carnal wish, binds its mortified body
to obedience of the Spirit and obedience to one’s brother, so that it is subject and submissive
to everyone in the world, not only to people but to every beast and wild animal as well
that they may do whatever they want with it insofar as it has been given to them from above by the Lord.

 Conclusion to the Earlier Rule

 Therefore let us desire nothing else, let us wish for nothing else
let nothing else please us and cause us delight
except our Creator and Redeemer and Saviour, the one true God,
Who is the Fullness of Good all good, every good, the true and supreme good
Who alone is Good, merciful and gentle, delectable and sweet
Who alone is holy, just and true holy and right
Who alone is kind, innocent, pure
from Whom and through Whom and in Whom is all pardon, all grace all glory
          of all the penitent and the just, of all the blessed who rejoice together in heaven.
Therefore let nothing hinder us,      nothing separate us or nothing come between us.
Let all of us wherever we are, in every place, at every hour, at every time of day,

everyday and continually believe truly and humbly and keep in our heart
and love, honour, adore, serve, praise and bless, glorify and exalt, magnify and give thanks to
the most high and supreme eternal God, Trinity and Unity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Creator of all, Saviour of all who believe in Him and hope in Him and love Him
Who is without beginning and without end, unchangeable, invisible, indescribable, ineffable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, blessed, worthy of praise, glorious, exalted on high, sublime,
     most high, gentle, lovable, delectable and totally desirable above all else forever. Amen.

 

Letter of St Paul to the Philippians 2: 1-11                                            Christ’s Example of Humility

 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,[b] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

St Jeanne Jugan

“God wants me for himself”

“Little, very little, be very little before God.”

“It is so good to be poor, to have nothing,

to depend on God for everything.”

“If God is with us, it will be accomplished

… God will help us; the work is his.”

“He is so good … love God very much. All for him,

do everything through love.”

“Give us the house—if God fills it, God will not abandon it!”

“We must always say: ‘Blessed be God. Thank you, my God. Glory be to God.’”

“God has blessed me because I have always greatly thanked his Providence.”

“Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel. Go and find him when your strength and patience are giving out, when you feel lonely and helpless. Say to him: ‘You know well what is happening, my dear Jesus. I have only you. Come to my aid …’ And then go your way. And don’t worry about knowing how you are going to manage. It is enough to have told our good Lord. He has an excellent memory.”

 Sr. Ruth Burrows

The proud cannot bring themselves to hold out empty hands to God, they insist on offering virtues, good works, self-denials, anything in order not to have nothing. They want to be beautiful for him from their own resources, whereas we are beautiful only because God looks on us and makes us beautiful. God cannot give himself to us unless our hands are empty to receive him. The deepest reason why so few of us are saints is because we will not let God love us. To be loved means a naked, defenceless surrender to all God is. It means a glad acceptance of our nothingness, a look fixed only on the God who gives, taking no account of the nothing to whom the gift is made.

(Guidelines for Mystical Prayer)

 St Teresa of Avila

I cannot understand how humility exists,

or can exist, without love,

or love without humility.
The Way of Perfection

 

Self-knowledge is so important that, even if you were raised right up to the heavens, I should like you never to relax your cultivation of it; so long as we are on this earth, nothing matters more to us than humility

The Interior Castle

We shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God: let us think of his greatness and then come back to our own baseness; by looking at his purity we shall see our foulness; by meditating upon his humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble.                                                                                                                                                   The Interior Castle

 

Imagine that this Lord Himself is at your side and see how lovingly and how humbly He is teaching you – and, believe me, you should stay with so good a Friend for as long as you can before you leave Him. If you become accustomed to having Him at your side, and if He sees that you love Him to be there and are always trying to please Him, you will never be able to send Him away, nor will He ever fail you. He will help you in all your trials and you will have Him everywhere. Do you think it is a small thing to have such a Friend as that beside you?                                                                                                                                  The Way of Perfection

 

 

Pope Francis on the Blessings of Spiritual Poverty

In a 2020 general audience, Pope Francis offers his own insights on Matthew 5:3. He notes that dependence on God liberates us from the exhausting quest for self-sufficiency. Pope Francis observes, “How trying life is if one does not accept one’s limitations!” We must acknowledge our creaturely poverty before God. Yet pride pushes us to hide this poverty, preventing us from seeking or accepting help.

Pope Francis highlights three simple phrases that exemplify poverty of spirit in action: “May I?”, “Thank you”, and “I’m sorry.” By humbly seeking permission, expressing gratitude, and apologizing for errors, we shed self-sufficiency. This poverty of spirit strengthens relationships and community. It also opens us to God’s grace and forgiveness. Francis reminds us, “We do not have to transform ourselves to become poor in spirit. We do not have to undergo any transformation because we already are! We ar