Consoling the Heart of Jesus through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

For more than 50 years, and with the encouragement of Blessed Pope John Paul II, a devotion to the Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska by Jesus has spread among faithful Catholics worldwide.

Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center offers the Divine Mercy Retreat in response to the great need of God’s mercy and to foster an awareness of it.

In the 1930s, during the events that led up to World War II, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina–a polish nun–telling her of the great need for God’s mercy and that it was infinitely available to the whole world by way of His passion, death and resurrection for those who asked for it. Jesus asked St. Faustina to paint a picture illustrating the Divine Mercy flowing forth from blue and red rays emanating from Jesus’ resurrected body.

The blue and red rays represent God’s mercy flowing from the blood and water poured out for sinners when Jesus was crucified. Through this painting and by founding a religious order dedicated to spreading the Good News of God’s Divine Mercy, St. Faustina fulfilled what Jesus asked her to do.

“In this retreat, we use a retreat guide called ‘Consoling the Heart of Jesus’ by Father Michael Gaitley, MIC. There are only one to two talks a day with most of the time spent reflecting on the excellent meditation and reflections of Father Gaitley. There is time to share each day the fruits of your prayer with other retreatants,” Father Dan Estes, SOLT, Director of Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center, said.

“The goal for this retreat is to help people experience the great mercy of God and to come to know how to unite their sufferings and sacrifices with Christ in a way that is consoling to Him,” he said.

The Divine Mercy message is simply to ask for God’s mercy, to be merciful and to completely trust in Jesus. God wants all to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. He wants everyone to receive His Mercy and let it flow through to others.

Jesus wants everyone who receives His mercy to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does. God wants all of His people to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon their trust in Him. The more one trusts in Jesus, the more he will receive.

“Through these retreats, I’ve learned to be more conscious of the things I say and do and the repercussions on others,” Sandra Carlisle said. “I spend more time contemplating about things I do for others and take time to share myself with them.”

The weekend themes include our sinfulness and the wounded Heart of Jesus; the generous love of God (receiving mercy); forgiveness for ourselves and of others; abandoning ourselves; trusting in Christ; placing ourselves totally in the hands of Jesus; and giving mercy to our neighbor. Retreat participants learn how to be a consoler of Jesus as He undergoes His sorrowful passion and death. They gain a deeper understanding of the mercy of God and learn to trust in Jesus and live their lives as merciful to others as Christ is merciful to them.

“This retreat, really, is a new expression of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus based on the revelation of Divine Mercy given to St. Faustina,” Father Estes said.

The weekend retreat begins at 5 p.m. on a Thursday and ends at 2 p.m. the following Sunday. To check available dates and to register, visit www.deepprayer.org or call (361) 289-9095.