A new book has been issued by Angelico Press entitled: In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart, The Journal of a Priest at Prayer.
Endorsed by Raymond Cardinal Burke, it chronicles the words that Our Lord and Our Lady revealed to the heart of a priest, a Benedictine monk, beginning in 2007.
In the introduction, it states that this priest was in great need of their intervention. Since he talks about a diagnosis of a serious illness, this may be part of his struggle but he also mentions that thirty years ago, when he received a call from the Lord to be “entirely Thy priest, as was Saint John…standing at the foot of the Cross,” it was a call “to which I did not know how to respond, or to which I found myself unable to respond fully.”
It is through Eucharistic Adoration that this priest has experienced healing and strengthening. Not only did he experience a profound closeness to Jesus but he was also drawn into an intimate sharing in the life of Mary as another Saint John, at the foot of the Cross, interceding for God’s people, especially His beloved priests.
This remarkable book documents many aspects of the spiritual life: loving and being loved by God, the mystery of the Mass, Eucharistic Adoration and its power, trustful surrender, the homage of silence, priestly identity and apostolic fruitfulness.
With an imprimatur, this book has already had a profound impact on those who have read it. At 300+ pages, it is fruitful meditative reading for a long winter retreat!
Pope Pius XII first instituted this worldwide ecclesial event in 1953 to publicly recognize women and men who so generously give of themselves to this unique calling and who each day, from the various convents and monasteries spread throughout the world, offer prayer unceasingly. Pope St. John Paul II later expanded its celebration and encouraged Catholics to support this sublime vocation in any way possible.
importance of cloistered contemplative life in the Church’s mission. In the recent Apostolic Constitution, Vultum Dei Quaerere, the Holy Father wrote that those who devote the whole of their lives to the contemplation of God “are a living sign and witness of the fidelity with which God, amid the events of history, continues to sustain His people.”
World Day of Cloistered Life has a special significance as the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy comes to a close. “The prayers and sacrifices of cloistered religious is the foundation of all the Church’s work of mercy,” said Father Nelson, “because their prophetic witness and prayerful presence secures the grace needed for God’s merciful love to reach even the most hardened and distant of hearts.”
