When to start 33 days to morning glory
33 Days to Morning Glory Day 1
[Music]
hello you're very welcome to join us on
our retreat my own name is father
Adrienne Farah Lee I'm a Dominican
priest and I'm happy to be here with you
on these days of retreat and her retreat
is based on a book by father Michael
Gately and it's called 33 days to
morning glory so you're very welcome to
join us each day or whatever day you can
we begin our first day of this retreat
and on this retreat we are joined with
various companions on the journey and
today we walk alongside a man who grew
up in the northwest of France st. Louie
de montfort a man who had taught
dedication to the Virgin Mary and a man
whose life was strong because he had
Mary by his side day one the passionate
saint of brittany take a look at the map
of france
now notice something about its shape
see how one part sticks away from almost
as if it were running away from the rest
of the landmass ready to dive into the
celtic see that jutting arm in the
northwest of the country is called
brittany and that's where st. Louis de
Montfort grew up there's something
special about Brittany that seems to
have all the influence of on st. Louis
its Celtic roots Brittany is considered
one of the six categories language and
culture still survived and one part of
Celtic culture seemed to have seeped
deeply into the heart of st. Louie the
high spirit nests of its warriors from
ancient Celtic times Celtic warriors
have struck terror in the hearts of
their enemies if you've ever seen the
movie Braveheart you know what I mean
think of the fearless figure of Sir
William Wallace played by Mel Gibson and
his crazy crew of Scottish Highlanders
who take on the english enemy many times
their size this shows something of the
celtic fighting spirit about the
real-life version that is even more
intense often wearing nothing but blue
battle paint real Celtic warriors would
walk themselves into bloodthirsty
frenzied brush into combat
screaming their heads off and widely
slash bash and slice away at their
enemies with huge two-handed swords
these fighting men despite their lack of
discipline armor and order were
extremely effective in battle because of
their unmatched passion and ferocity
throughout history
nobody has wanted to mess with the crazy
Celtic warriors Saint Louise dad Jean
Greg neon must have descended from these
wild men warriors for nobody wanted to
mess with him either
in fact he was known for having the most
fiery temper of all Brittany as one
author puts it he was a volcano
frequently erupting st. Louie under her
hand was a gentle as a lamb right wrong
he confessed that his temper was just as
bad as fathers fathers but Louis
channeled his fiery passion not into
threats and violence but into laboring
for the greater glory of God well except
for the time he knocked at a couple of
drunks who wouldn't stop heckling him
when he preached we can get a better
sense of Louie's remarkable zeal if we
reflect on his short productive priestly
life when he died in 1716 Louie was just
43 years old having been a priest for
only 16 years tireless Labor's to bring
souls to Jesus through Mary especially
by his preaching and endless succession
of parish missions brought about this
holy death of st. Louie as if life
sapping Labor's weren't suffering enough
Louis had to bear vicious persecution
from the clergy and the heretics he
to the point of being physically
attacked and poisoned by them despite
all this our warrior kept advancing in
the battlefield continuously preaching
preaching his trademark path to Jesus
through Mary
in fact when leaders in the church in
France thought they had put an end to
his work Louis walked a thousand mile
journey to Rome and asked the Pope for
his wisdom and counsel the Pope not only
told him to go back to France and
continue preaching but awarded him the
title apostolic missionary obediently
and joyfully our Saint returned to
France where he continued to preach
right and patiently bear witness to his
many sufferings out of the love of Jesus
and Mary and of souls st. Louis passion
and zeal lit a fire in a young Carol
Volterra at the future pope john paul ii
a few years before his death the pope
was able to realize a lifelong dream and
visit de Montfort's tomb he said on that
occasion I am happy to begin my
pilgrimage in France on to the sign of
this great figure you know that I owe
much to this Saint and to his true
devotion to the Blessed Virgin
now what about us do we have fire in our
hearts as we begin this retreat we
should or at least we should strive for
it desire and generously generosity are
the key ingredients to making a
successful retreat may Mary intercede
for us and may the Holy Spirit fill us
with the passion to conscientiously make
these days of retreat despite any
fatigue distractions or obstacles and
let's remember that we may have to
Durer in terms of the discipline of
prayer is nothing compared to what st.
Louis went through and he'll be
interceding for us relying on his
intercession and that of the mother of
God that is resolved right now to
dedicate ourselves to this retreat with
the intensity and zeal of a Celtic
Warrior through a door without all the
face paint and screaming today's prayer
come Holy Spirit living in Mary helped
me to make this retreat with generosity
and zeal
[Music]
you
