Shared Prayer April 19, 2024
Congregation of Jesus and Mary
Benin Associates
Province of Africa
Congregation of Jesus and Mary
Benin Associates
Province of Africa
Dear associates, incorporates, friends and candidates,
In this fourth month of the year of grace 2024, the Eudist associates of Benin propose shared Eudist prayer.
With a total membership of 101 to date, we distinguish in BENIN two categories of Eudist associates according to their works:
- Les Amis des enfants du foyer Saint Jean Eudes (ADEF) d'Agassa Godomey, who are Eudist associates in the work of mercy. They provide voluntary assistance to Father Roger MEDJI in caring for orphans, and overall management of the Claudio MIGNECO orphanage.
- Eudist Preaching Associates (ASEP). They carry out evangelization sessions from parish to parish, with consecutive seven-day prayers called Jerichos. These prayers, which can last up to four or five hours per session, draw crowds and breathe new life into parishes.
There are also around a hundred candidates in training for their first commitment as Eudist associates.
April is a month in which the universal Church celebrates the following events in particular:
- Octave of Easter (Monday April 1 to Saturday April 6, 2024): A period of celebration that prolongs the joy of Christ's resurrection after Easter.
- Divine Mercy Sunday (April 7, 2024): A feast that highlights God's infinite mercy towards humanity.
- Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (April 8, 2024): Commemorates the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary of her impending maternity, nine months before Christmas.
Praise the NAME of the LORD who grants us the grace to experience these events.
Let us now surrender to the HOLY SPIRIT!
I want to praise you, O Paraclete
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I want to praise you, O Paraclete
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I left everything to serve you
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I left everything to serve you
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I want to adore you, O Paraclete
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I want to adore you, O Paraclete
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I left everything to serve you
Holy Spirit come and fill my life
I left everything to serve you
Holy Spirit come and fill my life.
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning; it was still dark. She noticed that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, "The Lord has been taken from his tomb, and we do not know where he has been laid." So Peter set off with the other disciple to the tomb. They both ran together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first.
As he bent down, he saw that the linen cloths lay flat, but he did not enter. Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived in his turn. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying flat, as well as the shroud that had wrapped around Jesus' head, not laid with the linen cloths, but rolled up in its place. Then the other disciple, who had been the first to arrive at the tomb, entered. He saw and believed. Until then, in fact, the disciples had not understood that, according to Scripture, Jesus had to rise from the dead.
"The Father willed that his Son Jesus should be all in all. He looks upon and loves all things in Him, and He looks upon and loves only Him in all things."
The first and foremost, indeed the only object of the eternal Father's gaze, love and complacency, is his Son Jesus. I say the only one; for, as this divine Father willed that his Son Jesus should be all in all (Eph 1:23) and that all things should be consistent in him and through him (Col 1:17), according to the words of his Apostle: so he looks upon and loves all things in him, and only looks upon and loves him in all things. And as the same Apostle teaches us that he made all things in him and through him (Col 1:16), so he teaches us that he made all things for himself (Heb 2:10). And just as he placed in him all the treasures of his knowledge and wisdom (Col 2:3), of his goodness and beauty, of his glory and felicity, and of all his other divine perfections, so he himself proclaims loudly and repeatedly that he has placed all his pleasure and delight in this only and beloved Son (Mt 3:17). This does not, however, exclude the Holy Spirit, since it is the Spirit of Jesus, and is one with Jesus.
In imitation of this heavenly Father, whom we must follow and imitate as our Father, Jesus must be the sole object of our mind and heart. We must look to and love all things in him, and we must look to and love nothing but him in all things. We must do all our actions in him and for him. We must put all our contentment and paradise in him; for as he is the paradise of the eternal Father, in whom he takes his delight: so this holy Father has given him to us, and he has given himself to us to be our paradise. This is why he commands us to make our dwelling in him: Abide in me (Jn 15:4). And his beloved disciple repeats this command twice more: "Abide in him," he says, "my grandchildren, abide in him" (I Jn 2:28).
And Saint Paul, to bring us to this point, assures us that there is no damnation for those who abide in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:1). But when I say that Jesus must be our only object, this does not exclude the Father and the Holy Spirit. For the same Jesus assures us that he who sees him sees his Father (Jn 14:9); he who speaks of him speaks also of his Father and his Holy Spirit; he who honors and loves him honors and loves his Father and his Holy Spirit in the same way; and he who looks upon him as his only object looks at the Father and the Holy Spirit at the same time.
Look upon this most lovable Savior as the sole object of your thoughts, desires and affections; as the sole end of all your actions; as your center, your paradise and your all. Withdraw to him on all sides, as to a place of refuge, by elevating your mind and heart to him. Abide always in him, that is, let your mind and heart, all your thoughts, desires and affections be in him, and let all your actions be done in him and for him. Remember, from time to time, that you are before God and in God himself (cf. Acts 17:28); that Our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his divinity, surrounds you on all sides, even penetrates and fills you to such an extent that he is more in you than you are, that he thinks of you continually, and that his eyes and heart are always turned towards you.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I adore you with all the powers of my soul, and I consecrate them to you forever, with all my thoughts, words and works; may I not, O divine Heart, render you as much adoration, love and glory as you will render to your Eternal Father.
Be the repairer of my faults, the protector of my life, my asylum at the hour of my death; I ask you the same grace for all poor sinners, afflicted hearts, the dying, and generally, my Saviour, for all men on earth, so that the price of your precious Blood may not be lost to them; grant also that it may be applied to the relief of souls in Purgatory: this is what I wish to ask of you, O adorable Heart, with every beat of my heart and veins, until the last breath of my life.
So be it.
Saint John Eudes
