Reflections and spiritual exercises:

It is important for the Claretians to be firm in their faith and vocation. For this reason they nourish their spiritual life daily. Their faith is nourished through the reading of the Holy Scripture, the liturgy of the hours, attending daily mass, having Holy hours once a week, having community retreats, praying the Holy rosary, and being in communion with God through the sacraments of communion and confession. All this means that the Claretians reflect upon the Church teaching and Sacraments.

The spiritual exercises are observed from the life of the founder, Saint Anthony Claret. In imitation of their founder the Claretians want to follow Christ in prayer and love for the Father. They examine their work and prayer life, they examine their limitations and failures before God’s presence. In moments of silence with God they try to restore new energy to help their brothers and sisters to carry their cross to the Calvary of their lives. “When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel such a lively faith that I can’t describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me; I kiss his wounds continually and embrace him. When it’s time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from his presence.”

-from the works of Saint Anthony Claret

Claretian spirituality

Basic attitudes that made up the consecration-mission of Claret and that must be the identifying traits of every Claretian:

  • A profound experience of God as Father: a living of our divine sonship

  • Conformity with Christ, who was anointed and sent to save mankind

  • A deep sense of Marian sonship

  • A strictly evangelical life, following the poor, chaste and obedient Christ

  • Community life in the style of the Apostles

  • A fervent expression of the love which unites us with God, and apostolic zeal for the salvation of mankind

  • A faith-filled, prayerful, and loving ministry of the Word, listened to and assimilated

Spirituality

“I will direct more and more to God and not to myself.” - Saint Anthony Claret

The Claretian spirituality comes from the spirit of the Founder, Saint Anthony Claret, whose restless missionary spirit marks the Claretian Spirituality. Saint Anthony Claret preached the Gospel in many ways—he wanted to speak to the people in a way that God would speak to them. He tried to touch the hearts of the people through his homilies, writings, organizing workers, forming cooperatives, giving retreats, visiting prisons, visiting hospitals, and denouncing injustice in society.

In the same spirit, the Claretians today are working in inner cities and villages in over 60 countries on five continents. In the Eastern Province of the U.S. they work primarily with recent immigrants, in publishing through Claretian Publications, and in fostering devotion to St. Jude through the National Shrine of St. Jude. The Claretian spirituality hears the cry of those who suffer and comes to their aid. It embraces the experience of the one who suffers and makes out of it the living Christ. The Claretian spirituality is to live and suffer with the poor-especially the marginalized of society.

The Claretian spirituality looks for the living Christ among the prisoners, the sick, the poor, and unevangelized. It is important to remember that the Claretian spirituality speaks the voice of freedom and peace—the voice which comes to give hope to those who are hopeless and to witness the everlasting life among those who are weak, vulnerable, and invisible in today’s society. In order for the Claretians to live this spirituality, Claretians live a community life and live as the first community lived: poor, obedient, humble, and chaste.