Notes of Spiritual Retreats and Instructions

The two Retreats the Notes of which are printed in the present volume, were given at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, by the late Father Morris, in 1893 and 1879. The Retreat of 1893 has a special interest, as being the last that Father Morris gave to ladies in the world, and as having been given so shortly before his sudden death. Many doubtless of those who were present will have kept their own record of it, and for them these Notes may contain nothing new; with the writer they will regret the inadequacy of words (although written down as they were spoken) to convey to those who have not come under his personal influence an idea of the force and earnestness and persuasiveness of the speaker. It was not Father Morris's plan for the most part, and especially in treating of the life of our Lord, to arrange his meditations in points. His custom was rather to describe each scene as vividly and minutely as though he had been an actor in it. Almost did it seem that not by faith only, but with his bodily senses he had looked into' the Face of the Divine Teacher, and heard the words that fell from His blessed Lips. The impression so made cannot be reproduced. With the exception of one entitled "Confidence in God, the Lesson to be learnt from our Failures," and another on "Seeking first the Kingdom of God," the Instructions at the end of the volume were delivered to a small country congregation during the last Lent and Easter-tide that Father Morris spent on earth; and are valued by his friends as containing a few of his thoughts on those Sunday Gospels which he almost invariably chose as the subjects for his morning Sermons. In preparing these notes for the press, the writer has made as few alterations as possible, and has preserved throughout their colloquial form. This must be the apology for occasional abruptness, and for a want of finish which is never to be found in Father Morris's style in writing.