The last stage of formation for a Jesuit is tertianship. This usually occurs several years after ordination. The stage has been called the school of the heart, and here a Jesuit undergoes the Spiritual Exercises for the second time in his life. This post concerns a 1 November 1938 excerpt from Alfred Delp’s diary during the Exercises. What caught my attention was Delp’s reference to the devotion to the Sacred Heart. In his jottings, this devotion is a spirituality of the senses and of the Trinity.
After reading Delp’s jottings on the devotion to the Heart of Jesus, a friend of mine remarked: “The fire that enfolds and enflames the Sacred Heart is nothing other than the Holy Spirit, which is why that Heart, though it burns to the root, is not consumed, for like is burning like, equal is burning equal, and great is the fire that is cast upon the earth from very depths of the Father! Fire that is one with the water that flows forth in torrents all surpassing, and fire and water are one in the love that sets our hearts aflame that we might be lovers in turn, and hence be truly the Glory, that is, humanity fully alive.”
The second part of Delp’s diary entry will be posted later…
[translated from Alfred Delp: Gesammelte Schriften: Band I: Geistliche Schriften]
1 November 1938; Vorarlberg, Austria
My main comprehension and insight of the Spiritual Exercise for my concrete life is: to take God more seriously. He must play a bigger role than up to now in my life.
I must live intimately with my God; I to you; intimacy; and have joy in Him and to meet Him with the heart.
Trinitarian living and praying. From the Father in the Son through the Spirit to the Father.
To stand face to face with Christ; the Heart of Jesus, the door to the Trinity.
The Heart of Jesus is the way of sacrifice, of fidelity, of passion; His heart leads me to the Father.
Only the Lover can be the true man. Everything else is a sham and a fraud.
In the Kingdom of God there is no self-made man. An open heart receives the thoughts of God. An open ear receives his guidance. Life either comes to grip with the great Heart or nothing else. One must be capable of genuine decision and devotion.
Man is from God. A man does not just dream and play around. He requires serious, honest, and genuine manual labor.
Take the supernatural order and judgment seriously. See through nature—properly arranged and subordinated—and sacrifice.
I must get away from myself—and learn how to serve and sacrifice. I am a great egoist.
A person can bring the goodness of God. Love learns with Jesus Christ on the way of the Cross. A person pays attention, because God loves him. Take seriously the call/vocation to perfection. I have been created and called to love for, to serve God, for joy in God.
Discipline and the consequence in the things of order, work, thinking and praying.
Find the energy again to evangelize, not to prosecute, however, keen the activity. Find again at first, however, the physical rest. Be generous and passionate for all those interested in God. Above all, have an open heart and be good.
Personally pray. Pray more and pray honestly. Contemplate intellectually.
Maintain trust in the Lord God; live on it and build on it. Let His mercy guide one’s dreams and loves. The interiority: the way from the outside to the inside.
I must live intimately with my God; I to you; intimacy; and have joy in Him and to meet Him with the heart.
Trinitarian living and praying. From the Father in the Son through the Spirit to the Father.
To stand face to face with Christ; the Heart of Jesus, the door to the Trinity.
The Heart of Jesus is the way of sacrifice, of fidelity, of passion; His heart leads me to the Father.
Alfred Delp: A Self-surrender at the Heart of the World 
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