Course XLVII - Teaching 41: Backward Review (April 25th, 1959)

When we begin the Path of Cafh we learn the backward review, one of the fundamental bases of Renunciation; not exactly the introductory exercise to the backward review, but the backward review itself.
The backward review of Cafh is not a conscience examination, even though many say they are similar. Conscience examination is a beautiful exercise in which the powers of the soul may activate will and feeling, because since the soul is remembering events of the day, and we live and feel them again, experience enthusiasm for something done, and hate any evil that we did; the soul stops and especially considers certain important events that it remembers, and as it remembers these events, the soul considers them. Will and feeling are coming into action to live and feel these events again.
But backward review is entirely different; it is not a review of activity and emotion, or of understanding and feeling, but a pure renunciation act.
Cafh’s backward review, as you have seen, is nothing more than coming back to the very powers of the soul, stopping at the most important moment of our life, as when we are about to sleep in order to enter the mystery of the night. Before we fall asleep, we replace energies and remove harmful elements to enter this state being entirely free of any ties, and truly surrendered to death, to the Eternity.
When the soul gets used to this beautiful review, then our inner concrete habit for this review is the way of life of the soul through its backward reviews. I mean this that is fundamental: any time that our power expands outward, there is an inner habit stopping and immobilizing us, which distracts our mind and closes again the gates of our emotion to see facts, the fruit of our work, with other eyes, and to be out of focus when we see our work from afar.
As the soul progresses entirely surrendered to the Divine, becomes impersonal. All think that this is self-analysis, to watch a motion picture or to see what we did during the day. This is not the truth. A man believes that he possesses something and suffers; this is illusory possessing, but through backward review, he sees how these facts are nothing more than a compound of several events, which hardly he takes part in, because other factors come into action. Man becomes impersonal like that.
We see ourselves in a variety of things and events, in which we are no more than a little part of a whole. Renunciation is more and more certain: events are not ours, but the result of several factors, and of a power coming into motion. In Community, this review is more of the Community than ours; as time passes, this review is of the entire Community, and later it is the review of Cafh before the world, the Eternity and the work to fulfill and that must be fulfilled in the future.
I believe that after ten years of living in Community, we are entitled to a backward review as a whole.
Many times, if we remain detached, we only see shadows and reflections, but in Renunciation, this review becomes impersonal, as a whole, and acquires a surprising and extraordinary clarity. We only see the importance of works through the realization of beings, works and so on as a whole. In ten years of Community life, esteemed Daughters, we have achieved much, of course, and this is what we are considering, and not what we want to achieve.
The Divine Mother’s work is patent in us, and confirms our true vocation.
The Divine Will is very different from what we believe.
The Knight Great Master’s vision where certain women descended by this Hill and carried the God’s word to the world. I did not believe them to be Ordained Daughters; I was surprised and wondered what kind of women they were. And as if it were the Divine Mother’s confirmation that this was not a dream, She made me see these beautiful parks that exist now, because God always uses a detail to tell us if something is true or not. From that time on, how many things happened and came to be true, and we did not imagine them.
I want to explain what the true sense of your Women Ordination is.
Before, I never though this would be an Institution on which the security of Cafh had to be founded, especially for the future. Always I felt that the Ordained Women would be good women, and they would do their best, and I even admitted married persons because I believed that both lives could be in tune.
But the Divine Mother’s thought was different. Later I realized that this was not the foundation of Cafh.
These years I made certain inquiries: why are our Daughters so few?
During my inquiries I tried to penetrate into the intimate life of these beings: into congregations. Certain person told me: “our congregation increased much, but when their number increases it is because the spirit remains aside. When the institutes are founded, they are some few. When their founders pass away, our compromises increase, and discipline relaxes, and also the true spirit does. Then there are many souls together, but the true spirit does not exist any more. If this spirit were pure, these souls would be very few.
The soul, a soul of vocation, not always is totally strong to face a perfect renunciation and to close the gates of the soul.
These Superiors made me see with clarity, “Our congregation possesses colleges and house, and if you observe”, they said, “It has a lot of escapes. They talk to many persons, go out into the street, come into contact with their relatives, go home, and also have desires. These escapes impede to see the true problem; because they have numerous escapes leading them to forget their main problem”.
We could have very good girls, but we should grant a lot of things that impede to amalgamate the true Ordination spirit. Why?
You know quite well that if the spirit is absent, after the founders pass away, it would occur as in other works, when they admit persons with other compromises and things. A work progresses only when those that solve the problems are of the house.
Just after so long time I realized this. We must be only mothers, brothers, husbands of the Divinity, to maintain the true Renunciation spirit, because Cafh has no other message that this, which can be reduced to one word: Renunciation. All the rest is “stuffing”.
Then I started the tremendous human task: to fulfill the Divine Will and to transform these women into truly consecrated souls.
I educated them with true spirit of surrender.
Let is see again the backward review: we see how the soul fights against its human needs and adapts itself to the true Renunciation spirit, to the human aspect, and to affections and communications, in order to surrender just to Cafh: this is the house and life of this being; but this is no more than an expression; outside everything fades away through potentials of the step that this being has taken.
You cannot reunite many souls this way. You could be many, about thirty today, if you had distraction of any kind and everything that could be an escape for the human nature. But this would be a human work, and not a divine work. Preferentially we should have few Daughters founded on Renunciation, and not many practicing Renunciation on and off.
I see that the Divine Mother built this Women’s Body as the foundation of Cafh, for their true preoccupation and no more family than that of Cafh. After death of its founders, they shall continue to keep the same idea of renunciation and sanctity; and that the only sanctity is based on Renunciation.
The soul had to be so strong to be able to live by God, not by men. It is easy to reunite souls, but it is very difficult to affirm them in Renunciation and in the true spirit; this is enormously difficult.
But if we practice Backward Review, we see how the spirit gradually takes form. Happy with our achievements throughout years, we see the heart dryness that is in God, and we can see ourselves there as a part of this Mystical Body, of this divine whole.
This year shall continue; your Community shall take one step forward; in our Community certain souls shall be planted as trees of life, and shall be just a seed.
Get spiritual powers; become invincible for this new stage of realization. Each one has to feel a part of the whole Mystical Body of Cafh, to be able to achieve a true inner strength and to become founder and true prayer, and to establish all on Renunciation; may they be those few souls able to close any gate in order to open the gates of the Divine.
It is overly difficult not to have escapes, but only like that we can be true Ordained Sons. “Ordained” is as great word as the Universe, dear Sons, and encompasses the farthest limits of the Infinite; it is a true light in the world.
As soon as you understand the immensity of this word, by means of a true backward review you shall feel at once equal to God, not for pride, but because you are filled with His creative spirit and His mercy, and every one of you shall become a mother of the Humanity. But, can the world expect something when science becomes a factor of ruin? We can trust only in spiritual souls that gave all voluntarily in order to become living and transparent images of the Divine. This is what we give from our Community. Quite little Daughters, you shall see how many powers we have given. Those persons that you cannot imagine existing on this Earth, became divine through the divine lamp; how many revelation they shall get at the darkest moment of our Community life.
Every moment a new revelation waits for us, because it is as if the Divine Word were revealed in us, whether through great understanding or inner desolation, because anything that is great and divine.
All has a new sense through changes that you see and occur; check that nothing exists of that old being, because if you were in the world, the world would not be anything; it would be non-existent substance.
Practice your Backward Review; this should become impersonal and encompass the whole created Eternity: the whole life.