The Augustinian Recollect friars in the process of formation and their direct trainers dedicated a week to the annual spiritual exercises, from August 21 to 25, at the Fray Luis residential de León, in Guadarrama (Madrid). The Trinidadian friar Ignacio Rojas was the director of the exercises.
Once the two groups of religious finished, one, his own formation course and in Marcilla (Navarra) and the other the next special preparation course for the solemn profession, they all gathered in the Fray Luis de León residence, campus of the Order of Saint Augustine.
The Trinitarian religious Ignacio Rojas was the one who gave the spiritual exercises. His talks turned out to be clear and precise, in such a way that it helped the retreatants to internalize and dedicate themselves to a week to spiritual and community work, encouraging them to be like Martha and Mary: to have a personal encounter with the Lord, allowing himself to be guided by the Holy Spirit; to attend to that God invites us by his word, mainly in the gospels, to respond with generosity through service and to become aware that God’s call is for always.
The motto proposed for the spiritual exercises was “Together. Bring the charism to life from the gospel.” Although the exercises were held in silence, the community events allowed to meet the brother in prayer, as Saint Augustine writes: “the prayer it is the meeting of the thirst for God and the thirst for man”. The Holy Spirit was the protagonist in this week of spiritual exercises, generating in the participants the disposition and means to act, internalize and continue to love.
They ended the week with the joy of being able to share with the simply professed of the whole Order, knowing that they walk together and that they are and feel like brothers despite being from different countries -Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela…- and live in different places. They left the exercises ready to continue responding to the Augustinian Recollect vocation and going where the Church needs them.
