St. Peter’s Residence in London was witness on March 16 to a very Special encounter of the SAR St. John Stone of the Latin American Chaplaincy of London. Fraternals and candidates invited couples from family ministry and members of the community to live together at the Lenten retreat.
In an atmosphere of inner meditation, they meditated on the Augustinian phrase “If we aspire to things big ones, we have to start with the small ones” and its resonance in Lent. The reflections were led by Frater Carlos Abajos, parish priest and coordinator of the Chaplaincy, and Frater
Bernal Guerrero. Participants reflected on fasting and almsgiving, as well as how we find the inner Master. But, above all, they reflected deeply on the importance of prayer. It should not be an act isolated from others, because a Christian who excludes others betrays his essence of love.
The day accompanied the participants with good weather, an unexpected fact in the always rainy London, which allowed them to celebrate the Stations of the Cross and the rosary outdoors. But it was an interactive Mass where they opened widely their hearts. As one of the participants shared:
What the four people could feel in the space that the father gave us to share each other our feelings was to conclude that, when we started in the Fraternity, we did not know each other, we just said hello. But now we arrive and feel what family bond is. Throughout the day we hug each other, we are no longer strangers, we are now brethren. We have hope that from now on everything will continue to grow.
Deep down, each one was able to reconnect with God in the intimacy of his heart and experience the fullness of knowing oneself as loved by Him. As another participant expressed:
For me, it was very gratifying to be able to feel loved by Him and accompanied. For me it was a strength. During the mass, in the moment of peace, I felt that God was telling me “I love you” in every hug that I gave the brethren.
But it is not an intimate and self-absorbed love. The retreat reconnected them with the essence of true Christian love: loving God is loving your neighbor since He reveals Himself to us in each brother.
Love Him and love your neighbor. “What the retreat left me is to love and be loved,
concluded one of the fraternal sisters.
Thus, renewed in their commitment to live the Augustinian Recollect charism, the members of the SAR St. John Stone left the residence carrying the Church inside their heats, because where there is an authentic Christian, there is no place for loneliness.
