On the weekend of April 5 and 6, twelve young people from the ARY-Chiclana group between 15 and 16 years old held the “Restless Heart” retreat in the community house of the Colegio Agustiniano of Madrid in Lozoyuela (Madrid), along with 33 young people from the same Agustiniano school.
The Youth Ministry Commission of the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine, of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, has been proposed in this pastoral course that the groups formed the year past strengthen their identity through retreats that correspond to their stage, in this case, the Milan stage. This objective has only been achieved in two Recollect ministries: Chiclana (Cádiz) and the Romareda School, in Zaragoza.
The ARY group from Chiclana was able to experience the “Restless Heart” retreat, which is aimed at young people who want to start the itinerary or want to strengthen their presence in the group recently formed to promote an experience of God and his infinite love, which leads to the conversion, to the experience of fraternity, to feeling part of the Church, and the initiation towards the Augustinian-Recollect youth community.
Twelve teenagers from the 4th year of Secondary Education participated, most from Saint Augustine School in Chiclana. The group has as its advisor the Augustinian Recollect Marcos Liu Yu, who is from recent creation and it was considered appropriate to invite them to a day of coexistence and retreat that would provoke the encounter with Christ to, subsequently, offer the ARY group a community of knowledge and following of Jesus supported by three animators chosen in a vote among young people.
The first day of the retreat consisted of traveling and getting to know the center of Lozoyuela. At the end of the dinner, the retreat was presented with the help of a story: “Dying in the Nonsense”, an activity in teams to make known that Jesus is our base and allows us to reach high, and with a prayer to end the day. Likewise, the young people built a tower as possible with the help of plasticine and chopsticks, which symbolized that Jesus Christ is our base to reach as high as possible. Indeed, the ARY wants to “make Jesus known to you” and “fly high.”
The retreat followed the themes of the JAR manual, so on Saturday the following:
How does Augustine perceive man?
The God I believe in. Proclamation of the love of God.
Augustine is a young man with a restless heart.
Augustine is a young man in search of the truth.
The family. In this topic, the young people were amazed and moved when reading a letter written by their parents. The column of the retreat was in “the celebration of light”, a penitential act where the young men and women received the light of Christ.
On Sunday only one topic was addressed: What is the ARY? The teenagers prepared themselves for the Eucharist and were given a cross, a prayer booklet, and Saint Ezekiel Moreno’s bracelet, a sign of his life and experience of encounter with Christ in the retreat.
In addition to this proposal of evangelization with the help of creative, didactic, and fun, without losing the depth of the Christian faith, the teenagers carried out a gymkhana on basic knowledge of Christianity.
The coordinators of the retreat activities – who deserve a thanks note – are the Augustinian Recollect religious Francisco Oyanguren, Abraham Montoya, and Héctor Molina.
