The advisors of the Augustinian-Recollects Youth of the province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine determined that all their ARY itinerary groups would experience a stage retreat before joining the ARY groups.
At the 2023 ARY Synod held in Salamanca, Spain, the decision was made that the youth interested in joining the ARY (Augustinian-Recollect Youth) will make a retreat before their wish is officially made effective.
For this reason, the first ARY group to celebrate their “Restless Heart” retreat was the afternoon Secondary students held at the Saint John youth center Pius X, and 25 young people attended. This retreat was organized for young people who have one to two years in the ARY and meet weekly to strengthen the group feeling and, therefore, provide them with an experience of God and the infinite love of, which leads to the conversion, to the experience of fraternity, to feeling part of the Church, and to the initiation to form an Augustinian-Recollect youth community.
On the first day of the retreat, April 12, the integration of the group was sought. The young people of ARY preparatory level supported the afternoon Secondary school boys to set up the tents and spend time together. Later, frater David Molina, ARY advisor from the Fray Luis de León school, presented the guidelines of the retreat, explaining the thread of the retreat: a heart desirous of God and the community; therefore the young people made a heart letter to express their desire for God as a feature of the Augustinian spirituality. In the evening, Frater Isaac Almaraz organized some night games to intensify the community among all attendees.
The retreat followed the themes of the ARY itinerary, so on Saturday the following topics were given: How does Augustine perceive man? Proclamation of the love of God; Augustine, a young man from Restless Heart and Sin and Grace.
On the other hand, the column of the retreat was in “The celebration of light”, a penitential event in which the young person is invited to receive the light of Christ and to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. At the end of the celebration, the young people received a cross, a sign of their experience and experience of encounter with Christ in the retreat, in addition to their union to the ARY Milan stage. At night frater José Antonio Hernández, Augustinian recollect, organized a fraternal evening, in which a bonfire was made, there were theatrical performances and a fraternal agape was held.
Sunday, April 14, was a day of recreation and strengthening of brotherhood among its members, to later prepare for the Eucharist, which was the prior of the community of Saint Pius X, the Augustinian Recollect Honorio Calvo.
