The first week is dedicated to doing the spiritual exercises or week long retreat following the Confessions of St, Augustine. The retreat is being led by the Augustinian Andrés G. Niño, professor in Harvard University USA. The participants have been reflecting on the spiritual journey and helped by the teachings of St. Augustine have meditated and looked at their own personal story and prayed the divine office.
Participants
The participants were given a brotherly welcome in the various houses in Mexico City before moving on to Cuernavaca. Those who arrived some days earlier were able to visit Puebla and the castle at Chapultepec. Twenty five religious from six Provinces of the Order are taking part. They work on 12 different countries. Argentina: Alejandro Echarri; Brasil: Sebastián Olalla, Isidro Rojas, Antonio Rabanal, Graciano González, Antonio J. Molina; Colombia: José David Niño, Albeiro de Jesús Arenas; Costa Rica: Cirilo E. de Esteban; United States of America: José María Martínez; The Philippines: Constantino Real; Italy: Miguel Miró; México: Carlos González Castellanos, Javier Acero; Perú: José Julio Chacón, Julián Montengro, Ricardo Rebolleda, Severiano de Cáceres; Dominican Republic: Enrique Agüeros; Taiwan: Arsenio Escabusa; Venezuela: Pablo López, Manuel Lerena, Martín Larráinzar, Nerio Ramírez, Javier Tello.
Saint Agustine
Twenty five religious from six Provinces of the Order are taking part. They work on 12 different countries. Augustine is a great master of the spiritual life. His “Confessions” with their story present us with a way of reflecting on our own lives by bringing together the experiences and events of life and giving them a coherent shape so as to live out God’s plan for us. The retreat is taking place in an atmosphere of silence and prayerful listening to the Word and involving the whole of the person. The outline of human and spiritual development that Fr.Andrés G. Niño is offering follows these key themes of Augustine:
1. Memoria: Authentic presence, reflection on life and integration
2. Dispersio: The imprisoned will and the return
3. Interioritas: The interior voice, conversion and dialogue
4. Ordo amoris: Love’s weight, learning to love, friendship with God
5. Magister: The narrow road, the interior Master, following on the way
6. Cor unum: in truth, in common life and in witness
7. Peregrinatio: The wounded heart, the waiting, “Ars moriendi”