{"id":21121,"date":"2013-06-20T10:05:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T10:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/?p=21121"},"modified":"2013-07-05T12:10:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T12:10:42","slug":"summer-of-2012-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/summer-of-2012-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer of 2012 retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"
Through prayer and reflection, we bring ourselves closer to God<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThrough the spirituality St Ignatius of Loyola we discover a way of finding God in the ordinary moments of each day. Through our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience we are faithful to our commitment to Jesus Christ.\r\n\r\nAs members of a Religious Congregation we set aside time each year (6 or 8 days) to go away \u2013 Retreat – to a quiet place in prayer and silence to discern God\u2019s will for us.\r\n\r\nDuring the summer of 2012 a special retreat was organised focusing on our Constitutions which determine our way of life.\u00a0 The following is an account from one of the Sisters who made this retreat.\r\n\r\n

Reflection from the Constitutions Retreat given by Fr Brian O’Leary SJ July\/August 2012<\/h4>\r\n\r\nWe reflected prayerfully on the deliberations of St Ignatius and his first companions \u2013 on how they would belong together, as they dispersed across the world; how they decided to form one Body, which would be a source of apostolic energy and efficacy.\u00a0 These deliberations were radical in the 16th\u00a0Century.\u00a0 There would be no sung Office and no enclosure.\u00a0 Their apostolic mission would always be what united them.\u00a0 These decisions became Constitutions and were approved by Pope Paul III.\r\n\r\nIt was these Constitutions that Mary Ward was inspired to adopt, in response to her experience of God, urging her to \u201cTake the same of the Society.\u201d\r\n\r\nOur prayer then centred on discerning and nurturing our call to this way of life \u2013 a call that would be costly, remembering that Jesus\u2019 own call cost him his life.\r\n\r\nOur vows of Obedience, Chastity and Poverty, enable us to live more fruitfully for mission.\u00a0 Mission is the very centre of our Constitutions.\u00a0 For us, mission means sending \u2013 or being sent; – this is the living out of our surrender to God \u2013 to be sent throughout the world, seeking the glory of God, and the conversion of souls.\u00a0 We prayed about this vision, which is broad in scope and mystical in depth.\u00a0 Our mission is never limited, and, as Fr Peter Kolvenbach SJ said, \u201cEach local Community is not just\u00a0for\u00a0mission, it is itself mission, in today\u2019s world.\u201d\r\n\r\nPraying about Leadership, we recalled that Ignatius said that all \u2013 head and members \u2013 have experienced the Spiritual Exercises, all have known suffering; all have learnt to find God in all things.\u00a0 Final decisions and \u2018sendings\u2019 arise from the mutual decisions of both leaders and members.\u00a0 Both are seeking God.\r\n\r\nAs we approached the end of the Retreat, we prayed for dependence on the Lord as we looked to the future.\u00a0 We remembered that the purpose of our Institute is for mission, our focus is on the world, and the preservation of the Institute is not an end in itself.\u00a0 Our responsibility is to nurture the Institute, and to leave the rest to God.\u00a0 Hope is the graced human response that God will provide.\u00a0 Nothing is wholly human or wholly divine.\u00a0 All is shot through with grace \u2013 or Christified.\r\n\r\nFinally, we recalled, in prayer, that Ignatius knew how easily we can be trapped \u2013 that is why he lays down Constitutions.\u00a0 They presume the Spiritual Exercises.\u00a0 They are our way of living the Exercises.\u00a0 The Exercises are at the service of each individual, but lived out by our Constitutions.\r\n\r\nOur life is a pilgrimage whose end is God \u2013 a new heaven and a new earth.\u00a0 We keep God always before our eyes, in the Institute, through our Constitutions \u2013 our way to God.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTo find out more about Ignatian spirituality go to\u00a0www.jesuit.org.uk\/spirituality\/ignatianspirituality.htm<\/a>\r\n\r\nOur retreat house is Loreto Centre, Llandudno\u00a0Click Here<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through prayer and reflection, we bring ourselves closer to GodRead More<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43],"tags":[],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":43,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":45,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":31,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":43,"category_count":31,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"Through prayer and reflection, we bring ourselves closer to God Through the spirituality St Ignatius of Loyola we discover a way of finding God in the ordinary moments of each day. Through our vows of chastity, poverty and obedience we are faithful to our commitment to Jesus Christ. As members of a Religious Congregation we set aside time each year..","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21121"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21337,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121\/revisions\/21337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ibvm.org.uk\/new4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}