30-Day Retreat Begins
posted on January 7th, 2010
Despite the snow all 10 retreatants arrived yesterday to make the Spiritual Exercises. They will spend 48 hours settling in and settling down with some reflective input before the 30-day retreat proper begin. This article by Ron Hansen might give you some idea of what the Exercises are about.
The retreatants are a very diverse group: two from Africa, three from Ireland, one each from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong and two from the UK. That diversity is rather boosted by the fact that 6 of the participants are Jesuit Novices (up, with their Novice Director, from Manresa House in Birmingham). The novitiate provides the initial two-year formation for the Jesuit provinces of Britain (including South Africa and Guyana), Ireland, English-speaking Belgium, and the Netherlands.
For three of the four others (a priest, a religious sister, a lay man and a lay woman) the start of the Spiritual Exercises also marks the beginning of the 12-Week Training Programme in Spiritual Accompaniment. They will be joined by others as the programme goes on.