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Thus our apostolic
experiences help us understand better the 18th annot. of St.
Ignatius. The eagerness to make a long Retreat is not sufficient
reason to accept somebody into an eight days Retreat. Even if the
good Lord grants spiritual lights and motions to those who are not
yet emotionally mature, we need pastoral prudence. The criteria to
accept of not a young person into the exercises of the second and
third week are not taken from the retreat experience but rather
from real life. We have to see their emotional maturity and the
degree to which they have assimilated the Spirit of Jesus in their
daily lives.
Therefore we have to
ask: "Which is the goal of the First Week?", "Which are the
graces of the First week?" It is "to surrender our hearts to
Christ, letting Him free us from our inordinate tendencies,
finding in him the Way, the Truth and the Light for all the
dimensions of our lives".
"Finding in Christ the
way, the truth and the light for all dimension of our lives"
entails a sufficient amount of experiences mature enough to enable
us to know who we are. As long as we have not had these
experiences we cannot know who we really are. We can hear God's
call but we do not know yet the concrete implications of this
vocation. We do not fully understand the dignity and glory of
becoming children of God. Even the meaning of "conversion" is
unclear for those who have not yet felt the presence of inordinate
tendencies from within or the sinful attractions from outside.
Thus the retreatants
need a certain degree of maturity. Not only in terms of age but
also in terms of experience. A maturity of mind and heart made
possible by the exposure to experiences which gradually put to the
test our attachment to Christ and love for others, our humility
and obedience.
There can be a twenty
years old man, over protected in his family and community, utterly
unaware of who he really is because he has not been tested by
experience. He has never been responsible for a group or activity,
has not succeeded or failed, doesn't know what criticism is, he
knows neither intimacy nor disappointment with friends. When this
young men makes a retreat, he will find out that he lacks
experiences to go through a conversion process, to be grateful to
Christ. When he prays in front of Christ nailed to the cross, he
cannot understand why had Christ to die for him. He is not yet
aware of the presence within himself of deep tendencies to
self-love and hostility, dependency and hate. He is not aware of
his radical impotence to love God and others in God.
Is this young person
suitable for the Spiritual Exercises? There is no doubt that the
answer is yes. Even a Retreat of four to five days will help this
young person in the process of maturity. During the retreat this
young person will have an experience of God and a personal
communication with Him, solving in the process questions and
misunderstandings about God. He will learn how to pray with the
Gospels, how to bring personal experiences to prayer, how to be
sensitive and responsive to God and to his neighbour. Every year
he will come to the retreat drawing great profit from it. But we
do not encourage him to go further into the meditations and
contemplations of the second and third week until we notice in him
signs of sufficient maturity.
This maturity can be
present in some cases at a very early stage in life. There can be
a young woman only 18 years old, but with many family and social
experiences, mature enough to make an eight days retreat. She has
been hurt, she is puzzled by her reactions of hate, fear, lust.
She is confused by her tendencies and the world around her. This
young woman needs help and knows it. She has already done one or
two weekend retreats with great spiritual profit. She wants to
make an eight days retreat. In the long retreat the Spirit makes
her feel accepted, loved, respected by God Himself. She hears
God's call to be His beloved child, to share His glory. When this
young woman opens her heart to the healing power of the Spirit she
is also forgiven of her sins. She believes that God will free her
from the painful memories of the past. This encounter with God her
Creator and Redeemer is becoming the source of great compassion
and patience towards others, of deep gratitude towards God. These
are the very human elements with which the Spirit enkindles His
love is her heart. She is prepared for the contemplations of the
second and third week.
Can we judge the
outcome of a Retreat by the amount of emotions felt in it? Yes and
no. The presence of deep and painful experiences, can make the
encounter between God and the retreatant especially touching. The
grace to feel God's forgiveness, the relieve of old wounds, the
encounter with a loving God comes always as a surprise and is
accompanied by great joy and peace. The retreatant may believe
that the old person is gone away for good leaving in its place a
new one. Plans are drawn, promises made. These plans and promises
will be put to the test in ordinary life, when we are confronted
with the weakness of our human nature and the lasting presence of
memories and tendencies. Only if we persevere and come back to God
again and again we will discover the power of the Spirit, the
healing action of God. This personal experience will be a solid
foundation for our intimacy with Christ and for the apostolate.
There is an awareness
of our radical impotence to become Children of God, to love like
Christ loves. The awareness that, deep in our hearts, we have some
tendencies as selfish and destructive as those of public sinners.
It is the grace to know that the Son of the Father has come down
and become human ' has given example, preached the Good News, has
died and been glorified “for me”! The price to redeem me from my
self-centeredness and impotence to love is “Christ dead on the
cross”! Only then I feel, like a new foundation for my life,
grateful to Him and wish to do something for Him who loves me so
much that He gives his life for me.
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