Manifesto of the participants of the Ignatian Immersion course 2021

The truth is that the Ignatian Immersion course Manresa-2021 has far exceeded our first expectations. It has turned out to be an experience capable of giving new structure to our whole being. Among us we had different levels of knowledge of Ignatian spirituality, we were all with an open heart to allow ourselves to be conquered by the pilgrim, we were all looking deep down for the same thing.
Manresa has been for each one a place of prayer from the heart, of attentive listening. A place where we can realize that God has always been on pilgrimage with us, a place where we can move from “doing” to “being, where, ultimately, renew and broaden the soul. A place where you can breathe fresh air, which caught us from the first minute and which helped our hearts to return and beat again with that "love first", to get in tune with that God who loves us.

 

We kept ready to welcome everything that was offered to us: the prayers, the dialogues, the Eucharists, the meals, the lives of others in their testimonies, the courses, the story of Ignatius. The study of his Autobiography and his Spiritual Diary and the visit to the Ignatian places of Manresa, predisposed us to enter into the experience of the eight-day Exercises. Then the study of the Exercises, of their mystagogy and theology, of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus… All of this “affected” us from within. The experience of Ignatius has helped us to recognize the superabundance of God's love in our lives and to desire, following the Lord Jesus and with the power of his Spirit, to put ourselves at the service of the world.
The communion created between all the people in the group helped us a lot, the depth of our conversations, the mutual trust that was woven between us, each one from their history, their personal charisma, their wounds. Through the presentations and the coexistence, motions arose that no one can act alone and God's project is always carried out in community.

 

Certainly the voice of God has resounded in each of the classmates, teachers and collaborators of the course. A whispering voice that has sometimes given us a light for the path, others has cried out loudly awakening company, others has been heard painful in the impoverished reality of our countries of origin, which hurts us so much. A voice that invites us to live reconciled and to accept what the Lord asks of us, to ask ourselves "Where do you want to take me, Lord?" The voice of God has echoed in the walks to the river, in Manresa, in Loyola, in Montserrat and in all places and spaces.

 

We face the future with great courage, knowing that the journey is made by two, He in each one of us and each one of us in Him, and that the gaze on reality will also be a matter of both. Our thing will be to cultivate a greater attention inward, aware that, as we said, "doing" cannot replace "being". Ours will be to resume the mission with a new vision, with a greater awareness of God's actions in our lives, living with a heart capable of being stirred up again by the love that God gives us. We return with the trust placed in that God who will bring to fruition what he has started with each one of us. We know that God comes and returns with each one of us, in each one of us, because we are his image and he is everything to us.
In any case, we return to our places most in love with Ignatius, the man of Contemplation to achieve Love, always open to listening to the voice of the Spirit.

Group of participants of the Ignatian Immersion course Manresa-2021