Dear Brothers,
St. Laurence College
Please
read this letter for an update on the status of the land sale at the school. Special thanks to
Bro. Tom Giardino for his untiring commitment to this process.
A Story of Hope and Joy: "Spirit of Saragossa Retreat in Daily Life”
Submitted by
Bro. Tom Redmond,
North American Center for Marianist Studies
The concept of the Spirit of Saragossa Retreat was initiated by the General Administrations of both the Daughters of Mary and the Society of Mary to be an extended retreat experience for Marianist religious preparing for final vows. The retreat was developed in 2008 by an international team of Marianist sisters, brothers, and priests gathered by
Bro. Tom Giardino, then director of the International Center for Marianist Formation.
The retreat is based on these key words of Jesus that, “God so loved the world, that God us His only Son, born of a woman, that all who believe in Him might have eternal life.” With this deep love of God as a foundation, the retreat continues with meditations on our Marianist forebears and the invitation to enter into the ‘spirit’ of Saragossa which, for Father Chaminade, was a fundamental and transformative prayerful experience before Our Lady of the Pillar in Saragossa, Spain.
Since 2012, I’ve had the wonderful experience of directing this 30-day retreat for our Marianist Brothers as part of their preparation for final profession. In the fall of 2018, I traveled to Bangalore, India, and to Nairobi, Kenya, to direct the retreat for our Brothers there preparing for final vows. It was an amazing experience to see first-hand the Marianist Charism so alive in other cultures and witness the universal appeal of this Marianist Spirit of Saragossa Retreat!
My work at the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS) in Dayton, Ohio, includes adapting the retreat from its original 30-day format into the “Spirit of Saragossa Retreat in Daily Life” where an individual could experience this retreat while continuing with his or her daily responsibilities. In the near future NACMS will be announcing the offering of this retreat to Lay Marianists and those associated with the Marianist Charism.
