Marist Spirituality Centre
In response to a call of the General Council, 17 Brothers from 11 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Provinces and Districts began on August 9 of this year 2012, the course Horizons Program in the Marist House of San Lorenzo of El Escorial, Spain.
The objective of the Horizons Program is to offer an experience-meeting among Brothers of 35 to 45 years of age in order to set and consolidate God’s plan in the brothers. The two months proposed for the Horizons Program aim at helping in the process of personification and rationale in a path of personal fulfilment in the vocation and life received from God; strengthening the option of consecrated life, integrating the utopia of the vocational promise with the realism of the initial steps taken and intensifying the growth process in order to integrate the different Personal and Marist religious dimensions.
The animation and accompaniment of the group will be performed by the team of formators of the Marist Centre of the Escorial, Brothers Angel Medina, from the district of Paraguay, and Joaci Pinheiro, from the Province of Brazil Centre-North.
During the first week, we acknowledged ourselves and the other as the Holy Land, telling and listening to our life stories and vocational journeys. Exercises were carried out to facilitate knowledge; with longer cohabitation times and a little tourism in the surroundings, we succeeded in reaching our objective. A visit to the city of Segovia, to the monastery were Saint John of the Cross lived, and the cohabitation with the elder Brothers from the community of Our Lady of the Rock, in Villalba, constituted two very fruitful moments at the beginning of that session.
In the two months of this experience in El Escorial, we will attend theoretical and reflexive studies, guided by Marist Brothers, Fathers and Lay people on the following topics: Personal knowledge; My Story is Sacred History; integrating Spirituality; Pathways to a new spirituality; Marian Face; Brothers in a new world. We will also have the joy of reflecting with our Superior General, Brother Emili Turu on the topic: “With the eyes of children”.
We will have some free time on week ends. These spaces may be used at our discretion, in personal walks or in groups, resting, personal tasks, sports, etc.
The course also includes as a formation process, a pilgrimage to the Hermitage, an experience of prayer with the community of TAIZÉ and a visit to FMSI/UN in Geneva.