Rome, July 29th, 2017. At the end of July, the Italian Group gathered for its three-day summer Convivenza at Monte Altissimo headquarters. The main objective of the encounter was to continue the experience of the renewed Exercises, focusing this time around the third and fourth step of the Second Itinerary: “Jesus… a journey”, with the help and animation of Father Ignacio González.
The journey to the sequel of Jesus is becoming more and more challenging in these passages, because our experience shows us how much the values of the Gospel are in contrast with the logic of human expectations.
However, living the Kingdom’s paradoxes is possible: every participant was able to tell direct and indirect experiences of his/her Beatitudes accomplished.
The most intense moments of the convivenza have been the ones dedicated to the experiences of the Resurrection. The disciples’ crisis and its overcoming have sometimes transformed the “say to say” into a discussion, which also shows that the Exercises are very involving.
During these days the Italian Director has reserved some time to inform the Group about the problems of the International Centre (taxes, maintenance, sale opportunities) and the “Project Lombardi”: a congress dedicated to the spirituality of Father Riccardo Lombardi, which will be probably organized to coincide with the Pastoral Cenacle of 2019.