Ignatian Immersion Course 2013: Overall Impressions from Participants

The Third edition of the Ignatian Immersion Course at la Cova Sant Ignasi in Manresa has concluded. Thirty-four participants from the five continents formed during these six weeks a temporal, plural and mixed community of Jesuits (17), religious women (6) and lay men and women (11). The course has a sapiential approach more than an academic focus and it includes a guided 8-day Ignatian retreat and pilgrimages to relevant Ignatian sites, such as Montserrat, Loyola and Javier. The course is grounded in the Cave, the holy place where St. Ignatius experienced his profound inner transformation by the Lord’s grace whom he wanted “in all things to love and to serve”.  

We thank the participants- “companions on the journey”- for sharing with us their resonances and impressions of the course and their experience. We thank them also for their comments on how to keep improving the overall and concrete aspects of their stay with us.

We let themselves express through the written testimonies that we have received. 

Our gratitude to each and all of them,

Ignatian Course Team

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“This whole Immersion has been a life changing gift that I know will continue to be a grace as I return home and to my ministry. Each week was an unfolding of treasure and I am so grateful for each of our lecturers. I go back to my country with a deepened appreciation of Ignatius, the Spiritual Exercises and all of you, and much gratitude”.

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“Overall, the course was excellent! Well organized, good in infrastructure, excellent “being looked after”, instructors who truly command their subject and who communicate their personal enthusiasm for it, very inclusive and multicultural liturgy, a deep underlying current of spirituality,…This course was superb!”

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“… and now I go back to the world with new eyes”

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“My deepest gratitude to you all for your welcoming presence, generosity, love, care and passion for this sacred place which you have passed on to me”.

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“Discovered new aspects of self, renew a sense of joy, deeper love for the Jesuits, the Church and humanity. I have a better sense-knowledge of Ignatius and a more intimate sense of God’s invitation. I love, treasure this time and I’m profoundly grateful to you all”.

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 “I am very grateful o the community of Manresa, Loyola, Javier for your hospitality and generosity. “Ignatian Immersion Course”, the name has proved its worth and value. The whole experience has been going deeper and deeper, into the depth of God. I am inspired and challenged to live by what I have experienced here. Each of you, especially the organizing team of the course, so generous, thoughtful, sense of humor, simplicity, humility- very exemplary. Well done! Keep it up! Do even better!”.

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 “This 6 week Immersion course has met my desires, further immersing me in the Ignatian charism. This experience has put flesh onto many aspects for me, especially spiritually and knowledge/grounding of the foundations. My ministry within the “Companions in the Ministry of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises” has definitely been enriched, and this will enable my involvement with retreatants to be enhanced”.

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We interacted with one another and I was enriched because of the diversity of our cultures, thoughts, aspirations,… It helped to see myself differently.

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I found this place a Holy Place; a place of Encounter with God in a very unique way. It is a rediscovery of my roots as a Jesuit, it has offered a re-igniting of the light of my spirituality and I feel greatly enabled to face whatever mission that will be entrusted to me. The lecturers were not only masters in their areas but people who live out, who embody the charism they teach. The “community” worked out well bringing many nations together.”

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 “It was a very good experience and what I learned from the time of novitiate became alive to me. I have journeyed with St Ignatius in his spiritual pilgrimage. The pilgrimages to Montserrat, Loyola, Javier, etc, was an excellent and enriching experience,…- not getting words to express it. With regard to the input given by the lecturers, they were very good and I was able to get new insights and interpretations of Ignatian spirituality. All of them tried their best to take us to the Core of the Ignatian spirituality”. 

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 “Some experiences happen in your life at the right time and the right place. This was one”.

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 “A well thought of and well crafted Immersion program. It has its own richness and uniqueness all of its own, treasures of the presence of historical spots meaningful to the life of St Ignatius, like the Cave and the Cardoner River, and the accessibility to Montserrat, Loyola, Javier, Barcelona,... The Immersion staff and lectures brought life and light to our life. We have experienced richness and greater freedom”.

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 “The whole experience was most helpful. The lecturers were very knowledgeable and skilful in delivering the lectures. They journey with us. They were passionate.  I could go to the Cave at any time to pray. The gardens are also beautiful and conducive for reflection and prayer”.

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 “I never imagined the intensity, the depth and the vast horizon of this Course”.

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 “The Autobiography, the Spiritual Journal, the Spiritual Exercises, the Constitutions,…  the study of each one took me deeper. But it was the gift of the people (the professors) who shared their experiential knowledge that made my stay in Manresa an “Experience”.

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 “I am grateful and have had the privilege to be here in the holy place of St. Ignatius. All the programs run very well and helped me to go deeper and moving forward in the way of St. Ignatius in the Society of Jesus. It is a moment full of grace in preparing my final vows. It has enlightened and kindled my heart with the fire of Ignatian charism. (…) Manresa has given me an openness and inner freedom in my heart”.

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 “To be at the Cardoner River and strive to have Ignatius touch my life more deeply. (…) Our participants became “Friends in the Lord”.

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 “Everything was helpful. Loved my experience here and would recommend to other lay/ecumenical friends in Ignatian spirituality”.

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 “It was a graced time; the physical space, the holy space, was the major source of joyful response. I liked the group, its geographic and ethnic diversity and natural friendliness”.

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