Ushering Encounters: Seniors Ignatian Silent Retreats 2023

This year, the Office of Campus Ministry (OCM) serving the Loyola Schools community resumed the various onsite Ignatian Silent Retreats for our college senior students. Retreatants took this opportunity to ponder on their life and their Ateneo journey in light of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. 

The Sacred Heart Retreat House in Novaliches was the venue for the 8-day and 3-day Retreats, with seven and twenty-five student participants, respectively. Five students joined another batch of the 3-day Retreat at the Cenacle Retreat House in Loyola Heights while twenty students participated in the 5-day Retreat at Mary Ridge Retreat and Renewal Center in Tagaytay City. 

The roster of retreat directors included Fr Bill Abbott SJ (8-day), Sr Yna Oñate RC (5-day), Fr Errol Nebrao SJ (3-day in Cenacle), and Fr Luis Lorenzo LC (3-day in Sacred Heart). Our partner administrators, professionals, and other lay friends joined our campus ministers to serve as retreat guides accompanying our dear students in one-on-one conversations to help them in their encounters with themselves and the Lord during these days of prayer. 

The students were given opportunities for group conferences, individual prayer and reflection, one-on-one conversations with a retreat guide, small-group faith sharing, and daily Eucharistic celebration. Most of the retreatants shared with us how powerful their Holy Hour experience was. They felt it was the closest they could've been to the heart of Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Kenan Clark Gawaran (AB Political Science 2023), President of the Ateneo Student Catholic Action (AtSCA), generously shared with us one of the fruits of his encounter with the Lord. For him, the encounter with the Sacred Heart had led him to see how he is so loved. Below is his prayer-poem:

Kung puso ko lang ang kulang
Bakit mag-aabala Ka pa?
Pabayaan Mo na lang ako
Hindi naman kabawasan sa Iyo

Kung puso ko lang ang di buo
Bakit pa aalalahanin?
Marami man ang kulang sa akin,
Ikaw nama’y Ikaw pa rin

Pero heto Ka ngayon sa harap ko
Tambad ang bukas na dibdib Mo
Tangan sa palad Mong mahal
Nagdurugong puso Mo

Bakit halos matunaw? Bakit hindi buo?
Nang tanungun kita, “Poon,
nasaan ang kapiraso?”
Tiningnan Mo ko’t sinagot,
“Lumuluha sa harap ko.”

Panginoon, ipahintulot Mong manalig ang puso ko:
Tanging piraso ng puso Mo’y walang iba kundi ako.

02 June 2023
First Friday of June

Some retreat participants also shared their reflections on “Campus Ministers On-Air,” our radio program, which broadcasts every Tuesday, at 2:00 PM, via Radyo Katipunan. 

For updates and announcements, especially on spiritual activities like the Seniors Ignatian Silent Retreat, you may contact us through the following: 

Email: campusministry.ls@ateneo.edu
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ls.ocm
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ateneo_ocm 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ateneo_ocm