EVOKING SECOND STAGE OF THE ITINERARY

Dear sisters: A hug for all from 11 itinerants, Ana María and Amilibia!

The second stage has been a very rich experience of evoking and visiting the places of the youth and Vocational life of Claret and Paris. This stage was guided by Consuelo Ferrus. First we evoked the experience of what happened in the lives of our Founders from their writings; then we visited through their footsteps; to conclude with that same itinerary in our personal history.

In the first stage We made the tour in Tarragona and followed the vocational itinerary of María Antonia. This time we were with Claret to Encounter his youth.

On the 26th of July we left very early in the morning to Vic, to meet our Fr. Founder.  We arrived to the mother house of the Claretian Missionaries, and from there Fr. Joseph Rovira at a steady pace guided us through the walks of young seminarian, Claret: the house of the family where he was staying, the Church of the oratory of Saint Philip Neri where he went to ask for advice, the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, the building of the seminary where he studied, the Cathedral, where he preached to crowds and some years later where he was consecrated as bishop, the avenues and the narrow streets of picturesque Vic.

We returned to the Claretian house where Fr. Carlos was waiting for us to take us to our Father Founder, and to several martyrs of the war of 1936. There in the crypt we celebrated the thanksgiving Mass, praising God for all the good things we received and for the gift of life of Nidiagnis and Anna.

At about 20,30 we arrived in the community of Barcelona, where our sisters waited for us with dinner: as in all our houses we experienced the joy and happiness of meeting all.  Rosario and Agnieszka guided the tour to the museum and the room of Teresita Albarracín and to the prayer in the chapel along with her remains.

Saturday 27th we began the day by visiting the cathedral of Barcelona and the “Sagrada Familia” a true encounter of the Art that God has gifted and Sunday 28 we visited Barcelona from the great ramp, the port and the Lonja de Mar where fine art courses were taught, Claret studied there to perfect himself in textile drawing, Spanish and French grammar.  We have seen the boarding house where he stayed with his brother and the houses of some relatives in Barcelona, passing through the oratory of Saint Philip Neri and the Church of Sts. Justo and Pastor where we participated in Sunday Mass, We finished our tour in the Church of Santa Maria del Mar where Claret had made his fervent and persuasive voice as a missionary from the pulpit.

The celebration of the Mass in Saints Justo and Pastor, signified a “sacrament” of the call to Claret for us, there we also felt called by Christ our Shepherd: “What does it profit a man to win the whole world if he loses his soul?”.

Filled with joy we returned to Reus to immerse ourselves with our personal Vocation, which will be another intense and beautiful experience.

Blessed be Lord for such a goodness!