PARAGUAY, Nery Cabrera and Francisco Ugarte •
Tupãrenda is a very appropriate place to deepen in the spiritual life and leave behind everything that pulls us down. With the Brave Men’s Rosary, this is accomplished even more. We received a great blessing all together as brothers, and we left spiritually strengthened to continue to go forward in this very beautiful apostolate of praying the Rosary and taking the Pilgrim Mother to the needy in our community.
I thank the Blessed Mother for this opportunity of participating in the 4th BMR Retreat (Brave Men’s Rosary), which made me believe and grow more spiritually, to know brave men better and the miracles that she is working in each one of us.
I am strengthened, and I have an unparalleled inner peace when I remember every moment I spent at the retreat, from the moment I registered, the welcome and registration, to the Mass of sending forth.
Savor each Mystery
We began with a welcome prayer with the projected picture of the Blessed Mother, which made us feel in harmony and at peace with ourselves upon feeling her presence in the auditorium.
The first talk was presented by Fr. Oscar Saldívar, with the topic, “The meaning of the Mysteries of the Rosary,” and why it is mystery. A mystery is something hidden, but not impossible to know. It is something that has to be savored in order to understand it, something that is not understood, not because it is dark, but because it contains too much light, source of energy and seeds that give more fruit. It shows us God’s plan for us; it is a salvific plan and of wisdom. To pray the Rosary would be to look at God’s life closely and how it reaches me.
Then it was our brother Hugo Maciel’s (who spoke to us about Divine Reading) turn. It was a talk that motivated me even more upon seeing that a man like me who was speaking so clearly about the focus topic – of how the Blessed Mother worked in him to present us with such beautiful, delicate and accurate words, which left me with an immense curiosity about knowing how he arrived at this point. Blessed Mother, you enabled this servant to spread the words of your Son and Jesus our Savior.
During the afternoon, we enthusiastically participated in a talk by our spiritual adviser, Fr. Antonio Cosp, with the topic: “How to grow spiritually by praying the Rosary.” And as the title indicated, it was a question for those of us who pray the Rosary to know the exact response. Spiritual growth occurs in everyday sanctity, upon praying the Rosary and contemplating on each mystery: in our work relationship, in family relationships and with Christ. This growth takes place daily even by praying a mystery of the Rosary, its contemplation and the prayer of the Spiritual Communion that sanctifies us.
The Blessed Mother leads us to her son, Jesus, through the Rosary
On Saturday night in moonlight after days of bad weather, we were in front of the National Shrine for a special time before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration, as we had never experienced it, which was masterfully led by Deacon José Núñez, Brave Man from Luque. We felt the Blessed Mother’s closeness and above all by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, present among us in the Blessed Sacrament.
On the Lord’s Day, the second day of the Retreat, we began with the most beautiful thing, praying the Holy Rosary. This prepared us for Fr. Pablo Mullin’s talk, “Christ and the Rosary” (he is the novice master in Tupãrendá). The fastest road to Jesus is through the Rosary, because Jesus and his mother, Mary, are the center of the Rosary with us at their side.
With Fr. Antonio Cosp and Fr. Pablo Mullin con-celebrating the Holy Mass in St. Joseph’s Chapel of the Fr. Kentenich Retreat House, we arrived at the highpoint by thanking Jesus and the Blessed Mother for allowing us all of this and for giving us the joy needed to continue in the constant and necessary struggle to take it and present it to everyone who needs it.
Source: Revista Tupãrendá, March 2017
Original: Spanish, 9 April 2017. Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA. Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA
