A number of Camillian religious from the three provinces of Italy, together with young people in formation and two sisters from the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Incarnation, gathered in Loreto, from September 1 to 6, 2024, to live their annual spiritual retreat. The theme proposed by the preacher, Fr. Fabrizio Di Loreto sdb, was “You keep track of all my wanderings” (Ps. 56:8). By retracing the faith experience of some characters in Salvation history, the participants were led to rediscover the beauty of life as a path that is in God’s hands, who never abandons, who accompanies man’s steps, pointing him the goal of complete happiness with a gaze that is always new, beautiful, and knows how to wait and hope even in the darkest hours. During these days of retreat, the presence of the Virgin Mary was concretely felt. The participants had the privilege of celebrating Mass right inside the Holy House of Blessed Virgin Mary with Bishop FABIO DAL CIN. The Bishop presented the figure of Mary as the one who made herself home, who let God dwell in her, and who invites everyone to do the same, to let their neighbour dwell in them, in the concrete situations of everyday life. St. Camillus was devoted to this holy place and went there several times as a pilgrim. The Camillians were able to rediscover the beauty of following the Founder’s footsteps on this occasion as well, in a spirit of fraternity and sharing among the various Italian realities, far from that spirit of “parochialism” that Camillus himself was committed to fighting. May the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, grant us the grace to reap abundant fruits of this lived experience, so that the steps taken by each one, especially those directed toward the sick and suffering, may leave behind them traces of blessing and the fragrance of charity with renewed impetus.
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