Students can dive into a multitude of retreat experiences, starting from the invigorating Freshman retreat to the immersive Urban Plunge, and, of course, the eagerly awaited Kairos retreat. The purposes of these retreats are clear, whether it’s helping out the community or getting closer as a grade. However, the one retreat that often flies under the radar is Manresa, the last retreat that students can go on during their time at Prep. So, what exactly is Manresa, and what is its purpose?
Manresa is the shortest Prep retreat, lasting a day and a half. It is an adaptation of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s exercises during his time in Manresa, Spain. The exercises are a written series of mediations based on Jesus’s life, some based on scripture and others on imagination. During Manresa, students are exposed to the main movements of the spiritual exercises retreat through talks, reflection, small groups, and reconciliation.
Head of community ministry, Brian Mack, described the retreat as giving each student a “Spiritual Tool Kit” that they can use their whole life. The “tools” consist of a mirror to genuinely look at oneself, a compass to point out what unique gifts one brings to life, sand to signify that mistakes should blow away with the wind, a rock to emphasize the values and people that are the foundation of one’s life, and a pencil to let oneself look deeply inside themselves.
Manresa, as a whole, is meant to give students a chance to fully reflect on their Prep experience and look forward to the future. Manresa gets people in touch with themselves, friends, family, and God. March is the perfect time to have this retreat because of the position that seniors are in. Natalie Aguilar Fox, a senior who went on the retreat, said, “Right now is a pivotal moment in our lives, what with hearing back from colleges and all. Manresa gave me time to reflect on my past years in high school and reminded me of how far I’ve come.”
“We invest so much of ourselves into thinking about what we do next year that this is a chance to invest in thinking about your relationships with other people,” Father Simon Zachary S.J. said.
Father Zachary expressed his hopes for what the retreat instills, saying, “I hope there is a greater sense of self of the past and a greater clarity on what’s to come. There are so many unknowns, especially for seniors. If nothing else, the clarity of desire. What is it that you really want as you look forward, and what have you been especially grateful for as you look back.”
