ANNUAL RETREAT 2017 AT MATER SALVATORIS MOROGORO By Cl. Robert Marwein, SDS

Once in a while we all need to pause from our busy endeavors and sit back to gather new strength and  develop new strategy in order to be able to handel better  the pros and cons of life. Retreat is one of those activities that serves exactly for this purpose. Retreat has been always the source of spiritual renewal and strength for the believers, but for the religious it means a time for redeepening the relationship and experience with the Divine Master. 
     The Mater Salvatoris International Formation House at Morogoro was greatly blessed to have Rev. Fr. Peter Van Meije, SDS as the animator for the Salvatorians Annual Retreat. The retreat was held on 1^st October 2017.  Rev. Fr. Peter Van Meije, SDS is one the promininent persons in the Society of the Divine Savior. He is known especially for his proficiency about the Founder Fr. Francis Jordan and the Society. His contributions for the Society are greatly recognized and appreciated by all who know him. He travels far and wide to share and enlighten the Salvatorians confreres about the life of the Founder and the different elements of the Society.

     In his presentations Fr. Peter talked about Fr. Francis Jordan as a Founder in the making. He pointed out that Fr. Francis Jordan like any other human beings had his own periods of life. He underwent changes, challenges, clashes, crisis, defeats and finally gained victory. He also intrigued about the last days and the last words of Fr. Francis Jordan’s life. Later he also presented about the Spiritual Diary of Fr. Francis Jordan and its significance in the life of Fr. Francis Jordan himself and his spiritual sons and daughters. He presented another thought provoking question; where do we find Fr. Francis Jordan in the constitution today?

Meanwhile, he emphasized that in our society today unity is no more uniformity, simply because there is great diversity of people and culture. Hence, inculturation must be integrated in our Salvatorian's way of  life. Here it implies that we the Salvatorians have to inculturate the values of Fr. Francis Jordan in our daily life and spirituality. As a result, we can develop many good religious characteristics like enthusiasm, hard duels, team spirit etc.  Finally, as we came to an end of the retreat there was one important question we need to know and understand. The question was what picture of the Founder do we have in our mind? Each Salvatorians will have his picture of the Founder in his mind. But one of the most explicit pictures of the Founder that all the Salvatorians must have is ‘diversity’. Diversity is the treasure and wealth of the Salvatorians. 

In this encounter with Rev. Fr. Peter Van Meije, SDS all the confreres were deeply enriched by his presentations about the life of our Founder and his spirituality. Some of the confreres have met Fr. Peter for the first times. Some others have met him for the second times. Others have met him for more than twice, but it was all the same and It was a beautiful moments together.  There were lots of sharing and interactions. In general, the retreat was very vibrant and fruitful.