Under the title « Vocation. Mission. Holiness », Fr. Carlos Skertchly, LC preached the annual spiritual exercises to the clergy of the Diocese of Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil).
More than 90 priests attended, accompanied by their Bishop, Mons. Zeno Hastenteufel. 25 of the priests who participated in the spiritual exercises are alumni of the Mater Ecclesiae Seminaries in São Paulo and Rome.
For the past 13 years, all seminarians of this diocese have attended the Seminary Mater Ecclesiae in São Paulo and some have attended the Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae in Rome. For this reason, the bishop wanted to invite a Legionary priest to preach the spiritual exercises.
The exercises, set within the Year of Mercy, were an encounter with God, the Father of Mercy, who with love comes to remind us of the call to know, love, and follow Christ.
The attendees were invited to rediscover their own vocation as priests, ministers of the love and mercy of the Father, proposing as examples of life Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Francis of Assisi, among others, to open their hearts to the fundamental question on the path of vocation: « Lord, what do You want from me? ».
