ASIA/UZBEKISTAN – Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Samarkand, to keep faith growing

ASIA/UZBEKISTAN – Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Samarkand, to keep faith growing

Samarkand (Agenzia Fides) – Spend a few days in silence, according to the charism of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and propose the practice of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises as an opportunity to savor the closeness of God and to discern what is the good plan of the Lord for his life: this is what has happened in recent months to many baptized in Uzbekistan, thanks to the proposal of the priests of the Institute of the Incarnate Word of Samarkand. From May to September – reports to Agenzia Fides Father Ariel Alvarez Toncovich, parish priest of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Samarkand – the religious organized five cycles of Spiritual Exercises, involving small groups of Catholics, different ages and states of life, coming from different Uzbek towns. This initiative, Fr. Ariel reports, was greatly appreciated by all the faithful, young and old.
“It all started with the experience of 18 women from the parish of Tashkent, who came to visit Samarkand, and to whom we offered this model of prayer and interior journey unknown to them. Deeply impressed by this experience, they spoke to the apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan, Fr Jerzy Maculewicz, who asked us to organize other similar events and involve the faithful in other cities.We received several memberships and divided the participants into several groups, of different age groups: in particular, the first two groups involved men and women between the ages of 50 and 60, while the other groups were made up of young people between the ages of 20 and 30”, says the priest .
The spiritual exercises formulated by the holy founder of the Society of Jesus are an integral part of the charism of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and include five days of silence and meditation according to the spiritual stages traced by Saint Ignatius: “This type of experience represents always an important step in the journey of faith of those who participate in it, especially in these mission lands,” notes Fr. Toncovich.
According to the priest, in fact, “in countries with a Muslim majority, people need to discover what the Catholic Church really is, how to live the Christian faith in the depths of their hearts, how to pray with all their being” . To this need, the religious of the Institute of the Incarnate Word present in Samarkand have chosen to respond precisely with this type of preaching: “To us, missionaries, to our poor forces, the ‘plantatio Ecclesiae’ and the task of caring for and cultivating the little seed of faith that the Lord makes germinate is entrusted. We see that praying according to the method of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is an important instrument and generator of new life. Sometimes methods of evangelization presented as “innovative” are sought after in the Church, but we can testify that the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, born more than five centuries ago, are still very useful and relevant, and we will continue to offer them to the community as a step in the journey of faith. of the baptized”, concludes Father Ariel.
At present, the small Uzbek Catholic community, made up of around 3,000 baptized people, has five parishes spread across the country: the approximately 700 faithful in Tashkent are joined by others in Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench and Fergana. The Uzbek population of 30 million is 90% Muslim. About 3.5% are Russian Orthodox Christians, while a further 3% include small Christian communities of other denominations, including Catholics.
(LF) Agenzia Fides 10/10/2022)

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