Listening to God at Saint Rafaela
by Sindy Collazo
8-Day Ignatian Retreat - Listening Like Ignatius
Recently, OIS’s Ministerio Hispano Ignaciano team led an 8-day retreat, Escuchando a Dios como Ignacio, (Listening to God Like Ignatius) at the Saint Raphaela Retreat Center in Haverford, PA, with participants from Illinois, Washington, DC, and Florida. This Spanish-language retreat was co-led by Sindy Collazo, Fr. Rocco Danzi, SJ, with the collaboration of Sr. Carmen Cabrejos, ACJ, and the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The retreat followed the format of the 8-day Ignatian Exercises with additional options. In addition to individual spiritual accompaniment, participants were invited to join guided prayer sessions and other opportunities, always respecting personal freedom.
The exercises included various ways of praying within Ignatian Spirituality, as well as daily Mass celebrated with the help of Fr. Jack Barron, SJ, Fr. Rocco Danzi, SJ, and Sr. Michelle Cimaroli, ACJ.
One of the retreatants, Daniela Párraga, shared the experience:
“I have experienced being loved and consoled with the certainty that it is God who sustains my being, and where His grace has supported my vulnerability.
Almost 8 days in the silence of God’s heart were enough to change my life, to heal stories, and to transform my reality.
To see Him in all things, to experience myself as loved, accompanied, and held with such a deep certainty of His embrace that nothing could make me doubt it—His grace supporting my vulnerability and restoring my freedom, my way of seeing, of being, of loving, of living.
I learned that no words are needed to encounter Him, that a smile is enough.
I learned that silence is His favorite language.
I learned that in that silence the deepest desires of the heart rest and are nourished.
I learned that His gaze can restore everything that is broken in us.
I learned that there are spaces in my heart ready to love, but above all, to be loved freely.
I learned that His gentle, tender, sweet caresses can console even the deepest desolations.
I learned from Him, I learned with Him, I learned for Him.
I learned that seeing with His eyes, the world looks much more beautiful, and hope can be renewed.
I learned that by simply being, I exist.
I learned that being present is all we truly need.
I learned that everything cries out Your wild love for me, for us.
These days have been a special journey of encountering Jesus, with the help of Ignatius, disconnected from my schedule, my to-dos, my phone (which became just a camera), but connected to the Source ⛲, to the water, to life.
Thank you, Jesus, for Your fidelity despite my smallness. For transforming my heart and giving me the grace to know that I can love from places I never knew, but where You already dwelled, and now I can live there with You.
Thank you, Lord, may Your serenity reach me, may Your tenderness keep moving me, so that I may see others through You and seek in all things to love and to serve.
May I never tire of gazing upon You 🤍.”
1-Day Ignatian Retreat - Praying Like Ignatius
Representatives from parishes in the Philadelphia, PA, and Cadmen, NJ, areas also took part in a one-day retreat, Orando como Ignacio (Praying like Ignatius), held at the Santa Rafaela Retreat Center in Haverford, PA. The retreat, offered in Spanish, was led by the Ministerio Hispano Ignaciano team: Sindy Collazo and Fr. Rocco Danzi, SJ, with the collaboration of Sr. Carmen Cabrejos, ACJ, from the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The program invited participants to reflect on the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, engage in personal prayer, and share in group spiritual conversations. The day concluded with Mass, celebrated with the help of Fr. Rocco Danzi, SJ, and Sr. Michelle Cimaroli, ACJ.
Participants returned to their communities renewed by their experiences and with an invitation to another upcoming Ignatian weekend retreat: Haz mi corazón semejante al Tuyo (Make My Heart Like Yours) will be held Nov. 7–9, 2025, at Santa Rafaela in Haverford, PA. This reatreat is designed to deepen participants’ experience of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus within the richness of Ignatian spirituality. Learn more and register here.
