Magis retreat in the heart of Slovakia and “more”

St. Francis of Assisi had in San Damiano a mystical experience with the crucified Christ speaking to him: “Rebuild my Church”. Starting to rebuild by hand the little Church called St. Mary of Angels gradually he realized that the very essence of this call was to rebuild the Church as the body of Christ.

“Rebuild my Church” was a motto of a weekend retreat of Magis Slovakia in November 10^th till 12^th 2017. It took a place in a beautiful area of the Jesuit compound of the Novitiate “villa” Trlenska. Located in the center of Slovakia about 10 km from Ružomberok, it is surrounded by mountain ranges,  the national parks of Great Fatra, Low Tatras and the protected natural area of Chočské vrchy (Choc’s mountains).

Trlenska, which was gradually built by Jesuits in the thirties of the previous century, is a compound of several buildings which consists of Trlenska villa – cottage, Chapel of Virgin Mary (with a copy of the famous icon of the Virgin Mary from the basilica St. Maria Maggiore), The House of Thomas Munk SJ (former farm barn) and the Shelter of St. Joseph (an open shelter for pilgrims). Currently it serves as an apostolic facility all though the year for different age categories and activities such as summer camps, retreats, spiritual renewals, etc. In the Summer 2013 it was hosting Magis Central Europe and since then each year it welcomes one of the Magis Central Europe groups.

Twenty young adults, who are part of a larger Magis family, spent the weekend in “building the Church”. As a part of magis activity, they were working either in the Chapel of the Virgin Mary or doing some autumn cleanings of the nearby area and the villa.

The history of the Chapel served the participants as a base for a kind of a theological reflection on the Church. As already mentioned, Trlenska was built in 1935. For the next 15 years it served its original purpose as a retreat place for Jesuits novices and pilgrimage point for local people. However, during the event of so called Barbarian night of April 13^th- 14^th 1950, the communist regime suppressed all the male religious orders in Czechoslovakia. All religious were imprisoned and the entire property confiscated by the state. Trlenska for the following 40 years was transformed into educational facility for pioneers with the Chapel changed into dining room. Only after theVelvet Revolution (1989) it could be used again as a Chapel. After that, the Chapel undertook some necessary adaptations to became again a space of worship. And yet, during last almost 3 decades, due to various reasons such as constant urgency of some other works to be done, different priorities, fundraising issues, etc., the Chapel has never been given a sufficient attention in terms of renovation. Recently, beginning from September 22^nd 2017, Fr. Ondrej Gabriš SJ, responsible of the area, started with a small team of volunteers, renovation work of the Chapel. Under the supervision of the architect and constant presence of the construction professional, volunteers may join for renovation works. And this was the case also with Magis. Volunteer work in this case is not seen just as a necessity due to real lack of sufficient funds, but as an option to make the Chapel “ours”. So, common work on the Chapel to make it more hospitable, welcoming, more beautiful and warm “Church”, served retreatants as a vivid symbol of the Church. Theological meditation was accompanied by the questions such as: “How do I feel in the Church?”, “How do I care for her?”, “How can I help her to be more welcoming…?”. This way other elements of the Magis “curriculum” such as Eucharist, personal time for meditation and Magis circle were lively integrated into this short retreat.

Although initial renovation works showed that under the surface the Chapel is damaged much more seriously than it was expected, including very bad condition of its original 3 stores wooden tower, enthusiasm of the volunteers promoting responsibility towards “the Church”, gives hope for the blessing in “building of the Church”. Spiritual strength of the place is enforced by the fact, that it was a place of “villa days” of many Jesuits, who later during their life, especially under the communist persecution, gave strong and attractive testimony of their faith. Pioneer among them is definitely a Jesuit novice Thomas Munk. Being of a Jewish origin, in 1944 he was forcibly taken by Nazis from the Novitiate in Ružomberok. Together with his father Francis both are candidates for beatification.