Panamá - Costa Rica: friars of the Province of the Sacred Heart of Jesus celebrate Spiritual Exercises

Faced with a profound anthropological crisis, marked by the loss of identity and the breakdown of fundamental bonds such as fatherhood, sonship, and brotherhood, Mother Prado, of the Monastery of the Conversion (Ávila, Spain), proposed to the Augustinian friars of Panama a return to the essential foundation of human existence: the recognition of being children of God, contemplating the sonship we have as men of God, and as children of God in baptism.

From this perspective, identity is not built on actions, success, or external securities, but on the original experience of knowing oneself as loved by God. While baptism signifies death, being buried with Christ, it is also the new birth that gives life. God recognizes us as his children, and from this perspective, he raises us up, elevates us.

The baptism of Jesus reveals this central truth: only those who embrace their status as children of God can face temptations, such as the search for security, the search for recognition, and the search for power. Therefore, returning to the beginning of our relationship with God means staying in touch with our essence and remaining committed to Christ's sole invitation: the path and experience of the Cross. From here, a journey toward interiority begins, where solitude and silence cease to be an emptiness and are transformed into a space of encounter.

Mother Prado indicated that our true dignity of being exalted begins only when we are capable of humbling ourselves, as the Master did in service to his disciples. Only those who recognize the need to humble themselves through service and self-giving to others will be able to understand being raised on the cross as Jesus was.

The exaltation on the Cross means seeing the face of the true Beloved Son, to whom we must listen. In this image of the cross we find the fullness of Christ, who goes from the transfiguration on a high mountain to a disfigured face at Calvary. In this face, true love is revealed. This is generous self-giving, abiding in love.

Finally, the resurrection confirms that only those who remain in love, and live with the awareness of having been loved, can attain a full, fruitful, and free life, capable of transforming their own existence and that of others, because spirituality invites us to give life and generate life.

(Fr. Edwin Ramos, April 2026)