{"id":26981,"date":"2026-06-29T15:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/?p=26981"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:34:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:34:02","slug":"h-e-kevork-archbishop-noradounguian-conducted-a-spiritual-retreat-for-the-armenian-sisters-of-the-immaculate-conception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/26981.html","title":{"rendered":"H.E. Kevork Archbishop Noradounguian conducted a spiritual retreat for the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception"},"content":{"rendered":"

From December 5 to 9, 2025, the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, following the long-standing tradition of the congregation, participated in a spiritual retreat in anticipation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 9, which is the patronal feast of the congregation. This year also marks the 178th anniversary of the congregation’s foundation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The spiritual retreat was led by His Excellency Kevork Archbishop Noradounguian, Ordinary of the Armenian Catholics of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe. He is specialized in the theological field of formation for spiritual vocations using the methodology of the Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus). The thematic focus of the retreat was to center the reflections on re-evaluating and reappraising one’s own spiritual vocation against the backdrop of personal life memories, which are crucial for remaining faithful to one’s calling. The Archbishop invited the sisters to reflect on the following points:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Reflection on the story of the calling of Philip and Nathanael: Am I faithful to these words: “Follow me”?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Being chosen: What does this mean to me? In what state was I when being called, and what am I like now? Do I still have the same fervor? How do I evaluate my devotion to Jesus? Am I joyful today in my spiritual service?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Going to the very end in service and devotion: To empty oneself, to practice self-emptying, taking the Lord as the perfect model (cf. Phil. 2:5-11, which speaks of “kenosis” \u2014 self-emptying).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-The most important thing is to do the Lord’s will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-Through the example of Lazarus’ two sisters, Martha and Mary, we can understand what active and contemplative service mean, and that the most important thing is to serve the Lord by being with Him, just as Mary was (cf. Luke 10:38-42).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-The Lord saw Nathanael while he was still under the fig tree; He knew him. His state, when he was called, is also important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-To be in love with God and to remain in His love until the end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

-To find inner consolation in service through our small deeds, which we perform with great love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These and other reflections proposed by the Archbishop were carried out through individual and silent meditation before the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sisters’ spiritual retreat culminated in the solemn Holy Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated by the Archbishop at “Our Lady of Armenia” Center. During the Mass, according to tradition, the sisters renewed their perpetual vows before God with beautiful prayers. The Holy Mass was also attended by the Ambassador of Italy to Armenia, Alessandro Ferranti, along with his wife. The “Our Lady of Armenia” Choir performed under the artistic direction of Robert Mlkeyan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fr. Hovsep Galstyan<\/p>\n

Chancellery of the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate<\/p>\n

December 15, 2025<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I saw you while you were still under the fig tree.” \u2014 John 1:48<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,44,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diosecan-news","category-featured-en","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26982,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26981\/revisions\/26982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/armenianchurchco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}