A Encounter Experience of God(EEG ), based on the method of Father Ignacio Larrañaga—founder of these Encounters and the Prayer and Life Workshops (PLW)—was held from September 7 to 12, 2025, at the Loyola Spirituality Center in Azpeitia, Guipúzcoa, Spain. The event brought together about 100 participants from 11 different countries.
Among the participants was Lorena Rodríguez Mediavilla, the International Coordinator of PLW. Invited by the Evangelizing Marriage Guides who led the EEG, she explained the nature of the Prayer and Life Workshops. She described them as a service for new evangelization within the Church for the whole world, recognized for its positive impact on the Kingdom of God. The workshops are a service that teaches people to pray, restoring peace and the joy of living, and freeing participants from anguish and anxiety. This is achieved through a profound encounter with God in a high tide of love through personal prayer, where they learn to listen to Him and be with Him in their daily lives.
In her speech, Lorena highlighted the testimony of Fr. Robert F. Prevost—now His Holiness Pope Leo XIV—who shared his thoughts on the PLW he discovered in Peru: “My opinion of the workshops is very favorable, especially because I have seen many cases of genuine conversion among the participants. The movement promotes a life of deep prayer and a response in Christian life that includes different dimensions of Christian practice, including prayer and apostolate.”
Participants of the EEG in Loyola had the opportunity to visit the Sanctuary of Loyola and the Chapel of the Conversion of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They also visited the birthplace of Father Ignacio Larrañaga, located just a few meters from the Sanctuary in Azpeitia, where they were welcomed by his sister, Carmen Larrañaga, and his nephew (Carmen’s son), Miguel Ángel Etxeberria Larrañaga, both of whom are PLW Guides.
Because it was held in the birthplace of Father Ignacio Larrañaga, in the current Holy Year of 2025, “Pilgrims of Hope,” and still in the afterglow of the 40th Anniversary of the PLW in 2024, this EEG in Loyola had a very special significance for the participants. This included not only PLW Guides but also many people who had completed the workshop and others who felt called to participate in this Encounter, which is open to anyone with a yearning or desire to have a profound experience with God.
Like all EEG held around the world, participants were guided by the Evangelizing Marriage Guides, who lead the event with fidelity to the legacy received from their founder. Participants were able to quench their thirst for God and encounter Him as Merciful and Omnipotent Love in their lives—the source of all good and peace—establishing a personal relationship with Him in the certainty of faith.
