“The retreat was practical, effective and personally meaningful to the participants”, stated Fr. Joseph D’Souza after having attended at NavSadhana, the Retreat of Most Rev. Francis Serrao, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Shimoga, from August 17 to 22, 2019. It was mostly based on his life experiences and reflections on it along with his practicality and simplicity of life. Many priests felt it was different from other retreats. It has been more insightful, enlightening, and inspiring because of the life-examples. The theme of the Retreat was BE HOLY. He started the talk stating that “there are two prerequisites for a good retreat: one is the great desire to have a personal experience and the other is openness.” He spoke on love and compassion, sin and conversion, priesthood and sacraments, relationship and happiness, awareness and realization, freedom and fidelity. He insisted on keeping silence in order to have a personal encounter with the Lord. He said: “To become a follower of Jesus, all that is needed is a personal experience of Jesus.” All enjoyed the hospitality, cordiality, amity and comity of the staff of NavSadhana and returned to their respective places with renewed vigour and vitality to work in the vineyard of the Lord.
