RETREAT FOR PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS
October 17 – 23, 2015
Being the Special year for the Consecrated Life Nav Sadhana organised a Special Retreat on THE TRENDS, THRUSTS, TASKS OF THE CONSECRATED IN INDIA TODAY. The event saw participants from Nine Religious Congregations, both women and men as well as three diocesan priests getting benefited. Retreat was open for all religious and diocesans, as all are consecrated persons according to His Holiness Pope Francis. The spiritual journey from November 17 to 23, 2015 had FOUR stages as follows: RE-VISIT, RE-FLECT, RE-BORN, RADICALISE both one’s very religious life and one’s ministerial life.
This special retreat was facilitated by Dr.Fr. Jerry Rosario SJ, Madurai Province, Tamil Nadu. He began his talk quoting the Pope Francis, “It is better to be a good Christian rather than a bad Religious.” He further stated, “Retreat/Prayer does not change God; but it does change ONE, who does pray”. He introduced certain creative features, which did help the retreatants to WAKE UP themselves before, in the words of His Holiness Pope Francis, waking up the Church, the World, and the Cosmos at large.
Some of those innovative features can be enlisted thus:
- Sat sang for praying for each other in small groups after each one’s intimate – sharing;
- Creative morning worship based on Video – prayer;
- Participation in breaking the Word of God,
- Synthesized and contextualized Liturgies,
- Response- packed CONFERENCES pertaining to 23 major expectations of the retreatants
that were gathered on the first day in the presence of the Eucharistic Lord;
- Mid – Retreat assessment of the DYNAMICS for the retreat – betterment thereafter.
The retreat , thus, had these focal themes: CONVICTION, CONVERSION, CREATIVITY,
CROSS, COURAGE, COMMITMENT, COVENANT. The retreatants rated themselves by anonymous assessment that they had, by average, allowed themselves to be challenged to the extent of 72%. They assessed Fr. Jerry’s facilitation, by average and anonymously again, to the tune of 93% . Moreover, the retreat got over with A CERTIFICATE CUM COVENANT signed by each one in the Final Eucharist with details of NO and YES in one’s life henceforth. ALL FOR THE PROPHETIC AND PROACTIVE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CONSECRATED, SPECIALLY OF THOSE WHO MADE THIS RETREAT, TO GOD’S COSMIC MISSION.
The participants articulated that the retreat was indeed excellent, enriching, instilling, provoking, challenging, inspiring, interesting, participative, practical, personal, effective, creative, lively, solid, well arranged, well explained the consecrated life. His personal guidance and involvement were well extolled. The participants were happy about the accommodation, hospitality, amity and comity. The campus cleanliness and serenity helped them to pray better.
