29 participants, the animators, provincial council and two sisters from shilling province were gathered in the hallowed space of Bandel under the maternal mantle of Our Lady of Voyage to start their spiritual vacation with the Lord.   The  preacher Fr. Cletus D’Souza aptly dubbed it as ‘a picnic with the Lord’.

The exhorting words of Sr. Rose Ezarath our provincial, ‘Retreat is a time to experience the personal love for God for you’ , God waits for you to come away to a lonely place to dialogue with him” was the starter that enkindled   to set each one   on the  trail of   inner journey.

At the start of his talk he presented the triple strategy for happy living 888- 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, 8 hours of prayer family, friends. He said that 1/10 of the day that is 2 hours 40 minutes is to be given to the Lord as a tithe in our daily schedule. Everyone was elated with ESP the triple programme sleep well, eats well and pray well.

But the next triple paralyzing disease plaguing the modern religious was shocking: lame, tame and same. Lame mediocrity – no zest, no fire, Tame – lost of the prophetic punch, same – sticking to past without novelty.  The solution suggested was to be fresh bread and sparkling wine.

His series of talk gave the ABCDEF of a committed religious life:

1. Awareness – The bedrock of religious life is waking up _ wake up to every person, wake up to every situation. So be awake alert and be alive.
2. Balancing- the head, heart and hand to be integrated that you become a harmonious and equanimous person who is human and holy.
3. Centering – Sequela Christi – Making Jesus the focus and centre of our lives.
4. Discipleship – listen, accompaniment, table fellowship and evangelized and evangelize
5. Eucharist- become bread broken for others
6. Faith- follow Mary in her paradigm of faith. YES – Yearning for God, Enthusiasm, small yes’s repeated to the daily routine and mission.

The retreatants were elevated and ignited by some of the special strategies used by Fr. Cletus .

1. The desert sojourn. Retreatants were asked to leave the hallowed places in the chapel and to go out in search of a desert outside equipped with a bottle of water, Bible, a book to write your spiritual journal and the rosary to recite the entire rosary.  The duration of the desert experience was 9a.m.-5p.m.  The retreats were asked to write personal formula for the profession, poem and individual Magnificat.  Some of the  sisters found their desert spaces in the Auxilium Bandel garden, others in Bandel Basilica ground and near the river site.  In the evening during the Eucharist each one shared their unforgettable and rich encounter with the Lord and oneself.
2. Eight hours encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist. Each one had a privileged moment right in front of the Lord touching on the altar on the kneeler peering right on the host.  This too was a beautiful moment.
3. The product of the Eucharist was service was enacted by the washing of feet. Four groups were asked to assemble outside the church where two benches were placed, with two basins, jugs of water and towels.  Each group washed the feet of the members of another group and it was reversed giving chance for everyone to experience both the roles of being washed and to wash the feet.  Everyone was reminded of Pope Francis and felt happy to be in his shoes.  This experience will remain ingrained in our memory and will prompt us to do the same in our day to day life situations.

Armed with the triple adieu memo: Believe in yourself, believe in others and believe in God the participants set off to : rebirth, recreate, re-found, re-invent, re-visit, re-form and re-vision their Life with prophetic punch, enthusiasm and joy.

                                                                                                                                            Sr. Stella P.

A day of  togetherness celebrated  at Aqua Marina, Chinsura.