23 February 2024 · 2024-02 newsletter
“My little piece of heaven” was the title given to the young women’s retreat held in the Home of Light in Mulgoa on 12th-14th January, 2024. Five young women decided to take time away from their busy schedules and set time apart for God and for themselves. Three of the young women utilized this weekend retreat as their final preparation for their Home Shrine Dedication.
The young women arrived on Friday evening and were able to settle in and meet or catch up with one another. Sr. M. Rita presented the topics and schedule for the weekend and gave a short introduction. The evening concluded with evening prayer in the Shrine where a profound prayerful atmosphere was observed amongst the participants. The following morning was filled with input sessions on how we can connect our lives with heaven and how we can experience a little piece of heaven here on earth in the Schoenstatt Shrine. In the afternoon the young women were invited to make their own personal candle and attempt to encapsulate what they learnt into a symbol or image on their candle.
The highlight of the retreat was the Home Shrine dedication in the shrine on Saturday afternoon. During holy mass Fr Pawel blessed and handed over to the three young women their own personal cross and MTA image for their Home Shrine. After the homily the young women prayed and invited the blessed Mother to truly come and be present in their rooms and transform them into a shrine.
On Sunday the beautiful sunny weather invited us once again to the shrine where we sat outside on a park bench and prayed the rosary in all our intentions. We were able to experience what we had learned – truly a little piece of heaven! Following that we attended Sunday Holy Mass in the Family Hall where through divine providence Fr. Peter in his homily underlined some of the points that we had covered in the retreat already.
We concluded the retreat after lunch with the closing prayers at the Wayside Shrine which was a request of one of the participants. Although it was only a short time each of the young women agreed that this retreat was a very fruitful and prayerful experience where they gained many new insights and impulses for their daily lives.
Filed underNewsletter · Youth