Many of you have attended spiritual formation programmes, motivational
talks, meditations and personal or group retreats either in our own parish, in
our country or overseas. All these are
aimed at raising your self-awareness, personal growth, conversion and to help
you remove the blocks that have been keeping you stuck in negative patterns.
We are just 5-6 days away from our Parish Retreat for the year 2017.
There are about 400 people (300 for English session and 100 for Tamil session)
have signed up for this weekend retreat. We are not going to accept anymore
registration except for the Tamil session alone. Registration has been closed
last Sunday itself.
We are in the third-quarter of the year and I am proud that many of
you have invested your time in this Parish Retreat. It is a great way to recharge our spiritual
battery and to refresh our relationship with God.
In our spiritual journey there are many things that block us from
experiencing the Lord’s presence, personal enlightenment and self-awareness.
Six reasons to attend the Parish Retreat:
a a) Self-Discovery: At times we become stagnant and
lose sight of who we are in our lives. Many of us have been ignorant of our true
selves for too long. This retreat is a time for self-discovery and to find our
purpose in life.
b) Self Acceptance: The path to spiritual growth
must start with loving and nurturing oneself. This retreat may help you to move from
self-improvement to self-acceptance of yourself as you are right now and you
may be able to see a new life with new possibilities and embrace yourself as
who you really are!
c) Self Awareness: When you can catch the dynamics
in your thoughts and emotions before you act, you can let go of old patterns
and re-align yourself to stay spiritually connected. The Holy Spirit will teach you steps to
self-awareness.
d) Spiritual Practice: The world seems to be in a
rush! Do you have a spiritual practice to keep you calm amidst the stress of
life? What do you do daily to nurture your spiritual self? It is important to
take 15-30 minutes of your time every day for quiet contemplation and to
integrate your body, mind and spirit.
This retreat will give you an opportunity to take a break from the noise
of this fast-paced world and to reflect on what is important to us and to reset
our priorities.
e) Transformation: This weekend retreat is
designed for you to begin your journey towards attaining life-transforming
habits and deeper intimacy with God. As
you make time and space for this retreat, I strongly believe it will offer you the
heart of transformation in your life.
f) Release Your Anger: There are many reasons why we get angry. We keep this anger, hatred, hurt and revenge bottled up within. If we are full of hatred, fear and anger we cannot grow in our faith and these toxic negative forces will surely harm our relationship with others! This retreat will be an opening path to forgiveness and your relationship will grow better as you learn to appreciate and love others.
Please note that we shall end the Retreat with the Eucharistic
Adoration from 2.00 – 3.30 pm on 24th September. During this time we shall include a healing
service and so we invite parishioners to bring the home-bound, elderly and sick
people to come to church for this particular healing session.
To everyone who will be attending the Parish Retreat, have a wonderful
and fruitful time with the Lord. Blessings
to you!
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