Retreat reflection

Last March 4-5, 2011, I had my retreat at the Capuchin Retreat Center at Lipa, Batangas. I treated it as a mini or short vacation from my busy and stressful everyday school life. Well, that was my initial take on my retreat day until I finally came to the realizations the recollection had offered me during my time there. It wasn’t just a vacation. It was a time for me to be able to take a break from my usual life and take a step back to take a look at where I am at the moment and where I want to be in the future.

As I am about to finish my college degree with hopefully two terms left, I needed that time to know what God intends for me to do as I begin a new chapter in my life – professional/work life. The retreat was an eye-opener for me. I got to know myself better through the questions asked by the facilitator. Each of which had different intentions. An example would be the question “ What is my passion?”. This made me think of what I would love to do or what I am interested in, disregarding the degree I am taking and what it is about. Honestly, I am not happy with where I am right now and knowing my passion could help me find another path that I could take because doing what I love to do could or might be the best thing.

Another question asked was “ What is my biggest or most important question in my life as of the moment?” My answer to it was “ Why is there a need for suffering?” My reason for which was “ I’m just curious to know why because why do we need to suffer if we can all just be happy instead”. I don’t know but my question sounds cliché. Maybe we are to suffer for us to remember that God is always there for us. We can always find refuge, security and rest in Him.

The retreat also reminded me that in everything that I do, do it for the greater glory of the Lord. There are times when it is hard for me to be productive with God in my mind cause I get caught up with mundane things. The solution I was presented during the two days that I’ve spent in Batangas was to be in love with Christ. If I put God in the center of my life then the things that I’d do would come natural. It’s not forced. I do not need to over analyze the situations I am in because I will have direction. I believethat our paths are shown to us and He unfolds His plans to us when we decide to spend some time with Him.