by Hilda Alphonso
KUWAIT, APR 12, 2017: The parish of St. Therese of the child Jesus organised a retreat on April 8 for the confirmands at IEAS, Kuwait.
All the142 candidates reported early to begin a day of soul searching with the Catechetical Director, Father Francisco Pereira and Catechetical Coordinator, Francis Sam. The retreat was themed as 'Falling in Love with the Holy Spirit'.
The day began with Father Pereira giving the children guidelines in order achieve the most out of the retreat. The apostles asked Jesus, "Lord teach us to pray." With this petition, Father Pereira explained the Lord's Prayer in depth, the power in His name, to align our will with God's will and to touch heaven to change earth.
The children were encouraged and guided on preparing spontaneous personal prayers. Father Pereira explained to the children the importance of the Holy Bible. He made them aware of the criteria to differentiate a Catholic Bible from the rest. He also revealed the three R's of reading the Holy Bible - Revelation, Revolution and Resolution and explained it with reference to: 'Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God' (Romans 1:1).
The core topic of the day was Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit. He explained the importance of the Holy Spirit in the lives of every Christian and described the gifts with reference to every day examples.
Thereafter, Francis Sam took the children through an exercise of self evaluating their spiritual gifts, assessing themselves and finally discovering their strengths to enable them to better serve the community in the various areas of leadership, administration, teaching, knowledge of faith, hospitality, apostleship and asked God to help them know how he has gifted them to serve others.
Confirmand, Andrea Menezes said, "I consider myself very fortunate and blessed to be given this opportunity to attend a retreat in preparation for confirmation. I got a better understanding of the importance of the Holy Spirit in my life."
The day concluded with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist guided by Father Pereira. In his homily, he emphasised the use the three P's – Preparation, Participation and Proclamation. Catechist, Wilma Fernandes said, "It was a very thought provoking, soul searching and practical retreat and I gained a lot of knowledge too."