BIS Mumbai
BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE # 3363
"COME WITH ME BY YOURSELVES TO A QUIET PLACE AND GET SOME REST." MARK 6:31
Vrinda Paes
NORTHERN ARABIAN VICARIATE, FEBRUARY 06, 2013 : When we have questions about our lives, our existence and are longing to find peace in 
our hearts it is helpful to find a holy place to spend time. We often visit the Church to sit in front of the tabernacle where the real presence of Christ exists in the Eucharist is a perfect place to pray and to ask God for his peace. Or we set up a place of prayer in our homes to ask for God's help in all our needs.
Often, going away for a retreat in a prayerful environment, offers a time for reflection and peace. We all need the space and the silence to reflect and pray. It can help us begin to sense a deeper truth about ourselves and God. How he loves us as we are.
Thanks to the the ardent efforts of Kuwait's Catechetical Director, Rev. Fr. Francisco Pereira sdb, Francis Sam and 
a crew of behind-the-scene silent helpers, Catechists from the Vicariate of Kuwait were blest and were invited to spend a whole day in RETREAT at their respective parish churches.
It was indeed a spiritually refreshing, recharging and rejuvenating experience. Our spiritual muscles were exercised all thorough the day via different methods such as the solitude and contemplation as we traced Mose's steps during the Exodus.
With attentiveness as we listened to the interpretation and confluence of the Ten Commandments with the Eight Beatitudes, and with fun and cooperation as Catechists were split up into ten groups to prepare charts that reflected key points of each of the commandments by referring to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
While tracing the Exodus, catechists literally braved the cold weather outdoors in Kuwait, following the path of Moses and the Israelites lost in the desert, as they traced twenty-one significant milestones by literally walking in and out of rooms and grounds where these milestones were marked.
At each step catechists would read a biblical passage, meditate on the same and answer a few self-contemplative questions on the same. There were definitely some answers that may not have been immediately apparent but surely they will be slowly revealed to all in His time. 
We encountered numerous self-contemplative questions which could boil down to the following core questions.... "Who am I?" "Whose am I?" "Where am I going?"
We thank Fr. Franco for keeping outline of the retreat light, relaxed and yet contemplative. He also elaborated on main points with clear, vivid imagery and by sharing of his personal experiences, anecdotes with a sprinkle of humor
The retreat came to an end with Holy Mass. We thank Fr. Franco for organizing this retreat and look forward to more of these in the future.
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