Mark Bangura
On the 28th of May 2016, the two Christian communities: St. Francis Xavier, Sayinoh and St. Charles Lwanga, Allen town, assisted by Fr. Munari, Fr. Piero with the three Xaverian students Mark, Francis and Peter, animated a retreat in our house at Africanus Road. Since the Xaverians in Kissy started facilitating retreats, this was one of the most remarkable. The main reason is that the retreat was not focused on only one particular group, but on three active ones in the Catholic Church: Infant Jesus, Altar servers and C.Y.O. were together.
This retreat was organized in order to help young people understand what it means to be a true catholic Christian. It is because of such ignorance that many of them neglect to practice their basic Christian duties, such as the sacraments, especially confession. All they want is to be members of the church groups, but remain ignorant of the basic principles of their faith.
Around 9:00am many started to arrive and were registered. Songs were sung, groups were formed and in each group one person volunteered to be the leader. At 10.00 A.M. the real business started: the opening prayer was said, a prayer to be a responsible person. The first input was given by Fr. Piero, who tried to explain what “Living the Christian life” means. He commented the 7 basic points of Christian life, as presented by Pope John Paul, i.e. call to holiness, prayer, grace of God, Sunday Eucharist, Confession, Reading the Gospel, spreading the faith.
Then a short break was given, and after the break Fr. Munari gave a talk on the main theme of the retreat, taken from the letter of St. James 3:13-18: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” During the exhortation Fr. Munari pointed out that as young people, we should strive to be humble, because only deeds done in humility come from wisdom. And deeds like envy and selfish ambition in our heart come from the devil. At the end, he gave words of encouragement: in order to reap a harvest of righteousness, we young people must be peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good will, impartial and sincere.
Questions were asked in the groups and answers were given. One of the most prominent questions was about the sacrament of penance. It said: “Why do we need to confess to a Priest, instead of praying directly to God to forgive us?"This question was answered by reading the Gospel of St. John 20:19-23: "Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained". But Jesus was talking to the Apostles (priests), after saying to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit..." that is, giving them the authority and power to forgive.
The Xaverian students, Mark, Francis and Peter, helped to animate the Infant Jesus group. Refreshments and sports were the last item in the agenda; a lot of fun was shared and pictures were taken. At the end they all went home, seemingly satisfied with the experience and looking forward to a similar event in the near future.
On the 28th of May 2016, the two Christian communities: St. Francis Xavier, Sayinoh and St. Charles Lwanga, Allen town, assisted by Fr. Munari, Fr. Piero with the three Xaverian students Mark, Francis and Peter, animated a retreat in our house at Africanus Road. Since the Xaverians in Kissy started facilitating retreats, this was one of the most remarkable. The main reason is that the retreat was not focused on only one particular group, but on three active ones in the Catholic Church: Infant Jesus, Altar servers and C.Y.O. were together.
This retreat was organized in order to help young people understand what it means to be a true catholic Christian. It is because of such ignorance that many of them neglect to practice their basic Christian duties, such as the sacraments, especially confession. All they want is to be members of the church groups, but remain ignorant of the basic principles of their faith.
Around 9:00am many started to arrive and were registered. Songs were sung, groups were formed and in each group one person volunteered to be the leader. At 10.00 A.M. the real business started: the opening prayer was said, a prayer to be a responsible person. The first input was given by Fr. Piero, who tried to explain what “Living the Christian life” means. He commented the 7 basic points of Christian life, as presented by Pope John Paul, i.e. call to holiness, prayer, grace of God, Sunday Eucharist, Confession, Reading the Gospel, spreading the faith.
Then a short break was given, and after the break Fr. Munari gave a talk on the main theme of the retreat, taken from the letter of St. James 3:13-18: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” During the exhortation Fr. Munari pointed out that as young people, we should strive to be humble, because only deeds done in humility come from wisdom. And deeds like envy and selfish ambition in our heart come from the devil. At the end, he gave words of encouragement: in order to reap a harvest of righteousness, we young people must be peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good will, impartial and sincere.
Questions were asked in the groups and answers were given. One of the most prominent questions was about the sacrament of penance. It said: “Why do we need to confess to a Priest, instead of praying directly to God to forgive us?"This question was answered by reading the Gospel of St. John 20:19-23: "Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained". But Jesus was talking to the Apostles (priests), after saying to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit..." that is, giving them the authority and power to forgive.
The Xaverian students, Mark, Francis and Peter, helped to animate the Infant Jesus group. Refreshments and sports were the last item in the agenda; a lot of fun was shared and pictures were taken. At the end they all went home, seemingly satisfied with the experience and looking forward to a similar event in the near future.