Have Your Say

Hi everyone, if you've been to our centre for a retreat we would really appreciate you taking some time to answer a few questions for us. We have been giving retreats for years but we always try to keep our retreats fresh and engaging and that is why we would love to hear your thoughts on your experience here. This really helps us to plan the best possible programmes for all of you, so whatever you have to say, we'd like to hear it.

Sharing Your Thoughts

• If you were planning a retreat day what would be in it?
• What are you looking for on a retreat day?
• Where do you experience goodness in your everyday life?
• Do you believe in God and if so, where/how do you experience God in your life?
• How would you describe God in your life?
• What’s your vision of a good life?
• If you have been here on a retreat what was it like?
• What, if anything, was positive about it?
• What, if anything, was negative about it?

Thank you for taking the time to think about and answer these questions. You can answer them anonymously via the Comments Box. God bless you all in the last few months of this school year.

Advent

Our Jesse Tree

Our Advent Wreath

It's beginning to look a lot like Advent!

The Hall Stand

Our Chapel

We are very fortunate to have our own private chapel here in the Pastoral Centre and we are well used to sharp intakes of breath when visitors to the Centre see the chapel for the first time, for it is beautiful.  Our stained glass windows are vibrant with colour and depict the Mysteries of the Rosary.  They are the first thing you notice when you enter the chapel.

We use the chapel for groups to meditate in during the day and to celebrate their prayer service in at the end of each retreat day.  

The De La Salle Brothers who live here, use the chapel for their morning and evening prayers too, so it is a well used and much loved sacred space.  

Recently the chapel has had a fresh coat of paint and the floor has been polished to a high shine. The morning after it had all been finished I took this photograph because it looked so peaceful and lovely.

Later on that day, a group from St. Bride's Primary School brought their own vibrant colours to the chapel, celebrating the day that they had in a prayer service of colour, song, scripture, thoughtful prayers and drama.

It is great sometimes to have a chapel all to yourself and spend some quality time with God, but it is equally good to be with others in God's presence, praying together and supporting one another.

Year 14 Retreats

At the start of this school year we had the pleasure of the company of the Year 14 students from Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School and Mercy College.

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, Year 14 Class

Year 14 is a big year in so many ways and in between studying for very important exams, filling in university applications, getting organised for the school formal, making important decisions and choices about the future and facing the prospect of long-time friends going their separate ways, it can be very hard to find time to reflect on everything that is happening and try to see where God is in it all.

We believe that allowing ourselves that time is very important and so our Year 14 retreat encourages each individual to reflect on their own lives up to this point and to notice God's action in their lives. It also allows time for each person to reflect on the people who have been part of the journey through school with them, their classmates, and to affirm them.

It is perhaps the most reflective of all our retreat programmes and it can be very poignant for the Year 14s as they face into great changes in their lives.

When everything else in our lives is changing or in flux,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

 Hebrews 13:8

We thank all the Year 14s who came here for their retreats and we ask God to bless them and to bless all Year 14s as they prepare for the exciting changes and opportunities that await them.

The Blog Is Back

Hello everyone, we took a little break from our Blog for a while there but not from our work, which continued on apace, with 2000+ young people coming to our Centre in the last academic year (2013/14) for their Retreat.

We had the pleasure of facilitating retreats for young people from:

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School 

St. Joseph's College, Belfast

De La Salle College, Belfast

St. Mary's CBGS, Belfast

Mercy College, Belfast

St. Bride's Primary School, Belfast

St. Columbanus College, Bangor

St. Kieran's Primary School, Belfast

St. Teresa's Primary School, Belfast

St. Rose's Dominican College, Belfast

St. James' Primary School, Carrickfergus

Glengormley Inegrated Primary School

John Paul II Primary School, Belfast

St. MacNissi's Primary School, Glengormley

St. Patrick's Primary School, Holywood

St. Therese of Lisieux, Belfast

St. Colman's Primary School, Derriaghy

St. Joseph's Primary School, Crumlin

St. Patrick's Primary, Waterfoot

St. Bernard's Primary School, Glengormley

Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School, Belfast

St. Michael's Primary School, Ravenhill Road

Holy Trinity Primary School, Belfast

Dominican College, Fortwilliam

St. John the Baptist Primary School, Belfast

Sacred Heart Primary School, Belfast

St. Joseph's Primary School, Lisburn

St. Finian's and St. Mary's Primary Schools, Newtownards

Ballymacrickett Primary School

St. Ciaran's Primary School, Cushendun

St. Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick.

So as you can see, we were very busy and we hope that all those young people who came on Retreat with us last year enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed meeting them.

We will be keeping the Blog up to date from now on, just in a slightly different way than before.  A change is as good as a rest as they say.  Anyhow keep checking in on us and feel free to send us your comments, especially if you have been on Retreat with us.  Hearing your thoughts and ideas about your Retreat experience helps us to make sure that our programmes stay relevant and engaging.

Prayer Ring

All our retreat days end in our chapel with a Prayer Service organised by the young people who come here.

  
Everyone at the Prayer Service will be bringing their own intentions into that special time. We believe that praying with and for others, is an important way of supporting one another, but sometimes people aren't comfortable saying their intentions out loud in a group.  One of the things that we decided to do was to invite each person to write their intention on a strip of paper instead. 

Then we invite them to staple their prayer strip onto a ring, with the prayer facing inwards so that no-one else can read it .

When all the prayers are attached to the ring, it is placed in the centre of the FOCUS.  It is a visual reminder that each one of us has need of the encouragement and support of each other in prayer. 

The ring itself symbolises the group, united in prayer for one another, AND the ceaseless love of GOD, which holds us all.

At this point in the Liturgy we pray together for each other, in the words that Jesus taught us...

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth

As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

Amen

Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School Yr 10

Monday 29th April

Focus

The heart at the centre of our focus represents that Jesus loves us and our love for others, especially those we may not like. The different colours around the outside represent different types of people and our respect for their religion, beliefs and opinions.

Music

We picked 'Beautiful Day' as everything that God created is beautiful and 'Let It Be', which shows that God is always there.

Scripture

We chose God's call to Abraham, Genesis (12:1-2), as everyone is connected and we should be good to everyone. We are all special, like the stars and we are a family as many as the stars.

Prayers

Dear Lord

We pray for anyone who is lacking in food

 and other means of nourishment. 

Let them find help and end their starvation.

Amen

Dear Lord 

We pray for those who are cast out from society and groups, 

because of their looks, illness or personality.

We pray for those who deserve better.

Amen

Dear God

I pray for people who have a disability. 

I pray for them to be better treated in the community.

Amen

Dear Lord

I pray for all the people in the world who have lost someone close to them. 

I ask you, please, to help them to recover from their loss 

and to help them find joy and fulfilment in later life. 

I hope that you will help the poor souls of those who have died, 

to make their way to your kingdom.

Amen 

Reflection
Reflective: We were given lots of time today to look back and reflect on previous experiences.
Relaxing and Calm: We were able to relax and unwind during the meditation session and it was very peaceful.
Happy: We thought back on all the moments in our life that made us very happy.
Enjoyable: There were lots of games and activities for us to enjoy.
Interesting: All the activities we did were very interesting and they got our attention.

Tuesday 30th April

Focus
We designed our focus to symbolise peacefulness and today was peaceful. The sunrise represents a vision of God.

Music

We chose 'Beautiful Day' because when you're down this will cheer you up. We also picked 'All You Need Is Love', it shows that you only need love and faith, you don't need material things.

Prayers

Dear God

Thank you for everything so far and help everyone in their exams.

Lord hear us.

Dear God

We pray for those less fortunate than us 

that they may find wealth and leisure.

Lord hear us. 

Dear God

We pray for our friends and family who aren't with us any more.

Lord hear us.

Dear God

We pray that Pope Francis continues to look after us all 

and brings everyone happiness.

Lord hear us.

Dear God

We pray for our special intentions. 

We are thankful for our teachers and friends. 

Thank you for the workers here at the retreat centre who have made the day enjoyable.

Lord hear us.

Reflection
The words  peace, happy, love and holy reflect the mood of today.

Thursday 2nd May

Focus

We chose our focus to represent the tranquillity and calm from when we were meditating and reflecting. As the posters are our image of God we put them at the top of the sky, they're heaven. The flowers (swirls) represent individuality  and happiness.

Music

We chose 'Halo', everyone is surrounded by God and there is goodness in everyone, so don't shut God out. We also picked 'Reach',God wants us to reach our full potential and try our best. 

Scripture
We chose John (20: 20-21), Jesus appears to his followers, because it shows that Jesus will always be there even when things are hard and you fell like you have nobody.

Prayers

Dear God

We pray for the homeless

keep them safe.

Amen

Dear God 

We pray for our school and everyone in it.

Amen

Dear God

We pray for our friends and families.

Amen.

Dear God

We pray for our grandparents and 

all the grandparents around the world.

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the poor here and abroad.

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the sick and their families.

Keep them safe at this hard time.

Amen

Reflection

We learned about the images of God we have and what we prize most.

 Friday 3rd May

Focus
Our design symbolises the earth and its equality. The candles and stars symbolise that God brings life and light to the earth from its centre.

Music

We chose 'Diamonds' because it shows you can shine light like a diamond and you're unique and special and you can stand out.

MGMT  We chose this song because it relates to us. It reminds us of happy memories and our childhoods.

Scripture
Matthew (9:23-26), Jesus heals the officials's daughter, the moral of this story is that the father kept his faith the way we should. Don't give up on life. Also the story relates to our retreat because as the girl opens her eyes to Jesus we also do today, to God.

Prayers

Dear Lord

We pray for the poor and unfortunate, 

and all those suffering at this time.

Amen

Dear Lord

We pray for our teachers and other pupils.

Amen

Dear God 

Bless all of our families.

Amen

Dear God

We pray for the sick

Amen.

Dear God

Bless all of our friends

Amen.

Dear God 

We thank you for this wonderful day

Amen.

Reflection
We thought of the words which stood out  and were meaningful for us today.