We all need a break!

Last November 25, 2005, we had a whole day Saliksik (recollection) at the Agno house. My first thought about the recollection is that it wouldn’t be fruitful. First, the place was just there in Lasalle. Second, November28 is a holiday. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared it a special non-working holiday in commemoration of Araw ng mga Bayani. With this, it would seriously affect the participants’ will of sacrificing one of their gimmick times to go into a recollection. I was afraid that it wouldn’t be a good recollection because the participants wouldn’t have their hearts on it.

I was wrong. From the start of the recollection, I can already feel the presence of the Holy Spirit working. I was really surprised that we were even able to start on time. That is a WOW for me. Second, most participants really wanted having that retreat, and that became obvious in their attentiveness and cooperation during the retreat. The one thing I heard God telling me that day is that I worry too much. I realized that I should not dwell too much on my worries that it becomes the center of my focus. I think God was trying to tell me to trust Him and he wouldn’t let me down.

As with the title of my paper, I really needed a break so I am really a supporter of this recollection. I have been to many recollections, retreats, encounters before. I don’t really get tired of them. Though sometimes they talk of the same topics, I made it a point to treat them always as something new, an experience to be experienced all over again. This is true with this recollection. I got to learn and experience something new, which I would share in the latter part of this paper. The weeks before the recollection have been a series of hell weeks. I can really feel that I am physically and emotionally drained. What’s more I have been skipping my prayer times with God in favor of the much needed sleep. With that, I was also left spiritually drained. There even came a time that I couldn’t feel the presence of God working in my life. It is as if I, and only I who are living my life. So the timing of the retreat (right after those hell weeks) is just great. From that alone you can already see God working. Knowing that you needed Him very much during those times, He even initiated your meeting with Him, setting the time and venue.

What has been wonderful about this recollection are three things, Sir Fajardo, the confession, and the Eucharist. Kuya Fajardo was able to present God in a very lively way. This is a far cry from most other speakers who bore their participants to death. He was able to successfully bridge the gap between speaker and audience. Next is the confession. I experienced a new thing here. The Eucharist on the other hand was really fit to be a culmination event during the recollection. I offered the a line in the last prayer as my penance for my sins.

We should remember that Jesus prayed in the silence of the desert (Mark 1:13). It is in the whispers of the wind and not the noise of thunders did Elijah found God (1 Kings 19:11-14). I believe that it is the same with us. We need to get out of our everyday life, even for a short time to reorient ourselves and feel even more the presence of God. It is really good to have recollections once in a while where you simply forget all your worries and just feel the love of God.

PHOTOS: by hubert pacheco