By Mr. Narol Sapak
East Boroko, PNG, 28 May 2016 -- The Grade 10 batch of 2016 successfully completed their Annual Recollection held at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in DBTS, East Boroko. The recollection took place over five consecutive weekends from the 7th to the 28th of May and each class attended the spiritual formation and personal growth exercise. The retreat had as its theme ‘COME ALIVE’ and was animated by the Spiritual Moderator, Fr. Ambrose Pereira, SDB and Mr. Narol Sapak.
Each recollection began at 8am with students signing in and settling down for the day’s activities. Fr. Ambrose welcomed the students and encouraged them to get into the mood of reflection and self awareness. Youthful joy and fun flooded in as the students clapped, sang and shouted as they participated in the fun games piloted by Mr. Narol during which the students learnt concentration, listening to instructions, swift decision making and time management.
Session one entitled “Where am I?” was facilitated by Fr. Ambrose. He guided the students to reflect on their relationship with the Lord and their lives as a young people. The session began with short video clips that demonstrated perfection. This led to an interestingly peculiar group activity where a puzzle of a portrait had to be arranged with limited glue and in TOTAL SILENCE. Though challenging, all groups finished the puzzle with important lessons learnt from the activity. A talk then followed on one’s inward journey, self-awareness, self-acceptance, change for the better. and a positive direction of one’s life. The session concluded with readings from the Holy Bible about the Lord Jesus Christ calling one to COME, LISTEN and LOVE. Morning break was around 10:15 am when the Salesian Mission Day video entitle ‘Come help us’ was screened. It included visuals of the Rector Major, Fr. Angel Fernandez in Papua New Guinea. It was amazing to see Bosconians from Solomon Islands and around the Pacific Region.
After a 15-minute break Mr. Narol dealt with the topic “How am I?” in session two. The session commenced with a meditation. The students were guided through the meditation with breath control, focus and personal reflection. He then reflected on the different faces of life as a young person while sharing his story as a son, a student and a citizen of this country. His talk was mostly about personal determination, facing challenges, positivity and being close to God. The session ended with a clip about ‘Never giving up’ and a slide show presentation on “Appreciation”.
A delicious lunch was provided by the school administration and was well appreciated by the students as well as their class patrons and matrons. After lunch, the students had the opportunity to make their peace with God through the Sacrament of Confession at the hands of their confessor Fr. Edwardo Revilla from Savio Haus, while the others prepared the liturgy. The Holy Eucharist was celebrated by Fr. Ambrose in the Shrine chapel. The heavenly hymns were joyfully and harmoniously sung. A solemn moment was when the students offered their resolutions to the Lord as they prayed for his healing touch.
To close off the day, an evaluation was done. A clean-up ensured that the place clean was left in better shape than when they received it. Cheers to the Grade 10 students for successfully completing their recollection. Viva Don Bosco!
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