Second Youth Group Retreat in Addlestone

The retreat, celebrated at 24th of February, was a unique opportunity to prayer and reflection

On the 24th of February the second youth retreat was held in our house in Addlestone. It is a long awaited date and one that is becoming more and more popular. As with the first retreat, our larger group enjoyed a day of prayer, reflection and silence which created an atmosphere of deep connection and spiritual growth.
On this occasion, Father Martin, a Josephite religious priest, was in charge of guiding the retreat under the theme of COMMUNITY and centred it on the Trinitarian Community.
It was a theme that was very interesting for everyone since in one way or another, we all live in community. But what better way to get to know this fantastic experience than through the comments of its participants.
Here are the experiences of the young people who tell us how this silent retreat, and this theme in particular, has helped them a lot in their spiritual growth.

Our first retreat

Testimonies

★★★★★

Thank you again once more for a fantastic retreat which I believe was Providential and much needed in order to love my neighbour and consequently closer to God, loving Him for His sake. The retreat reinforced the notion that one cannot be a Christian alone, that we need to live in community in order to grow in love of God and in true virtue, and that the Holy Trinity is the model, that selfless giving to another. The group discussion also allowed us to see The Spirit clearly working in others. The day flew by, and I left in much peace. Thank you!

★★★★★

The retreat was really lovely and as well organised as ever. Thank you to all who participated. In short it was a very enriching spiritual experience, growing closer to God in the silence and then building a stronger community through relationships and communication. Many thanks to Fr Martin for his talk. I look forward to the next one.

★★★★★

It has been a very beautiful and perfectly organised retreat. Especially because during this Lent I am trying to learn more about the Holy Spirit and how he fits into the trinity, the talk and the silence allowed me to deepen this relationship with the Spirit. It was very fruitful.

★★★★★

Dear group, what a blessing to have shared the retreat with all of you. It was the first time I approached the word or concept of “communio” and I have never felt so deep, real and beautiful to be part of a community like this! And there is nothing better than a community united by our Lord. Thank you so much for inspiring me so much with your strong faith and wisdom. I can’t wait to continue to deepen my faith together with all of you.

And many thanks to Sister Isabel, Sister Josefina, Father and the whole Hospitaller Community. It was so exciting to meet the different sisters, your generosity, faith and love for others encourages the rest of society to be more active in helping others. I will remember yesterday’s retreat all my life.

★★★★★

To all the people at the retreat, you have all inspired me to devote more love to Christ as a community, and you have reminded me that living in Christ is not something that can be done alone. These retreats don’t seem long enough for all of us to share our spirituality and get to know each other better. I wish I could see you all as often as you meet in London. Thank you for such a good day, I feel this has recharged me spiritually and I am going to take this to Scotland and see what me and the Northern Catholics can cook up hahaha. God bless you all

★★★★★

The retreat was perfectly timely given what I and some others have experienced in the last few weeks. It gave us a good grounding in what it means to have a Christian community and what it takes to sustain it. It also sparked some good conversations on the way back from the retreat, so I totally agree with Joel that it was incredibly fruitful. Thank you so much for organising this retreat, Sister Isabel, I’m looking forward to the next one.