Religious Retreat at La Salle Pastoral Centre
On the 14th of November, our class went on a retreat to La Salle Pastoral Centre. We left at 9:15 and returned at 2:45. When we got off the bus we were greeted by Michelle and Margaret, who are two of the instructors at La Salle. We went inside and played a game called ‘Lions, Tigers and Bears.’
Once we were done we all sat down and made a class contract. Everyone agreed to the contract and the leaders told us we were going to play another game. It was like pass the parcel except with lots of balloons and you had to pop it when you got it! Then we were split into three groups. Our group was with Margaret. We talked about God and how we can all shine our light to help others. Then we wrote down our ideas and discussed how our kind actions can make God and other people very happy. Once we had done this we got our break and ate it outside.
After we had our break, our group was taken to the church for a meditation session. We sat on cushions and closed our eyes. We did this for about 15 minutes. Then we drew or wrote what we thought about during meditation on a piece of card. We stuck streamers to these and made them into kites. We then got our lunch, ate it and went outside to play football and skip.
When we were finished our lunch we talked about shining our light. We got card and drew around our hands and cut them out. Then, on the hand we wrote ways we could shine our light.
Next it was time to plan our prayer service. There were five groups. The groups were music, focus, drama, prayers and posters. I was in the group which created the focus, which would be placed in the middle of the church. Everyone planned their part for about 20 minutes. Then the prayer service began. The decoration in the church was a flowing river and this represented us shining our light continuously. Music was played and a drama took place about a rainbow of colours, and why each one was special for different reasons. Some people said prayers and at the end we all said a prayer together. The prayer service was over and it was time to go home. Overall it was a very enjoyable day and I would love to go back there again!
By Aoife
P7 McGivern
