Retreat

In January of this year our program director Rhegan and FMS board member Fr. Joe came to Bolivia to guide us in retreat, and also visit our work sites and our Bolivian homes. We went to a retreat center within the city limits of Cochabamba, and yet it felt far away. The grounds were well kept, there was a beautiful chapel, we had simple rooms and hot water!! We even had flowered covered gazebos were we met sometimes and where we had had our final mass. See above picture.



Flowers at Retreat Center

We had morning and evening prayer, group discussions and reflection times. I will quote from one of the evening reflections sheets Rhegan prepared for us:

"As missioners we know that we do not possess God. We do not carry God to distant lands and peoples. Rather it is God who possesses us and sends us to peoples of our world."

"As missioners we seek to live simple lives. By stripping ourselves of all that is not essential, we strive to be free from possessions in order to be for God."

"As missioners we celebrate the lives and experiences of the people with whom we are sent. Their lives change us. We experience with them a celebration, a joy, and unity of life beyond our individual experience. We celebrate the fact that we are becoming one just as Jesus wanted us to be."



Some of our reflections focused on The Beatitudes and on Canticles. One exercise we were given for the retreat was to create a canticle. We were given art supplies and instructions. We were to present our canticles in our final gathering time. Our responses were as varied as we are each different. At the time my thoughts were very much on my location of living and work; Tiqti Sud. I drew the picture below and wrote the verses that follow the picture.






Bless the Lord, you hills of Tiqti:
Who look from various angles
as the City of Jerusalem,
when the golden light of sunset,
shines on your unfinished houses of adobe and brick.

Bless the Lord! You cacti who flower and bloom,
and give your fruit for free.

Bless the Lord! You water that drops upon the dry soil,
that collects to running torrents.

Bless the Lord! You sun of Tiqti,
lifegiving and parching.

Bless the Lord! You brown dry plants,
that with rain become luscious green plants.

Bless the Lord! Oh you animals of Tiqti,
foraging pigs, nibbling goats, barking dogs,
seeking sheep, quacking ducks, and pecking chickens.

Bless the Lord! Oh you small creatures,
ants laboring under a large leaf,
grasshoppers looking for grass,
spiders protecting,
dragonflies who stay the night,
and other crawly unnamed many legged friends.

Bless the Lord! You hills of Tiqti,
who not long ago held life of one sort.
Now you open your arms to the scars
inflicted by humans,
and still you cradle us,
the new life,
to live on your soil.

Bless the Lord! You hills of Tiqti! Bless the Lord!

Bless the Lord!