By Bianca Kallukaran, published in AMM Bulletin Spring 2022
Contemplatives in Action
On the beautiful sunny day of Sunday the 26th of June 2022, the AMM members of the Marsfield community gathered in the Elizabeth House Hall of the Marsfield campus of the Daughters of Charity) for their annual retreat. Fr Kevin Canty, CM, together with the assistance of the AMM Sydney core team and the Daughters of Charity (Marsfield community) delivered the retreat with the theme: “Prayer in my life“. This theme focused on three keys:
- What is prayer
- How to pray as Jesus taught us
- Putting faith into action (with some Vincentian hints)
A Day that started and ended with Prayer
The day began with a talk from Fr Kevin on the importance of prayer. Fr Kevin presented the retreatants with some beautiful quotes one particularly striking as “the devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’, ‘one who has experienced something’, or ‘they will cease to be anything at all‘ (Karl Rahner 1977). The need to centre Christ in one’s life was a clear theme from the start which was followed through by a reflective song “You are the Centre” by Margaret Rizza. “You are the centre, Lord, of my life” was the reflective point for retreatants before a short silence to listen to the Spirit drawing us to the love of God. A quick morning tea was a good refresher before Fr Kevin brought the retreatants into the how’s of prayer.
As Fr Kevin pointed out, there are many ways to pray: through the word of God, through song, through intercessory prayer, through acts of charity and list goes on. Particularly characteristic of the Vincentian way was through reflecting on the word of God and applying it to how one lives it out in their daily life – in striving to “follow his [God] great providence in everything” (St Vincent: Documents, vol 2, p.453). A mini booklet entitled “Prayer in my life today” (2003) was circulated to the retreatants where Fr Kevin through these own writings shared with the retreatants true stories of faith lived out and rising above “death, life, angels, principalities, things to come, powers, height, depth, anything else in creation” (Romans 8:28-39). Soon, there was another opportunity for silent reflection and to roam in the surroundings of the beautiful Elizabeth House. Lunch was then served before the afternoon session which was a chance for retreatants to meet and join in fellowship with one another.
Towards the end of the retreat, there was time for retreatants to share their thoughts from their silent reflections and many shared sentiments of desiring to “see” Christ more in others particularly in the family and friendship circles where conflicts lie in the way faith and religion are viewed. There was also discussion on how to bring others to Christ particularly for the younger generation and how to witness to the faith everyday: at home, at work, at school and other social groups and how to draw oneself closer to Christ at the same time amidst the realities of these aspects of life in living out one’s true vocation. This was then succeeded by a rosary prayer led by Sr Rosa DC. The retreat ended with a Holy Mass at 3 pm celebrated by Fr Kevin and this consummated the purpose of the retreat to grow closer to Christ and to bring others too on the journey with Our Blessed Mother.
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The AMM members of the Marsfield community acknowledge that this retreat would not be possible without the loving help of the Daughters of Charity (Marsfield Community), Fr Kevin’s bold yes to deliver a whole retreat, the loving assistance of AMM members Lita, Maricel, Raul, Sr Rosa, Bianca and all those who helped in any small but extraordinary way. But most importantly our hearts are lifted up in gratitude to Jesus through Mary, for making it all possible after all the challenges offered by the pandemic and in our daily lives.