This weekend I went on a retreat called "Jesus Getaway" with the Catholic Campus Center. These are some words that I would use to describe it: fun, insightful, interesting, wonder, knowledge, relationships, relaxing, prayer, powerful, and many others for sure! It was a great experience and I learned soooo much! The retreat was focused on the Eurcharistic Life. What does it mean to live your life Eucharistically?
Here are some quotes that I found thought provoking (some said by other retreaties, from the Bible, or from famous people):
"Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world." - St. Terese of Avila
"Proclaiming the death of the Lord 'until He comes' entails that all who take part in the Eucharist be committed to changing their lives and making them in a certain way completely Eucharistic. It is that fruit of a transfigured existence and commitment to transforming the world in accordance with the gospel which splendidly illustrates the eschatological tension inherent in the celebration of the Eucharist and Christian life as a whole." - Pope JP II Ecclesia Euchaistia
"Please remove your masks unless you are a superhero."
"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her"
"Taking part in Eucharistic sacrifice which is the source and summit of the Christian life, we offer the divine victim to God and offer ourselves along with it." - Vatican II
"The Eucharistic sacrifice makes present not only the mystery of Jesus' passion and death, but also the mystery of the resurrection which crowned his sacrifice"
We talked about many different topics during this retreat, but the main question was how do we live a Eucharistic life? To summarize my thoughts and what we discussed, living Eucharistically is about sacrifice and unity. We must make sacrifices to become closer to God. Also, the Catholic Church is one. We must need to come together to spread the faith and to know the real presence of God during the Eucharist. "This is my Body" becomes real when we are praying and worshiping together as one.
Another thing we discussed was how we get out of a routine during mass. Some of the other girls and I agreed that sometimes we may get distracted during mass. How do we prevent this from happening? For one, we can come to mass asking for God's guidance during the mass to help us concentrate and fully get what we need out of mass. Also, coming to mass a little earlier to pray will help too. I definitely need to work on this though, but since going on this retreat and fully understanding what is exactly happening in church I hope to be more engaged.
To end the night, we had a “teaching mass.” A teaching mass is when Father will say mass, but will explain everything that he is doing. He explains the what, who, when, why, how, etc. of the mass. It was really neat and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mass/ Eucharistic is essential and the key to the Catholic faith so it was great to learn the details of mass.
There are so many other things that I could share… but that is enough for now. I had a great time on this retreat and I hope to go on many more in the future! Sharing and listening to other young Catholics that are also trying to discover their faith is what it is all about!
