“What is God’s Plan for your life?” This is an important question for us all! Eight young adults gathered for a retreat at Graymoor from December 7-9, 2018 to explore this very question of God’s call for their lives. There were two goals for the Young Adult Retreat: 1) to teach practical tools for discerning God’s plan for our lives (whether that concerns a career path, a call to marriage, and perhaps even a call to religious life) and 2) introduce retreatants to the splendor of Graymoor, including the charisms of the Sisters and Friars of the Atonement. This latter goal was especially important for those participants explicitly exploring a call to become a Sister or Friar of the Atonement.
Highlights included a pilgrimage led by Sr. Lucinda and Bro. Paolo Nicosia, SA to the holy sites of Graymoor such as the Sisters’ Our Lady of the Angels Chapel and the Friars’ St. Francis Chapel, Mass with Fr. Ken Cienik, SA and the Brothers Christopher at St. Christopher’s Inn, and a talk by Fr. Dennis Polanco, SA (not pictured) on how heroines and heroes of the Bible inspire us as models for responding to God’s call.
In their own words, there were takeaways from the retreatants:
- “That I’ll be okay whatever direction I decide to take. God has the plan and I have to trust it. I’m excited to carve out more time for silence and to listen to God’s voice.”
- “The Lord is calling me to be open to religious life, specifically the Franciscan one.”
- “A renewal for myself…a reminder to not go it alone and to double down on prayer.”
- “A better understanding of who I am! Time to reflect and a commitment to love myself more.”
The next Young Adult Retreat Weekend takes place March 15-17. Please pass along this opportunity to young women and men. Also, invite young men who may be considering religious life to attend our upcoming “Come & Discern Vocation Retreat,” February 15-18.
Most importantly, please keep these young adults in your prayers so that they may respond with open hearts to God’s call to bring At-One-Ment to our world!