Sr Camilla Oberding from the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham reminded attendees that we are all called to be saints. “We have to be the face of Christ,” said Sr Camilla, “and not just ‘Sunday Christians’ who then live the rest of their week by the secular values of the world.”
The aim of the retreat was to help participants recognise how God acts in our daily lives and to realise that He most often chooses to act in hiddenness, as He did in the burning bush with Moses or as a defenceless child to the Magi. “We expect God to appear and make everything very clear to us,” said Sr Camilla, “but to see how He is working in hiddenness and in the ‘mess’ and reality of my life, my family, and the Church, I must develop a personal relationship with Him.”
Sr Camilla provided participants with various indispensable tools for this. She said, “We need to become comfortable spending time with Him in silence. We have one mouth and two ears; however long we spend talking to God, we should spend twice as long listening to Him. If we don’t take time to be with Him in silence, we won’t know Him, and we will end up creating a god in our own image and likeness.” Prayer is where we should bring our real selves to God—our hurt, pain, anger, and questions—because God can use all the circumstances of our lives to help us grow closer to Him.
Quoting from Paragraph 2559 of the Catechism, Sr Camilla reflected on the essential nature of humility in prayer: “Man is a beggar before God.” This humility is a fruit of frequent attendance at the Sacrament of Reconciliation (‘confession’)—at least once a month for lay people—if we truly want to grow in humility, be healed of our wounds and pain, and grow in knowledge of ourselves and God.
“God is longing for a personal relationship with us,” continued Sr Camilla. “Only we can impede that—if we live with the values of our secular culture and allow our egos to choose the easy way out.”
The Eucharist is the real, living presence of Jesus among us, just as real as He was when He walked on earth, Sr Camilla said. An attitude of loving openness to Him in Holy Communion, preparing ourselves before Mass, making a thanksgiving prayer after Mass, and frequent attendance at Mass and adoration are further indispensable tools to grow in understanding of how God is working in our lives, as is daily Bible reading, especially the Gospels.
Sr Camilla quoted the English priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, who said, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God”, to show that God is not utilitarian but lavish in His love. “The whole universe was designed by a God who is pursuing our hearts. It is all done to show us His majesty and beauty and to draw us to Himself,” continued Sr Camilla.
The afternoon session involved a reflection on the many and varied gifts of women, and how those gifts can allow women to follow Christ more closely. However, these gifts can also have a ‘shadow side’, which women need to be aware of so that God can draw us out of ourselves to become whole and holy.
The retreat was edifying, spiritually nourishing, and enriching for both soul and mind. There were many calls from the audience for this to become an annual or biannual event. So watch this space!
For any comments, please contact MFL Coordinator, Antonia Braithwaite, at mflcoordinator@rcdea.org.uk.