Last weekend was the first of many Confirmation retreats. I think the original goal was to try and schedule at most 2 per week. This week we have 4! Whoops! The retreat was on Saturday in New Ross and was for all the girls in their Confirmation class. I really like the idea of splitting up the boys and girls, because the girls were so relaxed and I imagine there were a lot fewer makeup and hair checks than if it had been mixed.
Spoiler alert for anyone planning on coming on a Confirmation Retreat…
The retreat is focused around discovering what gifts we have and where they come from. Through various activities they help each other see their best qualities and then come to realize, if they haven’t already, that these gifts are from God. We talk about the importance of using our gifts to better serve our community: whether it be our school community, our church community, our home, etc. And then come the gifts of the Holy Spirit! We talk about these gifts and reflect on how they help us in our Christian lives and how they help us develop all our other gifts.
The retreat was a great success and we only made a few minor tweaks for our next one, which is happening as I write this post! The girls were so well-behaved and responsive and willing to participate! And they were so patient when I totally blanked on how to do our weaving wheel activity! Through my life I am constantly reminded that arts and crafts is not a gift I possess!
I think my favorite part of the retreat was in small groups when the girls affirmed each other while throwing a ball of wool across the circle and creating a web. They were so careful to make sure everyone had the same amount of affirmations and they knew so much about their classmates and the gifts their gifts. They didn’t want to stop and they could’ve affirmed each other all day! After we shared about 4 gifts each, we stopped and talked about how the web got stronger when everyone shared their gifts. I was so impressed with how quickly they caught on to the metaphor and they seemed to really like the whole activity!
Even though it was the first retreat and I was a ball of stress, the girls were great and a good time was had by all!
On Sunday we all had our usual Educate Together sacramental preparation, Children’s Liturgy Mass, Folk Group Mass, RCIA…and then we had a workshop at Our Lady’s Island! The group at Our Lady’s Island is so great to work with and so supportive of our ministry, so we were pretty excited to get the chance to sing with them for a few hours. We taught the Mass for Our Lady, which seemed approriate, Bless the Corners (which has a beautiful uillean pipe part for the piper in their group), Bi ‘Íose in Chroíse, and We Walk by Faith. In these parish workshops we spend some time going through parts and really taking the pieces apart. We also talk about cantoring, focusing on what their ministry means, and choir faith formation. We had a great time singing and praying and look forward to seeing them again!
So while we had a long and busy weekend, there were some great things happening and it’s an exciting time in the House of Brigid! And it’s only going to get more busy and more exciting! So keep us in your prayers!
