Annual Disciples' Retreat 2023

Twenty four (24) Verbum Dei Missionary Disciples from the Manila-Pasig and Tagaytay communities journeyed together in the Annual Disciples Retreat last April 5 to 9, 2023 at the Verbum Dei Retreat House in Tagaytay. Accompanying them was a team of missionaries from various communities – Fr. Filipe Pardal (QC), Sr. Amy Hernandez (Manila-Pasig), Sr. Cha Sulbise (Cebu) and Missionary Married Couple Cookie Abrio (CDO). It was indeed “a privileged time to be alone with the Lord” (VDMD Regulations #88) as the disciples were nourished by the retreat’s theme: “I have eagerly desired to be with you. (Lk 22:15)”
 
This theme resonated even more deeply, as the retreat coincided with Holy Week and the commemoration of the Paschal Triduum. Over five days, the disciples encountered the Lord and Savior who eagerly desired to be with them:
 

• Where they were. The retreat officially began on Holy Wednesday, when the disciples were invited to look back on the past year and allow God to embrace all they carry in their hearts.
• As they are. On Holy Thursday, the guidelines prodded the disciples to give their unique response to the question:  “Who do You say I am?” in the face of their concrete realities and situations. It was a day of gazing at and being sustained by Jesus who was determined to go to Jerusalem, who lived his life loving and was committed to love to the end no matter what.  
• In their crosses. – Good Friday’s guidelines moved the disciples to see the cross not as a place of suffering but as a place of love. It was a day of contemplating Jesus at Gethsemane and the love He offered from the cross, fueled by intense prayer and absolute trust and surrender to the Father’s will.
• In the darkness and silence - Holy Saturday was a time to learn from Mother Mary of whom Jesus said: “Here is your mother,” and for whom there was hope even in sorrow and pain, fears and uncertainties. For the disciples, it was a day of pondering, opening their hearts to the needs around them and learning to trust: “Do whatever He tells you. The best is yet to come.”
• In the resurrection - Easter Sunday was a day of “pabaon” that reminded the disciples that, in Jesus’ resurrection, the endings of their stories have been written as well. It was time to contemplate the new life and new relationships that Jesus introduced–with the Father and each other. The guidelines now urged the disciples toward an external journey, bringing with them the graces received during the retreat.

 
The observance of the Paschal Triduum underscored liturgically how Jesus desired to be with the disciples as they followed His life, death and resurrection – in the Washing of the Feet, in the Veneration of the Cross, in the Easter Vigil. As Verbum Dei Missionary Disciples, the Annual Disciples Retreat was a strong reminder of how the exercise of prayer and a life of prayer is central to discipleship; it is only in these that disciples can be faithful to the end.
 
There was also a time for fellowship and faith sharing–in the individual sharing with  missionaries (including those from other communities!), in the group sharing among disciples that punctuated the retreat, and in  the much-awaited Fiesta!
 
One article will never capture the richness each disciple’s personal encounter with Jesus. A common thread, however, was the heart-level conviction that in the Risen Lord, each one is really never alone in all the places of one’s journey and that everything has a purpose in the Father’s plan.

As the retreat ended, it was time to live out one's prayer. As one disciple shared: “Like Jesus who has brought light to darkness through His Resurrection, we too might be able to bring light to our own and others’ darkness.”

With gratitude, let us pray that we may all continue to walk with the Risen Lord – allow Him – to intimately walk with us in our concrete realities. In our lives, may we be sensitive to see signs of the resurrection in each of our crosses. In our discipleship, may we bring these signs to others. In our days, may we desire to be the Risen Lord as much as He desires to be with us.