My Retreat Experience

My retreat has just come to an end. I’m writing this article to share my experience with you. I had my 3-day Senior Christian Retreat with my classmates on July 17 to July 19 at Oasis of Dialogue, Pitogo, Z.C.  As I was returning back home to my daily busy and hectic routine, I thought of my friends and new friends I made and the peaceful surrounding that was far from where I live in. I was hoping that I’ll have another retreat in some other time. Apart from those wonderful memories, the primary purpose was for myself. But for now, I say goodbye to these lovely memories…I will always remember the lessons learned.

In the sessions and sharings that we had, I felt the existence of God speaking through each one of us. Amazing right?! I wanted to share each and every lesson I learned from our retreat but I just can’t contain them all in this blog site. Even though I will post several articles for the experiences I had gone through, still it isn’t enough. Instead, let me share with you my greatest realization. I am the type of person who strives hard to achieve my desires in life, God was before just someone I know, someone who is there to give me strength to continue life. In the struggles I have gone through I relied on my own strength that I may overcome them, God was apart and was usually my last resort when everything fails. Guilty to say that I am one of the many people who would likely cling to Him for help if I know situation gets hopeless. Undergoing this retreat, pointed me that the reason why I feel so empty inside was because God is apart of me. He seemed like He is a different person whom is impossible to have relationship with. I realized that God should be with me through my happiest, saddest and even everyday of my life. In this way, I won’t ever feel alone and would always have the willing power to go through life’s challenges.

The challenge for me then is to find my purpose in life, one that God wishes me to do. The question of “how I shall do this” and “what is my purpose in life” is another lesson that demands an answer. For I now I realize that if I would just crave for my desires, desires without God would never be successful. For I am incomparable with God, to God I’m just a grain of sand. Anything could be possible in a click of time.

Morality:Science In Search for God’s Will

     Morality has always been present in our everyday lives - in our treatment to others, in the thoughts we share, and in the words we speak. Everyday our actions are being judged by others whether they are moral or immoral. We can say that morality then deals with the judgment of our actions, providing as a guide for us to know whether our acts are good/bad and right/wrong.

      In the words of Antonin Sertillanges, “Morality is a science of what (man) human ought to be by reason of what s/he is.” Let me dissect this statement into parts and give my reactions on them respectively.

“Morality is a science”. Since the reality of change is irrefutable, the need for continuous study of the different matters existing in this world is deemed necessary. The only constant thing in this world is change, even morality changes. There are three reasons for reevaluation of the moral standards that we live by: a.) the definition of morality in the past, may be obsolete in the present or in the near future, b.) to determine whether they do contribute to the welfare of the humankind, and c.) to avoid unwanted circumstances to happen just like what happened in history. Therefore, we must be constantly reminded to be open-minded, to reflect on them and learn to listen to change. However, as we tend to develop and to use our human reasoning in its fullest level, there are times that people use them just to outsmart one another. Knowledge was considered Power, but applying such gift in wrong ways. Lawyers are supposed to defend the weak. But nowadays lawyers use their skills and intelligence to perfect their use of “white lies”, defending the ones who are guilty instead of the innocent. Let us look at our Church and the biblical scholars, such a dismay! One Church, one teaching, but several interpretations! The problem is that our search for truth has been obscured by the different interpretations that proclaim to be the truth. I do not know if you may agree with me, but I think we have lost track of the definition of goodness. I feel that what we thought is good is not the goodness that God expects from us. As Mr. Sagados told us, “Before the Church prefers that rape is better than masturbation, although the Church knows that both are bad…” However, as time passed by, rape is considered one of the heinous crimes and masturbation scientifically proven to be a healthy exercise but still not recommended by the Church. Perhaps we must reflect on this question, “Are we really practicing morality according to His will, or over time we have been developing morality that we think would satisfy our needs?”

“Morality is concerned with what a person ought to be.” This is true. Morality serves us as our guiding principle for the choices we make. As a human being we respond in accord of what are expected of us. We deal with situations that we are confronted into as a human beings would do. Morality is future-directed. When confronted in a situation, we not only decide the best solution to escape the present, but also think of the possible consequences of our actions. This is actually easier said than done, but we can always get used to do things the right way. What is ought to be is not what pleases majority, but what is the right thing that one must do given a particular situation.

“Morality judges what is right or wrong by virtue of what humanity is.” Being human means to be like God in His goodness. In Genesis it was stated, “Man was created in the image and likeness of God…” This means all of us are created equally and has the capability of goodness inside of us. Deep inside of us, we know the definition of good, that’s why we have our conscience to help us evaluate whether our acts are good or bad. We are called to respond to doing good, but usually we fail to because temptation is very strong. Morality judges what is right or wrong, but it does not allow us to judge the person behind the act. No one can judge or condemn others of his/her mistakes. The challenge for us is to reach a helping hand and lead him to the light of goodness.

To sum up everything, it is important for us to be open-minded for a possibility of change. Morality like science undergoes the steps of observation, rationalization and implementation. Morality adapting to our changing times may or may not yield to fruitful and acceptable results, that’s why we are constantly reminded to reflect and recheck the norms or standards we live by. In our search for moral standards that would frame us to become a better person, we must first and forever remember that we are also in search to follow the will of God and not living to satisfy our own needs.