St. Anthony Retreat Center is offering a three-day weekend retreat, “The Healing Mysteries of the Rosary,” at the center’s Rose Hill, 3351 Kalihi Street in Kalihi Valley, from 5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, through noon on Sunday, Oct. 21.
The cost is $150 per person and covers meals. A non-refundable $75 deposit is due at registration. Some rooms are double occupancy. First come, first served. Space is limited. A suggested packing list will be provided at time of registration. Register by calling 845-0065.
Retreat directors Sacred Hearts Sister Marie Lemert and Malulani Kamanu will lead participants in joining the Blessed Mother Mary in prayer and healing.
Sister Marie explained the purpose and method of the retreat.
“Trauma,” she said, “whether experienced directly in our own bodies or witnessed in those we care for and love, inflicts terrible wounds to our bodies and minds, and often to our ability to connect with our community and with God.
“Without healing, the result is isolation and even despair,” Sister Marie said. “Pain and fleeting despair are common to all humans, but for Christians the cross tells us that God is with us in all circumstances.
“If trauma was experienced in early childhood, the feelings of ‘being bad’ and of God as ‘punisher’ may keep us in a place of darkness, shame, and fear,” she said.
“Physical illness, especially if it is chronic, can also lead us to despair in God’s love,” she said. “If we are disabled and can no longer ‘do’ for others, we may begin to feel invisible and increasingly lonely. Aging can add to the feelings of uselessness and loneliness; depression can blind us to the reality of the Spirit’s power to give us new life.”
Sister Marie said that the retreat will show participants how to use the rosary as “something to hang on to, a physical, concrete link between our woundedness and the reality of a loving God who desires our healing.”
“We will use our imaginations to be with Jesus during three powerful stories of healing from the Gospel of Mark, and we will call on our Mother Mary to pray for us in our need. There will be silence and periods of optional sharing, nourishing meals, and the beauty of God’s creation.”
Mass for Sunday will be celebrated with the sacrament of anointing of the sick.
