This past weekend the Catholic Midshipmen Club hosted the spring retreat in Centreville, Maryland. There were about fifty-five midshipmen who came to learn more about the catholic faith. The midshipmen lead the entire retreat, and the theme was based on the Apostle's Creed. That is the shorter creed we use in some masses.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
It was so great to see the leaders step up and share their own faith in the talks and small groups. The retreat started Friday evening with the stations of the cross at the Naval Academy. Then everyone traveled in different cars to the retreat center in Centreville. (Haha! Center in Centreville, it just sounds funny to me as I read it.) We all got there at about dusk. We dropped of our stuff, and went straight to dinner. We had some type of fish, because it was a Friday. Then we heard the first talk over the first third of the creed. Next we went to adoration, and father Mike started hearing confessions. Then it was free time which meant people stayed up by the campfire until about midnight.
On Saturday, we started with the liturgy of the hours, at 7:30 in the morning, followed by breakfast. Liturgy of the hours is a series of set prayers from scripture for the days of the week. Millions of catholics pray these everyday. My favorite is Sunday night prayer. At the retreat, we did liturgy of the hours in the morning and at night, and I think there are a few students who want to continue it at the Naval Academy. We then heard the second talk and broke up into small groups. Each group was lead by a student leader, and it allowed for mids to open up and ask questions about the faith. Next we went to lunch and had about two hours of silence to pray and meditate. After that we had three hours of free time so we played soccer and football.
While we were playing, we could see these dark clouds getting closer, but it was still sunny. After a little while it began to snow, so it was snowing while it was sunny. Everyone was amazed at how peaceful it seemed.
We then heard our third and last talk on the Apostle's Creed, had mass, and then went to dinner. When we came back from dinner we had adoration for an hour. It was a great time to be with our Lord in prayer, and many times this is most people's favorite part of the retreat. To finish off Saturday night we had a bonfire and s'mores. Everyone loves s'mores!
Sunday flew by. We started the day with mass and then breakfast. One of the midshipmen named Steve finished up the retreat with a great talk on living our faith and being truly alive. Many of the mids were truly impacted by that talk, and it was great to see Steve in action and telling his testimony. After that we ate lunch and went back home. It was a great retreat, and so many people started coming to bible studies and daily mass the following week. I can't wait to see what the Lord does.
P.S. I just came back from Rome, and I saw our new Pope!!! Thank you for all the photos Katy!!!
