Days 196-202: Oasis Retreats (3/20-3/26/21)

We had a pair of retreats in Luling, Louisiana, one being at Holy Family, the other at St. Anthony. Both parishes are combining their groups based on age: the first retreat at Holy Family are for the middle schoolers, while St. Anthony would host the high schoolers. I lead the middle school retreat, and while it was a bit of a tougher crowd, an overwhelming amount of students went to confession, which was so amazing to watch! The high school retreat turned out very different. They started out really tough, but eventually warmed up to us, especially the guys in my small group. Once again, an amount of youth went to confession, it was so flipping beautiful! What really stuck out to me were the priests. Fr. Anthony and Fr. Steven, the pastors at the two parishes, are such incredible priests. They spoke so eloquently for their homilies, would do 30-minute confessions for us, and their stories are inspirational. I loved Luling for their priests! . . The next three days were super vital for me, as I would begin my Oasis retreat. An oasis is a 48-hour personal retreat to get rest and refuel for the rest of the year, which is given to 2nd-years and/or Team Leaders. I would have my retreat first, then Samuel, then Grace and Amanda at the same time. I would have mine with the St. Cyr family, who lived in Baton Rouge. They had a son do NET, and have hosted teams since. Aside from some spiritual direction from a priest, stations of the cross, daily mass, and a few phone calls, I did nothing except lie in my bed. My body was so physically beat, what I truly needed was to do nothing. I had meals with the family, but aside from that I had “me-time” for the first time in awhile. It was refreshing for my body, and I’m so grateful for it. . . I returned to the team in the middle of an all-girls retreat on the 24th in Metairie, LA, where I tag-teammed with Samuel so he could go to his Oasis retreat with the St. Cyr’s. When I entered the retreat, they were having adoration. Afterwards, the energy of the girls was overwhelming. That had to be the best lunch period on retreat, as the girls were taking the mic and sharing talents. It was so much fun! Loved hanging with them for half the day. . . We arrived at St. Cletus in Gretna, LA to prepare for the 6-7th grade school retreat after the all-girls retreat. At first we almost weren’t able to put on the retreat in the same place due to social distancing, but fortunately the CDC just changed distancing rules from 6 ft. to 3ft., so we were able to squeeze the students in. The archdiocese of New Orleans is definitely more strict COVID-wise than the rest of Louisiana, but we make it work. The St. Gretna retreat was wild, too. Well, maybe just for me, I had a rowdy bunch of 6th graders, who were so fun to be with but a major distraction to the rest of the group. Oops. Oh well, I had fun at least. That evening we went to the New Orleans Cathedral for the feast of the Annunciation Mass, which was so sick! It was a taste of NOLA. We’re getting ever so closer to downtown. Eventually we will get there. We also stayed at this really cool cylinder-shaped Holiday Inn, which was fascinating and fun. . . One of the retreats I missed while on my Oasis retreat was at Archbishop Shaw High School, an all-boys school in Marrero, LA. Fortunately, we returned to Shaw to lead the freshman retreat, after I missed the sophomore one. Their youth minister, Fr. John, is a young Salesian priest with a go-getter attitude and lots of energy and zeal for the Catholic faith. He was such a big help on today’s retreat, along with Brother Rafael, another Salesian. Salesians are a religious order very similar to the Jesuits, highly recommend looking into them as they are not too popular in the US. Anyway, the retreat was fun! I played a full-court basketball scrimmage with the guys, which got me so hyped since I haven’t done that in well over a year. Overall, a fun retreat, and we’ll be back in a month to put on retreats for the juniors and seniors! Super pumped, but for now we go to Slidell, LA, right off the I-10 close to the Mississippi border. The guys stayed the night with a couple, Theresa and Jim, who taught us how to play Ticket to Ride, which is now one of my favorite board games after I dominated the other guys. It was quite the week to say the least, energy levels fluctuated like crazy but I’m here for the ride always. Besides, I need to be cherishing it too, as I know the end is in sight.