CSA funds annual college retreat By Fabvienen Taylor
DURANT — “Wait With Me In The Garden” was the theme of the 2009 annual diocesan spring retreat for college students.
During the three-day retreat, Friday - Sunday, March 1-4, the 40 students attending were prompted by organizers to take a step back, to give themselves time to think and reflect, to get away from everything at Holmes County State Park.
“Put yourself in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray and wherer he asked his disciples to wait with him,” said Father Gregory Plata on Saturday morning during his presentation, “On Waiting.”
Father Plata is pastor of Greenwood St. Francis of Assisi and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes.
He explained that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was going through, they did not notice the anxiousness in his face about what was coming, they did not grasp that Jesus would have to suffer and die for them.
Not until after his death and resurrection were their eyes opened on the road to Emmaus with Jesus, he said. “What they had been waiting for had come to fulfillment in Jesus.”
“So is the waiting over? Not for us on our journey to salvation as Christians, Jesus said the road to salvation is a narrow road and we claim it by how we live each day,” he said.
Today’s society is one that has no tolerance for waiting,” he said.
“We don’t like to wait. We don’t like waiting for God, we want what we want from him right now. But we’ve got to be patient and learn to wait on God. If not we will get frustrated, depressed, and may turn to drugs, alcohol and bad relationships,” Father Plata told the group of students from Mississippi State University (MSU), the University of Mississippi (UM) and East Central Community College (ECCC).
Just as God waits for them, he said, they must wait for God to work in their lives.
Following his presentation the students were asked to list one or two things worth waiting for and to reflect on four questions.
Other weekend activities included prayer experiences out in nature, small group activities, individual time, praise and worship, reconciliation services, and several more presentations on the theme of waiting.
Each year the retreat is funded through the annual Catholic Service Appeal (CSA) for campus ministry. Other areas funded include seminarian education, priests, retirement and clergy assistance, Catholic Charities, mission schools and parishes, and evangelization.
This year’s collection is the weekend of May 2-3, 2009. The CSA theme is “Imitate Christ’s Love.”
Approximately 6,000 Catholic students attend 21 colleges and universities in the Diocese of Jackson.
For 25-year-old Jay Valdez, the retreat was a time to reconnect with his faith.
“Church has become so routine for me spiritually I felt I needed to get away. I mainly needed to just get away.”
MSU freshman Sarah Phelan, 18, enjoyed the fellowship with other Catholic students the retreat offered.
“It was not something I had to do. That really leaves you open for real spiritual growth,” said Phelan who described herself as a “really impatient person.”
“Now I can just take the time to think about things, to take out time to think for myself and talk to God,” she said.
A friend invited senior Kyle Boudreau, 22, to the retreat.
“I was looking forward to this weekend, when I would be free. I have been out of town every weekend for frisbee tournaments.
“My time and God’s time seem to be completely separate entities. What I want when I want it may not happen the way I want it to. So I’m learning that I have to just wait it out. I just hope my plans fall in line with God’s plans for me.”
Fran Lavelle, MSU campus minister said Father Plata did a good job with the students.
“They live in such a hectic world,” she said. “Here they are getting to experience the fruits of the Garden of Gethsemane. They are hearing about waiting, about betrayal, about Jesus’ surrender, about how we all have to let go of all of our ‘stuff’ and just wait on God.”
