Located only 15 minutes driving from Melbourne CBD, Campion Retreat Centre in Kew is as beautiful as I expected. I was greeted by Ms. Marlene Marburg, my spiritual director, who also wrote me a lovely welcome letter. My room is #21, next to the rear door to the labyrinth and gardens. The view is fantastic as well. Perfect.
This is my fourth retreat so far. My first one was when I was in the 6th grade, the second was during my high school time, and the third was about nine years ago when I was in the college. My decision to join this retreat came up only a month ago. So I rushed searching on retreat centres in Australia, booked an airline ticket, reserved hotel (I still have to stay in hotel for some days though), called a shuttle bus from/to airport, reserved Campion for my retreat, got all the confirmations, and done. Thank God I still have my Australian visa valid.
I did plan many things during this retreat. A seven-day rosary, lectio divina, and personal prayer in the chapel were only some of them. I also have to see my spiritual director tomorrow at 9.30AM, Monday at 10.15AM and Wednesday at the same time. I am actually a bit blur this very moment, maybe because this is the eve of my big birthday and I don’t know what to do next. But let’s just see la.
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I met another retreatants on the dinner. We had a big chunk of pink salmon and generous amount of chips, fresh raw veggies were also served. I don’t know how the chef made that creamy merinque tart for the desert but it’s sooo yummy. After dinner, a group of Redemptorist Vietnamese Priests were also coming. They are very lively, laughing and joking most of the times. If I hadn’t knew that they were priests I probably assume that they were just some guys.
As I walked on the corridor back to my room, I was feeling a bit lonely. This is the longest holiday of my own, I had always been with family or friends on vacations. Well, I did go to some places by myself and I also live alone in Singapore for these last couple of years, but those are different I think. I did mix this holiday with a skiing trip to Mt. Buller and shopping fiesta in Spencer St. later on. So I must say to myself that this’s going to be a wonderful time for me! Yay!
The seven-day rosary that I’m going to say tonight is about The Sorrowful Mysteries. Today is Friday, so every Fridays and Tuesdays and also everyday during the Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, the said rosary is about the process of The Crucifixition of Jesus. The five mysteries for Sorrowful Mysteries are: Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, and The Crucifixition. When in Singapore, I always say the rosary in English because it is said usually before the weekday mass together with other parishioners, but when I’m alone I always say it in Indonesian and I have this wonderful pocket book of seven-day rosary (Indonesian edition) to company me along the way. Hope I can finish it for the whole seven-day! I did plan to read more scriptures after the rosary but I just can’t help my eyes so I decided to just finish it and have some sleep.
Tomorrow is a big day.
♪♪“... Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”♪♪
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Review of the day:
“We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”~Mother Teresa
Being alone in a strange place - far away from the place that you wished to be, isn’t a nicest moment in your life, but if you had decided to do that or probably stucked in that very moment - don’t look back, move on... enjoy your loneliness. Breathing slowly in silence, and listen... as God knocks very slowly most of the times.
I’m praying for my retreat to be succeed. For whatever the result is or what am I going to be after this, I know that the only thing I must do these days is to ‘let go and let God’
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
I am only human
I am just a woman
Help me believe what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway, I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time
One day at a time Sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking from you
Just give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone Sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
Lord help me today show me the way one day at a time
Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you’re looking below
It’s worst now than then
Cheating and stealing, violance and crime
So for my sake Lord teach me to take one day at a time
Readings of the day:
o Mark 14:38. And He said to them, “Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
o Luke 9:23-24. And he said to them all, “If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me. For if you want to save your life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it.”
o Matthew 6:19-21. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Sources:
o Duchane, Sangeet. The Little Book of Mother Teresa. Barnes & Nobles, Inc., Singapore, 2004.
o Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals, Today’s English Version. Philippine Bible Society, Manila, 1992.
o Lelen, J. M., Rev., Ph.D. Pray The Rosary. Catholic Book Publishing Corp, New Jersey, 2002.
o London, Larry. Doa Rosario Tujuh Hari, Berdasarkan Kitab Suci (Edisi Bahasa Indonesia). Penerbit OBOR, Jakarta, 2003.
