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17.12.2014 21:04:08 935x read. NEWS OASIS 2014, December 15-16, Report. OASIS 2014, 15th - 16th December Report. On the 15th of December, the day started with our usual morning prayer led by the Chile province at 7:40 am, this was followed by breakfast. At 9:00am we started the day’s programme which centred on the topic LIFE IN REVIEW. But before the facilitator went ahead to deliver his inputs, he recalled some of the themes that we had reflected on for the past weeks, for example “I will take you away from among the nation”, “I will sprinkle clean water over you” as examples of reviewing what went on for the past weeks which according to him meant what the topic for the day was all about. After this brief introduction, the facilitator (Bro. Guido) proceeded to deliver his input on the topic for the day. During his delivering, he laid emphasis on three areas of our lives that needed constant review and these areas are: As persons, As Christians and As Religious. As persons: he stressed on our relationships with one another, that we should see each person in our lives as a gift and the opposite as well, that is seeing ourselves also as gifts to others. However, he added that these gifts come in different wraps, some are wrapped very beautifully and others are not but the important thing is not always the wrapping but the gift in the wrap. So it is important to review how we lived our lives for the past years taken cognisance of how we relate with our fellow beings. As Christians: It meant that we are followers of Jesus Christ and as followers it behoves on us to have the same mindset of Jesus, that is fulfilling the will of God and making the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom our own message thereby making us to grow into mental and spiritual maturity. As religious: He said we are living for the sake of the kingdom, so we should developed new relationships that become more and more characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and above all, self- control. According to him, it is only in this way that we can develop the right relationship with God, neighbour and creation. He ended his presentations by given us the seven gifts of the holy spirit namely: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and the fear of the Lord. After this participants were given some reflective questions to go and reflect on them and provide personal answers. At 5:00 pm, the participants met by provinces to share with one another the outcome of their reflections and this took us till 6:00pm then we went for super. The day’s activities finally come to a close with an evening prayer led again by the Chilean delegates. The activities of the 16th December also began with morning devotion led by the Dutch province at 7:40am and at 9:00am Sr. Claudia took us through the topic “Gratitude”. Before her presentation, participants were grouped in twos and she asked us to share with each other our personal understanding of the term “Gratitude” and this sharing went on for about ten minutes. She then started her presentation by reminding us that our founder - Mgr Rutten died on this day 16th December, 1891 and she was happy to talk on gratitude today. Throughout her presentation, she laid emphasis on the following: Nature of gratitude: which according to her means never to take the gifts we have received from God and friends for granted. The definition of a grateful person: is someone who takes nothing for granted. she added that if anybody is having a grateful heart he or she will see all of creation as a gift from God and will be able to see the connection between the gift and the giver. She went further to say that gratitude should not only be expressed in times of happiness and joy but also in our hardship and difficult moments because such moments often strengthen us and make us to rely solely on God for His protection. She concluded her submission by saying that, it was not just enough to receive the gifts and give thanks to God or the giver but doing something with the gifts we received is also very important. After this we went for a short break. When we returned, she gave us a worksheet in title start in gratitude containing some questions for personal reflection. Participants were told to go to their private places and reflect on those questions and provide answers to them, and so we dispersed. We returned at 11:30 to close the morning section with a prayer. The afternoon section started at 2:30pm and the facilitator Bro. Guido led us through the guide lines or steps for setting goals for ourselves and these goals according to him must be SMART. Below are the steps for setting goals
According to him we will only set balanced goals when every area of our life is considered. That is, the physical needs, social/relationship, mental needs, spiritual needs, community needs, apostolate and feelings. After this Bro. Guido gave us a sheet of paper to go and set personal goals for ourselves for the coming year and this brought his presentation to a close. We finally closed the day’s programme with the Eucharist at 7:00pm Bro. Didas Toogumo |