Report Oasis Encounter Netherlands,

Tuesday 12 September 2017.

In a multimedia morning prayer session we reflected on our getting up and other moments of the day to give thanks to God for all the graces received. The morning prayer led by Sr. Claudia as a kind of preparation to deepen and to reflect on the theme of “Gratitude”.

We started the actual morning session with a bible sharing in language groups on the scripture passage of Luke 17, 11-19. This was followed by a closely related presentation on gratitude. The main topic of the day hence was gratitude. Clearly we were introduced or reminded never to take for granted even the simplest happening or experience in life.

What about getting up from the deep unconsciousness of sleep and the mere fact of getting up again? In an interesting video talk by father David Steindl we were invited to be conscious and to hold on throughout the day what happens, regularly stopping; looking at it; then going  again; do something. Each and every moment is precious enough. Be grateful for your discovery, it makes you happy. Cells of happiness in this way will join into a global network, creating a joyful world. In the afternoon session we reflected further on the same topic of gratitude to give it a further deepening.

The evening was assigned to the Dutch brothers to showcase something of their culture. Some guests were present to watch the show and indeed all present enjoyed some typical Dutch treats. Salty ‘drop’ was banned in advance because of most likely indigestibility for the non-natives.

A Dutch class was created on the spot to teach the group some basic knowledge of the language. A song was sung reviewing the days of the oasis so far. A movie on glass production was shown.  A game was played by players sitting on the floor trying to get a balloon into a desired goal.

The evening was found to be a success as it created an atmosphere for a lot of fun and most of us must have fallen asleep effectively.

By. Ton van Baaren