Report on the fifth day of the OASIS encounter.

The fifth day of the Oasis encounter started as usual with a prayer service in the chapel, facilitated by Bro. Theodorus Suwariyanto. The theme of our morning meditation was “Being Thankful.” He invited the participants to reflect on the guiding reflection with the title, “The more grateful you are, the happier you are.” I was very struck with this sentence: “Becoming aware of our interdependency as well as of all the things for which we can be grateful is a beginning toward cultivating deep gratitude, which is a path towards experiencing the joy of becoming who we really are.”

The whole morning was dedicated to the sharing of the following brothers: Severius, Ireneus, Ton van Baaren, and Wim Brans.  Each of these brothers ended his sharing by singing a song or reading a poem which expressed the meaning of the sharing. The other participants then expressed their appreciation in various ways to the presenters. This was mostly done in a written form. Each participant was given a sticky paper on which to write the comment, impression or support. This was then posted on the flip chart in front. A word of congratulations was given to each presenter at the end of the exercise.

After our lunch break we came together at 14.00 for a special session namely, giving the chance to each person to work with clay. This exercise was done in silence. For many of us it was not easy to mold something with clay using our hands, especially at the beginning, but as time went on we were able to form something by moving our hands and also following our inner voice. Finally we enjoyed the exercise though we felt sleepy and tired because there was no rest for us in the afternoon.

A very creative and beautiful Eucharistic celebration with the theme “Give thanks with a grateful heart” led by Fr. Koos Jansen concluded the day. It was also about giving and receiving. In fact we experience much more receiving than giving in our lives. Sr. Claudia and Bro. Frans Wills brought a lot of creativity during the Eucharist by making it more alive with songs accompanied by tambourine and drum percussion. I would like to quote a sentence I took from the booklet of the Eucharist, namely: “To be grateful, is to find blessings in all that surrounds you. A truly thankful heart will bring light into your life and peace to your soul.”

In the evening during recreation there was the opportunity for our fellow brothers from Ghana to display their culture. They entertained the group with a wonderful performance in the form of songs and dances to express their rich Ghanaian culture. We enjoyed their presentation and performance together with some of our brothers who live in Maastricht.

Theodorus Suwariyanto)