ALUMNI

Retreat? Oh No..... Oh Yes!

Greg Yu, XS‘75

Posted Monday, 11-Dec-2006 1:03 PM

     Sometime in September, I received an envelope from Xavier School. Since I have been receiving regular correspondence from the school, this particular envelope did not raise any alarm bells.

     However, when I looked at the letter inside, I trembled!  My former spiritual adviser, Fr. Barbero, and my former school director now Chairman of the Board of the School, Fr. Zuloaga, were asking me to attend an alumni retreat, and a 3-day one at that!.  I had not been to a retreat since my Xavier days.  Looking back, things were so much simpler in High School, life was so much more innocent, and therefore retreats were much easier to handle.  So many things have happened over the years in the pursuit of a career, the establishment of a family, and the general business of living that I am sure I could find instances when I have somehow strayed from the path, e.g. missing Mass a few times due to pressing matters, demolishing the person across the negotiation table, firing a dishonest employee without compassion, actively pursuing material wealth etc.

     I didn’t look forward therefore to a retreat where I was going to be bombarded with Church teachings, forced to come up with self criticisms, and worse, admitting to a group of potentially unknown Xavier Alumni that I am a sinner.  Neither did I want to give up a whole weekend starting Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Yikes!  I pondered on what to do and how to turn down the invitation without showing how scared I was to attend a retreat.

     Lo and behold, a great opportunity presented itself!  My mother insisted that I should bring her to Hong Kong to attend a cousin’s wedding which was scheduled for a couple of days before the start of the retreat.  I therefore sent a message through my wife and told Fr. Zulu that I will be out the country and will miss the first session.  And since I can’t attend the whole retreat, I might as well skip the whole thing.  Unfortunately, Fr. Zulu would not let me off easily and I was told that he expected me to be in the Antipolo retreat house before 8 am on Saturday.

     Years of Jesuit training made me comply with the mandate and I joined the retreat on its second day.  The retreat master was Fr. Mon Bautista, head of the Jesuit Novitiate.  Fr. Zulu and Fr. Barbi were there, together with 14 other Xavier alumni. The retreat house, while not of five-star quality, was decent and clean.  Private rooms with toilets were available to those who wanted their own rooms. Food was surprisingly good and plentiful.

     The retreat was nothing like what I feared it would be.  There was no heavy preaching nor forced sharing.  Instead, the retreat consisted of a few excellent and inspiring talks given by Fr. Mon and a lot of free time to think and pray in silence.  While there was a lot of latitude given on where a participant could do his private reflection, most of us actually just stayed in the chapel in the presence of the Holy Sacrament. We were given guide sheets to help our prayer and introspection but nothing was forced and no forced sharing was required.

     I found the experience very powerful.  I welcomed the chance to step back from the daily routine to think things through.  We were encouraged to reflect on our lives, our gifts and what is really important for us.  I was initially concerned about whether I could last the weekend in silence, as this was a silent retreat.  But I found that the silence and detachment from the outside world was very good and inspiring for the soul.  I even found myself reading interesting stories of Saul, David and Solomon in the Bible!  I never realized that Bible reading could be just as interesting as reading best-selling novels!

     The last activity of the retreat was the only sharing that we did as a group. It was an evaluation of the retreat and the experience. I was surprised to hear that all the other participants shared the same powerful experience as mine.  Some guys even cried as they shared their experience with the rest of the group.  As a group, we were all very thankful that we were given the chance to participate in the retreat. 

     For all the alumni out there, please do not get scared if you get an invitation to attend the next Alumni retreat.  You should grab the opportunity! It will allow you to step back and do some serious soul-searching. I guarantee that you will enjoy the experience.

Testimonials from the Alumni Participants

I just like to say thank you very much for organizing the recent alumni retreat and for patiently staying with us for the whole retreat.

The retreat not only renew the xavier spirit in me but more importantly,it renew my spirit and relationship with the loving Lord.

Fr. Mon Bautista is really the best retreat master and Fr. Barbero as usual is very active and supportive all throughout the retreat.

Thank you again and God bless always,

Robert Ong , XS78

I was greatly surprised with the format of this alumni retreat given my

recollection on how past high school retreats were conducted. The format was very straightforward, flexible and definitely geared to the needs of the

"wide" age group.

Revisiting the "old and timeless" principles of the Ignatian Spiritual

exercises was certainly refreshing and uplifting moment for me. The

"inputs" that Fr. Mon Bautista shared was very simple, timely and

appropriate given the very busy lives we all lead. The key takeaway for me

was loud and clear - God is asking all of us to be faithful to Him and

earthly success is secondary.

I would encourage all XS alumni to attend this retreat as a way for us to

understand what REALLY matters in our lives.

John S. Huang

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