Diocese of Chikwawa Clergy holds a retreat

By Rev Fr. Stanford Sungani DP

At least once a year, priests are obliged to have a retreat at their most convenient place and time. In the teachings of the Catholic Church, a retreat presents an opportunity for Christians to engage in a dialogue with God and encounter Jesus in the desert. The spiritual exercise allows all the religious and faithfuls to seek healing and forgiveness from God.

For Priest, a retreat is perhaps the best moment to reflect upon their ministry and make resolutions on how to serve God better. It is that pray-time one servant of God needs in pursuant for God’s grace. Clearly, a retreat is profoundly necessary to the spiritual life of the men of God and indeed the entire Christendom.

It is in view of the foregoing that priests from the Diocese of Chikwawa held their annual retreat from 26th September to 30th September 2022. The exercise was convened at Bangula pastoral centre in Nsanje District. It was facilitated by Rev. Fr Mark Makolo from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Blantyre.

This year’s theme was; To realign ourselves with our Master, Jesus Christ. The theme was deliberately constructed around the need to imitate Jesus Christ, the master and the high priest. Indeed, priests need to realign themselves to Jesus Christ in order for them to ably accomplish their mission.

At their ordination, priests made an alliance with the Master, Jesus Christ. For them to be productive, they need to do what the Master desires. Besides, as wounded healers, priests need Jesus for them wrestle through the various challenges they encounter in their service. It is therefore more revealing that this year’s retreat was built around this knowledge.

Speaking on behalf of the all priests in the Diocese of Chikwawa, Rev. Fr Patrick Jambo expressed gratitude to Rev. Fr. Mark Makolo, chiefly for facilitating the retreat. In his speech, he admired how the retreat master helped the priest to reflect upon their vocation. He further requested the clergy to make use of everything that they had grasped during the session

On his part, Rev. Fr. Mark Makolo thanked the administration of Diocese of Chikwawa for honouring him to be the retreat master.
“I do not take for granted the fact that you opted for me to be the retreat master. It has been nice interacting with you and journeying with you during this retreat. Let’s continue praying for on another that we continue being realigned to our Master, Jesus Christ”. Rev. Fr Makola said

All said and done, the retreat this year was overall quite refreshing. The priests were spiritually charged. They eventually returned to their respective parishes of ministry on Friday 30th September to proceed with their pastoral duties. Another retreat has been arranged next year on a date to be communicated later by the administration.