Annual Retreat brings repentance and freedom from pain

Father Augustine Vallooran, Director and Gospel singer couple Glen and Teresa La Rive of the Divine Retreat Centre (DRC) of Potta Chalkudy in the Southern State of Kerala conducted the Mission in Auckland from September 25 to September 29, 2015, touching the hearts of more than 1000 people who attended the five-day Mission.

The Mission, marking the tenth anniversary of the DRC, was conducted for younger and senior members of the society, those afflicted by the pain of suffering afflicted by sickness, poverty, other miseries and to the poor, everyone in fact who need the Graceful and Merciful touch of Almighty God.

The Mission was held at St Patrick’s Cathedral, St Mary’s Church, Catholic Church of Christ the King, St Anne’s Church, and St Joseph’s Church.

This enabled many people from various communities from most parts of Auckland to attend the Mission and experience the joyous proclamation of the forgiveness and salvation of the Heavenly Father.

Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn said in his Thanksgiving that the DRC for working hard for the spiritual renewal of Catholics and others in Auckland.

Repentance & Conversion

The experience of many was one of moving away from sin and turning to God in repentance.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the retreatants are convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), their sins forgiven by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), in the power of the same Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Church (John 20:22-23), and given a share in the victory of Jesus over sin (John 16:11).

From the resulting radical conversion, people are led to total self-surrender, resulting in an intimate union with Jesus in the Holy Spirit, as experienced in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). In this intimacy, the love of God is “poured into their hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).

The heart melting under this overwhelming outpouring of love, opens up in turn to love and forgives everyone.

This intense experience of love heals all wounds and soothes all the strains in family relationships. The bond of marriage is renewed as sacrament of grace is incorporated into the spousal relationship between Christ and His Church.

Holistic Healing

Healing is understood not in the narrow sense of bodily well-being, but as the love of God flowing into the brokenness of man to make him whole.

Father Augustine said the Sacraments emphasise the importance of the Holy Orders which are also manifest in the Priesthood; vocation to do God’s will for life.

All the charisms of Glen and Teresa in their singing, music, spiritual guidance, preaching and service were harmoniously blended and channelised through the authority of the priesthood of Father Augustine.

Holy Spirit anointed

The retreat ended with the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit as experienced in the Sacrament of Confirmation. This all-transforming experience of the Holy Spirit is the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

This empowering of the Holy Spirit is accepted as a Special Grace, to withstand the temptations of the evil one and to witness by word and action confessing the unconditional Love of God.

There were long queues to have a personal meeting with Father Augustine, Glen and Teresa for two consecutive days which made me realise that people have so many challenges in life and that they are thirsting for someone to show the way to be touched by the Almighty and experience God’s healing and loving power.

Touching experience

A number of people had taken leave to recall their experience. Here are some excerpts:

Vincy Dias said that he was happy that he took leave of absence from his work and did not have to request for swapping shifts.

“We have to always remember God’s providence is a wonderful thing in our daily life. But we are so engrossed in our materialistic life that we tend to forget that HE can do all things, we just have to trust in HIM. So my humble request to all DRC New Zealand brothers and sisters is that let us take this movement forward as a family. Let others around see us through our example. My sincere thanks to all for bringing me one step closer in faith renewal,” he said.

Visual improvement

Maggie D’Mello of Takapuna in Auckland said, “My right eye needed an epi-retinal membrane surgery which was a high risk operation. That meant I could have lost my eyesight.

But when I went for my pre-operation assessment, a second scan showed improvement. The eye specialist was surprised and said that surgery is not required now, although he said that I would be monitored regularly. I Praise and Thank God for HIS healing. I have sent my testimony to the DRC India web.”