Bogotá (Colombia), 02/26/2016, Sr. Leidy Adriana León - Professor Iván Darío Martínez.- On Friday February 26th, with the blessing of God, we began the so called encounters with Christ in our Educational institution called La Presentación. It is a beautiful privilege and opportunity to encourage each student to have a personal and community encounter with Christ, grow in her faith, deepen her self- knowledge and spiritual life, make small exercises of discernment and grow in fraternity, as daughters of the same Father who is God
Bogotá: "Institución Educativa La Presentación"We began the day by placing this retreat in the hands of the Lord, because it is He who invites them to gather together in His name. During this encounter the students were inspired by the parable of the Sower (St. Mark 4: 26-34), making the distinction between the different types of soil to which our hearts were converted and the good and bad seeds that we allow to be sown in us. It was marvellous to see the sensitivity of each one to be silent and to encounter God personally, recognize the realities that are present in each one’s heart, discern and choose Christ by writing down the bad seeds and burning them and by asking forgiveness from God for their mistakes with a firm desire to be the fertile soil in which good seeds (values) can be sown and can produce hundred fold. Afterwards, there was a fraternal sharing in which their generosity was appreciated; laughter could be heard; they were seen to be filled with joy giving from what each one had, but above all feeling like sisters among themselves.
During the second part of the encounter we told them that they could become haters of men and women if they separate themselves from God and His Words of love. At the same time we presented to them THE NEW AND PERFECT MAN who is Christ whom they should continue to know, love and follow. Then came the moment much awaited by all, to sow the seed in the good soil that they had brought from their houses and to mark it with a value; it was really beautiful to see how through this exercise also, they were sowing in their fragile hearts. Afterwards as an offering of the day, they elaborated a letter telling their parents how their encounter with God was. At the end, the parents from the families participated in a talk given by our psychologist Carolina Becerra who spoke to them of similar themes and prepared their minds and hearts so that during the celebration of the Eucharist at the end, they could experience within themselves the loving and ever faithful presence of God and through them, each heart and each family could experience God. It was beautiful to see the children with tears of happiness in the laps and hands of their parents telling them how much they are loved. We give thanks to God, to the directors, teachers and parents of the family who collaborated so that the activity could be finished with so much joy and depth.