IHMYC EXCO Retreat

A retreat was held for those IHMYC EXCO, Youth Catechists Year 2 and above and for Secondary catechists on 21st and 22nd of April 2007.

It was a weekend of contemplation, meditation and deep discussion. We used Anthony de Mello's Sadhana - a way to God for the meditative exercises. We even tasted a bit of Ignatian Contemplation.

All the participants felt recharged and rested when we left on Sunday. Some found that they became sort of "addicted" to the quiet and contemplation and couldn't wait to start their daily exercises, which reminds me, please remember to keep up your exercises guys!

Sunday lunch consisted of roast chickens and bread eaten with our hands. Some Year Ones joined us for that lovely meal after the Church History lesson.

We also had loads of fun preparing for the combined Church History lessons by doing skits representing the Persecution of Early Christians by the Roman Empire, the Coronation of Charlemagne, the Great Schism (between Western and Eastern Church) and the Council of Nicea.

Year Ones, this is a retreat you shouldn't miss next year!

Thanks be to God for such a Spirit-filled, fruitful and meaningful retreat!



Photos!

Council of Nicea


Mmmmm nice Sunday lunch...


Indulgences anyone?


Well rested and raring to go.


Breakfast discussion.


We're all ready to hit the ground running!


It is a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a canary gone wrong??!? Oh its Jac!


Being led into deeper meditation...


Parting Shot.

Church History Lesson 2

Kudos once again to all who helped out in the church history skits either by contributing ideas, acting or just simply lending support. Saturday's rehearsal was extremely fruitful and our efforts paid off!

I think all who were in the church hall would've noticed how the sec 3s were actually paying attention to the lesson and how much they enjoyed being involved in the second skit (recall: Daniel and co. begging the audience for donations). Just 3 weeks more of church history to go... :)

Forgot to wish Good Luck to all older youth cats (i.e. uni students) who're taking their exams now as well!

**A reminder to yr 2s and above who're facilitating for con camp that there will be facil training this Sunday 6 May from 1 - 6pm**

Over the Weekend

YC Retreat

"The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness."

- "Sadhana: A Way to God" by Anthony de Mello

For the past two days, the YC ex-co and a few others engaged in a new and deeper form of prayer - meditation and contemplation. Aunty Angela and Roy took turns to conduct exercises that explored different ways of clearing the mind; they essentially center on appreciating silence and finding God in this silence. The first exercise required us to draw away from our surroundings and be fully aware of our bodily senses. Another exercise we carried out involved focusing solely on the sounds around us and experiencing the silence in these sounds. We also attempted thought control to find ways and means of clearing distractions in our minds. Before we ended camp, we delved a little bit into the power of fantasy and how it can actually help one to acquire emotional and spiritual riches.

Learning to cultivate inner silence is important because most of us prefer to speak to God in our prayers; we are always talking and often forget to just keep quiet and Listen. Hence, only in attaining this inner silence can we put ourselves fully in the presence of God. Contemplative prayer also serves as an excellent way of getting in touch with The Source (i.e. Jeebers) and becoming spiritually rejuvanated. This constant replenishing of spiritual zeal and in general, just finding quiet personal time is so crucial for maintaining one's sanity in hectic modern-day life.

Overall, these exercises were well-received by those who went for the camp; I think all of us were open to trying something unfamiliar and benefited much from it. The retreat of course wasn't just all seriousness and no fun. Those who stayed up had a great supper feasting on hor fun, noodles etc from Hup Seng and ice cream. Needless to say, it was fun because of great great company! Yr 1s who will go through the retreat next year will definitely take away so many things from this :)

Church History Lesson 1
This lesson needs no introduction. I think everyone who was there enjoyed the skits that were put up by some of the yr 1s and ex-co members (recall: Amanda being attacked by bear-tiger Daniel, Daniel, Justin and the three female altar-servers in the coronation of Charlemagne, YC seniors as participants of the Council of Nicaea and Daniel, Justin and Amanda in the Great Schism). It was also extremely brave of Marissa and Davina to present the lesson! Two thumbs up, guys!

On A Final Note
The best of luck to yr 1s and all those having exams!


Work hard :)

Morals and Ethics

Topic of the day!
What are morals? What is ethics?

Main highlight of the day
Discussion about how to handle charges who are 1 year younger. Jac, Roy and Mel role-played a scenario showing how difficult it could be to get younger ones to listen to you. Sometimes, we might have to do 'right' things that we don't like. For instance, having to go home early just to ensure that your charges are home on time, or having to call parents to check if their children are telling the truth about staying out late etc. Even though we might not like the idea of having to nag or counsel our charges, we have to remember that we are responsible for our charges and are ultimately accountable to parents; we must know where to draw the line between being their teacher and their friend.

Before breaking up into our prayer buddy groups, we had some final advice from father: as youth leaders, we must take care to maintain professional and platonic relationships with kids. We should not lead people on or give them the wrong idea.

Prayer bunnies
We did away with bible sharing and instead shared our thoughts on the following quote:

"Wise is he who understands the action in inaction, and the inaction in action."

Most groups came up with the idea that you don't necessarily have to take action in order to achieve something. Conversely, taking action might prove counter-productive.

To end it all off...
Musical chairs with latin music!
Justin the funky man

OM!@#$%MYSEAT!&*()(*AAAH!

YAY! Someone kena forfeit!


The girls watch...


The boys watch...


Let's hold hands for closing prayer

See you all for study sessions starting this Sat! Remember to submit consent forms if you wish to come for study sessions. :)

EOY Retreat

IMPORTANT
This is just a reminder to all youth cats to start putting aside $8 worth of pocket money a week from now till end November for our end-of-year retreat at Cameron Highlands (tentatively) in December. More details will be provided at a later date. The total cost of the trip (transport, accomodation etc) will amount to approximately $160 - $200. So, start saving!!!

Show me the money!

'Twas the afternoon before Easter...

The time is 4 in the pm. The prayer hall is in complete silence as studious youth cats bury their heads in books... or daydream, trying half the time to grasp that studying is pain and that pain is friend.

Andre giving his best while tutoring year 1s

Amos and Louis engrossed in their work

More youth cats Mel, Joyce and Simeon oblivious of their surroundings

Meanwhile, a check on the older youth cats reveals:

Theo diligently practising her sketchwork.

Justin lost in the world of Terry Pratchet's novel

and a seemingly half-naked Roy (he's got his orange shorts on la, for those who really can't see).

Roy's arrival marked the start of the session with Michael bravely volunteering himself as the naughtiest person of the day.

Said a dissapointed visitor. "Why has my stay here yielded no fruit?"

"Could it be because you lack the courage to shake the tree?" said the
Master benignly.

We immediately delved into a discussion of the above mini-parable (which can also be found in the Reflections page [cough]). Roy got the ball rolling by offering his two cents' worth: Challenge us to challenge you. Any experience would be meaningful only if You take that first step to explore and discover more. Many other interesting questions such as these were raised:

What if I'm shaking the wrong tree (think lamp post)?
What if no fruits fall off the tree?
What if the fruits aren't the ones I expected?
How hard should you try to shake the tree?
When do you know that you've tried your best?

Davina also pointed out that this could be about instant gratification and perhaps we need the patience to wait for fruits to yield. All in all, it was an extremely fruitful session as we got to hear from all the year 1s, with Joyce leading the discussion. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg and the questioning will only get deeper as we journey further as a group. Let's all pray for the courage to challenge ourselves and to grow in faith and strength together.

P/S: Happy Easter!!!

31 March Session + IHMYC camp photos

Just 3 noteworthy things from our last YC session:

1) we said opening prayer only after settling admin matters
2) year 1s have been officially deployed to facilitate in cat class
3) bible sharing on Matthew:5

And now... the moment you have all been waiting for...

eehimeek 2007 camp photos, courtesy of Roy and a handful of miscellaneous people who fooled around with his camera, can be found HERE! Thanks once again to camp leaders and participants for a fulfilling and fun experience! Here's to more spiritually and whack-filled camps. :) Enjoy!