'Abba Father' retreat brings teens closer to God

On Divine Mercy’s recent weekend retreat in Hattiesburg, Miss., this Scripture came alive. I attended the retreat to grow in my relationship with God and grow closer in community with other Catholic teens.
   The retreat, which had the theme “Abba Father,” helped 30 teenagers view God as our father, to realize how we are all God’s precious children and we have to stand strong for our Catholic faith.
   My parish’s Life Teen CORE members guided the retreat by leading small-group discussions and giving talks. Their talks focused on overcoming past struggles to grow closer to God, specifically God the Father, and influenced us to be more open to God’s will and love.
   It especially impacted those who don’t have a good relationship with their earthly fathers and reminded them of our perfect heavenly father.
   After one talk, we had the opportunity to write a letter to those who have hurt us, so we could forgive them as God forgives us.
   “Knowing how much pain someone brought me because of my love for them made me realize how much suffering Jesus must have endured in the agony in the garden because of his perfect love for all humanity as our sins constantly nail him to the cross,” said Brad Giacone, a Brother Martin junior. “Forgiving others resulted in healing and peace for many teens.”
   Megan LaCour, a sophomore at Mount Carmel, said: “My favorite part of retreat was when we were blindfolded and walked down to the chapel because it made me feel like I don’t need to see all of the time to know where I need to go. I just need to trust God to lead me in the right direction.”
   In the chapel, we had eucharistic adoration and the opportunity for reconciliation and to pray with prayer teams.
   Though we spent time focusing on our personal relationship with God, we also had free time to grow closer to one another by talking, writing affirmation notes and just having fun. We also had an intense game of capture the flag and made s’mores at a campfire.
   We concluded the retreat on Sunday at Divine Mercy Parish with the celebration of the Mass.
   This retreat benefitted my prayer life with the many opportunities to connect with God. This experience helped me to increase my love for God and my trust in him, gave me a grace and peace to live for Christ, was a lot of fun and made me so proud to be Catholic!
   All teenagers in grades 9th-12th can join us on Sundays at the Life Teen Mass at 6 p.m. followed by Life nights from 7:15-8:45 p.m. at Divine Mercy Parish’s St. Elizabeth Ann Seton site, 4119 St. Elizabeth Drive in Kenner.
   Bonnie Dupre is a senior at St. Mary’s Dominican, a member of Divine Mercy’s Life Teen youth group and the parish’s representative for Teen Cross.