Paulina´s annual Retreat 2010. Montevideo

On October 2nd, for the third year running, we were happy to have a day´s retreate for the Mother Pauline´s Groupes of the Inmaculate Conception School in Montevideo. Teachers, scholl staff and members of the other church groups were also invited to attend.

Our preacher was Fr Julio Felix Barco OCD and the theme was "To be a discipile and missionary in the footsteps og Mother Pauline. We were 30 people in total and spent a day in silence and reflection, using the school's Chapel, rooms and patio.

Four of the lay associates came very early from Salto. Martha who had everything ready and packed to leave for Montevideo started

feeling ill the evening before and had to be tacked to hospital. A month later on November 4th, on the Feast of the Mother Pauline´s first vows, she passed away. She had been always faithful to Our Lord following the footsteps of Mother Pauline since March 2008 as a lay associate.

Martha was in charge of running the school in Salto after the community of sisters had to leave in 1983. Martha was totally devoted to and very fond of the sisters.

In his first talk, Fr Barco spoke about the "lay disciple" based on the gospel and the Document from Aparecida. Later the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for Adoration and remained like that until the end of the retreat. People took turns for Adoration so as not to leave Our Lord on his Own. Fr Barco heard confessions throughout the day.

Lunch this year was provided by the school cantine. This made things easier for the lay associates who were able to spend more time benefiting from the retreat. After the lunch break the Holy Rosary was prayed together with the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

The second talk in the afternoon was about being a missionary. Father described very clearly which is the core of the mission of a layperson: his personal relationship with God, with love at its centre. All the apostolic work of the lay people must be imbued with this love for it to become efficacious. First being and then doing. He emphasized the importance of the unity between our relationship with God, our family life and our apostolate. He proposed to imitate the love, charity, humility and audacity of Mother Pauline´s, as the path to take as a missionay. As the good Carmelite that he is, Fr Barco did not lose any chance of referring to the Patroness of all Missionaries, St Therese of Lissieux.

This wonderful day of a quiet encounter with Our Lord ended with Benediction and Holy Mass at 5pm. We hope to be able to do the same next year. Some people attending were interested in having a two day retreat. We know that Mother Pauline loved this type of pious practice and how she tried to organize these retreats for teachers at her school. We then ask for her intercession to help us grow in that field.