“Make Him your friend, talk to Him like your friend, and let Him be your friend.” – SENIOR RETREAT LEADER Guerin Catholic gives its students a wonderful opportunity to grow closer to God every year through retreats. These retreats have truly transformed my prayer life and relationship with God. All of the retreats at GC are with your classmates from your grade—so we’re all traveling common paths and have similar struggles. In addition to making new friends I have also had life-changing experiences through GC retreats! Some of the best advice I have ever received was from a speech by a senior on one of our retreats. He was giving us advice and said that the best thing you could do is establish a firm friendship with God. He said, “Make Him your friend, talk to Him like your friend, and let Him be your friend.” So I did. And this was the best thing that I have ever done. This changed my outlook on everything. My prayer life took off and I created a forever friendship with God. I started to realize that I actually wanted to go to the chapel and visit Him to talk and pray. I started learning more about my faith, and I began to read the Bible more. I even started going to daily Mass and confession often. Just simply making visits to the chapel increases faith. For me sometimes I didn’t even say anything or pray, I just sat there, in the presence of the Lord. The Lord works in mysterious ways and He spoke loud volumes to me through that senior who cared and was brave enough to open up at our retreat. It was also through Guerin Catholic that I had a life-changing experience at a Eucharistic procession during a retreat. During the procession, the priest wears his humeral veil when he processes with Jesus. He then comes around to each person, stands in front of them, and He is right there. I reached out and touched the cloak of Jesus. I buried my face into Him. This was the most powerful and overwhelming encounter I have had with God. It changed my life. I am reminded of this experience every Sunday, when we can hold Jesus in our hands and receive Him. A verse from Proverbs 16:3 has guided me that says, “commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.” I have learned to trust in the Lord and since then, our relationship has only strengthened. I have learned so much at my retreats at Guerin Catholic and I am truly blessed and grateful to have experienced them. n By Dominic Stein ’21 Open Hearts Dominic and his small group at Junior Retreat. DID YOU KNOW? The Providence Fund is the primary resource for funding all of our student retreats. Each year, GC students are able to attend life-changing retreats and it simply wouldn’t be possible without The Providence Fund. 18 IMPACT MAGAZINE • FALL 2020 Junior Retreat
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