Together with a group of a dozen or so people preparing for baptism and confirmation, we went on a formation trip to Hebdów on the weekend of November 18-20. The trip was prepared by our Centre, in the person of Fr. Łukasz Miśko and Br. Jacek Kępiński, and by a group of lay catechists.
We spent Friday evening getting to know and getting used to the place, i.e. the post-Norbertine monastery complex where the Piarist priests currently live. It is a place that combines the atmosphere of an old monastery with a bit of modernity, so we found ourselves in this space without any major problems. We also talked about the purpose and way of spending this time together. At the end of the day we prayed Compline.
During the trip we focused on exploring the meaning and ways of prayer in the Christian life. Our catechist, Elżbieta Wiater, talked about praying with the Word – lectio divina and Ignatian meditation. During a joint walk to the bank of the Vistula River, Father Łukasz Miśko spoke about the rosary. After introducing brother deacon Jacek Kępiński, we also shared the Word to discover how personal an encounter with the living God, who speaks to us through the pages of the Holy Bible, can be. There was also an introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours.
During the entire trip there were many moments when we could calmly gather together, talk together about the topics that bothered us about faith, or just joke together, and even play social games. We hope that we can talk about this weekend as a brick that we jointly contributed to the work of building the Church, which we also listened to and talked about during one of the conferences.
We also strengthened ourselves by praying together and celebrating the Eucharist together. On Sunday we gathered in the church together with the parish community, which was also a valuable experience. We hope that our trip together will bear fruit in the spiritual life of each of us.