On Friday 14 February 2025, the Year 11 cohort gathered in the auditorium for their retreat. This year, the Catholic Church celebrates the “Jubilee Year” (Holy Year) to promote the message and theme: “Pilgrims of Hope” as set by Pope Francis, towards other people. As supporters of the Catholic Church, we decided to implement these messages and themes in our retreat, so we can acquire more knowledge on how to strengthen our hope.
Through this retreat, we participated in three main activities to learn about how we can reinforce our hope. Activities such as a presentation about the Blessed Virgin Mary, Carlo Acutis, and the Year 13 testimonies. These activities provided an insight into how hope can be presented and influence us through these different role models.
We started the day with ‘Just Dance’, so we can all easily connect with each other, bringing thrill and life into our presence. Eventually, Mr. Tamayo presented a PowerPoint about Mother Mary and how we can follow her with hope. An example was she was not afraid of conceiving Jesus when the Angel Gabrielle was delivering her the news. As a woman with confidence, she hoped that God would bless her with better futures for her and her baby; this example moved our hearts. Hearing how she was not afraid in that situation inspired many to continue hoping in God and praying He will provide us with better things.
After our interval, everyone settled in the auditorium for our second activity: learning about the life of Carlo Acutis. The Year 11s watched a video on how an Italian boy – Carlo Acutis – dedicated his life to Jesus from an early age. He was the epitome of empathy and kindness; Carlos often utilised his computer coding abilities to create websites to spread information about the Eucharist and Jesus’ miracles. Despite his early death in 2006, 15-year-old Carlo’s actions gave the Year 11s a lot to reflect on, especially giving us hope with his saying, “All are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.” Additionally, Carlo’s beatification in 2020 helped us understand that it is never too late to give yourself to Jesus.
Following the reflections of Carlo’s life, the Year 13s provided relatable anecdotes of how they navigated through their adversities in their personal and school life under the reassurance of God’s guidance. These stories acted as a beacon of hope for Year 11s.
Throughout the retreat, Year 11s were prompted to reflect on their hope repeatedly with activities/reflections on figures like Mother Mary, Carlo Acutis, and the Year 13s testimonies. By the end of the day, we understood how to be “Pilgrims of Hope” for ourselves and towards others. Thank you to Mr. Tamayo, Mr. Piggin, Mr. MacLeod, the Year 13s, and the Year 11 cohort for making this day special.
