#confirmation2017

by Isabel, Grade 7

In April, the confirmation class went on a retreat to Béziers. The reason we went to Béziers specifically is because it is where the RSHM was founded. While we were there, we learned about Père Gailhac and Mère Saint Jean, and the other founders of the RSHM from a current RSHM sister residing in the motherhouse, Sr. Therese Marie.

On the first day, Friday, we stared out day with a mass at St. Jacques. It was a reflective time, and Father Aidan was extremely kind, asking the whole school to pray for those of us going. After the mass, we proceeded to the train station, where we waited for the train. All of the students had a fun time on the train, talking about what awaited us in Béziers.

When we arrived at the platform, all of us were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful sun in the city. We went to the hotel to drop our bags and see our rooms. After a while, we were called down so that we could go to the RSHM motherhouse. Walking to the motherhouse, we passed through the beautiful city of Béziers. Upon our arrival at the motherhouse, the resident Sister greeted us.

We all made nametags so that Sr could identify us. Next, we started a very interesting presentation on the history of the RSHM and its mission. We ate a delicious dinner with our friends, teachers, and the Sisters.

After that, we watched a movie about a football team guided by faith. The movie was a very important reminder (to all of us, I assume) that we should ‘praise God weather we win or lose’. This also served as a reminder for the Marymount Paris students during the RSHM Sports Festival, which was the next week. By the end of the film, we were all so engrossed that we were all cheering out loud when the thing we wanted to happen, happened.

After the movie, we had a discussion about finding and overcoming the ‘giants’ in our lives, the things that scared us because we could not find a way to beat them. It was a very open and safe space, and we were all grateful to have the experience to bond with our classmates. After that we went home.

On Saturday, early in the morning, we made our way to the motherhouse. We all had high spirits and waited for another good day. In the morning, we toured the motherhouse and saw all of the historical artifacts that it had stored, including objects belonging to Mère Saint Jean and Père Gailhac. The motherhouse was so big and I’m sure all of us were amazed.

During the tour, one of the things I was blown away by was a beautiful mural painted by Sr. Bernadette. It showed people of all different ethnicities and backgrounds coming together. It showed all that Marymount stood for, in our motto, ‘unity through diversity’.

During the tour, we also went to the crypt, which was where the bodies of important RSHM figures were. It was a very moving experience to see everything in the crypt, and we could write specific prayers on papers in the crypt, and pray to Père Gailhac for them. Later, we returned to the crypt and learned about the many miracles for the RSHM, and the canonization of Père Gailhac. We also saw Père’s heart.

After our tour, we went to the room where we had our previous conversations, and talked about the importance of reflection, and being alone with God. We also talked about how silence can help us in our reflection. We were all challenged to a fifteen-minute silent reflection. Before the reflection, we were all doubtful if we could actually do it.

We all went off to different and private parts of the motherhouse to pray and reflect. I ended up in the chapel. It was difficult to keep pulling my attention to what I was supposed to be focusing on, and my mind kept wandering off. However, eventually, I was able to focus and reflect. I could barely believe it when Sr Marion came in and said fifteen-minutes were over.

We discussed our reflections in a group, and I was not alone when I said that it was hard to focus. I was grateful that I was eventually able to focus, because some people were not able to. After this, we ate lunch, which was another delicious meal in the motherhouse.

After lunch, we discussed parables and their significance in the Christian faith. We were each assigned a parable, and then given another silent reflection period, however this time it was thirty minutes. This reflection was relatively similar to my first one, however this time I had more time to think.

Following our reflections, all of us were kind of speechless; we didn’t know what to say. We all felt connected by something; we didn’t know what, but something in the group dynamic had changed. We all had mostly the same reaction to the second reflection.

After that, we had a tour guided by Sr Marion about Béziers. We all learned a lot about the roots of the RSHM from the city, and what role it had in the creation of the organization. The tour was very interesting.

The next thing we did was go to make a banner for our 2017 Marymount conformandi. We all cut out shapes out of felt for the banner, while one person wrote on it. At the end of designing it, I think we were all very satisfied with the end result, but even more so, fulfilled by the teamwork of the group.

We left the motherhouse and went to get dinner. We got scrumptious margarita pizzas at a restaurant, and we sat down and laughed and bonded about our feeling of the day. There was sadness in the air, knowing that we were leaving the next day, but it had felt like we had only been there for a second. After the pizza, we got frozen yoghurt.

The next day, and unfortunately, the last day, we went to the Béziers cathedral. We were all showing off that we knew how to navigate a cathedral, thanks to Ms. Amy and the religion curriculum. We waited around the cathedral for a while, exploring the grounds and gardens, and eventually went in for eleven o’clock mass. We did not understand much, because the mass was in French, but we respected the spiritual significance of it.

After the mass, it was the sad time of going home. We got on the TGV again and headed back to Paris. On the train back, we all chatted about the fun times we had had in Béziers, and how much we had learned.