What an amazingly blessed time we had on our 2021 Retreat at Trinity Center, Salter Path NC. Our theme, Recognizing and Operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, was realized through instruction and group activities on Prophetic Word gifts as well as Intercessory and Healing prayer teams.
The ‘journey’ of preparation before our retreat was a learning experience. Nine days prior to our retreat weekend, our retreatants and Intercessory Prayer team began intensifying our prayer and scripture reading. We paid special attention to the sacraments of Reconciliation and Communion with more time in Adoration. We prayed in the spirit, tongues, very purposefully. We fed ourselves daily on the Word by reading our bibles and declaring verses. We definitely saw the results of this preparation by experiencing a cohesive flow throughout the retreat. The Holy Spirit was present especially during prayer, praise and worship. Everyone felt unified and open as they freely and spontaneously gave testimony. We definitely gave room for the Holy Spirit to do His thing. Thank you to our Intercessory prayer team-Mary Trombetta, Debra Rony, Debi Johnson, Trish, Damaris and all those who prayed for this retreat. Thank you to all our attendees who were all on fire sharing awesome testimonies and participated wholeheartedly in our activities. Thank you to Paul and Maureen McInerney for their wisdom and helping to create a great retreat experience. Fr. Ignatious was a delight and had us clapping and singing as he brought so much joy to our Saturday evening Mass. Thank you Nicole for being our music tech person and jumping in to help out and all your support. Thank you Wendy, for partnering on my prayer team for hours of pray-overs and your beautiful singing! The Holy Spirit was present and it was great being together in fellowship even with the Covid restrictions. I thank God for the Holy Spirit’s presence this weekend. I thank Him for His guidance and direction in planning and executing each topic, and the energy needed to pack it all into one weekend. God surrounded us with awesome people-He truly introduces His friends to one another. Every testimony taught a lesson just as clearly as a teaching would-that’s the Holy Spirit’s style. I’m so touched that you shared your thoughts about the weekend and the preparation experience. It means so much to get feedback. It helps to see when and where God is working and how to fix things for next time. We faced many unprecedented challenges with a small skeleton crew and faced many last minute changes. I hoped that the focus wouldn’t be on our lack but on the abundance of God’s graces. Don’t look at current obstacles because they’ll all eventually melt away as the fire of the Holy Spirit burns far greater in comparison. We were all touched in unique individual ways as the Holy Spirit came renewing and refreshing us- we surely need it! - Maria Muratore, Director of Catholic Charismatic Services
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