On November 10-13, 2022, in the retreat house of the Sacred Heart Priests in Pliszczyna near Lublin, the first series of retreats for scholarship recipients of the John Paul II Foundation Home took place. The retreat was led by Fr Dr. Włodzimierz Płatek, a Sacred Heart Priest, former deputy director of the Foundation Home and currently the director of Domus Mater and the pastor of “RodzinaTak.pl” in Krakow. The theme of the retreat was the words: “Heart of Jesus let me love You more and more”.
On Thursday, at 6.30 p.m., a delicious dinner awaited the scholarship recipients. In the evening at 8 p.m. a Holy Mass was celebrated at the beginning of the retreat, followed by an evening of ‘getting to know each other’.
The next day, November 11, on the occasion of the Polish Independence Day, during the Holy Mass, we prayed for – one can say our “second Homeland”, in which we now live, study, and participate in the scholarship program.
Every day of the retreat we had a common morning prayer, called Matins, the Eucharist, evening adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and conferences and work in groups. We touched on many different topics, e.g.: who God is for us, how to form a conscience, what to do to properly love ourselves and other people.
On Sunday, November 13, Fr. Director Jan Strzałka visited us. This day was very touching for everyone, especially for those participating in the retreat for the first time. On behalf of the scholarship recipients, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Fr Włodzimierz for the time devoted to us and wish him gifts of the Holy Spirit in his daily pastoral work.
Daria Koval
Photos: Viktoriya Rudkovskaya
