Maximilian Nguyen
Today, I’m pleased to share a commentary by Maximilian Nguyen, a junior at Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Indiana.
A week before Holy Thursday, Ramon and I left Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Indiana, to help Br. Lucio Boccacci, LC and Fr. Michael Moriarty, LC with a retreat in Kansas City. On our eight hour trip to Kansas City we were able to plan how we intended the activities in the retreat to go. The group of boys on the retreat wasn’t huge, but was nevertheless more than I had imagined. As the boys arrived at Prairie Star Ranch, the destination for the retreat, we set up camp and got to know the boys a little better. Since Ramon Rodriguez and I are natives of KC, we already knew some of them, but hadn’t seen them much during our past five years at Sacred Heart. It was great to see some faces that I hadn’t seen for a while and, of course, to be back in Kansas City!
Once most of the boys had arrived we began the activities, most notably Stations of the Cross, sports, and the bonfire; where we recalled the “charcoal” fire where Peter denied Christ on the night of Jesus’ arrest. During the retreat Ramon went to help with the younger boys (5th– 8th), while I accompanied the older ones (mostly sophomores). The next morning Fr. Michael celebrated mass for us in the chapel at the camp and we plunged into the activities of the day. One of these activities was a rather gory medical description of some of the tortures involved in Christ’s passion, for “he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.” (Is 53)
It snowed during all of lunch, threatening to confine us in the camp unless the weather improved. This concerned those who had other commitments, but a solution was quick in coming. Instead of ending the retreat early, a family who lived nearby offered to have us over for the remainder of the retreat. So we packed our bags and moved camp to our new (and improved) location, where we continued the retreat. We also had dinner there, after a game similar to charades, and Fr. Michael heard confessions. Evening came, morning followed, and after breakfast (thanks to the hospitality off our host) we packed up and headed to Passion Sunday mass at one of the parishes in the vicinity. Soon after mass we left for the return trip.
So, one might ask, was it really worth it? Driving eight hours there and eight hours back for the boys, only to encounter the March snow and have to change plans, all in a period of about four days? Absolutely. And I’m not just saying this because I got to miss a couple of school days. I had a great time with the guys on the retreat and this is only made more memorable by the challenges we faced on the way. We were also able to give them a head start into Holy Week, the most important week of the year, offer the sacraments, and help them to start it off different from just an ordinary week. And if that’s what’s at stake, then bring it on!
