Ladies' Retreat Teschemakers

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 5, 4 February 1925, Page 27

Ladies' Retreat Teschemakers

The eighth annual Retreat for ladies was conducted this year by Very Rev. Prior Hogan, 0.P., of Melbourne. The retreatants numbered one hundred and one, many of whom journeyed from as far north and south as Christchurch and Invercargill. Teschemakers is a beauty spot at all times, but its lawns, shrubs, and wonderful old trees

never before looked so beautiful. December’s showers had given them a beauty all their own. On Sunday there was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and it was edifying to see one large group after another taking its place for adoration. The altar and sanctuary were a glow of crimson and gold. The retreatants supplied their own choir for daily Benediction, (Stations of the Cross, and Rosary Hymns. New seats and kneelers with crimson upholstered cushions filled the body of the pretty Gothic chapel. The Prior professed twenty-three retreatants as Tertiaries of St. Dominic, and twentyone were received. Each took as her patron or patroness one of the many Saints or Beati of the Dominican Order. Speaking of Tertiaries the Prior said; “A Tertiary living in the world is a true member of the Order of St. Dominic, and in consequence participates in all the merits of the Order accumulated through the seven centuries. Tertiaries have a share in all the indulgences with which the Popes have.enriched the Order. Its regulations do not overburden life, nor form any obstacle to the observance of the social duties

of one’s state.” “The history of this institution,” says Pere Lacordaire, “is one of the fairest pages of all literature.” His Lordship Bishop Whyte arrived for the close of the Retreat, and delighted all with his lecture on Lourdes, illustrated by lantern slides. Apropos of Lourdes — is a grotto of unique design in course of erection

on the main lawn, A statue of Bernadette kneeling at the entrance is to complete one of the most original grottos yet seen. • After the closing Benediction his Lordship addressed the retreatants. He congratulated them on their numbers, and on the fervor and earnestness with which they performed the exercises of the Retreat. He exhorted them to become apostles by making known to their friends the value of these Retreats for soul and body, and by inviting these friends to accompany them next year. He hoped all would use their influence in helping to get the men-folk to attend their Retreat at Mosgiel this month. If the laity once realised what a Retreat meant to them, there would be no need for exhortation; the difficulty would be to know how to accommodate the numbers! The Prior reiterated the opinion expressed by his predecessors—that this sequestered beauty spot was surely planned for enclosed Retreats, and just at a time when such Retreats are petitioned for and so earnestly recommended by Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XI, whose wish is to have such conducted

everywhere and often. Judging by the growing numbers here there should be no future difficulty in fulfilling our Holy Father’s wish. A recent writer says : “Our Catholic laity are simply hungering for something of the kind. Wherever the movement has begun it has prospered, and results are little short of amazing.” He quotes figures showing that in one small country, 1500 lay people entered enclosed Retreats in one year. Continuing, he says, “Mediocrity is the greatest

curse in all religious movements. Expect little and you get little. Be satisfied with a minimum and you shrivel up enthusiasm. Religion is the best and happiest and most interesting thing in the world, and nowhere is it better presented than in the enclosed Retreat. Draw the flower of our Catholic laity into Retreats, and the inevitable result will be a deepening of our Catholic life with far-reaching effects in good works of all kinds.” With the modern disease of feverish, unrest and excitement, rush, and turmoil, the soul is distressed and weakened, and if it does not retire occasionally into retreat, it preserves with extreme difficulty its spiritual life.

Far from the world, 0 Lord, I flee, From strife and tumult far, From scenes where Satan wages still His most successful war. The calm Retreat, the silent shade , With prayer and praise agree, And seem by Thy sweet bounty made For all who follow Thee.

If happy faces and ringing laughter are any proof of inward joy and happiness then the retreatants who left Teschemakers were happy, for, as his Lordship the Bishop and the Prior bade adieu to one motor bus full after another, one saw nothing but joy in every face, the joy that inspires strength and fortitude and blesses one with perseverance in doing whatever work God gives one to do. Take joy home, And make a place in.thy great heart for her ; And give her time to grow and cherish her. Then will she often come and sing to thee, When thou art working with the furrows, aye, Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. It is a comely fashion to be glad — Joy is the grace we say to God.