"The Lord is the strength of those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." (Psalm 25, 14)
It’s so difficult to put into words feelings that are so new. Something that feels so precious, something you’ve never felt before. For the very first time as a new member at a ROYA retreat, it’s hard to put those unique feelings and memories of that weekend into words.
From October 5th – October 8th , 2018, I had the pleasure to take part in the Fall Retreat and Youth Congress at the Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Allegan, MI. With this annual reunion comes the gathering of numerous youth to serve and pray to the Lord in addition to learning about worldly wisdoms given by a priest. It was demonstrated to me that this is the best way as a Christian to really live the faith, together with people who understand your thoughts and desires. The retreat was planned with an interesting schedule with a lot of activities, prayers and lessons. This allowed the youth to actively implement themselves. This year, the Fall Retreat and Youth Congress involved workshops and conferences regarding various topics, group activities as well as an administrative session of the organization of ROYA and the elections of the 2018-2020 ROYA board members. In addition, we had the honor of welcoming guest speakers Fr. Ieremia from Putna Monastery and Fr. Iulian Anitei from the Holy Protection of the Mother of God Church in Houston, Texas, as well as having His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae and His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian. We were all looking forward to this upcoming weekend.
On Friday after saying our hellos, we had our first great dinner together. We did introductions by having everybody introduce themselves, share an interesting fact about themselves and then pose a question to the person next to them. We did many icebreakers together, but my favorite one was when we all needed to stay in a circle, close our eyes, extend our arms and walk slowly to the middle of the circle. By the time we reached the middle of the circle, we needed to tangle our hands with other people’s in the circle, not to forget the fact that we all had our eyes closed! Once everyone’s hands were mixed up, we opened our eyes and had to untangle our hands – making sure to hold on to each other at all times! First, we practiced in smaller groups before starting the game with everybody in one group. Having over 40 hands in one spot can make it difficult. Besides the fact that it forced us to think in a logical way on how we can solve it together, this exercise made us feel comfortable with each other very quickly. All our timidity with each other was blown away.
The second day started with the morning prayers, followed by breakfast. As mentioned before, we had the honor of having two guests who gave us very interesting conferences. The subject of the first was about “Confessing Christ in a society who’s being hostile towards His Church”, which was held by Pr. Iulian Anitei from Texas. He also spoke about his first impressions in America as a priest. A touching aspect that he shared were the occurrences that happened in his personal life within a family.
It is important to hear personal experiences from priests. They teach us how to experience life in Christ. They help us understand how to truly live the faith today. That’s why the conference held by Fr. Ieremia from Putna Monastery was so influential. Fr. Ieremia completed his PhD in Mathematics at the University of California – Berkley. He spoke to us about the Mother of God, referring to her as “Our Mother”. The first thing he wanted us to comprehend is that the Mother of God truly IS our mother. We need to talk and to pray to her like we converse with our own mothers. The key is telling her everything. Tell her your biggest fear, your biggest joy, but also every thought and question you might have. She will show you the way. With patience, you will see her miraculous work.
Because Fr Ieremia used to live here, he shared some of his life experiences from his time in America. He was blessed to live close enough to the relics of Saint John Maximovici from San Francisco to have the privilege to go there every week to pray. He shared about how he felt when he went to the relics, saying he didn’t feel alone. It was also interesting to see how he connected mathematical theory to faith of God. One connection he made was whether it be a math problem or a challenge in life, you need to have patience and trust. As a wonderful ending to the day, we lit a bonfire and sang patriotic songs.
Sunday morning was marked by the Divine Liturgy, which was served by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae and His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian, along with, Hieromonk Atanasie Popescu and Fr. Ieremia. We also held the Youth Congress elections, where we voted for the new ROYA board. The newly elected board consists of President (Rares Raducu), USA Vice-President (Pompiliu Girlonta), Canadian Vice-President (Ana-Maria Iliescu) and Secretary (Danielle Radu). Congratulations to all of them!
Sunday was also a very important day for Romania. It was the referendum to implement the values of family in the Romanian constitution. Those of us who have Romanian citizenships went to vote in Merryville, IN! We said yes to the values of family.
Sadly, some of our friends left the retreat on Sunday night after the voting. Heading back to the monastery, we said the Lord’s Prayer and spent time playing board games and outdoor games. We were thankful for the time we had left with one another. You can learn so much from others who share the same situation as you. By sharing experiences and the way they live their faith, as well as the experiences they have had with ROYA until now. So much love was spread between the 40 young people by talking together, playing together outside in the beautiful nature of the monastery and having fun with each other through the grace of God. Through ROYA, strangers don’t just become your friends, they become your family – they can change your life, your mindset and your way of thinking in a short period of time. We are all strangers but through God we are a family.
It’s hard saying goodbye to something that feels like home. This place is so happy, where you can be yourself and everybody else accompanies you. It’s a place where you can let your thoughts roam free and where you don’t have to worry about school or work. You just enjoy being in the moment, which allows you to become closer to God.
As mentioned at the beginning, it is hard to put all my feelings into words. Experiencing the ROYA retreat as new member has changed me. It has changed my way of thinking. It has opened my eyes to prayer and the impact it has on everything I do. It has allowed me to love people I’ve never met before. Most importantly, it has shown me how large the love for our God can be.
Andrada Hotz
