Junior retreat

Today we had our final class retreat - the junior retreat.  Our focus was faith and Ms. Foley of our Theology department began the day in the gym with some games and a talk on the faith of Blessed Mother Teresa who, despite her amazing work with the poor in India, had many days where she doubted her faith.  Following this the students, as is our custom now, wrote prayers to be used for our morning prayer.

At 10am we all boarded buses to hike Mt. Uncanoonuc in Goffstown.  Father Richard Dion of Saint Anthony's Parish celebrated Mass for us on the beach of the lake there.  We channeled Pope John Paul II, who used to say Masses for youth outdoors, by using a kayak as our altar like he used to.  Following Mass we hiked to the top.  Luckily it's not a very big mountain, only about 650 feet so it only took about 30-45 minutes to get to the top.  There is a beautiful view of Manchester and the surrounding areas when you get up there but I wasn't able to enjoy it too much as I heard two boys were lost!  Luckily we got them on the phone and Ms. Girard of our Theology department knows the mountain like the back of her hand and was able to figure out where they were.

We hike a mountain because like faith, it can be hard, we lose our breath, we sometimes want to give up, turn around, and take the easy way.  But, if we persevere and make it to the top, the rewards are worth all the hard work.