Busy end to year at Castletown retreat centre

In the past few weeks at De La Salle Retreat Centre Castletown we have facilitated Confirmation and 6th Class retreats and we have been blessed with lovely weather as well as lovely groups.

For the month of June, Meitheal, the Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan youth peer ministry leadership programme, have use of the Pastoral Centre so we relocate to the Main House for our programmes, This has been a tradition over many years and we are always appreciative of the warm welcome that we receive from the Community who open their home to us. Thank you to Brothers Kevin, Albert and Frank and all the staff.

We also welcomed the pastoral teams from Belfast and Dublin for our end of year gathering and also met the members of the Pastoral Centres Advisory Board. It was great to catch up and to have the opportunity to pray together, to share and to affirm and support one another. 

As a team, we also had our own end of year gathering where we prayed for all the groups who had visited us over the year and we gave thanks for all our blessings. We had a fire ritual which involved all of the personal prayers that students had written and placed in our prayer chest.

The paper on which the students' prayers are written were ritually burned and we called to mind the many students who had graced us with their presence. Our ritual took place on the grounds of Castletown in warm sunshine and we were reminded to enkindle in our hearts the fire of God's love.

As the lyrics of a famous hymn states, we endeavour to 'light up the fire and let the flame burn, open the door, let Jesus return. Take seeds of his Spirit, let the fruit grow, tell the people of Jesus, let his love show'.

As we head for the summer break may the colours of your days be bright.