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Benedictine Sisters help direct student retreats

Benedictine Sisters help direct student retreats - (26-02-2013)

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Photo: Sister Hope Rodenborn, OSB was one of two Benedictine Sisters who assisted with student retreats in February.

University of Wyoming-Laramie

Sister Hope Rodenborn, OSB, of the San Benito community was one of four spiritual directors who led a Busy Student Retreat in February at St. Paul’s Newman Center at the University of Wyoming-Laramie.

Carving out prayer time can be difficult for a college student whose life is filled with classes, work, study and friends. St. Paul’s Newman Center’s Busy Student Retreat helps students recharge their spirituality and renew their faith by spending a small amount of time with a spiritual director each day.

“Students met with their retreat director for guidance and growth in prayer for one hour for four days during the retreat,” Sister Hope said. 

Many of the students had participated in retreats before and loved Adoration but had rarely utilized the Scriptures for prayer in order to know Jesus more deeply, Sister Hope said.

“It was a very impressive experience of sharing with these young people who wanted to grow in Christ,” she said.

 Texas A&M University

Also in February, Sister Lynn Marie D’Souza traveled south from her Clyde, Mo., monastery to her alma mater, Texas A&M University in College Station, for the annual Busy Students Retreat at St. Mary’s Catholic Student Center.

Like that at the University of Wyoming-Laramie, the retreat takes place during the students’ regular schedules.  Participants pray for 30 minutes, meet with a spiritual director and attend Mass each day during the retreat.

“The goal is to help students deepen their prayer life and give them the tools to make prayer a part of their daily routine,” Sister Lynn Marie said.

About 50 people participated, a majority of them Texas A&M students. As a director, Sister Lynn Marie offered prayer tools and shared a Scripture passage that was discussed the next day. Students offered insights they gained from their time of prayer and discussed other topics important to them.  

Sister Lynn Marie, who lived in College Station from the age of 14 until her graduation from Texas A&M, is always excited about returning to the area to serve as a spiritual director for the annual retreat.

“It always feels like home,” she said. “The Holy Spirit is very much alive and active at A&M. The students have a deep desire to really know God, to understand his will for their lives and to do it. They support and encourage one another in this. I leave the retreat with so much hope. If these students are any indication, the future of the Church is in very good hands.”