ST MARY’'S CATHEDRAL LENTEN RETREAT

Elder Anthony Lim facilitating the retreat

Sandakan : Over 100 people of St Mary's Cathedral Parish attended a two-day Lenten Retreat organized by the Sandakan Catholic Charismatic Renewal Community (CCR) on 1^st – 2^nd April 2011. The retreat was facilitated by the Elders from the Light of Jesus Christ Covenant Community (LJCCC) from Kota Kinabalu Archdiocese.

This is the second occasion that such a retreat was organized by the joint effort of all the Parish CCR groups. The first one was organized last year, at the Diocesan Retreat Center, Ulu Dusun specifically for members of the Star of Yahweh Covenant Community (SYCC). The overwhelming response last year spurred the CCR to reach out to more people of the Parish.

The retreat was based on a four-part reflection series on the Mel Gibson’s epic film “The Passion of Christ”, produced by Trinity Formation Resources founded by Dr. Tom Curran of Washington USA. In this series, Dr. Tom Curran reveals four central themes portrayed in the movie to be reflected on;

1.     Living your mission with passion

2.     The Path of conversion of discipleship

3.     Revealing the nature of sin and evil

4.     The passion of God’s saving love (Mass)

The SYCC Choir

By the end of the 4-part series, the retreatants were divided into several groupings of 8 -11 people for personal sharing and discussion. After the four series reflection by Dr. Tom Curran, the Elder of LJCCC, Mr. Anthony Lim shared an inspiring talk on the last 7 words uttered by Jesus for in-depth reflection by the participants. 

• 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do' Lk 23 : 34 
• 'This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise' Lk 23 : 43
• 'Woman, behold thy son' Jn 19 : 26
• 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me' Mk 15 : 34
• 'I thirst' Jn 19 : 28
• 'It is finished' Jn 19 : 30
• 'Into thine hands, I commend my spirit' Luke 23 :

William Fung giving his testimony

The retreat ended at 10.00 pm with several testimonies from the participants on how the retreat had helped them in understanding deeper the meaning of Christ's passion. 


The organizer is hopeful that such retreat will be organized annually at parish level to benefit more people in the future.

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