July Retreat: Living the spirituality of action and true discipleship in our mission within the Church and the society
Sr. Christabel Malama, a Salesian sister of Saint Don Bosco, led the retreat. She is from Zambia but based in South Africa
Laika Kashanga, the youth ambassador for Zambia, opened the event with a word of prayer.
Dr. Agatha Lloyd appreciated the team for organizing the retreat and wished everyone a good retreat.
Before developing the topic, the moderator clarified the purpose of the retreat which is to help members reflect, pray and listen to what God is telling them.
The facilitator started her presentation by helping participants understand discipleship.
- Discipleship and spirituality of action
To define Discipleship, Sister led members to reflect on how Jesus called his disciples.Jesus called busy people. Jesus called people who had something else to do. They are from different professions and they came together for a common good. It is the same for ICMICA. We are supposed to call the professionals who are busy in their work to come and evangelize
Spirituality means a life of the Spirit. It implies a way of life that is guided by the Holy Spirit. We are referring to the way of life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in line with the calling from God.
- Evangelize with our own lives and make a difference
How can we put our faith in our profession? To be a true disciple, one is supposed to be action-oriented. To be true disciples, we have to evangelize with our own lives. We cannot evangelize without action. It is our responsibility to serve God through our calling. An evangelizer is supposed to be humble and learn from others. Let us contribute to society in a positive way. How do we treat the people around us? Even a simple greeting is already an act of faith; it is not necessarily a material donation. Let us make difference wherever we are. God always rewards our good deeds.
- Life of prayers
To live and know our calling, we need to pray and read the word of God. We should not neglect the aspect of prayers. Even though most of the time, the more we want to do good, the more challenges we face, we should not give up. That should not be a reason not to pray and not to live up to our faith. The devil always works hard to stop those who follow God.
- Be grateful
A true disciple always comes back to God to say thank you. They are grateful. We need to be grateful to God and to the people around us.
- Questions for reflection
- What challenges do I face in putting my faith into action
- Whenever I face these challenges, do I seek God’s intervention
- What practical steps am I going to take in order to live a spirituality of action and true discipleship?
- What kind of disciple am I?