Fr Tom Rouse with retreat participants in Fiji. Photo: Fr Tom Rouse SSC
I was grateful for the invitation to guide the Columbans in Fiji through their 2025 Annual Retreat. Because I considered this invitation a serious responsibility, I took time to decide whether to accept. After prayer and reflection, I finally agreed to take on this sacred responsibility.
The retreat took place from June 2 to 7 at a familiar and beautiful location: the Nazareth prayer centre at Wailekutu. Eight Columbans attended the retreat.
In my first set of slides, I explained the reason for my choice of theme for the retreat. “Back in the late 70s, I attended a Columban retreat held at the Ashram. (This is a retreat centre located between Sigatoka and Nadi.) The retreat master was Fr Joe Dilasa IMS (Indian Missionary Society). I will never forget the scriptural passage he used as a theme for that retreat. It had a profound effect upon me as a young Columban missionary who had only recently been appointed to the region of Fiji.”
I had decided to use this text as the theme of this Columban retreat. The text is from the prophet Isaiah 43:1-4a.
Over the five days of this retreat, I took up 10 aspects or key words from this text.
I began by reflecting upon the command “now” – “now is the time”. In biblical Greek, there are three words for time – chronos, eschatos and kairos. Chronos refers to a specific period of time or what we may call “clock” time. Eschatos refers to the end of time or the last “days”. It can mean the end of time or these end times, e.g. “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:2). In other words, we live in these final times. But the “now” I wanted to stress, the time of retreat, would hopefully include Kairos, the opportune time. So, while we believe that we are living through the end times, and while we had a retreat timetable that is governed by “clock” time, I was hoping that in the experience of the retreat there may be Kairos moments.
These could be moments of revelation or discovery, when something happens or an unexpected word strikes me. We need to be prepared for these moments and grateful for them, for they are moments of encounter with God.
It was a silent retreat.
After each reflection, I left the group with a few words that I hoped would help to focus their groups. This is what I wrote after that first “conference”:
Walk gently with the Lord
Let us take our time
This time, after all, is ours
Friends are praying for us
They want the best for us
And the best is to be at peace with God
and with one another
May we enjoy a blessed retreat.
I also entered into the spirit of the retreat and will be grateful for the seriousness and sincerity of my Columban sisters and brothers in Fiji. They helped me experience kairos moments throughout the course of these five days at Wailekutu. I came to note that the glass windows at the back of the chapel revealed a panoramic vista of Suva harbour, giving me the impression that I was on the edge of the Lake of Galilee.
I walked with Jesus during those few days. Thank you, my friends, for your prayers. I also thank my Columban sister and brothers in Fiji for accompanying me during those days of retreat at Wailekutu.
Fr Tom Rouse, Regional Councillor of Oceania
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
