Fr. Paolo Fedrigoni wasted little time in assigning duties. Work descriptions for the youth involved anything and everything from throwing out worn out mattresses to cleaning and scrubbing a greasy pantry. Some of the tasks entailed carrying and loading large metal planks into a garbage bin that was far smaller than necessary. Other tasks consisted in the slow monotonous exercise of cleaning window screens.
But the youth loved it.
The camaraderie that developed out of the work was a definite blessing. Watching the youth, soaked in water, laughing and cleaning, talking, sharing ideas and stories while they worked definitely enriched the experience.
Furthermore; over the course of the week, the retreatants were blessed with the teachings of Peter Turrone, a Consolata seminarian born and raised in Canada, and now finishing his studies in Italy. Meditations on the “defects of Christ” or on knowing and discerning God’s will in one’s life brought a level of sanctity to otherwise monotonous tasks.
It was the experience of the writer, when he was cleaning a dish: sanctify the task by offering it up to Christ. To see Christ’s face in a dirty plate and attempt to make that face more transparently known. Such a reflection, on the part of the writer, made manifest the single message of the retreat.
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We all spend many hours of the day in work - many of us as students, labourers, administrators. One wonders how to attain a higher level of holiness when one is so caught up with those tasks that don’t seem directly connected to the building up of God’s kingdom. It is through understanding how the work itself can sanctify our prayer, and likewise how the prayer can sanctify the work, that one begins to encounter God in the parts of the day that are not only the most time consuming, but also the most “draining”.
Thank you Fr. Paolo, Peter and the Consolata missionaries for all you do in support of the Youth!
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