by Valerie Mascarenhas for BISMumbai

With the pandemic, St. Dominic Savio High School Andheri has gone online for over 04 months now. As it adapted to ensure academic, emotional and physical growth stayed on course, it was very important to have the students spiritually refreshed as well. As a part of this understanding, the students of Classes IX and X had their retreats [01-hour sessions] online, on 28 and 29 September.

The Catholic students retreat was guided by Father Velasli Bandya, INB vocation animator. The retreat was themed 'Gifts of the Holy Spirit'. Through well laid out slides, powerful interactions and apt humour, students were taken through a journey of understanding the gifts of the Holy Spirit , importance of prayer and a relationship with the Holy spirit, communicating with Jesus and the 10 commandments.

The retreat for the students of other faiths was guided by the school's VicePrincipal Father Ranson D'Souza, and was themed 'A Grateful Approach to Life'. They began with a fun quiz, flowed by a short breathing exercise, reflective story, interactions and a concluding prayer song.

In their feedback, the students were very appreciative of the opportunity they were given to pause and reflect. They found the retreats calming, engaging and relevant to their lives. The only thing the students were left wanting for was a longer retreat.

The 01-hour sessions ended with a vote of thanks, with the students having several points to continue to reflect on and imbibe in their lives.