Embrace, Empower, Elevate: Midlife Retreat

Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan held its Annual Retreat for the Academic Year 2024-2025 on the 26-27 of September 2024 organized by the Campus Ministries Office in collaboration with the Office of Mission and Ministry. The retreat was for the faculty, formators, and non-teaching personnel, offering them the choice of a live-in or live-out format and a theme suited to their personal needs.

Centered on the overarching theme, "Embrace, Empower, Elevate: Laudato si," the main live-out group and the live-in retreat groups were facilitated primarily by Jesuit priests in the university and a few invited ones from other Jesuit missions. Additional thematic groups appropriating the general theme were also provided for the university personnel to choose from. These were handled by members of the Campus Ministries team. Sr. Ranette L. Angot, ODN took charge of Praying the Second Half of Life: A Midlife Retreat, a live-out retreat designed especially for those at a crossroads in life, seeking deeper meaning and purpose, wanting to keep quiet, and praying to reconnect with their spiritual journey and relationship with God. It was held at the Lestonnac Youth Center.

The participants felt affirmed in their choice of the midlife retreat, which concluded with an invitation to integrate the insights they gained into their daily lives. They were invited to embrace midlife as an inward journey with courage and gratitude, empower themselves and others, and elevate the faith-life connection through Ignatian spirituality.