Activities in 2008
In 2008 I visited a lot of places with the seminary or alone. In the spring of 2008 we went to Villa Pardoes and the Efteling. You can read more about this visit here.
In the spring we had to do a silent day alone. Once a year we have to organize such a day ourselves. We have to organize it ourselves because we also have to do that when we are finished at the seminary. Silent days are small retreats to keep focus on what we are doing. You can meet God in silence. Such days help me to organize my spiritual life. These days are also good for prayer and to find inner rest through prayer. I spent my silent day in Thorn. There is a ‘Foyer de Charite’ there, a community that facilitates silent days and retreats in a special house. In my first year at the seminary we did are longer retreat in that house. I really liked it there so I spent the silent day at the Foyer. Here I have added some pictures.
Shortly after the final exams of the study year 2007-2008 we visited Xanten with our latin teacher. Here there are some pictures. Xanten is a small place in Germany where there was a Roman stronghold. Xanten is located near the river Rhine and this river was the border of the Roman empire for a very long time. A lot has been excavated in Xanten and an archeological park was created to show how it was in Roman times. Visiting Xanten was an excellent closing of the study year. It was also a good opportunity to have some other things on my mind. Shortly before my mother was diagnosed cancer again, this time she had a brain tumor. It was really dramatic. She had cancer in 2002 and in 2007. She recovered completely these two times but this time it was extra difficult. Of course, there isn’t a good place to have cancer, but the brain is exceptionally bad. The tumor in the brain was the result of the cancer she had elsewhere. It was a dissemination from the cancer she had in 2007 or even 2002. Fortunately treatment was once again possible and she had radio therapy in august 2008. And we learned in november of that year that it had helped. The tumor had become smaller and had lost it’s activity. By the time it was Christmas my mother was doing very well again.
During the summer holidays I couldn’t go far away because of the illness of my mother. There were investigations that were going on in july so I had to cancel the trip I had planned to Glasgow. However, It was possible to do the longer retreat I had planned in july. It wasn’t to far away and there weren’t any important investigations planned in that week. So I went to Kellinghausen, near Osnabruck in Germany for a longer retreat. I stayed at the retreat house of the Franciscan sisters of Thuine. There was an opportunity to join a retreat there. The retreat was preached by father Wilkens, my spiritual advisor at that time. Everything was really well organized at the retreat house. I had a nice room and there was a good daily schedule, making it possible to do some longer hikes in the afternoon. The environment was very quiet. There was only a small village near the retreat house. It was more an agricultural environment, but it was very nice. Here I have added some pictures of the monastery and the environment.
My second longer retreat was at the end of October. This was the yearly long retreat of the seminary. This year we went to Lievelde, in the east of the country. The monastery where we stayed was also very nice. I liked it a lot there. Nice chapel too, where we had a nice place for Eucharistic Adoration. In Lievelde it was also possible to do longer walks every day. I walked about 1,5 hours every day and that was really good. There was a lot of forest near the retreat house, and a lot of cows, as you can see on the picture page here. I also found time for some spiritual reading. I am beginning to like longer retreats more and more.
One of the highlights of the seminary year 2008 was our visit to the island of Ameland. We have a few islands in the utmost north of the country and Ameland is one of them. We had an excellent time there, as you can see on the pictures here.