Last weekend, February 24-25, Couples for Christ Adelaide held the Marriage Enrichment Retreat 3 (MER 3) at the Holy Family Church, Parafield Gardens with the theme: "Born to Love: Unity of Hearts." The MER 3 was developed with the intention of providing participating couples the opportunity to reflect on and deal with the changes and challenges they have encountered so that with pure hearts, enlightened minds, and renewed spirits, they can directly face the growing demands of holistic evangelisation.
The event was led by Bodyet and Ebbie Reyes and facilitated by Edgar and Vivianne Abejo, Edwin and Eloisa DyTioco, and Ben and Jo Sioson. Ten couples participated in the two-day retreat and went home blessed, enlightened, and empowered to face the future.
The structure of MER 3 is quite different from MER 1 & 2 in the sense that this retreat was context oriented, reflection based, self-directed, and activity oriented. The participants were given the opportunity to talk to each other as a couple as well as share their experiences to the group. This encouraged openness and promoted bonding among the couples and other participants.
On the second day of the retreat, the 10 couple participants got the chance to renew their vows during the Holy Mass officiated by Fr. Peter.
The CFCA community members generously contributed their time and talent to prepare food and look after the kids so that the couples can focus on the retreat without having to worry about their children. Special thanks also to Nick and Susan Dangcalan who worked tirelessly to secure and prepare the venue.
The MER 3 had been an enormous success, strengthening the relationships of the participating couples and therefore, strengthening the church. All praises and honour to our Lord Jesus Christ who made all these possible!