Ateneo de Zamboanga University

Junior High School Campus Ministry Office

Class Retreat – Grade 10

Find Yourself. Discover God: My Identity, Location, and Mission

Rationale and Objectives:

The overnight Ignatian Retreat is a silent retreat built around the elements of the Spiritual
Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The retreat invites the students to review their lives from
a prayerful and God-centered perspective.

It is an opportunity for the students have an authentic encounter with their God and to look
back their experiences, process, and relish it some more before they move to Senior High.
This will encourage students to further reflect on their experiences to make a connection
between their talents, their dreams, and the world's greatest needs. Who have I become?
What am I now passionate about? What am I good at? What and where are the world’s
greatest needs?

Who We Are Before God? Who God is? Who we are?

Three Types of Persons. The First type – “a lot of talk, but no action.” The Second Type – “to
do everything but the one thing necessary.” The Third Type – “to do Your will is my desire.”

Three Kinds of Humility. Humility lies in the acceptance of Jesus Christ as the fullness of what
it means to be human. To be humble is to live as close to the truth as possible: that I am
created to the likeness of Christ, that I am meant to live according to the pattern of his paschal
mystery, and that my whole fulfillment is found in being as near to Christ as he draws me to
himself.

Choosing between Two Goods. Discernment is about choosing between two goods. Both
options are NOT evil. Both options are neither immoral nor contradictory to the fulfillment
of God’s kingdom. Hence, discernment is not choosing between what is good and what is
bad—because the choice to be made should always be for the good. Discernment is about
confirming which option will allow you to grow more in all aspects of your life.

Contemplation on the Love of God. First, love ought to show itself in deeds over and above
words and second, love consists in mutual sharing of goods.

The goals of this retreat are the following:

1. to prayerfully look back their experiences, pray over it and relish it,
2. to encounter their personal God who has been with them through their experiences in the
Junior High,
3. to be free to choose whatever the lead of God’s grace may indicate as his particular to
each student,
4. to know Jesus intimately, to be able to love him more intensely, and so to follow him more
closely.

10:00 – 10:15 Snacks

10:15 – 10:45 Prayer Point 1: My Identity
1. Introduction: We need to look at who we are. We are very busy
people. We fill our time with many activities. For a moment we
are in silence, we would already panic and search for something
to do. Often, we do not take time to stop and think about who
we are, kung kamusta na tayo, what we truly believe in, our
questions and fears.

Activity 2: Sino ba ako para sa’yo?

1. Each of the participants shall be handed a piece of paper. They
will be asked to write their name on top of it.
2. They shall pass it either clockwise or counter-clockwise,
depending on the facilitator.
3. For 10 seconds, the student who received the paper shall write a
good quality (one word or phrase) regarding the name on the
paper.
4. When the paper has returned to the owner, they will be given
one minute of silence to read all the words on their sheet.
5. Question: Of everything that is written, what are the words that
you already know (put a heart next to it)? Struck you/ surprised
you (put a wow face next to it)?
6. Processing: We are usually quick to make judgments about
people based on our first impressions of them. Many times we
make assumptions about who people are and what they are all
about without even speaking to them.
7. The facilitator can add a personal story of making a judgment
about someone that turned out to not be true (like someone you
do not seem to like but is now your best friend)

Materials needed:
• Bond Paper
• Ballpen
• Bell
10:45 – 11:15 Prayer Point 2: The Search For Who We Are
 1. Introduction: What we see on the outside often does not reveal who
the person truly is. A person’s appearance is a shell. It is only when
we allow ourselves to listen to one another that we begin to know
who someone truly is.
2. Video: You Look Disgusting (Or any similar themed video)
3. Do You Know Me? The facilitator shall tell an experience of being
wrongly known before, either of being bullied or being avoided by
other people. The point is that there are always different sides to our
person.
4. Processing: Many times we do not know our own story. Our stories
make us the persons we are. But sometimes we are not sure of who
we are. Sometimes, we tend to believe and to listen more to what
other people say. Sometimes, we wear masks, pretending to be one
person for one group and another person for another group.
Sometimes the person on the outside – the person we show to
others – is the person we feel safe to be. But the person on the inside
is the real person.
5. The facilitator can now use the lunch bag to demonstrate how even
if these are difficult things to share, our dreams, fears, secrets, hurts,
joys, and personal things make us the person who we are. The
facilitator can also share some talents, experiences and skills s/he is
not proud of. We will never be perfect, but we must accept ourselves
and hope that we can also still change.
6. Knowing that God created us can help us feel safe to be ourselves.
"It is Allah Who has made for you the earth as a resting place, and
the sky as a canopy, and has given you shape - and made your shapes
beautiful -, and has provided for you Sustenance..."
(Surah Ghafir 40:64)
“I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your
works! My very self you know.”
(Psalm 139:14)
The facilitator will ask the students to repeat both verses, then their
respective verse silently. Give a few moments of silence for students
to reflect on these words afterwards.
11:15-12:00 Activity 3: The Story of My Life (Lunch Bag)
1. The students will be given the following questions to journal on their
notebooks:
• Who am I?
• What are my gifts and talents?
• What are my likes and dislikes?
• What are my favourite things?
• When was I the happiest I have ever been? Why?
• What do I fear?
 • When was I the saddest I have ever been? Why?
• What is something I want or need to change about myself?
• Whom do I admire the most? Why?
• How do my parents see me?
• How do my friends see me?
• How do I see myself?
• What blessings has God given me?
2. Now students will be given a lunch bag. Markers and crayons are
available also for them. On the outside, they are to write words or
draw pictures that represent things they find easy to share with
others: gifts, talents, interests, concerns, hang-ups, beliefs, things
that are important to them. They must also write their name.
3. There are also small slips of paper available for them. The
participants can write or draw on the slips things they find more
difficult to share with others. These go inside their bags.
4. The facilitator will remind the students that it is a time for personal
reflection, and they will be given 30 minutes to accomplish the
activity. Soft background music shall be played.

Materials needed:
• Video: You Look Disgusting
• Video: Lion King “Who Am I”
• Paper Bag / Lunch Bag
• Markers
• Crayons