Staff Retreat at Mt St Joseph

Teachers are facilitators, collaborators and influencers. It is good to be with others but it is important to spend time with oneself – to introspect, review and evaluate our value system, our beliefs and our growth. With this in mind, the management of SJBHS used the 12 th of September 2019 as a day for a spiritual detox. The serene environs of Mount St Joseph, the silent zone of the imposing seminary and the pristine natural surroundings instilled a discipline and peace that is non-existent in a city like Bangalore.

The day began with a video presentation on the Mother House of the Karnataka Province of the Jesuits - Mount St Joseph. This was followed by a talk on spiritual conversation and a brief on religion as opposed to spirituality. The resource person was Rev Fr John Pradeep SJ who is an authority on Ignatian spirituality. He mentioned that all religions have the 4 C’s – Code, Cult, Creed and Community; but it is spirituality which is one of the parameters of development of the individual. Besides mental, physical, intellectual and emotional growth a person develops his belief systems and deciphers his gratefulness, his humility, his prayerfulness, his response to being a charitable person and his inclination towards being service minded. These will determine each one’s commitment to his/her vocation in life.

The teachers had to put their own perspectives into focus to interpret whether their service at SJBHS was their vocation or their profession.

Interspersed between the tea break and the lunch hour were activities which stressed on team work, selflessness and the ability to handle challenges at the work place.

The ‘nature walk’ took the staff deep into the Jesuit ethos of concern for the environment. The cattle, the sheep and the pigs lived in harmony with the chickens, the turkeys and the rabbits. The lush fruit trees and the healthy vegetable patches was a lesson in itself towards sustainability and the need for self-reliance.