“When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance”- Joel Osteen.

This past October I had the opportunity of experiencing my first Delbarton retreat. At first, I expected to spend the entire weekend praying and not actually doing anything with my brothers. However, as the weekend went on, I realized that my predisposition was wrong. When I first got to the retreat center I was greeted by many of my friends and the upper class leaders.

After the first initial meet and greet, we were escorted to the Cafeteria to eat pizza and meet our retreat groups. At first, I was saddened by the fact that I only knew a few students in my group. However, that would change over the course of the weekend. From the start, I could feel the spirit of brotherhood among all of us. This initial feeling made me realize that the Delbarton Brotherhood does exist and that I was fortunate enough to experience it first hand on my retreat.

After coming back from the cafeteria, we began the first of many impactful talks from retreat leaders. The first speech, by Ather William, was incredibly insightful and profound. Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet in our retreat groups to discuss Ather’s talk. It was incredible to see what others in my group thought and, personally, it was very informative. After our small group discussions, we re-gathered as a large body to discuss what our groups talked about and how we were all individually impacted by the talk. At the close of the evening, we all went up to make our dedications. In my opinion, the dedications was one of most empowering experiences in the retreat and gave me a new insight on many of my peers.

It was strange hearing what was going on in the lives of my brothers, and I remember almost being on the verge of tears when it came my turn. Because this moment was so profound and deep, I felt that it truly brought us together as a retreat, and most importantly, as brothers. It was at that moment I felt as if I truly belonged at Delbarton.

The following morning, we started off with a talk about self-reflection, and I feel as if this talk in particular made our group more interconnected, compared to a manufactured group of students. After a few more talks and discussions it was time for the Homecoming football game against Seton Hall Prep. This was a major highlight of the retreat weekend for me, even if I though I fell in mud! Before experiencing the game with my brothers, I did not care about attending football and sporting events, but now, I try my best to go to as many as I can.

After the game, we began to create our own skits that corresponded with each talk. Our skit, that corresponded with the “hospitality” talk, portrayed a group of friends making fun of two outcasts. Eventually, after realizing that we are all alike in some way or another, the group of friends reconciles with the two outcasts by inviting them to join to the group.

While I enjoyed the skits, I was intrigued by the closing event – confessions. As a non-Christian, I had never really experienced “reconciliation” like so many of my other classmates had, so it was nice to experience something new. I spoke with Father Demetrius since he is my “Benedictines” teacher. After an insightful conversation about what happens during a confession, as well as certain topics that have been troubling me recently, I truly felt better about my entire experience over the weekend. I enjoyed confession because it gave me the opportunity to be myself along with many of my other peers.