Students at Lenten retreat challenged to live for purpose

By Klysha Best

Who are you?

What will you regret at the end of your life?

Those thought-provoking questions were posed to Form Six students of Catholic secondary schools within the Port of Spain area, who gathered at the Centenary Hall, St Mary’s College, on March 23 for the Catholic Students Lenten Retreat.

Asking the question was Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon, who had the teenagers engaged as he cut through the noise of grades, career hopes, and social media.

“Nobody at the end of their life regrets spending more time in their office,” the Archbishop told the students. “They regret not loving enough. They regret not spending more time with those that they love. They regret not living the dream that they had. They regret not finding their purpose.”

The retreat became an urgent call to examine what truly matters. “The regret will be that you didn’t have the manly and womanly courage to take your life, figure out what God called you to, and actually live it,” Archbishop Gordon said.

He drew from his own youth, sharing the three promises he made to himself upon leaving school.

“The first promise was that I was going to be a millionaire by 35 years old. The second promise was that I was never going to another institution to study nothing. And the third promise was that I was going to have a lot of fun all along the way.”

But he warned students against mistaking wealth for fulfilment.

“Lots of people make plenty money, and at the end, end up real sad,” he said. “Because the money doesn’t give us purpose. It doesn’t scratch that internal itch inside of us.”

He challenged the students to consider what they were living for—money, pleasure, social media likes, and to ask whether those things would make them happy ten years from now.

Drawing from the story of Samuel in Scripture, Archbishop Gordon reminded the students that God calls each of them, even when they don’t recognise the call.

“In those days, it was not expected to hear the voice of God calling,” he said. “And I think in our days, we don’t expect to hear the voice of God calling us. But God is calling every single one of us.”

He urged them to respond as Samuel did: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

The Archbishop spoke directly about conscience, explaining that when we ignore it, it doesn’t disappear, it simply grows softer.

“If you choose not to listen to your conscience over and over again, you can actually have an impaired conscience. But the conscience still speaks to you.”

He invited students to identify areas in their lives where they “keep doing stupidness constantly” and to notice how the intensity of that inner voice fades the more it’s ignored.

Archbishop Gordon anchored his message in Ephesians 4, urging students to “live a life worthy of your vocation.” “Be completely humble and gentle,” he quoted. “Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

The Archbishop acknowledged the particular struggles of this generation like anxiety and depression, pressures unknown to previous generations. But he offered hope. “If we are willing to live by our conscience in things a little bit, then our vocation will find us,” he said.

The retreat concluded with a moment of reflection. Students were invited to ask themselves what truly matters and what they might regret if they never had the courage to live it.

“If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself,” Archbishop Gordon said, quoting Scripture. “It’s the love of Jesus.”