The Daughters of the Most Holy Trinity (FST) gathered at the Sunyani Pastoral Centre from Monday, August 17 to Wednesday, August 26, 2026, for their annual end-of-year Retreat.
The Retreat provided the Sisters with a privileged period of prayer, reflection, renewal and discernment, focusing on the general transformation of their lives, vocation and apostolate in the contemporary world.
The Retreat was directed by Rev. Fr. Eugene Antwi Bosiako, OFM, who guided the Sisters through a series of spiritual conferences under the theme: “Appreciating the Trinitarian Dogma of Our Spirituality.”
His reflections sought to deepen the Sisters’ understanding of their identity as Trinitarian Religious and to help them translate the richness of their spirituality into their daily lives and apostolic commitments.
A major thread running through the Retreat was the question of how to live a Consecrated Life faithfully in today’s world.
The Sisters were encouraged to examine their relationshipwith God, their community life, their personal growth and their service to the Church and society, rediscovering the Mystery of the Trinity.
Fr. Eugene led the Sisters into a deeper appreciation of the Most Holy Trinity as the very foundation of their spirituality.
He emphasised that God is not a solitary God but a God of communion, relationship and love. The mystery of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit reveals a God whose love continually flows and communicates itself.
For the Trinitarian sisters, therefore,spirituality cannot remain merely a theological concept. It must become a way of living expressed in prayer, community, relationships, service and apostolate.
The reflection was connected with Christ’s command to his disciples in Matthew 28:17-20,where Jesus entrusted them with the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and baptizing all nations “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The sisteyrs were reminded that their vocation and mission are rooted in this Trinitarian mystery.
The words of Jesus in John 14:18-20 also provided a profound source for reflection: “I will not leave you as orphans.” The sisters were encouraged to recognize that the presence of God accompanies them in their consecrated journey and apostolic mission and rediscovering the Person and Role of the Holy Spirit.
One of the important areas of reflection was the role of the Holy Spirit in Trinitarian spirituality.
Fr. Eugene observed that Christians can sometimes give greater attention to the Father and the Son while unintentionally relegating the Holy Spirit to the background.
The Sisters were encouraged to consciously acknowledge the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in their daily lives.
They were reminded that the Spirit is their guide, companion and source of strength.
The simple prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit, guide me,” was proposed as a practical way of cultivating awareness of the Spirit’s presence.
The Sisters were encouraged to walk in the Spirit and allow themselves to be directed by Him in their decisions, relationships, vocation and apostolate.
The reflection challenged the sisters to ask themselves whether they truly allow the Holy Spirit to lead their lives or whether they sometimes attempt to carry out their vocation through their own strength, understanding, Spirituality and Self-Knowledge.
Another important aspect of the retreat was the connection between Trinitarian spirituality and the call to self-consciousness, self-awareness and self-knowledge.
The Sisters were encouraged to know themselves honestly, their strengths, weaknesses, emotions, motivations, gifts and limitations.
Such self-knowledge, Fr. Eugene emphasized, is important for authentic human and spiritual growth.
The Retreat also stressed the importance of humaneness, unity and community. Consecrated life cannot be lived as a solitary existence.
The Sisters are called to live with and for others,recognizing that community life is an essential dimension of their vocation.
The Sisters were invited to examine how they contribute to the life of their communities and how they respond when relationships become difficult, because in Community Life is the Challenge of Love and Forgiveness.
The Retreat also presented an honest reflection on the realities of community living.
While the early Christian community provides an inspiring model of sharing, unity and fellowship, the presence of human weakness was also acknowledged.
The example of Judas Iscariot was used to demonstrate that even within the community surrounding Jesus, betrayal and disappointment occurred.
Consequently, the Sisters were encouraged not to e ovey suri by n wnesse within Religious Communities.
Instead, they were called to cultivate forgiveness, patience, charity and reconciliation.
Community life requires the grace to live with people who are different, to forgive when wounded and to continue choosing love even when relationships become difficult.
The centrality of prayer in the life of the Trinitarian sisters was strongly emphasized. The sisters reflected on their Constitutions, particularly the teaching that prayer is a priority in both communal and personal life.
The Constitution reminds the Sisters that through prayer
they receive strength for their daily apostolate and grace for their communal relationships.
Prayer directs them towards service, while service finds its meaning in prayer.
The Sisters were also reminded of their special devotion to the Most Holy Trinity and their call to offer daily morning and evening devotional prayers to the Most Holy Trinity.
The Retreat therefore became an invitation to move beyond merely performing apostolic activities and to rediscover the spiritual source from which their service must flow.
By Sr. Saraphine Ankrah, FST ( Catholic Sister Communicators Network Ghana-CASCON-GH)
