FRUITLAND PARK  |  More than 300 students from seven different colleges gathered to encounter Christ at the Catholic Campus Ministry annual spring retreat just a few weeks ago.

While the group of students mostly came from University of Central Florida, others joined from Florida Institute of Technology, Valencia and Seminole State Colleges, Rollins, Stetson University, and the University of South Florida.

The retreat focused on the Holy Spirit with the theme of being “Glorified” based on Romans 8:26-30. According to Rebecca Laing, Florida regional administrator for St. Paul’s Outreach, the talks covered, how to “make Him the king of our lives.”

“(We asked) how we can receive a deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what His role is in our life, how we can pray for gifts of the Holy Spirit to be able to bless the kingdom and the Church,” Laing said.

The retreat began Friday night and ran through Sunday at the Warren Willis Conference Center in Fruitland Park. On Saturday night, retreatants prayed for a deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit and received resources for how to pray for certain gifts so they might better spread the Gospel. Students prayed for gifts of healing, wisdom and administration. They prayed Scripture would come more alive in their lives so they would have more of a zeal for evangelization and service in their lives.

Allyana Tiqui is not new to the retreats. In her fourth year at the University of Central Florida’s Catholic Campus Ministry, “Glorified” was her eighth retreat. This time, she helped lead a small group where leaders would help attendees learn how to activate the gifts they prayed to receive.

“If you pray for the gift of prophesizing, try to prophesy. If healing, offer to pray for somebody who has pain. I thought, that’s really bold,” she said. “I knew the main person in the retreat was the Lord and if something was going to impact them, it was going to be through Him. I just had to pray and be present for them. My role is as an instrument of God’s will.”

Brother Martin Buganski and students shared stories of the many manifestations of gifts they received over the years. One story was about the gift of healing. It hit home for Tiqui who suffered from scoliosis since the sixth grade. The irregular curvature of her spine caused frequent pain.

“You learn to live with it,” she said. “I thought the healing was cool and thought, maybe one day God will heal my back.”

Tiqui’s group wanted to pray for the gift to listen, to be more intentional. But they were hesitant about praying for big gifts. Tiqui understood and reminded them, “The same God that split the Red Sea, moved mountains, and resurrected from the dead is the same God that’s within you.”

Her group prayed for their specific gifts. She asked what people prayed for and one young woman said, “healing and wisdom.”

So, Tiqui asked her to pray over her. Sabrina laid her hands on Tiqui’s shoulder blades and neck. Everyone joined in prayer. Tiqui then noticed where Sabrina’s hands felt cold, and she had no pain.

“Maybe she just has cold hands,” she thought, although after an hour, she still had no pain.

As they participated in Mass, Tiqui was distracted as she focused on how her shoulder blades felt. After some time, she noticed the coldness started to fade away, but not sinking into pain yet.

“In my heart I heard the words, ‘Oh ye of little faith.’ It’s as if God was telling me, ‘Allyana, the miracle already happened to you, but the devil’s going to try and take it away because you don’t believe it.’”

Immediately she prayed, “I believe. I believe.” Gradually the cold returned, but this time it was over and under her shoulder blades.

Zack Jablonski asked for the gift of leadership. During Eucharistic Adoration Saturday night, he received a “super clear message.”

“I hadn’t heard God speak to me through prayer so clearly, this call to leadership. I heard the call and thought, I need to get to a prayer team immediately. I wanted to get someone definitely better at exhortation than I am to help me begin my process,” he said. “I experienced a lot of encouragement. There were a lot of people definitely cheering me on as I started this process.”

He said after discerning and praying, he knows God is calling him to leadership within UCF CCM.

Devin Brizuela said his encounter with the Holy Spirit occurred during Eucharistic Adoration. Normally unable to kneel for long, he found himself on his knees for an hour praising the Lord.

“It’s the first time I could feel the Holy Spirit throughout the room and the multitude of people there. I knew He was right there,” he said. “The Body of Christ was right there. I could feel it was Him and I was in awe, thinking about what the Lord could do in my life if I’d left my heart open to Him the entire time before this retreat. It was transformative. It was the start of me leaving everything behind and coming to Him, setting my sights on Him.”

Brizuela said the experience shifted his perspective. He finds himself relying more on God than himself when dealing with stress and his career path. “I’m not going to let this fire that’s been ignited in me go out,” he said.

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, March 28, 2025