Divine Retreat Center in Cochin

I am currently retreating at the Divine Retreat Center in Muringoor, near Cochin. I am on a self imposed exile to help me quit smoking. Once you pay for boarding  and food and is allocated a room, you literally cant leave the campus, unless its a life and death situation. Which is why I came here in the first place. My religious beliefs don’t exactly align with the retreat because they are a hard core catholic faith center while I am a liberal non denominational christian. The great thing about the retreat center is that its dirt cheap. Rs 1000 for room and boarding for a family room (for a week) and Rs 350 for a week of food. Mind you the food is as good as it gets.  The message is generally focused on Jesus, but they have references to the Mary and the saints, about intercessory prayer by the saints etc. Typical catholic fare, but its really toned down. So over all I personally found it a very satisfying and memorable  worship experience.

I would recommend the place for anyone who is trying to ditch a habit or a great worship experience.  I really don’t focus on the specifics of any christian denomination as long as their focus is on Jesus and based strongly on the Bible ( yeah, I know what you are thinking?  What about interceding through Mary & the Saints conundrum). Like I said , I take in the good and chew out the rest.

I attended the place at a time of the year when there where minimum number of people.  There are sections for people from different states speaking different languages. I opted for the local dialect, Malayalam.

Its actually a  pretty large hall, even though the picture does not do justice.