Advent retreat allows a pause before Christmas

Intermountain Catholic

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English-speaking participants in the third annual Diocesan Advent Retreat discuss questions having to do with applying Advent ideals to their lives during a small group session of the retreat.

DRAPER – We shouldn’t be afraid because God visits us out of love, "and doesn’t that say something wonderful about God," Dominican Father David G. Caron told the English-speaking group at the third annual Diocese of Salt Lake City Advent Retreat on Dec. 4.

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, and Fr. Javier Virgen, vicar of Hispanic Affairs, were the presenters for the Spanish-speaking participants.

Fr. Caron is with the Southern Province of Saint Martin de Porres, where he has held several positions, including director of Mission and Ministry at Barry University, Miami, Fla. He currently is involved with vocations work for his province.

Fr. Caron invited retreat participants to take the day as a day of self care. "You’re the expert in your own spiritual life; I’m just here to help you along the way," he said.

"Advent remains a time of spiritual preparation that is too often least appreciated on our Church calendar, little understood and commonly ignored," Fr. Caron said, pointing out that the season has two foci: The first is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth, the other is anticipation of his return as king at the end of time. "Thus Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000-year-old historical event," Fr. Caron said. "It is celebrating the truth of our God. The revelation of God through Christ whereby all creation might be reconciled to God."

The Advent Collects, a set of prayers for the season, were the focus of Fr. Caron’s presentation, which included several sessions where participants discussed how they could apply the prayers to their daily life.

These sessions were the best part of the day, said Alan Miller, a Blessed Sacrament parishioner. "You get the liturgical stuff from the reading, then you get how to put it into action" from other people, he said, adding that he plans to take some of the ideas from the retreat to the Prime Timers senior citizen’s group at his parish.

Kazuko Miller, Alan’s wife, said she enjoyed Fr. Caron’s sense of humor, and the thought she most would like to reflect on ways to make herself empty for God.

Fr. Caron also talked about how Catholics live in a tension between secularism and living their faith, with which Kathy Mensel, a Christ the King parishioner, agreed. "It is difficult for Catholics, and it is difficult of families," she said. The director of religious education at her parish, she plans to talk with parents of the First Communion class about some of the ideas from the retreat, she said.

Like Alan Miller, Christ the King parishioner Denise Richards said she learned things from the retreat that she wants to put into action. "It’s very reflective of where I want my household and my interactions and my parish to be," she said.

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, began the diocesan retreat series three years ago when he came to the diocese to give people an opportunity to reflect on the season "so that Christ’s coming will have an effect on their lives – it won’t just be going through the motions year after year," he said in an interview after the retreat, adding that the day was meant "to afford us the time to stop our busy schedules and take some time to pray, to reflect, to be with one another and to remind ourselves that the purpose of Advent is to prepare ourselves for Christ’s coming as Christians."