Hundreds gather at Spanish retreat

Friday, Apr. 07, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 350 Hispanic Catholics gathered at Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church April 1 to celebrate the diocesan Lenten retreat guided by Father Sergio Serrano, OP.

Fr. Serrano based his talks on the theme “God’s Dream for Your Life.” Asking questions such as “Who am I?,” “Who is God?,” “Why I am here?,” “What are my gifts and how I used them?,” and “What happens when we die?,” Fr. Serrano captured the attention of the attendees with his witty and charismatic presentation.

“Jesus is the one who has all the answers to all these questions,” Fr. Serrano said. “He’ll help you live the answers because he wants to be always with you.”

To understand God’s dream for each individual, Fr. Serrano told the attendees that first they have to look at Jesus and understand that “all that is made by God is good, but sometimes we don’t want to believe what God tells us.”

With the premise that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, Fr. Serrano said that people make the decision to sin or not. “The sins are and have always been there, but it is the person who chooses to make them. Nobody is bad; there are actions that takes us away from goodness.”

Fr. Serrano also emphasized how nowadays material things dominate people’s lives, “and that makes lives harder and takes the joy away from each person.”

“This has been very interesting,” said Victor Cisneros, a St. Therese of the Child Jesus parishioner, who attended the retreat with his father, Manuel.

Fr. Serrano taught a big lesson, Cisneros said.

“We all have a reason to be alive and to make a change in this world,” said Cisneros, adding that now he realizes that all God’s creations are good and it’s in the person to make living better.