Lenten retreat at St. Francis of Assisi focuses on the Seven Deadly Sins

Intermountain Catholic

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Christina Riley and Caterina Riley present a section on the sin of gluttony during the retreat. IC photo/Marie Mischel

OREM — A small group in Orem spent the second Saturday of the Lenten season reflecting on how to overcome capital sins during a retreat at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish.

The retreat participants viewed the DVD of Father Robert Barron’s Seven Deadly Sins/Seven Lively Virtues, which uses "The Inferno," the first part of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Divine Comedy, to discuss each sin. Fr. Barron also quotes Thomas Aquinas’ definition of each sin, provides concrete steps to overcome it and discusses the virtue that opposes each sin.

Fr. Barron, the rector/president of Mundelein Seminary University of St. Mary of the Lake, is an author, speaker and theologian who founded the Word on Fire ministry.

Gabe Torres, the St. Francis of Assisi parishioner who organized the retreat, said he hoped it would help those who attended "to recognize the virtues in their lives so that they can be able to overcome the struggles and the battles that they face, and to draw closer to one another."

Torres chose Fr. Barron’s DVD as the basis for the retreat because the priest clearly presents the capital sins and the virtues that can overcome them, he said.

The Seven Deadly Sins dealt with in the DVD are pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony and lust.

Some of those who attended the retreat are members of the parish’s charismatic group, which Torres founded. During the retreat, group members took turns making presentations on each sin and leading a discussion, following the DVD segment on that sin.

Christine Cramer volunteered to do the presentation on sloth. She spoke on the difference between being lazy in secular activities compared to being energized in spiritual life.

"If you’re going to be on Jesus’ team, pick his team and play hard for him. Don’t sit on the bench and let somebody else do it, because that’s sloth, that’s indifference," she said, crediting the analogy to a speaker she had heard in Maryland, where she is from.

That speaker’s presentation inspired her to choose sloth as the topic for her presentation at the retreat at St. Francis of Assisi, she said. "I wanted to share those stories with the rest of the congregation here."

Another parishioner, Kristine Christianson, is not a member of the charismatic group but attended the retreat after she was invited the previous Sunday, she said. Christianson is going through the RCIA program and expects to be baptized at Easter, she said.

Fr. Barron is a captivating speaker, she said, and explains clearly "how we all experience this almost on a daily basis and how you have to deal with it and to apply it to live your life."

For Curtis Penfold, the retreat was interesting, he said. Penfold was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but describes himself as agnostic, although he is interested in spiritual matters.

Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins is a way to live a life of happiness that avoids harming oneself and others, Penfold said, and Fr. Barron’s DVD was "very thoughtful. There are things that he might say that I disagree with … but most of what he’s saying I really relate with and I feel he’s really thought this out and he’s found a certain foundation that has caused happiness in other people’s lives and he’s sharing that with others."