Magna parish's events to teach the faith, inspire

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MAGNA — Our Lady of Lourdes Parish (Magna) is hosting three events, each with a different faith focus, to which all in the diocese are invited.

On Feb. 23 will be a bilingual adoration and healing night with Angela Sandoval. Known as Ge’La, she has evangelized  through her music since 1992. She has taken her ministry worldwide, not only throughout the United States but also to Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Peru, Spain, Israel and Rome, among other countries.

She has also participated in World Youth Days and International Eucharistic Congresses.

“This will be a night of prayerful healing and adoration,” said Father Gustavo Vidal, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

A few days later, Feb. 25-26, the parish will offer a Lenten retreat. Presenters will be Fr. Vidal and Therese Loy, director of the parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program.

The retreat, which will be conducted in English, will be offered a week before the beginning of Lent.

“I like to do the retreats before the liturgical time begins so we can prepare for it,” Fr. Vidal said.

The presenters will offer an explanation of the meaning of Lent, “but with special focus on Holy Week, about Palm Sunday and the history of the oldest narrative of this Sunday – how people used to celebrate it in Jerusalem,” Fr. Vidal said.

The retreat also will offer a “preparation for this special and gracious time that our Lord gave to us … to prepare so we can live the Pascal Mystery: the Passion, death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” he added.

Retreat participants can expect to have a close encounter with Jesus, “centering themselves in those special moments of Jesus’ life and in the mystery of our salvation,” he said. “The purpose and goal is that people get to have an encounter with Jesus and learn about the mystery of salvation.”

All people are invited to participate in this retreat, but especially those participating in the RICA program, Fr. Vidal said.

The third event the parish will host will be a retreat March 4-5. It will be in Spanish, and the focus will be married couples. Presenters will be two married couples from the parish and Fr. Vidal. The retreat will begin with a rosary, followed by Mass and then some talks.

“This will be kind of different from a retreat; it is more like a workshop” because it will be interactive, Fr. Vidal said.

“This will consist in talks related to getting to know yourselves in order to be able to know your significant other,” said Fr. Vidal, adding that the spirituality of marriage also will be a topic. “We are going to talk about the communication skills between couples, and we are going to have moments of questions that will be targeted.”

Participating couples can expect to get to know each other better because these exercises will also include sharing the answers, he said.

“These exercises, despite the fact of being very simple, will be deep. Some couples who have been together for five, 10 or 20-plus years, they haven’t have the opportunity to share the answers to some of these questions,” Fr. Vidal said.

The purpose of this retreat/workshop is for “the couples to get closer and open more to each other. … It might also help them to heal some wounds that have been in their relationship,” he said.

The event will also offer music and a healing Mass.

As couples get to know each other better, “they get to accept their weaknesses. They will get to understand better their relationship,” Fr. Vidal said. “When we recognize our weaknesses we can work on them so we can do something – we can make an effort to be better, and this will strengthen the relationship between couples.”