Men's retreat offers transformative experience

Intermountain Catholic

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Participants in the St. Mary Men's Retreat pray before a crucifix denoting the 12th Station of the Cross. Courtesy photo/St. Mary Men's Group

To say the Third Annual Men’s Retreat sounds like a redundant, boring outing would be like saying the Eucharist holds no important significance. Which, regarding the latter, is most certainly and totally untrue. Indeed, quite the contrary! The men of St. Mary Parish in West Haven would argue there is no greater life transforming experience than to attend one of their men’s retreats – every year, if possible.   

The Men’s Retreats at St. Mary are a life-changing experience for every man who attends. Father Gustavo Vidal started these retreats three years ago when he became the parish pastor, and for him these retreats have become the highlight of his extra-pastoral ministry.

"If men are changed spiritually, God’s power through them changes the dynamics of the Church," said Fr. Vidal, who encourages all men to participate in a retreat, although he knows many will not, mostly due to factors relating to fear of the unknown.

Most who have attended will admit they were apprehensive the first time, but now would not trade this experience for anything and can’t wait to return each year. They all admit they have been transformed in a dramatic way, the most prevalent of which is having had a close encounter experience with God they will never forget in their life. The evidence is confirmed when loved ones become the recipients of such changes.

The third annual St. Mary Men’s Retreat took place Aug. 9-11. This year’s theme was from the book "We Pray," by Father Oscar Lukefahr. The retreat focused on a myriad of prayer methods and techniques along with spiritual, Biblical and Church references, traditions and divine guidance for praying. The men were grouped into teams, each of which presented the primary content of their respective chapter interwoven with an activity or exercise to emphasize the primary "take-away" for the chapter. Throughout the weekend other related activities were interspersed in the schedule to create a dynamic prayerful experience.

The men were challenged to dedicate themselves to a half hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament during nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Adoration began following a rosary recitation processional that commenced (in the pitch black) after a two-hour fireside session. The procession traversed the retreat site, climbing to a significant elevation and ending by positioning our Blessed Mother at the grotto. There, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed from midnight to the 8 a.m. reposition liturgy, followed by morning Mass. This special procession and Adoration took place both nights.

The highlight of the weekend retreat was traversing to the Stations of the Cross up a steep hill, starting at the grotto. At the final station atop the hill was a 20-foot steel cross, which had been permanently installed by a team of St. Mary men the weekend prior to the retreat. At the beginning of the Stations of the Cross, this steel cross was empty, but it was fashioned with a rope and pulley system to raise a special crucifix at the moment the men arrived at Station 11 ("Jesus is Nailed to the Cross"). When the men turned to proceed to Station 12, there on the huge cross now hung Jesus Christ.

With the powerful impact of gazing upon the cross and seeing the crucified Lord hanging there, the men could not help tearing up and reflecting on their own sinfulness. As they gathered around the base of the cross, they heard reflections of each of the key persons who had gathered that day on Golgotha, while Christ was being crucified.

The men listened to the thoughts of the centurion, Jesus’ mother, the thief who knew Jesus was the Messiah, the criminal who knew him not, the beloved friend of Jesus, and others. Kneeling before Christ hanging on the cross, each man dealt with his own reflections and the power that the Holy Spirit unleashed upon them.

The fourth Annual Men’s Retreat is scheduled for Aug. 8-10, 2014. All men, regardless of parish or faith affiliation, are invited. Contact Kevin McCavanagh, 2014 Retreat Planning Team chairman, 801-916-2457.