It is exciting that, after a hiatus of a few years because of the pandemic, the Christ Renews His Parish Retreats are formally up and running again! Hundreds of parishioners have experienced the Christ Renews Retreat for themselves here at St. Mary’s. The story of many is often alike: there was a little reticence at first – why do I need to go? What’s in it for me? I’m too busy… but they always end the same – it was one of the best experiences, I’m glad I went, you should go too, the retreat put some fire into my spirit! You may have heard some of these personal witness stories and invitations to yourself these last weekends at Mass. The Men’s Christ Renews His Parish/Welcome Retreat is the weekend of February 25-26, and the Women’s is the weekend of March 11-12 (As a side note, in case you were wondering, Dynamic Catholic has officially changed its national brand name of this retreat experience to Welcome, so we are going to use the name interchangeably). “Put out into the Deep,” Jesus says. This represents a chance for you to encounter Jesus in a new and deeper way. There is such a rich and engaged spirituality here at St. Mary’s, and I am led to believe much of this has been cultivated by CRHP/Welcome. So, I am looking forward to participating in this alongside many others, and joining this together with you all. I hope to see you there.
Don’t look now, but can you believe that next week is Ash Wednesday already and that we will begin the season of Lent! Where did the time go? Even if you aren’t going on a Welcome retreat, next week’s bulletin cover will showcase a number of the happenings here at St. Mary’s for the season of Lent so that, like Jesus who retreated into the desert for 40 days, we all can be renewed by the ascetical practices we undertake in this period of time: Faith Sharing, Stations of the Cross, Reconciliation, Mission, Day of Mercy, Taizé, What’s Lent All About?, and more… As Fulton Sheen once said, “Many souls fail to find God because they want a religion which will remake society without remaking themselves.” All Renewal starts personally with each one of us. Begin to consider what you might do for Lent this year so that you can walk away spiritually renewed.
~Peace,
Fr. Luke