Diocesan retreat will focus on Year of Mercy

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015

DRAPER —  The Office of Liturgy in the Diocese of Salt Lake City has planned the annual diocesan Advent retreat at Saint John the Baptist Parish Dec. 5. 

“The diocesan retreat is a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together for prayer and reflection during the Advent season,” said Ruth Dillon, Office of Liturgy director. “We are especially blessed to have both the English and Spanish sessions focus on the Year of Mercy and what Pope Francis is asking of each us during this important jubilee year.”

Father Jose A. Barrera Hernandez, parochial vicar of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, will present the Advent retreat for the Spanish-speaking community. Taking Pope Francis’ quote about mercy being the seeds of love and caring for others, Fr. Barrera will lead people to celebrate Advent by putting mercy into action. 

This year Father Ken Vialpando, St. Joseph Parish pastor, will present the Advent retreat in English, the goal of which will be to see “how blessed we are to have the coming of our Lord, who came to give us this abundant life, and how, like our Blessed Mother, we can magnify the Lord by recognizing all the good that he has done for us dwelling among us and most importantly, dwelling within us making us temples of the Holy Spirit,” he said. 

Whether through marriage and family, single life or the priesthood, the Lord desires to bless people’s lives “abundantly through Sacred Scripture and all the Sacraments,” Fr. Vialpando said. “Advent gives us a perfect opportunity to rejoice with our Blessed Mother who was chosen to be the Mother of God, the Tabernacle, and to also reflect on how our souls, like Mary’s heart and soul, can be filled with the life of Jesus, the life of God’s grace.”

The Blessed Mother serves as the perfect model for sanctifying grace – “the life-giving grace we received at our Baptism and Confirmation that make us more like Christ and ultimately one with our Lord,” Fr. Vialpando said. “Like Mary, we can tell the world the great things he has done for us.”

Only when people go out and share their faith, empowering others to recognize how God has blessed them, “will our souls be able to leap for joy just as the baby (John the Baptist) leaped for joy within Elizabeth’s womb,” Fr. Vialpando said.

During the retreat, Fr. Vialpando will explain how he recognized the great gift of life within a pregnant woman who approached him one day after Mass and asked him to bless the baby within her womb, he said. 

“I have blessed many babies who were in the womb, but I can tell you honestly, I had never placed my hands directly on the woman and her baby until that day,” he said. “The encounter between Mary and Elizabeth was not just an ordinary encounter between two women, but an earth shattering moment between Mary and Elizabeth, between Jesus and John the Baptist, between heaven and earth.”

Fr. Vialpando will also explain that “once we can recognize the life of God within us and within others, we can look forward to the birth of Christ, not only on Christmas Day, but at every Mass and within each encounter we have with our family, friends, and strangers during the day,” he said. “This realization of Christ dwelling among us and within us should empower us to be stewards of God’s creation, stewards of every life within and outside the womb and stewards of the earth.”

 

What:  Diocesan Advent Retreat 

When: Dec. 5, 9 a.m.-noon

Where: St. John the Baptist Parish 

          300 East 11800 South, Draper

Cost is $5 by Dec. 1; $8 at the door. 

To register, call 801-328-8641, ext. 322.