Women's retreat focuses on love that never fails

Friday, May. 23, 2014
Women's retreat focuses on love that never fails
Intermountain Catholic
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During the Love Never Fails women's retreat, the participants were able to write intentions on pieces of paper and put them in tubes that formed a heart; at the end of the day the heart was brought forward and the women prayed to God to "take our burdens, our needs, our concerns, our pain – all that makes our hearts heavy. Help us, Lord, to trust in your love for us personally, relieve our burdens, and help us in all our circumstances, to grow stronger in our faith, and in the love we give to others." IC photos/Marie Mischel
By Marie Mischel
Intermountain Catholic

LAYTON — Love was on the lips of the six presenters at the women’s retreat May 17 at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church, which drew more than 100 women for a day of prayer and inspiration.
“This really is a blessing that you are taking time out to be with the Lord,” said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, who opened the retreat.
The retreat’s theme, “Love Never Fails,” is important in a world where intolerance is so evident, said the bishop; he asked the women to pray particularly for the Nigerian schoolgirls who were kidnapped.
”The power of prayer is never to be underestimated,” said Bishop Wester, adding that, although the stories abound about when love has failed, “love is the most powerful force in our world.”
Although human love is imperfect, God’s love is perfect. Such an infinite love is difficult to grasp, so “we have to listen intently to Jesus Christ, through Scripture, through Sacred Tradition, through prayer; ... and to constantly be reshaping our image of God and of love so it is as accurate as it can be, admitting that our understanding will always imperfect,” the bishop said.
He gave three points to remember: God never withdraws his love, God always forgives sin, and God’s love is always present. 
“If there is a time in your life when God doesn’t seem to be present, it’s not that God withdrew, it’s that your capacity to perceive him has been diminished for some reason, but the reality is that God is always present,” Bishop Wester said. 
The speakers who followed Bishop Wester expounded on many of the same thoughts.
Jeanne Lachowski, a Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center parishioner who has organized many retreats, urged those at the retreat to listen as well as talk when they pray. If this is difficult, Lachowski recommended praying Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God.” 
“God wants to talk to you,” she added. “Listen.”
For his presentation, Dominican Father Carl Schlichte, St. Catherine of Siena pastor, focused on 1Cor:13 (“Love is patient. ...”).
Christians are meant to be living examples of building up one another in love in the pursuit of being perfected as the Father is perfect; God gives charismatic gifts that are meant to be used to do this, Fr. Carl said. “If we have that charismatic gift and we try to hold onto it, it will rot because it’s not doing the purpose for which God sent it.”
In a presentation that got the retreat participants clapping and singing, musician Ryan Ingle used song to reflect on the theme of love. 
Like love, music “communicates directly to our hearts,” Ingle said, and like the Catholic faith, “music has to be expressed outwardly; we have to reach out to one another.”
Those at the retreat were given the chance to reach out in a global sense, as Jean Hill, the Diocese of Salt Lake City government liaison, asked each to write a letter to their congressman asking for support of federal legislation that helps fund programs to help malnourished women and children.
The Catholic faith calls for participation in the everyday world, Hill said, and “that includes getting involved in politics. ... This is your great act of love today.”
After the retreat, Hill said she was happy with the women’s participation. “It was inspiring to me to receive 35 letters on the spot, particularly the letter from one older participant who said it was the first time she had ever written to Congress.”
The closing speaker was Paul White, the moderator of the Lay Dominicans, St. Catherine of Siena Chapter. His presentation centered around 1Cor 13:11 (“When I was a child, I talked as a child. …”).
Growing up in the South, where there were few Catholics, White was often called to defend his faith, he said, and this led him to focus on defining the faith rather than living it, he said.
“To be mired down in rules ... can be a childish way of thinking,” he said.
These days, “instead of defending or correcting or arguing about faith or the practice of faith, I attempt my best to follow the Dominican philosophy and tradition of discussing issues from a place of love and respect,” he said. “Doing this is my way of putting away childish things, becoming an adult.” 
Among those at the retreat was Saint Mary parishioner Savannah Sloan, who attended with her mother because she thought it would be an enriching and spiritual experience, she said. Hill’s presentation struck a chord because Sloan has a personal interest in incorporating politics with her religion, she said, while she liked White’s talk because it reminded her to focus on the important aspect of living the faith, she said.
Bishop Wester’s presentation was the highlight of the retreat for Marina Carpio, a Saint Rose of Lima parishioner, because his message was that even though human love sometimes is broken, “we have to love one another like Jesus loved us,” she said.

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