Diocesan Lenten retreat focuses on prayer
HOLLADAY — More than 400 Catholics from the English- and Spanish-speaking communities gathered at Saint Vincent de Paul Parish’s Holy Family Hall for the diocesan Lenten retreat on March 22. The retreat in Spanish was given in the morning by Father Marco Tulio Lopez, pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Milford and its associated missions, who spoke on the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope in the Jubilee Year.”
People of faith should frequently reflect on “where we are and where we are going,” Fr. Tulio said, and this can “only be achieved if people are able to be silent to pray. … All the noise that surrounds us keeps us derailed,” but people need to silence their hearts because “in peace is where God is.”
The afternoon session, which was in English, was presented by Father Gabriel Mosher, OP, pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center. His topic was “Prayer, A Hopeful Relationship.”
Fr. Gabriel split his presentation into two sessions, which were divided by a small-group discussion and a time of silent prayer.
“Prayer is, at its root, the way in which we live out the Christian life,” he said as he opened his talk.
He quoted the Dominican theologian Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, who said that a prayer life begins by talking to yourself; this then evolves into a dialogue with God, which builds a relationship, Fr. Gabriel said.
“The more you come to know God, the more that prayer is efficacious; that’s because you cannot love that which you do not know,” he said, noting that prayer should be incorporated into every aspect of a person’s life.
“What you need is to pray, and that is to talk to God,” he said, noting that, while Catholics pray to all three Persons of the Trinity, prayer should be ordered to the Father, “because it’s the Father who sent the Son and the Spirit to claim us. He is the principal of love.”
The focus of his first presentation was a discussion of five types of prayer mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise.
By blessing God, Christians desire the fulfillment of God’s will and adore him, Fr. Gabriel said, adding that the principal way Catholics do this is by the holy sacrifice of the Mass and the public celebration of the Divine Office.
Prayers of petition ask for help for oneself, while prayers of intercession ask for help for others.
The most important prayer of thanksgiving is the Mass, which actually incorporates all five types of prayer, he said, and in giving God praise “we praise him for all the good things that he has given us.”
Fr. Gabriel opened his second presentation with a famous quote from St. Jerome: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
Knowledge of Scripture does not require memorizing verses but rather is knowing the stories told in the Bible, he said.
Nature is also a way to learn about God, because “You can come to know an artist by way of his art,” Fr. Gabriel said. “This is why the Church loves science, loves knowledge, because the more we are able to know about the natural order, the more we’re able to know about the natural order’s creator.”
He suggested that those present find prayers that resonate with them, such as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy; and also that they develop relationships with their guardian angel and certain saints, including those whose feast days fall on the day of their baptism or the dates of significant life events.
Meditation is an important type of Christian prayer, he said, explaining that meditation is a consideration of the mysteries of Christ. Both the rosary and lectio divina are forms of meditation, he said.
Developing a life of prayer is a way “to achieve even now in part what we hope to achieve” at the end of time, he said as he closed the retreat.
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