Pre-Lenten parish retreats open to all the faithful in the Diocese of Salt Lake City: Mission on Incarnational Theology

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WEST HAVEN — A parish mission on incarnational theology at St. Mary Parish in West Haven is open to all members of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The mission, “Pilgrims of Hope, Incarnational Theology” will be presented by Father Thomas Czeck, OFM Conv. through the prism of Franciscan spirituality.

Fr. Czeck is the National Spiritual Assistant for the Militia Immaculata, “a worldwide evangelization movement founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917 that encourages total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of personal conversion and sanctification, and of spiritual renewal of society,” according to https://militiaoftheimmaculata.com/.

“Incarnational theology is how we can connect with Christ and how we connect with ourselves, and that’s what gives us hope,” Fr. Czeck said. “Because it is through his humanity, his incarnation, that we begin to understand our identity in our relationship to Christ, and then we understand his mission of love.”

Fr. Czeck presented a multi-part Eucharistic revival parish mission at St. Mary’s last June. Using a similar format, at the February mission he will address a different topic each night. The first will be “St. Francis and the Nativity.”

St. Francis of Assisi was the first to bring the Nativity into the Church at Christmastime.  

“For the Franciscans, this is the feast of feasts,” Fr. Czeck said. “This is where God reveals his plan of love for us and so it is because he has come that we can be in relationship to him, be drawn closer to understand who God is.”

In his second presentation, “Absolute primacy of Christ and the primacy of love,” Fr. Czeck will explore the philosophical understanding of why Christ was born into this world.

“Everything was created for this moment when God would become a living human creature,” he said. “God came because he wanted to share in that loving relationship with the creation that he had made.”

His third presentation, “The Image of God,” will focus on humankind being made in the image and likeness of God, “that ability of the created reality to be focused on the love of God and the implications for us,” Fr. Czeck said.

On the fourth evening he will present “Consecration: Living Love with Mary’s Guidance” for MI members.

Fr. Czeck’s overall message is one of hope for the turbulent times Catholics live in, he said. “If our focus is on this plan of God’s love, and we can live in relationship with love, that we can connect in our own human experience with what God experienced, then no matter what we are living through or what is going on in the world we can directly connect with this God of love and find a taste of the Paradise even in this imperfect world.”

This mission is the first in a series requested by St. Mary’s pastor Father Martin Picos, who wanted the series to focus on the hope that the incarnation of Christ offers and how that hope can transform Christians, said Donna Masek, a St. Mary parishioner and member of the Militia Immaculata National Council, who is helping organize this mission.

A second mission will be presented by the Father Kolbe missionaries in September. A final mission will be given during Advent by Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Each mission will explore themes related to the incarnation of Christ and personal witness. The missions aim to deepen parishioners’ faith and community, Masek said, adding that previous missions at St. Mary’s have been very well-received.

WHAT: Parish Mission on Hope and the Incarnation

WHEN: Monday-Wednesday, Feb. 24-26, 7-8:30 p.m. each evening

WHERE: St. Mary Catholic Church, 4050 South 3900 West, West Haven

Free. All are welcome.