Reflecting on the Deacons Retreat (Oct. 20-22, 2023)

In the summer of 2021, I had a big trial in Travis County District Court so I was not able to attend the annual deacons and wives retreat, at the Oblates Mission in San Antonio, with my wife. So that year, I had to sign up to attend the deacons retreat in October at Cedarbrake. Interesting enough, one of my Formation Directors, who also happens to be the retreat coordinator, saw my name on the list of retreatants and asked if I could help him by being the MC for the retreat. The deacon who normally MC had something going on and he would be late to the retreat. I agreed and have been the MC for the deacons retreat for 3 years now. However, I am glad the retreat coordinator asked me to be MC because it has been a blessing to serve my brother deacons on our retreat weekend.

This retreat was unusual in that our retreat director - Monsignor Edward "Ned" Ryan - could not make the trip because of an ailment. Although he was not able to travel from NY to TX to be with us in person, he was able to lead our retreat via Zoom. We were blessed that Msgr. Ned was our retreat director even if all the way from NY. Saint Albert the Great, pray for us! Blessed Carlo Acutis, intercede for us! We had some technical issues but we overcame them with the help of the saints.

Msgr. Ned gave conferences on the theme of "Hospitality", particularly how Jesus requested hospitality, accepted hospitality, and offered hospitality during this public ministry. As the "bridge" between the clergy and the laity, because we are deacons but also husbands, fathers, and workers in the secular sectors, we are called to be like Christ and receive, accept, and offer hospitality. Some of the Scripture passages that we reflected on are: Mark 6:30-32; Luke 19:1-10; John 12:1-8; Matthew 26:6-13; John 1:35-42; Matthew 11:25-30; and John 21:1-7.

Msgr. Ned intertwine his teachings with his own experience of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels School (Chicago, IL), which killed 90 students and 3 nuns that tragic day, including the aunt of one of our deacons. Here is a link from the History web-site if you want to read more about the fire: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/students-die-in-chicago-school-fire and from the Chicago Sun-Time https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/12/3/23490684/remembering-one-of-chicagos-worst-tragedies-our-lady-of-the-angels-school-fire.

As I mentioned, one of our deacons - Dan Lupo - lost his aunt in the tragedy but, many years later, she guided him home to Rome. You can read his account here: https://olafire.com/Story.asp?S=677, just search for "Lupo". Msgr. Ned also shared how William R. Edington, Jr., on of the students who perished in the fire, interceded for him during one of the most challenging times in this life and priesthood and reenergized him. Read more about young William R. Edington, Jr. here https://olafire.com/Memorial.asp?V=26.

I left the retreat renewed, refreshed, and reinvigorated to serve Jesus, his Church, and the people of God. In my time of prayer and reflection, particularly in the Saint Clare Room, I found this Prayer of Saint Clare: https://saintclareofassisi.org/prayer-of-st-clare. These words and phrases struck me from the prayer:

• behold, hold, enfold
• gracious acceptance of me
• I hold the Lord and I am held in His love.
• I am secure in the Lord.
• the Spirit of our God has called you

I also was reminded to trust God and entrust my diaconate to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.. I prayed the Litany of Trust, which helped me to recall these words: JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU. Amen.

I wanted to share some of my experiences from the deacons retreat in hopes that it will inspire you in your own faith journey. Most of all, I pray that you trust in God and entrust your life to our Lord Jesus Christ. Come Holy Spirit!

Here are some pictures that I snapped from the retreat weekend.

This is me arriving at Cedarbrake Retreat Center on Friday afternoon. It was my third year as MC and I really enjoy serving my brother deacons as MC.

Back in July, during the Parish Staff silent retreat (also at Cedarbrake but much HOTTER), Fr. Charlie invited us to pray with the saint in which our room was named after. For this retreat, I stay in the St. Ignatius of Loyola room, which is quite striking because the topic of Fr. Charlie's talk at the silent retreat was Ignatian Spirituality. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!

On Saturday afternoon, it was cool enough that I was able to sit outside at one of the picnic tables near the conference center. I decided to so something that I usually do not so, lied down on the bench. This was the beautiful and peaceful perspective that I saw as I meditated on all the wonderful "nuggets" that Monsignor Ned Ryan was sharing with us during our conferences. It was a blessed moment for sure! However, the Saint Clare Room and Garden has become my favorite spot at Cedarbrake to pray and meditate. Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us!

These are some of the brother deacons that I got to spend the retreat weekend with. Some of them had already left and returned to their parishes for various reasons involving ministries. Both of my Diaconal Formation Directors were there and a few of the guys from my Class of 2019 were there so it was fun catching up with them for sure! I pray that more deacons in the Diocese will attend this retreat in the future. It is always a good time to pray and fellowship with my brother deacons from all over the Diocese.