Recapping the St. Joseph Retreat

By BRIAN HANSEN

[Moses spoke to the people, saying:] "Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statues, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice."

-Deut. 26:17

On Saturday, March 15, Catholics from across the Diocese of Winona-Rochester gathered at St. Joseph Parish in Owatonna to partake in and experience the St. Joseph Retreat. This retreat was the second in a series entitled The Holy Family Retreats & Pilgrimage Msgr. Thomas Melvin was the retreat’s keynote speaker and spiritual leader. Over 100 retreatants were in attendance to experience and participate in prayer, faith formation, and fellowship. During this time, Msgr. Melvin taught these retreatants about the theological significance of Jesus Christ’s earthly father, St. Joseph.

When teaching on the Guardian and Head of the Holy Family, Msgr. Melvin structured his formation talks around the “Litany of St. Joseph” and the Beatitudes spoken by Jesus during His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-12). Msgr. Melvin utilized both the litany and the Beatitudes as a means of revealing, more fully, St. Joseph’s character. In particular, Msgr. Melvin focused on the litany’s description of St. Joseph being “most chaste” and “most just;” he showed, through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, how St. Joseph possessed and embodied the virtues of justice and chastity during his life. Msgr. Melvin then demonstrated that, in the daily practicing of these virtues, St. Joseph in turn was emulating two of the Beatitudes articulated by Jesus. By practicing the virtue of chastity, St. Joseph was fulfilling the beatitude, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8). Likewise, his practice of the virtue of justice fulfilled the beatitude, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).

As a result of these demonstrations, the retreatants received a deeper and fuller understanding of the virtues of chastity and justice and their beatitude counterparts. This, though, according to Msgr. Melvin, was intended to help the lay retreatants realize that as Christians, we too are called to actively habituate the virtues of chastity and justice in our daily life. Msgr. Melvin stressed that such a calling is not an impossible task for the lay person. Why? Because, St. Joseph, the exemplary lay man, who shares in our human struggle, modeled in his life the fulfillment of this call to live chastely and justly. May Christians throughout our diocese rise to this holy challenge and, through the intercession of St. Joseph, receive God’s grace to become men and women of chastity and justice!

What was most beautiful about Msgr. Melvin’s faith formation talks was that, when communicating these important ideas and messages, he always connected them to his personal experiences in his priestly vocation. The retreatants witnessed, firsthand, Msgr. Melvin’s gift of being a masterful storyteller. Not only did his personal life stories help retreatants better comprehend the theological concepts he was conveying, they also were very relatable and revealed the priestly heart of Msgr. Melvin. When listening to these stories, I got the sense that all of us who were listening to them would be coming away from this retreat more hopeful and inspired to practice our Catholic faith more intentionally amidst the daily struggles. I am confident that this reaction of mine was just one of many that were realized by retreatants while on this retreat!

A special feature of the St. Joseph Retreat was the presence of Bishop Robert Barron. Bishop Barron presided at this retreat’s Mass; during his homily, Bishop Barron reflected on the life and example of St. Joseph, as well as other saints, like St. Patrick and St. Therese of Lisieux. Bishop Barron used these reflections on St. Joseph and other saints to reveal that in the spiritual life, the Christian must strive not to fall in love with the benefits of God, but rather to fall in love with the will of God. Bishop emphasized that St. Joseph and the Communion of Saints are those who did just that - their love for God was one out of love for his will, not for the benefits that were received from being in relationship with him. Following Mass, Bishop Barron then had lunch with the retreatants and spent time visiting with them. In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to Msgr. Melvin and all those who participated in this second retreat of The Holy Family Retreats & Pilgrimage series. Also, a special thank you to Bishop Robert Barron for presiding at this retreat’s Mass and having lunch with the retreatants! Finally, I would like to extend a personal invitation to all Catholics living throughout our diocese to attend and participate in our diocesan event’s

final retreat. The St. Mary Retreat will be held on Saturday, April 12, at Ss. Peter & Paul Parish in Blue Earth (22 people are already registered for this retreat!). Some important reminders about this retreat:

• Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, & Confession will be offered;

• Breakfast, snacks & lunch are provided and included in one's registration fee;

• Daycare assistance will be provided for those Catholics with young children;

• A Spanish translator will be present to offer translation services for those Catholic Hispanics whose primary language is Spanish. For questions, more information, or to register for this final retreat, please go to the diocese’s website or contact me (bhansen@dowr.org | (507)-361-1939). We hope you will attend this final retreat of our diocesan event!

Brian Hansen is the coordinator of adult lay formation for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.