This morning we are doing a promotion for Christ Light, which you
will hear about in a little minute or two. For this past two weeks, I
have been in El Salvador and Guatemala. In my life have seen the hand
of God, not always understanding in the moment, but upon
reflection.... the hand of God as a golden thread leading and guiding
me. Father Dan Danielson asked me to go on the Maryknoll Martyrs
retreat last year. I really was very unprepared for the level of
poverty that I saw and, more than anything else, the two hundred
seventy-five thousand people that have been murdered in Central
America since the eighties, backed by our American government. Oscar
Romero, the bishop of San Salvador, the bullets that went through his
head as a prophet and as a martyr were American made, American
military issue. The thirty-seven priests, the nuns, all the lay
missionaries, all these people were shot because they proclaimed a
gospel of social justice, the gospel of love. And because they
advocated systemic change they were labeled “Communists.”

And so, in Guatemala, up in the mountains where I was last Sunday
with the twenty other priests and the Maryknoll Fathers, six hundred
twenty-five of the Indian villages were massacred, mass genocide. Six
hundred and twenty-five villages! We went up there to this
particular village to a church that was built by the Franciscans in
1531, Santiago Atitlan, built on a beautiful lake in the shadow of a
large dormant volcano. The people there are all descendents of the
Mayans. There are no gringos. There are no hispanic people, just the
Indians, wearing dress stuff like this (indicating Guatemalan stole).
They made these for the twenty priests. And, as I walked into the
church for the Mass, packed, twelve hundred people, all Indians,
wearing these brightly colored clothes, they are little people. I
looked like a giant in front of them. We had twenty altar boys. We
marched into this full church and when you looked out at them and you
knew that there was tremendous pain in that parish because their
parish priest, their pastor, a Maryknoll from the Midwest, was shot
dead by the military, and they found the bullet in the wall
afterwards that went right through his head, and it was an American
issue military bullet, because he was preaching the gospel, the
gospel of love. John Paul II said, “We are not the Church of the
United States of America. We are the Church that goes from Alaska to
the tip of Chile. We are one Church and our brothers and sisters have
suffered greatly. But the gospel of hope, the Church is alive and well.”

And yes, America has backed the Evangelical Churches that go down
there and break the back of the Catholic Church. And yes, in that one
place there are twenty Evangelical Churches and their goal is to
split the community and do their thing, and is backed by American
money. That really pained me something terrible. But they think if
they break the Church, they will break the so-called communist
threat. Well, it doesn’t work like that. And God is stronger and love
is stronger. So, prophets, martyrs rise up, from Hebrew Testaments to
the early days of the Church, to our present day. Yes, they are not
always accepted, and attempts to squash their message ultimately
fail. But the gospel of love always prevails, in a very powerful way.
And I just feel like I have this huge slash right across my heart
that, every time I think of those people and every single place I
went to kneel and pray for the martyrs, sometimes the only response
was to cry. Actually Eileen is from Guatemala and I was talking to
her yesterday and she was telling me, “Welcome to the world that I
grew up in.” We have to pray for these, our brothers and sisters.

But the gift of love prevails and today our promo is about Christ
Light. Who knows what Christ Light is about? ... Three people in all
the parish know....? OK. Well, I guess we will just have to inform
them, huh? When I was a seminarian over at St. Bonaventure’s they had
this Cursillo movement in the parish and about five hundred people
had gone through it. You could really tell. There was a spiritual
love and closeness in that parish that I never understood until I did
Bonfire. And everybody told me I had to do it, including the pastor,
and guess what? I didn’t want to do it.
But when I did do it, I realized it’s a retreat. It’s a spiritual
gift, and each of these guys, in the light of the readings today, are
going to talk about it from their own experience. So, our first
question is “Why and how did you choose to answer God’s call to
attend Christ Light? Phil Lamb, are you going first?


Phil: Oh, yeah. I can. You know, I did not think that it was God’s
call at that time. I thought to myself, “It’s just an ordinary
retreat. I don’t need one. But my wife needed one. I wanted my wife
to go.

Fr. Aidan: Is she here to defend herself?

No, she’s not here. Somehow, there was a little voice inside me
telling me that “Maybe we should go together because we have never
been to a retreat for the last seven years.” So, I did sign up. Both
our names are in and I am glad I did, and now I know it was God
calling at that time. I think somehow there is a little voice inside
telling you. Maybe that could be God calling within you.

My name is Staci and the reason I went to Christ Light was I had
just moved to the area. The first Christ Light was last May and I
just moved to the area in February, and I had read the little blurb
in the bulletin. So I decided to make a call, and I thought it would
be a good opportunity to feel more a part of the Christ the King
Community as well as get to know a few people. So that was my
intention on going.

Eileen?

For me it was more I knew I was being called but I just kept putting
it on hold. Like phones, I just let it ring and ring. So I wasn’t
answering and there were many opportunities for me to do so. There
were ads in the bulletin, as Staci said. There were fliers.... I
finally talked myself into it and I didn’t actually sign up until
there was a friend who had signed up, was hesitant, and I thought
well, it’s one thing to talk myself out of participating but it’s
different to talk somebody else out of it. So, I said well let me
sign up and I will do it with you. So, I feel that I answered the
call but it was somebody else’s phone that was ringing. But I still
answered the calls.

My name is Lou and I wasn’t a participant on the weekend but I was on
the presenting team and Aidan had asked me to be on the team and I
accepted very affirmatively because, at my prior parish, I had gone
on retreat weekends like this at the parish and worked on teams and I
saw the impact it had on individual people’s lives and how it
connected individuals on the weekend. You know, you might ask what
type of people go on these weekends. Well, you know what? It’s just
regular people. It’s people that have weaknesses, flaws, and have
struggles in life, just like all of us.

Fr. Aidan: So, why don’t you tell us about how you experienced God’s
love that weekend?

Lou: For me, working on the weekend, the team that was involved in
putting on this weekend were people that, in some cases, I didn’t
know before. There were over forty people that worked both directly
and indirectly over a two month period. And, during that process, I
saw people that gave of themselves freely, put their inhibitions
aside, and we saw what the impact was on the people that attended the
weekend. It made me believe that, between the participants and the
people working on the team, that all of us were moving a little bit
closer to what God’s image of what we really should be like is.

Fr. Aidan: What about you, Staci?

With me, I felt drenched in God’s love that weekend. I knew that God
loved me unconditionally but that weekend, not only did I feel God’s
love but I felt the love from all the fifty, sixty people that were
there, that I didn’t know before that weekend. One thing that I
already did know that was reiterated throughout the weekend was how
God loves us all and, with God’s love, all will be well. And he is
always with us, in our low times and in our high times.

Phil: I feel the same way as Staci. The unconditional love of God
really changed me a lot. I have a new pair of eyes to see the
presence of God in my daily life. And I have my new pair of ears to
hear the word of God and to be more receptive to God’s word. And I
have the courage to change myself closer to the creation God has
created for me, and what he has intended for me because I don’t feel
alone anymore.

Eileen: It was the same thing for me. It wasn’t so much a feeling of
God’s love, but it was for me to see God’s love working, to see what
God’s love can actually do. It was great to see all these people
giving of their time, as I was saying, giving of their energy, giving
their enthusiasm, just for the sole purpose to create an atmosphere
for us to have the opportunity to experience God’s love, just the
opportunity. It wasn’t like a guarantee. It was just that
opportunity. And that, to me, was just fascinating. I was able to see
God’s love, to actually touch it, and it became real. And that’s sort
of why I’m here now, because I have found something and I want to
show people. It’s like “Come with me. Let me show you. Let me show
you where I saw God’s love.”

Fr. Aidan: And what about the obstacles to getting there? Cause
they’re all sitting there, “What’s this all about?” and all of the
reasons why I shouldn’t go. So what was the reason that stopped you?

Well, for me, I guess it’s the hardest obstacle to overcome was me. I
was the one who was saying, “Why should I do this? It’s just another
retreat. Retreats are good but, you know, I’m not in the mood to be
uplifted right now.” So, it’s just judging it before it even gets a
chance. What I did and what I would suggest if you have those
feelings, you should change it to “Why not?.... Why not do the
retreat? .... Why not give it an opportunity? .... Why not just let
it be what it’s going to be, let happen what’s going to happen? As
Phil was saying, it’s a great opportunity. It’s God’s call.

Fr. Aidan: Phil?

I think my biggest worry was because I have two kids, young kids, as
some of you do. And one of them has a severe allergy, and the other
one has asthma. I was so worried that there would be no caretaker
that would be able to come and take care of them, but it happened
and, at the end, it was all taken care of. I guess if God is calling
you, he will take care of your needs. And let him do that. Give it a
try.

Staci: As I mentioned, I had wanted to go on the retreat, but, as we
got closer, I kind of started to worry a little bit. My obstacles
were I knew nobody that was going on the retreat with me. The other
obstacle was it was a long holiday weekend and I had many things I
could get done on that weekend, and how gratifying it would be to get
that “to do” list done. And the other obstacle was the fear of the
unknown. I had no idea what to expect over that weekend. So all of
those combined, I just thought a lot about it. I prayed a lot about
it, and my calling was to go. And I hope, like me, that you think
about it and pray about it and I hope we see you there, because you
won’t have any regrets. Am I correct?

Fr. Aidan: Yes, you are correct.

Lou: For me, my obstacle at the time was that my relationship with
God, or with the Spirit, was just kind of flat line. You know, you
ever feel that way? You are not at a high or a low. You are kind of
indifferent. And, I was hoping, by going and working with the team
that, along the way, I would feel that spirit again. And I could say
I did.

Fr. Aidan: You know, even for all the reluctance that I had, I went
because I was being told to go. It seemed that the only way you are
going to get ordained and out of this place is to do it. So I went
along. I do realize, over at St. Bonaventure, they had five hundred
people over nine different years that had done this retreat. And I
knew there was something special about their parish, something that
bonded them together, that was intangible. I couldn’t quite work it
out. Toward the end of the retreat, I shared this, “You know, I lost
my father to suicide and the overwhelming thought that I had was, if
my father had had a little bit of the love that we were experiencing
in the parish in that moment in time with these fifty people, maybe
he wouldn’t have done what he did. Maybe he would have, but maybe he
would have experienced the sense of love in the community that would
have just lifted him up beyond that.” And it was very, very powerful
to me.

So, I hope and pray that maybe a little bell is ringing in your ear.
Your soul is saying, “Could I do this retreat weekend?” ChristLight
volunteers are waiting outside after Mass to help you sign up for the
retreat.... Give these guys a big hand for getting up here....
(Lots of applause!)