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| More than 80 men from 20 parishes attend the 14th annual St. Joseph, Baraboo, Men’s Retreat at Camp Gray, near Reedsburg. (Photo by Cathy Lins) |
“Our deepest identity is as beloved sons of the Father,” Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison said, as he spoke to over 80 men from approximately 20 parishes at Camp Gray in rural Reedsburg.
This was the 14th Men’s Retreat, sponsored annually by St Joseph’s Catholic Parish in Baraboo.
This year’s theme was, “Men After God’s Own Heart.”
God becoming real
Bishop Hying opened his remarks saying, “When I see more than 80 men here on a Saturday morning . . . it says to me that at some moment God became real for you.
“He’s someone who speaks to you. Someone you receive in the Eucharist . . . It’s a generosity of response. A response to the Gospel.
“We’re called as Christians to live this ordered purposeful life, grounded in prayer, grounded in radical obedience to God, rooted in the love of Jesus Christ. And yet we live in this culture and this world where almost everything conspires against that ever happening.”
The bishop told the story of St. Margaret Mary and how Jesus showed her his heart.
In this vision, Jesus said, “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular that, being unable any longer to contain within itself the flames of its burning charity, it must spread them abroad by your means, and manifest itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition.” The vision and the devotion reminds all of us of God’s love for us.
Bishop Hying explained that adoption is taking someone who is not naturally your child, and claiming them as your own.
“What is Jesus’ by nature, the Father shares with us by the adoption of Baptism.”
He said that he envisions that heaven is living in the center of the Trinity, and knowing the love of God.
Sin, on the other hand, is temporary amnesia.
“We stop acting like sons. We have forgotten who we are . . . What we do is important, but it is not who we are. What we do flows from who we are.”
He shared Scripture from Isaiah 6:2-8, Isaiah’s commission; and Luke 5, the miraculous catch of fish.
In each of these stories, God breaks into our lives. As humans, we are confronted by the power, sanctity, and holiness of God.
Simon tells Jesus, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
But God doesn’t do that. Instead, God gives each of them, and each of us, a mission. He invites each of us to embrace it, and say “yes” to it.
Out of your identity, flows your vocation, he said.
Importance of father figures
Bishop Hying highlighted the importance of fathers or men serving as father figures for young adult Catholics.
The young adults who had father figures who were involved in their lives, who acted as mentors, and who are active in their own faith, were more likely to continue in their Catholic faith.
“I know who I am and what I need to do. You will have the fruits of Baptism and sanctifying grace to aid you. And the Trinity will come and abide within you.”
The bishop shared another Scripture reading Matthew 19 — about a young man who had done all that was required and asked what else he could do.
Jesus told him to give away all he had and follow him.
The Scripture says, “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
He asked the men to consider, “What is it in my life that trips me up?”
He explained that when we have this attachment, it keeps us from giving our all to the Lord.
He asked them to consider that, “If I really give this to Jesus, I will be better for it.”
That the truth is, each of us is exactly where God wants us to be. It’s when we can take this step, that we go from a believer to a disciple of Jesus.
Going back to Pentecost
The bishop shared a conversation that he had with another bishop from the Netherlands.
Mass attendance is at three percent there, and the bishop had no seminarians in formation.
Bishop Hying asked him, “What are you going to do?”
The bishop from the Netherlands said, “We need to go back to Pentecost. To proclaim Christ as though they had never heard of him. Because they haven’t.”
Bishop Hying acknowledged that here in the U.S., we have relied on the Catholic subculture to transmit the faith. (e.g., Religious Sisters working in Catholic schools.)
We can’t do that anymore, he said. The subculture, for the most part, isn’t there anymore. “It compels us to do what we should have been doing all along. We need to go evangelize.”
Referencing Mathew Kelley’s book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, the bishop noted that the author found that in any parish, seven percent of the members do 80 percent of the work.
The four factors that made them dynamic in their faith included:
1. Prayer — having a personal daily prayer life. How can we become men of prayer? Go to Mass each Sunday. Learn more about how to pray.
2. Study and formation — spending 15 minutes each day studying the faith. If someone met you, would they experience someone who lives the faith, prays, and can articulate the faith? If we all did that, it would transform the culture and the Church.
3. Extremely generous — strong sense of stewardship.
4. Evangelizes without thinking about it — spontaneously talk about Jesus with others. For too long, we have lived as if our faith was a private matter. It should be a personal connection with Jesus. When you read the Scriptures, you realize Jesus’ whole life played out in the public view.
The bishop stated that if we move beyond active believers, and grow disciples, that seven percent number will grow.
He described the Holy Spirit as a hot fire. The Holy Spirit calls us to jump in to the fire. And we answer, “No. No. I just want to get warm.” And we stay on the edge of the fire.
But the Holy Spirit is calling us to jump in and be burnt up. To give all of ourselves to him.
The bishop said that the road to perdition is wide at the start, but becomes narrow.
The road to life is narrow at the start, but eventually you join with others walking the path that leads to heaven.
Invitation to continue faith formation
Bishop Hying announced that in 2021, it will be the 75th anniversary of the Diocese of Madison.
It is his intention to launch an evangelization effort in conjunction with the anniversary celebration.
He is currently working with his staff and the priests to create the final plan, but it will include each parish creating a plan on how to equip their people to boldly proclaim the Gospel.
“We don’t want to just hold on. We want to grow and share the faith.”
Participants were told about the Men of Christ Conference in Milwaukee, at the Miller High Life Theatre on March 14, and the new Men of Christ Conference in Madison, at the Monona Terrace on October 24.
The organizers’ goal for this first conference in Madison is to have 1,000 men present for the conference.
Bishop Hying asked the men present to be leaders in getting the word out on this conference.
He told the participants that if every parish in the diocese sent 10 men, we would easily hit our 1,000 participant goal.