Youth retreat offers presentations, testimonials

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

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Lucero Muñoz, a certified lay ecclesial minister, presents one of the talks at the recent youth retreat at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

SALT LAKE CITY – A recent youth retreat organized by the Corazon de Maria prayer group at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish gave young people age 15 and older four days over two weekends to focus on God.

“The retreat was most needed,” said Jose Fernandez, coordinator of the retreat, referring to the fact that due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID -19 pandemic, in-person gatherings were banned for almost a year.

After talking with Fr. Fidel Barrera, the parish pastor, about the retreat, Fernandez said all the youth should participate. At the beginning, he thought almost no one was going to attend, but to his surprise, almost 40 youth attended the first day of the retreat on April 23.

In the parish social hall all the participants as well as the retreat presenters wore face masks, maintained social distancing and washed their hands frequently, but most of all learned that God has never abandoned them.

“They wanted to get to know God better,” said Fernandez about why the youth attended the event.

The retreat also was an opportunity for the youth to center their lives in God and “not be looking for other roads that are no good for them,” Fernandez said, adding that now more than ever it is important to make sure that the youth return to the Church.

Members of Corazon de Maria were the presenters of the retreat; most of them are lay ecclesial ministers certified through the Diocese of Salt Lake City EMAUS program.

Some of the themes of the retreat were “Sin and the consequences” and “Jesus is the solution.” The retreat also presented testimonies from other youth.

Julissa Gonzales, a young Catholic shared her experience with those attending the retreat.

“The most important thing is to have a good relationship with God,” she said, adding that  she learned this through some difficult times. “I had to suffer before understanding why we needed that and why it is such an important thing to have.”

Gonzales has struggled with the pandemic and all the challenges that the youth face nowadays, she said. “I went through a really dark time, and I was really depressed. … It’s still something that I suffer to this day, but I rely on God and he comforts me.”

Young people always have some sort of struggle, but if they put their lives into God’s hands, he will guide them, she said.

“It’s hard but it’s really worth it because it makes them feels more accepted. … Sometimes it’s hard for us to talk to older people, but just having that relationship with God – I can tell him everything  and he will always accept me,” she said.

Now more than ever “I hold on to God; you can always know that you are never alone,” she added.

The first thing she suggested other youth to do “is to try to find what you are really feeling and then establish a trust with God and with your family.”

This testimony was very well received, Fernandez said.

“When a young person talks directly to a young person, the message gets across easily,” he said.

“The youth spoke to us at our level; we want to hear more about us and what we live,” said one of Fernandez’s daughters, who participated at the retreat.

With that in mind, Fernandez is planning future retreats.

“Our youth can do so much for our Church, but first we need to prepare them, we need to encourage them to be good disciples,” he said.