MI Canada: " We Have Come to Worship Him"...At Mount Alverno!

by Jeanne Marroquin

Have you noticed that many of the pivotal moments in the life of Christ took place on a mountain: the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, and Calvary? It's no coincidence that the first MI Teen retreat in Canada took place this July on a gorgeous little hill an hour north of Toronto at Mount Alverno Retreat Center!

34 Youth, 13 Leaders, 2 Priests
It was a hot July Friday afternoon and some came alone, some with friends, some excited to be there and some would rather have been elsewhere! Nobody knew what to expect. Few really knew why they were there. Only one thing was certain; something or someone had led each person to Mount Alverno. It would all make sense in the end.

There was prayer, song, mealtimes, talks and recreation. The weekend whizzed by too quickly and no one wanted to leave. And yet it was in this "leaving" that we found the purpose for having come to Mount Alverno as the late John Paul II said: "'And they departed to their own country by another way' (Mt 2:12). The Gospel tells us that after their meeting with Christ, the Magi returned home 'by another way.' This change of route can symbolize the conversion to which all those who encounter Jesus are called....

Dear young people, the Church needs genuine witnesses for the new evangelization: men and women whose lives have been transformed by meeting with Jesus, men and women who are capable of communicating this experience to others. The Church needs saints!'"

Leaving Transformed
Sunday afternoon came and it was time to leave. The powerful and personal encounters with Jesus through meeting others, making our total consecrations to Our Lady, Sacrament of Reconciliation, and being in the presence of the Eucharist, had given everyone a great desire to be holy. "I just want to be different now!" exclaimed one of the teens.

Whether they knew it or not, this was the desire of all; this was the reason that they had been led to Mount Alverno. It is impossible to meet Christ and leave unchanged. And so after a weekend of worshipping him on the mount, all descended the little hill of Mount Alverno "by another way"-on the way to becoming saints!