East Meets West Retreat at North Carolina Mission Focused on Living a Life in Christ

The Lord’s glory is meant to be our glory. And to live in the Lord’s glory, we must purify ourselves of the passions and live a sacramental life, which opens us to the grace of God.

This was one of the main points made by Matthew K. Minerd, Ph.D, who led the Tenth Annual East Meets West Retreat held in Arden, North Carolina, June 23-24.

About 70 gathered for prayer and reflection at the East Meets West Retreat, a program of Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke Ukrainian Catholic Mission, which meets at St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church in Arden.

Minerd, a professor of philosophy and moral theology at Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, based his three conferences on his recently published book Made By God, Made For God: Catholic Morality Explained (Ascension Press).

In explaining how we can live in the Lord’s glory, he developed three themes using passages from the Gospels, the epistles of Saint Paul, writings of saints and theologians, and troparia: to live a moral life is to live in Christ; to live in Christ requires us to purify ourselves through fasting and prayer, to deny ourselves, so that we can be filled with grace and the light of Christ; eternity begins now, in this life.

Other points he made include:

–We receive the love of the Trinity through Christ.

–We must be vigilant, because sin takes us away from God, and sin begins with our neglect.

–As Christians living in Christ, we can bring the light of Christ and the love of God to the world out of love for God.

In addition to hearing three talks from Minerd, participants prayed Compline and the Akathist to the Mother of God led by Fr. Kevin Bezner with assistance from Fr. Deacons Matthew Hanes and Michael Sudik, and Cantor Ann Bezner.

Plans for the next East Meets West Retreat are already underway.