“Inflame me with thy Love,” the 2024 CLE Catholic Women Day of Reflection, drew a sold-out crowd of 400 women to St. Albert the Great Parish in North Royalton. The event, which had a waitlist of another 100 women, took place on Sept. 28.
Bishop Edward Malesic opened the day by celebrating Mass in St. Albert the Great Church. Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, one of the conference speakers, concelebrated the liturgy.
“We have so much to be thankful for,” the bishop told those gathered for Mass. He encouraged them to thank God first for the gift of time that allowed them to be there.
“And he is here. Never doubt that Jesus is here. Sometimes we forget that,” he said. “We are grateful to Mary, the mother of our Good Shepherd. She always points us in the direction of her son so that we can know the way. Jesus is the way.”
The bishop talked about how sometimes we get so bogged down with modern technology like checking our cell phones that we miss some of the most important experiences in life. “We are looking down when we should be looking up,” he said.
The experiences of our lives are woven together by God to tell a story, with our experiences relating the story of God’s involvement in our lives. “After all, life is an unfolding of God’s grace in us at every moment of every day. God is walking with us, if we only take time to notice,” he said.
That point was illustrated in the day’s Gospel when Jesus told his disciples, “Pay attention to what I am telling you.”
The bishop said God knocks on the door of our lives and wants to enter. “He will enter, if we allow him. Take time today to invite Jesus into your life and to notice him. Today, make sure you have a deep desire to encounter Jesus. Whenever you walk into a beautiful Church, make sure you encounter Jesus there before you snap a picture of it,” he said, reminding the group to look beyond the beauty of the tabernacle to find the Eucharistic Lord inside – first.
“See behind the sign of bread and wine of the Eucharist to see Jesus who is waiting there for you. And know how much Jesus loves you and God loves you as his beloved daughter. He takes great delight in you,” the bishop said.
He also explained the difference between tourists and pilgrims, encouraging them not to set out as mere tourists, but as pilgrims.
“Do not be superficial sightseers blind to the beauty around you, never discovering the meaning of the roads you take, interested only in a few fleeting moments to capture a selfie. Tourists do this. Pilgrims, on the other hand, immerse themselves fully in the places they encounter, listen to the message they communicate and make them a part of their quest for happiness and fulfillment,” he added.
“We can be tourists or pilgrims, even today. And we are here to walk with each other and to walk with Jesus,” the bishop said. “This is what makes life a pilgrimage. In a pilgrimage, we allow Jesus to walk with us. If we do this, we will have experiences of the divine along the way. God does reveal himself to us in the circumstances of life – if we slow down enough and pay enough attention to notice.”
He reminded the group that the Mass is at the heart of our story of finding Jesus, pointing out it is an offering of love, “his life offered to be mingled with our lives given to him.”
The bishop invited conference attendees to “be pilgrims on the adventure of a great journey, people who look for God who is often hidden in the ordinary, hiding behind people who are in need, often present in the laughter of a child, whispering to us his love when we take a walk on a cool fall day. Then, when we find him present under the signs of bread and wine, let’s share the story of Jesus who lives among us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, wanting us all to become saints. That is how we become Eucharistic missionaries,” he said.
Bishop Malesic told the women he was leaving them with a challenge: to become witnesses to Jesus, present in his Church and on the altar. “Listen to him. Walk with him. Let him love you. Love him back. And then share him.”
In addition to Father Hicks, Heather Khym spoke at the conference.
Khym is cohost of the “Abiding Together” podcast. She and her husband Jake are co-founders of Life Restoration Ministries. Khym has more than 25 years’ experience as a speaker, retreat leader and workshop/conference presenter in the United States and Canada.
Father Hicks, a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, since 1998, was ordained to the priesthood in 2004. He is a popular retreat master, spiritual director and speaker. He serves as director of spiritual formation and director of the Institute for Ministry Formation at St. Vincent Seminary. In addition, he is program director for radio station WAOB in Latrobe and a prolific author.
Conference organizers said the event has become so popular they are looking at larger venues for the 2025 day of reflection.
Click here for more information on the conference and updates on next year’s event.