Adults Reminded To Live Their Faith 24/7 At Annual Source Summit Retreat

Attending Mass is great, according to Gus Lloyd; but it’s not enough.

Lloyd, the weekday morning host of Seize the Day on Sirius-XM Radio's The Catholic Channel, said we must live our faith 24/7, not just on Sunday mornings. That’s why retreats like Source Summit are important, Lloyd said, so we can “grow in faith in Christ.”

“And as a call to action so we aren’t just pew sitters,” he said.

Lloyd was in Evansville recently and spoke to about 125 adults who attended the one-day Source Summit retreat on April 6 at Annunciation Parish’s Christ the King Campus in Evansville. The adult retreat featured many of the same presenters who spoke during the weekend Source Summit workshop for youth at Reitz Memorial High School on April 5-7.

The adult-focused retreat started about seven years ago, according to Tom Shetler, who has been a longtime Source Summit team member with his wife Gail. Shetler said the premise of adding an adult retreat was to help parents understand the reactions their children had after attending the youth retreat.

“The kids were coming home filled with the Holy Spirit and parents were really seeing them grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said. “Many times the parents didn’t understand what they were experiencing, so we felt like it was a good combination so the parents would have an understanding of what was happening with the kids and the relationship they were developing with Jesus Christ.”

Source Summit is a Eucharistic-centered retreat answering the challenge of Pope Francis, “…To implore His grace daily, asking Him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence.”

The goal of the weekend is to come away with a renewed spirit and a deeper relationship with Jesus. This year’s theme was “Behold Your Mother!” Activities included adoration, prayer, Rosary, Mass and fellowship. Organizers said the workshop “sticks to the basics” and offers the chance for a personal encounter with Jesus.

Lloyd, who resides in Tampa, Florida, is also an author. He travels around the country to educate and motivate people to become all God desires them to be using their gifts and their vocations to build the kingdom of God.

His presentation, “Seeds of Grace,” is about everyone’s story and how God plants little seeds of grace throughout our lives in the sacraments. It’s a message of hope, he said.

He quoted Isaiah 55:10-11, which says: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

“They will never come back to God void, but will accomplish the purpose for which he sent them,” Lloyd said. “I just like to reassure people that those seeds of grace have been planted in their lives and in the lives of the people they love and that they will bear fruit in God’s perfect time.”

Lloyd also encouraged the group to look for opportunities – which he said are all around us – to plant seeds of grace in the lives of others.

Another speaker at the retreat was Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Father Zachary of the Mother of God, whose message aims to lead people to a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through our Blessed Mother. Father Zachary has appeared on EWTN and serves as a popular retreat minister.

Father Zachary said our selfishness is like MUD: it’s mean, ugly and destructive. He said the world needs change and it needs saints to accomplish that.

“The surest way to be a saint is to stay close to Mama Mary. … I used to be a tough guy, but now I’m a mama’s boy,” he said of the Virgin Mary.

Father Zachary reminded attendees Lent is about prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

“Lent is about becoming a better person and working on you,” he said. “And the greatest almsgiving is bringing people to Christ.”

Over the years the adult retreat has evolved to include all ages of grownups who want to strengthen their experience and relationship with Jesus Christ. Shetler was pleased with the success of this year’s retreat.

“It went very, very well,” he said. “I think it’s been our best yet.”