Prayer focus of parish Lenten retreat11 min read

Paul and Cindy Thurston present the first talk of a four-night mission at St. Joseph’s Church in Rice Lake. Prayer was the theme for the entire mission, with each speaker sharing about different aspects and ways to actively live a life of prayer. (Submitted photo, Facebook.com/4Parishes1FaithCatholicCluster)

Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald Staff

The four-parish cluster of Rice Lake, Dobie, Birchwood and Haugen hosted a Lenten retreat on the theme of prayer over four nights March 7-10 at St. Joseph’s Church in Rice Lake.

Paul and Cindy Thurston, parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Dobie, were the first night’s presenters.

The couple has been married for 28 years and have two adult children, Joe and Isabelle, who are both in college. Cindy is a lawyer and Paul is a high school teacher.

The Thurstons addressed the topic of prayer as an active expression of a relationship with God and a communication of that relationship with others.

A summary of what the couple has learned and lived in regards to prayer comes from advice Cindy remembers from their wedding homily – to make God the center of their life.

The homilist at their 1992 wedding was Bishop James P. Powers, then pastor of St. Joseph’s. He spoke to a bride and groom who started out as high school sweethearts, then dated all through college. Cindy had been raised Catholic, and while Paul was a Lutheran, he had committed to raising his family in the Catholic faith.

Cindy shared her experience of witnessing the centrality of faith, service and prayer among family members. In particular, one of her earliest memories of prayer was her grandmother praying her rosary beads.

She also brought attention to the important roles fathers play in passing on the faith.
“Dads are some of the most important people in their children’s faith lives,” she said and praised her husband’s presence and support, especially given that he remained Lutheran throughout their child-raising years, becoming Catholic just five years ago.

After losing their first pregnancy in a miscarriage, Cindy realized while she turned to prayer, she was unfamiliar with “how to pray through a crisis” such as they experienced.

She credited their joining the Dobie Catholic community of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish as “where our prayer life started.” Seeing so many families with young children, the couple felt they had found the spiritual home that would help support them in the living of their faith.

It was at Our Lady of Lourdes where Cindy learned about Eucharistic adoration and began the commitment to pray in the perpetual adoration chapel.

When their daughter was 8 years old, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“I started praying as hard as I could,” Cindy shared. The benign tumor did not require surgery until two years after it was discovered, but it was during Isabelle’s stay at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul that the mother said she first really prayed intentionally.

She had walked to the nearby Cathedral of St. Paul and while she prayed she acknowledged the two-way nature of the relationship and listened to God. That experience left her with profound peace.

Isabelle herself then shared via a video recording how her parents had taught her to pray.

The young woman, a student at the Jesuit’s Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, described it as acts of service and mercy for others, and acts of service for each other.

“Modeling the life that Jesus lived,” she said and turned the camera to a postcard her mother had written reminding her to eat her vegetables and go to Mass. She feels encouraged to carry on what she has seen modeled as well as find some of her own prayer practices.

Later in the talk, the Thurstons shared ways they have seen both their children act that out as they have moved into their adult lives, from attending Sunday Mass as an unquestioned part of their lives to giving a coat to a homeless person.

Paul shared unabashedly that their son, by nature more introverted than his sister, had been attracted towards involvement at church in college by the food offered. However, he surprised his parents when he attended a retreat of his own initiative, later helped lead parts of a similar retreat and then chose to live with other Catholic men who committed to daily prayer together.

A nod was given to Fr. Dave Oberts, their retired pastor-in-residence at the Dobie church, and how warmly he greeted the children at the beginning of Mass – the sense of welcome and belonging it provided for all the children.

The Thurston family has also participated in the greeting ministry at their parish. The couple noted the importance of the music ministry and the role that Christian music and lyrics have played – from helping to create a prayerful internal atmosphere to prompting a sort of text-and-response prayer between mother and daughter with the lyrics to Cindy’s favorite, “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman.

The reception of sacraments had led to prayer practices such as using the blessing cup each child made in preparation for their first Communion. They continue to bring out that blessing cup as the children grow up – then filled with juice, now with wine – and celebrate life events and special moments, choosing accompanying prayers of blessing.
The children were included in a family adoration hour, Cindy shared, and added she just couldn’t say enough about the power of adoration as the “best way to listen to God.”

While on vacation, prayer and participation at Mass never waned. They would pray before meals at a restaurant and find Mass, even researching to learn about the saint who was patron of the parish they visited.

During the COVID pandemic and absence of publicly offered Masses, they “visited” churches around the country to participate in livestreamed Masses.

One year after Paul was confirmed and received into full communion with the Catholic Church, the family travelled to Rome and Prague. It was an enriching experience to learn new practices and realize how much of their faith was shared across language barriers.

The practice of blessing each other with the sign of the cross on their foreheads was one other prayer the Thurstons learned from Fr. Oberts. Before going to sleep each night, the spouses bless each other, and they continue the practice every time they say good-bye to their children.

St. Joseph’s Director of Religious Education Leah Kurzynski thanked the presenters for their talk and their witness, saying how much their children have been a beautiful influence on her own.

Livestreamed videos are available for viewing at the parish cluster’s website, www.stjosephricelake.org and on their Facebook page at Four Parishes One Faith Cluster. The following gives a brief summary of two of the remaining three nights of the mission.

Fruitful prayer

Fr. Patrick McConnell presented the second night of the mission, addressing prayer as a childlike relationship that recognizes the deep need one has for God. Thus prayer of petition and supplication is less focused on earthly needs and wants, and rather centers on the desire to be completely conformed to God’s will.

Jesus himself was given as the first example – both as seeking God out as a father and trusting completely in his will and as praying for others to come to the same relationship. Scripture was shared to illustrate the dispositions that lead to fruitful prayer.

Prayers of healing

Chris Janssen, also a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, presented a talk on prayer as a process of vulnerable honesty with oneself and God – a strategic and repeatable process that opens a soul to God’s deliverance and healing and in turn leads to greater communion with others.

Sharing his own testimony of recovery from addiction, Janssen touched on the 12-step recovery process and how it relates and integrates in to the living of the sacramental life. He spoke specifically about confession and regular examination of conscience as well as the hope that can be found in Jesus Christ and the joy in giving whatever one has to his love and service.

Chris Janssen, also a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, presented a talk on prayer as a process of vulnerable honesty with oneself and God – a strategic and repeatable process that opens a soul to God’s deliverance and healing and in turn leads to greater communion with others.

Sharing his own testimony of recovery from addiction, Janssen touched on the 12-step recovery process and how it relates and integrates in to the living of the sacramental life. He spoke specifically about confession and regular examination of conscience as well as the hope that can be found in Jesus Christ and the joy in giving whatever one has to his love and service.