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HICKORY — With great joy, love and enthusiasm, many families who belong to the Emmaus Retreat movement met at the Life Center Complex in Hickory July 14 for a Family Congress Day. The Family Congress Day was prepared by the Catholic Hispanic Evangelization Center participants, led by Father Julio C. Domínguez, the director.

The objective of this event was to explain to the families the importance of spirituality in their daily lives. During the Congress, the families experienced many special moments, such as an explanation of the rosary followed directly by the prayerful recitation of the rosary, and the explanation of our Catholic devotion of the Stations of the Cross followed by the reverent reenactment of the living Way of the Cross. Some other elements of the day were talks on private and communal prayer, a Holy Hour and, of course, the Holy Mass to culminate this grand and inspirational family day.

Throughout the Congress, emphasis was placed on reaffirming to the families that the things of this world should not lead them to forget that spiritual growth must be the center of their lives and pre-eminent in their homes. All the talks reinforced that, above all, they must involve their children and teens in this effort, transmitting to them the desire to better live Christian values in this society, thus helping give true meaning to their lives.

The event was successful in that many families left very motivated to continue living seriously the spiritual life.

"This is a critical time for our Church, and we must truly promote this type of event to awake in people's hearts the desire to live a fully committed Christian life while preparing ourselves to defend our faith in the modern world," said Father Domínguez.

Father Domínguez encouraged the participants to not lose their Christian values through indifference or routine, but to follow the traditional practices of prayer, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, reciting the rosary in the home as a family, Scripture reading, meditations on the Way of the Cross, and daily or weekly attendance at Mass.

"Next year, God willing, this Evangelization Center Family Congress event will center on the sacrament of baptism and its profound meaning in the life of the family. Year after year, we hope to present themes that help explain in depth, and demonstrate in practice, our Christianity," he said.