“I was suspicious of persons who called themselves born again. But I truly was born again in that prayer garden in 2008,” said Calvillo, of the retreat that led him to embrace the rosary and eventually found an apostolate for men.
Calvillo attend an ACTS retreat with his wife. ACTS is an acronym for Adoration, Community, Theology and Service.
He recounted a powerful experience praying the rosary. “I felt like I was praying at the foot of Jesus on the Cross with everyone who had ever prayed the rosary,” he said.
His mother was always encouraging him to say the rosary. But Calvillo said, “I was one of those knuckle heads that rosaries were for old ladies and funerals.”
His experience on retreat started him on a journey to learn about the power and truth of praying the rosary. “Praying the rosary has led me to have a hunger for faith…I can’t find enough time to read everything I want to read [about my faith],” said Calvillo.
He began Real Men Pray the Rosary in 2011. It has grown to be an international organization.
“We take our mission directly from Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter in 2002 where he says to rediscover the rosary in the light of scripture, in harmony with the liturgy and in the context of our daily lives. And we structure our activities around those three points,” said the founder.
Calvillo’s organization especially focuses making the rosary relevant and accessible in daily life. “Really there are no excuses for praying the rosary…it’s either important or it’s not. You can do a decade at a time interspersed throughout the day.”
Read more in the Catholic Register.
You can also listen to an interview with Calvillo with the interview starting at 15:30 into the program in which he talks about how the ACTS retreat changed his life.
