Lessons Learned from the New Life Retreat March 30, 2009
Posted by Wayne in Activities, Prayer, Things to Think About.Tags: confession, Eucharist, lessons learned, new life, new life retreat, Prayer, retreat
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On March 21-22, members of the youth group participated in a Lenten New Life retreat during which the teens learned about how to attain and retain a New Life in Christ through the reception of the Sacraments. Along the way, I learned a number of little lessons, too:
- It might be important to call those who signed up for an event to make sure that it was them that signed up.
- Priests may not hang out with teenagers often, but they still know how to have fun.
- Walking through life on your own without the help of God is much more difficult than walking with God’s guidance. (Okay, well, at least it’s much easier to walk blindfolded when you have someone there to give you directions.)
- Slurping Jell-O through straw is not only possible, but it is extremely fun and makes for a great relay race.
- The Sacraments are like the GPS for the Catholic. They give you the directions and the grace you need to reach your ultimate destination, Heaven.
- Though it may take hours and hours and hours to put together, the right soundtrack for a reflective prayer component can make all the difference in the effect it has on those particpating.
- Yes, high school teenagers can listen to Gregorian Chant without cringing.
- Give high schoolers a blank t-shirt, some fabric markers and some puffy paint and they will challenge your faith.
- High schoolers are much more creative than I ever was and have a desire to share their faith with the world. (Hmmm…can we combine these two things? Come and take a look at our wall.)
- There is nothing like receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation right before you receive the Eucharist!
- Receiving the Sacraments can fill you with joy and energy, even at 1:30 in the morning!
- Six hours of sleep is apparently not enough sleep when you want to have a group discussion over breakfast.
- Bagels, cream cheese, fruit, milk and orange juice will render the most talkative group practically speechless (or was that just the questions I was asking?)
- Seeing pictures of yourself and being reminded of your experience of God is always a good way to end a retreat.
- Nurturing your life with Christ is like taking care of a newly planted seed. It takes time, energy, and dedication.
At the end of the retreat, we sent the participants home with this list of ways that we can all attempt to live the New Life at home everyday:
1. Find more opportunities to pray (even if it means praying in the shower).
2. Try to attend Mass as often as possible, at least once a week.
3. Carry a rosary or some reminder of God in your pocket.
4. Ask your parents or friends to pray with you (ex: at meals or before bed).
5. Read about the saints (especially your patron) and ask for their prayers.
6. Learn simple prayers and memorize them so that you can use them when you need them.
7. Find a “prayer partner” – a person who prays with you once a week or goes to Mass with you if you/ they have no one else to go with.
8. Think about and be aware of your movie and music choices (keep those cards from the “Time of Your Life” station).
9. Make silence part of your daily routine. Give God time to talk (perhaps before or after homework).
10. Wear Catholic/Christian clothing and represent what the clothing says. Also, just be aware about what message the clothes you wear are sending to others.
A Couple (six) Things February 27, 2008
Posted by Wayne in Activities, Prayer, Things to Think About.Tags: Alive in You, March, new life retreat, prayer walk, priesthood, t-shirts, youth holy hour
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March is just around the corner and we have so much going on this month that it is hard to keep track if it all. I hope you are all doing a better job than me.
First, I want to remind everyone once again of the upcoming Youth Holy Hour at 5:30 on Monday, March 3rd (that’s this Monday). You don’t have to stay or come for the entire hour, but I do encourage you to be part of this. It is not every year that a holy item, blessed by Pope John Paul II will come to Our Lady of Victory and have a special place for the youth!!! Let’s make the most of this amazing opportunity!!
Secondly, I need help for this weekend! Marianne and I would like to have a table set up for people to sign up for the youth group retreat that is happening next weekend, but we will be out of town (it’s her birthday on March 1st!!). So, can anybody help by sitting at a table in the back of church for each of the Masses? Just leave a comment or email me directly. Thanks!!
Thirdly, on Palm Sunday, that’s only two weekends away, St. Antoninus is hosting a Prayer Walk! This is a great opportunity for you to pray for the people in your family and community while hanging out with your friends and other youth from around the area. It will end at St. Antoninus with lunch and a little jam session. It should be fun, so let me know if you can come. I’ll email you the forms you’ll need.
Fourthly, Marianne and I have decided to work with my idea for the t-shirts and get them ordered soon. Hopefully I can get the order in by the end of the week, but there is a lot on my plate and I don’t know if I’ll be able to. Let me know your shirt size so that I can get the order correct. I hope to order some for everyone and hopefully have some for the parents who will help us with our fundraisers and youth group events.
Fifthly (is that a word?), don’t forget the deadline to sign up for Alive In You is Wednesday, March 12th. Take the time now to talk it over with your families and get back with me. Information about the trip can be found on the Permission Slips page (and yes, those links work for sure).
Finally, check out this great post about a priest who truly knows that he has found his calling and loves just being a priest!! It is a true testament to what we talked about in January about figuring out what God wants us to do with our lives.
Christian Love and a Whole LOT More! February 13, 2008
Posted by Wayne in Activities, Fundraising, Meetings, Prayer, Things to Think About.Tags: biggs, Christian love, family life, holy hour, new life retreat, riverview, sacrifice, t-shirts design
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Once again the youth group met for a fun and, hopefully, enlightening meeting during which we made over 100 Valentine’s Day decorations that will be given to Bayley Place residents this week! Thank you all for your help! During the decoration making we discussed all the upcoming events that will be happening over the course of the next couple months and as you will see as you read further, there are a lot of things going on!! As the meeting came to a close, we had a little time to discuss Christian Love and what it means to live your life according to Love. We talked about societies effect on our view of love and how society generally gives us the message that Love should be focused on ourselves and what we can get out of the relationship and how that is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches! Jesus tells us all to “love one another as I have loved you,” and if we read further we realize what that statement means. Jesus gave himself entirely to us and to his enemies without asking or expecting anything in return. And so we are called to die to ourselves and give all that we have and all that we are to our neighbors (which includes our friends and our enemies). How many times do we hold onto our circle of the world and judge those who are outside of that circle? How many times do we laugh and make fun of the person who is not like us only to think later of that person’s feelings? How many times do we hold onto the things that hurt us the most only to realize that we are wasting our lives thinking about the grudge we hold against someone who could be our friend? We challenge all of you to give of yourselves this Lent and live the Love that God has given in his sacrifice on the cross!
And speaking of crosses…did all of you see the design we have come up with for our new t-shirts?! I Marianne found a scanner and was able to get this image of my sketch.
If you click on the image, you’ll notice that the words on the back are written over the picture of a Crucifix and the words at the top are going to be on the front of the shirt.
I think it looks pretty sharp (well, once we set the font and find a decent Crucifix picture) and the message presented is a great challenge to all who read it to become a hero and live out the Victory Christ won for us over sin and death. Think about it and send us your comments on this design (or send us one of your own) as soon as possible because we will need them for our first fundraiser at Biggs! We’ll probably be ordering the shirts sometime before the New Life Retreat.
Marianne got in contact with Biggs and they had a spot open for us to bag groceries from 11am- 6pm on Sunday, March 30th. We need at least 6 baggers present the entire time (no, 6 people do not have to stay the whole time), so we will need all the help we can get!
Other people need our help as well. The Riverview Nursing Home has told us that they would love to have us come and volunteer some of our time there helping to run Bingo or to come up with our own activities and run those with the residents. However, before we do that, we need to take a tour of the facility and fill out some paperwork. Marianne would like to call them and set up a time to do this, but needs to know as soon as possible if you are all interested in doing this and what days work best for you to do this. We’d like to get this out of the way by the end of March so that we can start volunteering there in April.
Also, the Pro Life/Pro Family Commission is hosting a Family Movie night on February 23rd and need some help setting up tables and running the concessions stand. If any of you are interested, let us know and we’ll pass along the message. You can tell us for sure as late as February 22nd at the Lock- In (see Upcoming Events and Permission Slips pages). By the way, today is the last day to sign up for the Lock-In and you can bring your permission slips, money and snacks with you that night!
Another deadline is fast approaching as well. Please sign up for the Alive in You Youth Conference no later than March 12th! We will be working very hard to make the trip as close to free for you as possible, so don’t let finances be the reason you don’t want to go! This is going to be a great experience in which you will learn a lot about yourself, your friends and most importantly, your Faith! Please consider it and talk it over with your parents.
Last, but certainly not least, our parish has a tremendous opportunity to host a Monstrance which was blessed by Pope John Paul II!! This is the decorative case in which the Eucharist is displayed for prayer and Adoration. What makes this particularly special for our Youth Group is that Fr. Reutter has given us permission to host a holy hour designed to be high energy and enjoyable for youth. We have invited all the youth groups from around the area and it should be a pretty big event! I need to find someone who is willing to do a short reading during this hour, so the first to post a comment to this effect gets to do it!
Sorry for the outrageously long post, but I think you are now completely informed. Please check the Upcoming events and use this post as a means to sign up for any and all events you want to attend.
