Total Youth Ministry

Worth the Few Minutes It Takes To Watch It

2011-04-19T15:10:00.002-05:00

Howdy, Gang! We're not sure that there is a better way to kick-off Holy Week than with the mindset that this video portrays. It's definitely worth the few minutes to watch...

An Unexpected Moment

2010-09-01T11:19:00.001-05:00

While in church on Sunday, I experienced a very unique moment in a very powerful way. It was a beautiful Mass, filled with incredible music, a great homily by the Bishop, and, of course, the beauty of the sacrament of Mass, but one moment eclipsed that and captured my heart. One moment in which I was touched by the grace and faith of one person.

After the congregation was finished walking to the front for communion and everyone was back in their pew kneeling, one small, much older man was standing about 2 rows from the front. The woman next to him was in scrubs, and obviously his nurse. As he stood, one of the extraordinary ministers of communion approached him and gave him communion. His nurse sat down, motioning for him to join, but he remained standing. As I watched him, he remained standing until the altar had been cleared and the people brought the Eucharist past him to return it to the tabernacle in the back of the church. He slowly sank to the pew, and I marveled at the beauty of his reverence. Not 3 minutes later, as the priest was making announcements, another man pushed a wheelchair up to the pew, and three people helped the man into his wheelchair with much difficulty. This man couldn’t even walk!! And here he was, not only at Mass, but doing everything in his power to reverence the Sacrament. A simple gesture, but so meaningful for him.

Seeing this beautiful display of faith really made me look inward and wonder how much I appreciated the Sacrament of Communion. How reverent was I? How many times during Mass had I goofed off, let my mind wander, or missed the true importance of what I was experiencing? I challenge you to not just let this man’s simple gesture not only touch me but you as well. Understand the privilege that Mass is and don’t take any moment of it for granted, because that old man sure didn’t!

Breaking Through the Busyness

2010-07-09T12:26:00.001-05:00

Have you ever noticed how it is so easy to get overwhelmed with every small thing that is happening in your life. It begins with a few commitments, and then all of a sudden you have way too much to do. Your life feels like a driving force, like you are some kind of zany hood ornament clinging to a car speeding along. All you can do is hang on for the ride as you are continually pushed forward. What happened to the summer? It is already July!

So many times, we are so consumed with all the time that we don’t have that we miss the small amounts of time that we do have. Riding in the car on the way to something, laying in bed after you wake up but before you get up, laying in bed at night before you fall asleep, the time spent watching TV, brushing your teeth (both times!!!), the 40 times you check Facebook a day…

I propose a challenge this week.

Try to take advantage of those small chunks of time. Check Facebook one less time, turn the TV off 10 minutes earlier, lay in bed for 2 more minutes, and dedicate that time to God. Use those small moments to think about God working in your life, count your blessings, ask for help, or just marvel at His beauty and they ways you have seen Him today.

Suddenly you will no longer be hurtling along this path, merely hanging on, but begin to recognize you are in the passenger seat with the only person ever who has a driving record without a blemish.

This week, break through the busyness and take advantage of the small moments. You might be surprised how many you have…

On This Day of Days

2010-07-04T15:27:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe that mid-summer is upon us. Yet on this day of days, one in which we remember our short, yet triumphant heritage as nation, let us pray for those who cannot be with us to celebrate this 4th of July. Let us pray for those heroes who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.

May you all have a blessed long weekend filled with joy and fireworks, and perhaps some potato salad on the side. Peace and may God bless America.

Alive Again

2010-05-25T16:12:00.005-05:00

Are you alive in Him?

When Heaven Kisses Earth

2010-05-05T11:01:00.003-05:00

How often do we question the real, true, substantial presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? Do we ever doubt? How would it change our Mass experience if we meditated upon how we are united to God in the communion sacrament, even if only for a few moments while walking to the altar? Matt Maher reminds us of the power of Communion.

Matt Maher - The Journey of Alive Again: Communion (3 of 4) from Provident Label Group on Vimeo.

I'm Only Going to Break Your Heart...

2010-04-27T16:58:00.000-05:00

Recently I was sitting in the chapel looking at the Tabernacle, trying to have a quiet moment of prayer with God. I don’t know about you, but this is very difficult for me as it seems that every time I try to slow everything down and find a quiet moment, the noise in my head only gets louder. Stressors, things I need to get done, things I am worried about, songs stuck in my head…

So, as I am kneeling in front of Christ, trying to clear my mind, a song starts building momentum in my head. Every time I attempt to squash it, it comes back louder and louder, and soon is reverberating in my head.

“I’m only going to break break your, break break your HEART…”

I started to get so frustrated that I could not just concentrate. Thanks SO much Taio Cruz, I really appreciate the fact that your new song is catchy, but not so much the fact that I can’t get it out of my head when I am trying to pray!! As I sat there wrestling with that song, a light bulb went off. I started thinking more deeply about some of the lyrics of the song…

“There’s no point trying to hide it
No point trying to evade it
I know I got a problem…
Now I’m only going to break your heart
And shatter and splatter it all into little itty bitty pieces…”

I began thinking about Christ and His sacrifice. How he gave up his life for us, but if it had just been me, He would have done the same. How he was thinking of me as he walked Calvary, was nailed to the cross and slowly suffocated. How he was consumed by love… and here I am sitting in front of him for 5 minutes and thinking, “I am only going to break your heart.” How true those words actually were at that moment. How appropriate. I am only going to stumble and fall, sin, destroy the beauty that God has made for me with my own selfishness, and continue to torture Christ by condemning Him to death over and over and over again with my rejection, poor choices, and disrespect. AND YET, he continues to love us. He takes that chance. He lays down his life for us, a bunch of lowly heartbreakers, and makes our struggle for grace beautiful.

“Indeed only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
~ Romans 5:7-8

That is the beauty of God’s love for us. That despite what we do, He still remains; loving, caring, never giving up.

After all the junk we have done, will do… If you were the only sinner in the world, Christ would still die for you.

A God that loves us THAT much… ludacris, huh?

The Mystery Continues Today

2010-04-23T12:52:00.007-05:00

Ever wonder what it might have been like to walk in the time of Jesus? Or perhaps the mystery of the Incarnation continues today as Christ lives through and within each of us. Join Matt Maher as he reminds us of what it means to live in Christ Jesus...

Matt Maher - The Journey of Alive Again: Incarnation (2 of 4) from Provident Label Group on Vimeo.

The Ancient and the Present Unite

2010-04-20T14:13:00.006-05:00

Perhaps this is a bit late, but here is a reflection on the opening moments of the Easter Vigil at Holy Family. As a note, the "young girl" mentioned in the reflection is a member of the Senior T.Y.M. group.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound[1]. John Newton’s ageless words reverberate against the walls of my subconscious while the notes of a prelude are played within the church. A fervor seems to impel those walking through the doors, eager yet waiting; waiting for hope, or perhaps for salvation. The sound of conversation echoes through the open doors just outside the sanctuary as those who have prepared for their initiation continue to prepare, some in prayer and others with anxious smiles. The night of nights has come, though fleeting as it always is, only to await the morning. Grace has come.

Through the doors I notice a young girl, clothed in a robe of blue. She smiles, as do I in turn, the song continuing, louder now. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” Moments of pleasantries pass and I ask if she is ready. She simply smiles and my heart fills with joy, spilling briefly into my eyes. Behind me, the sound of water bubbling fills my ears. Months of learning and reflecting have passed and the answer she musters is a toothy smile. Like so many before her, she has been saved—is being saved.

As I walk passed wooden rows, I notice a family of faces, each with eyes transfixed upon a hanging man. In the serenity of the dark, he looks peaceful and yet, I wonder if two thousand years ago he knew peace. Perhaps peace was foregone for the sake of the lost. Thus, thoughts on the nature of peace fill my mind as my knees sink into the soft kneeler, my soul following suit into the void of prayer. “I once was lost, but now am found.” I question the nature of being found and wish I could be like Newton. Yet alas, either lost or found, I am one or the other depending on the day and the moment. My eyes are opened to the sound of the shepherd’s voice beckoning his flock to come outside. From darkness to darkness I move, blind yet progressing still.

A fire begins to roar and a candle is lit. I cannot help but follow it as it moves back into the sanctuary, fighting the dark with each flicker of rippling illumination. “Was blind but now I see.” I take notice of the candle in my hand, its wick not yet scorched by the Easter flame. As it is lit and I move to a pew, I notice another family, faceless in the blinding light of the Easter flame bouncing on my candle. Within my mind the song shifts, blazing past the stanzas of grace-infused reflection only to stop abruptly. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun.” Light begins to spread as each candle is lit, only to turn and pass its glow to another. The same Eater flame that lit my candle continues to multiply until hundreds of Easter flames consume the darkness. An aura of thanksgiving fills the sanctuary as hearts and candles alike are set ablaze, granting each asylum from the shadows. “We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise then when we’d first begun.”

The silence is shattered as the deacon invites the congregate to invoke the blessing of God. Drawn into the deepest mysticism, the antiquity of the Exultet prose is amplified by the booming voice of their cantor. Through closed eyes, in some deep recess of my mind, I imagine a paradisaical place where even the sin of Adam is regarded as a necessary and happy fault. It is in that place I take solace, that even amidst my sinful humanity my fears of damnation might be relieved. My soul cries out in thanks for this “night truly blessed, when heaven is wedded to earth and we are reconciled to God![2]”

Before I extinguish my candle, I notice the wax rolling down the side, unwilling to let go as it clings with intensity like the prodigal son to the legs of his waiting father. No longer slender and tall, it is seemingly disfigured and blackened and can never return to the state in which it was. It has been reduced from its once well-crafted state to a new kind of perfection in which the flame, like a sculptor with a block of stone, chiseled it from mere wax to a state of unique completeness. It has been transformed, and I with it.

As the proclamation of God’s salvific love begins, I cannot help but smile. Like the young girl dressed in blue though anticipating white, I too await the moment when darkness turns to light and silence into song as salvation is fulfilled. The journey continues, both hers and mine, and it is into the twilight we trudge, with hope that in the coming dawn we might find the stone rolled away. I quench my Easter flame, yet my heart continues to burn. Grace has come, how sweet the sound.

[1] John Newton, Amazing Grace, 1779.
[2] The Exultet, the Roman Rite of the Easter Vigil

The grace of God is truly an amazing thing... gifted to each of us freely, and by nothing that we have done or can do. Praise God today for his love and mercy!

As always, more to come. Hope everyone is having a great week, and we look forward to seeing all of you high schoolers tomorrow at Senior T.Y.M.!

The Meaning of Life

2010-04-15T12:18:00.003-05:00

We often find ourselves looking toward the sky screaming, "Where are you?" Matt Maher helps us to recognize that in the simplest interactions, God reveals himself to us in extraordinary ways.

Matt Maher - The Journey of Alive Again: Revelation (1 of 4) from Provident Label Group on Vimeo.

Do You Feel?

2010-04-07T10:29:00.002-05:00

A great song with a great message. Check it out!

Thoughts On Holy Week

2010-03-31T11:30:00.002-05:00

Wow. Not only was Easter really early this year, but it also came really quickly. Now we are already in Holy Week. I don’t know about everyone but I really feel like I didn’t take full advantage of Lent this year to reflect and sacrifice. It kind of feels like it passed me by while I wasn’t looking…sneaky Lent!

In that spirit I recently found an interesting reflection that I want to share with you guys that has helped me take advantage of the small time I have left in this season of reflection. It is called the Examen, or Examination of Consciousness. Not to be confused with the Examination of Conscience, which is used before the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), this examination is more centered on recognizing God in our daily lives.

It was started by Saint Ignatius, who is very well known for his deep reflective prayer methods. You can use this prayer at any time of the day in any place, and continued use can help you recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in your daily life.

1. Recall that you are in the presence of God.

No matter where you are, hilltop or valley, country or city, in a crowd or alone, you are a creature in the midst of creation. As you quiet yourself, become aware that God is present within you, in the creation that surrounds you, in your body, in those around you. The Creator who brought you forth into being is concerned for you. The Spirit of God, sent by Christ, will remind you that you are gifted to help bring creation to its fullness. Ask the Holy Spirit to let you look on all you see with love. “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; … it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right … Love hopes all things.” (1 Cor.)

2. Spend a moment looking over your day with gratitude for this day’s gifts.

Be concrete and let special moments or pleasures spring to mind! Recall the smell of your morning coffee, the taste of something good that you ate, the laugh of a child, the fragrance of a flower, the smile brought forth by a kind word, a lesson that you learned. Take stock of what you received and what you gave. Give thanks to God for favors received. Also look at your permanent gifts that allow your participation in this day. Recall your particular strengths in times of difficulty, your ability to hope in times of weakness, your sense of humor and your life of faith, your intelligence and health, your family and friends. God the Father gives you these to draw you into the fullness of life. As you move through the details of your day, give thanks to God for His presence in the big and the small things of your life.

3. Ask God to send you His Holy Spirit to help you look at your actions and attitudes and motives with honesty and patience.

“When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit inspires you to see with growing freedom the development of your life story. The Spirit gives a freedom to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and thus be open to growth. Ask that you will learn and grow as you reflect, thus deepening your knowledge of self and your relationship with God.

4. Now review your day.

This is the longest of the steps. Recall the events of your day; explore the context of your actions. Search for the internal movements of your heart and your interaction with what was before you. Ask what you were involved in and who you were with, and review your hopes and hesitations. Many situations will show that your heart was divided-wavering between helping and disregarding, scoffing and encouraging, listening and ignoring, rebuking and forgiving, speaking and silence, neglecting and thanking. Remember, this is not a time to dwell on your shortcomings; rather, it is a gentle look with the Lord at how you have responded to God’s gifts. It is an opportunity for growth of self and deepening your relationship with God. Notice where you acted freely-picking a particular course of action from the possibilities you saw. See where you were swept along without freedom. What reactions helped or hindered you? See where Christ entered your decisions and where you might have paused to receive His influence. “Test yourselves,” St. Paul urges, “to see whether you are living in faith; examine yourselves. Perhaps you yourselves do not realize that Christ Jesus is in you.” (2 Cor.) His influence comes through His people, the Body of Christ. His influence comes through Scripture, the Word of God. Now, as you pray, Christ’s spirit will help you know His presence and concern. As you daily and prayerfully explore the mystery of yourself in the midst of your actions you will grow more familiar with your own spirit and become more aware of the promptings of God’s Spirit within you. Allow God to speak, challenge, encourage and teach you. Thus you will come to know that Christ is with you. Christ will continually invite you to love your neighbor as yourself and strengthen you to do this.

5. The final step is our heart-to-heart talk with Jesus.

Here you speak with Jesus about your day. You share your thoughts on your actions, attitudes, feelings and interactions. Perhaps during this time you may feel led to seek forgiveness, ask for direction, share a concern, express gratitude, etc. Having reviewed this day of your life, look upon yourself with compassion and see your need for God and try to realize God’s manifestations of concern for you. Express sorrow for sin, the obscuring darkness that surrounds us all, and especially ask forgiveness for the times you resisted God’s light today. Give thanks for grace, the enlightening presence of God, and especially praise God for the times you responded in ways that allowed you to better see God’s life. Resolve with Jesus to move forward in action where appropriate. You might like to finish your time with the Lords Prayer.

By recognizing Christ in our daily lives, we can truly recognize the sacred gift of His death and resurrection more fully. I encourage you, especially if you have felt, like me, that this season of Lent has flown by, to take 5 minutes each day this week to draw closer to the heart of Christ as we prepare for the Easter Season!

Happy Holy Week!

Religious Education

2010-03-29T11:52:00.001-05:00

For the sake of humor on this first day of Holy Week, check out the video below!

Something to Chew On...

2010-03-26T12:19:00.004-05:00

Question: Why do Catholics not eat meat on Fridays during Lent?

Answer:

Interesting question! There are a lot of different reasons given for Catholics’ abstaining (to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice [1]) from meat on Fridays during Lent. Here are a few of the top reasons for you to chew on:

A: Sacrificing meat on Fridays reminds us of the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday. As Lent is a time of preparation for The Passion and Resurrection of Christ, taking a moment to remember what Christ did for us and participate in a sacrifice of our own can, in some small way, unite our sacrifice to that of Christ’s. The types of meat we abstain from were referred to in older times as “fleshmeat”, so by giving up our “fleshmeat” (red meat, chicken, etc...), it helps us to remember and venerate Christ’s sacrificing his own flesh for our sake on the Cross. Some Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays all year long (though this practice is not required) as a continued reminder.

B: The practice can be traced back to the twelve Disciples and early apostles of Christ, who would fast from meat as a form of spiritual and bodily discipline. It was often used as a time of preparation for an event, whether in the church or in a person’s life. It also shows up in the Old Testament: "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." (Daniel 10:2-3) In the New Testament, they would consume fish instead, which was a commonly known symbol for Christ.

C: In the time of the Christ, meat was very expensive and only the wealthy could afford to eat it often, so one theory is that abstaining from meat humbles us and allows us to contemplate our own spiritual poverty, as well as unite us with the poverty of others.

D: Sacrificing meat on Fridays is also considered an act of penance (an expression of repentance for sins.) Since Lent is considered a penitential season, a time to reflect more deeply on our sins and what keeps us from full communion with Christ, practicing other acts of penance and sacrifice are highly encouraged as a way to grow spiritually.

Any way you look at it, abstaining from meat during Fridays in Lent is meant to provoke our thoughts and challenge us both physically and spiritually. Lent is a time of reflection and anticipation of the Passion and Resurrection, and sacrificing meat on Fridays helps us to enter into the spirit of the season.

So, the next time you bite into that cheese pizza on a Friday during Lent, take a moment to remember why there is no Pepperoni, as well as the Man that gave up His flesh for YOU!!

________________________________

1 Miriam-Webster Dictionary

A Historic Day, Perhaps, But What's Next...?

2010-03-25T12:50:00.001-05:00

President Barak Obama signed into law on Tuesday a bill that will bring health care to a reported 95% of Americans. Through the lens of our Catholic tradition, this legislation brings with it an array of triumphs and struggles within the realm of Catholic social teaching. Our role as young, active members of our faith is to respond knowledgeably, while remaining true to what we believe.

At noon on Tuesday, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis George, responded to the bill with this statement:

For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for reform of our health care system so that all may have access to the care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity. Christian discipleship means, “working to ensure that all people have access to what makes them fully human and fosters their human dignity” (United States Catechism for Adults, page 454). Included among those elements is the provision of necessary and appropriate health care.

For too long, this question has gone unaddressed in our country. Often, while many had access to excellent medical treatment, millions of others including expectant mothers, struggling families or those with serious medical or physical problems were left unable to afford the care they needed. As Catholic bishops, we have expressed our support for efforts to address this national and societal shortcoming. We have spoken for the poorest and most defenseless among us. Many elements of the health care reform measure signed into law by the President address these concerns and so help to fulfill the duty that we have to each other for the common good. We are bishops, and therefore pastors and teachers. In that role, we applaud the effort to expand health care to all.

Nevertheless, for whatever good this law achieves or intends, we as Catholic bishops have opposed its passage because there is compelling evidence that it would expand the role of the federal government in funding and facilitating abortion and plans that cover abortion. The statute appropriates billions of dollars in new funding without explicitly prohibiting the use of these funds for abortion, and it provides federal subsidies for health plans covering elective abortions. Its failure to preserve the legal status quo that has regulated the government’s relation to abortion, as did the original bill adopted by the House of Representatives last November, could undermine what has been the law of our land for decades and threatens the consensus of the majority of Americans: that federal funds not be used for abortions or plans that cover abortions. Stranger still, the statute forces all those who choose federally subsidized plans that cover abortion to pay for other peoples’ abortions with their own funds. If this new law is intended to prevent people from being complicit in the abortions of others, it is at war with itself.

We share fully the admirable intention of President Obama expressed in his pending Executive Order, where he states, “it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services.” However, the fact that an Executive Order is necessary to clarify the legislation points to deficiencies in the statute itself. We do not understand how an Executive Order, no matter how well intentioned, can substitute for statutory provisions.

The statute is also profoundly flawed because it has failed to include necessary language to provide essential conscience protections (both within and beyond the abortion context). As well, many immigrant workers and their families could be left worse off since they will not be allowed to purchase health coverage in the new exchanges to be created, even if they use their own money.

Many in Congress and the Administration, as well as individuals and groups in the Catholic community, have repeatedly insisted that there is no federal funding for abortion in this statute and that strong conscience protection has been assured. Analyses that are being published separately show this not to be the case, which is why we oppose it in its current form. We and many others will follow the government’s implementation of health care reform and will work to ensure that Congress and the Administration live up to the claims that have contributed to its passage. We believe, finally, that new legislation to address its deficiencies will almost certainly be required.

As bishops, we wish to recognize the principled actions of the pro-life Members of Congress from both parties, in the House and the Senate, who have worked courageously to create legislation that respects the principles outlined above. They have often been vilified and have worked against great odds.

As bishops of the Catholic Church, we speak in the name of the Church and for the Catholic faith itself. The Catholic faith is not a partisan agenda, and we take this opportunity to recommit ourselves to working for health care which truly and fully safeguards the life, dignity, conscience and health of all, from the child in the womb to those in their last days on earth.

The Mask We Wear From Day to Day

2009-01-15T19:11:00.000-06:00

We spent a significant amount of time Wednesday night talking about how we have a tendency to push God out of our lives. How do we primarily do that? By the masks we wear each day. So here is the question--how do we identify what that mask is that we wear in our lives?

The simple answer is to take a look at who we are outside of church and see if it matches up with who we are at home, in school and, (here's the big one) with our friends. In fact, lets take that a step further and name a few of our "away from church" tendencies. What kind of language do you use at school? Would you ever say some of those things in the youth room or at Mass? How about the way you dress (and I'm not just talking to the girls on this one). Do your clothes reflect a modest lifestyle? And how about those "fun" Friday and Saturday night activities? Do they reflect a moral lifestyle?

So here is the kicker. Ready for it? My question for you is, is the life that you lead FAKE?

*Gasp......*

A harsh question I know, but this is the root of what I want you to examine in your life. Really ask your self that question. Before we can even start to talk about this Jesus guy, we have to be willing to strip away all of those aspects of our lives that hold us back from a REAL relationship with God. Christ waits for us with open arms, but before we can sprint into his arms, we have to break the ball-and-chain that keeps us only running in place, never moving; staying, if you will, in a constant, stagnant state of complacency.

So lets talk about that. What part of your life do you need to get rid of? What are the "masks" that we wear?