What the father does His Son will do also

Recently I had an opportunity to return home and visit with my family.  While there I was blessed to once again spend time doing one of my favorite activities, visiting the neighborhood pond with my father and fishing together.  While our pond is quite small and at this particular visit was very full of debris in our favorite fishing hole, I have grown to simply enjoy more and more these times with my Father.  At first, we were using different techniques; I used a crank bait and my father a plastic minnow bait.  After several casts without any action, my father reeled in a good sized bass.  Then after moving to a different hole to release his catch, we decided to change locations.  My father encouraged me to make the next catch and I rigged up a pole for a plastic much the same as his.  He helped remind me how to attach the bait and fish this technique. Then we continued our endeavor.  As I now fished I watched how my father gently raised his pole up and down with slow cranks to give the bait simulated action, and then I began to follow his example.  After a few more casts, I got a great big hit, set the hook and after a great leap out of the water reeled in one of the largest bass we have ever caught at the pond.

            As we continued to fish, I remember these words from scripture coming to mind: “I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing.”  I began to realize that my father and I were living out the scripture together in that moment, as my catching fish was a result of watching my father. As I think of this scene from scripture, I am reminded of Jesus, the Son of God speaking about the Father; “For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these.”  

I too am a son of God, and so God the Father will show me His great works, but how am I to see what my Father is doing?  Thank-God for the revelation of His Word, Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Son of God who shows us the example of how to listen to the Father and seek His will. As Jesus a few verses later says, “I cannot do anything on my own...I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” Jesus was obedient to the Father’s will, made known by a constant attentiveness to the love of the Father.  

I greatly desire this attentiveness to the Father, to see what He is doing, and to seek His gracious will. Sometimes though I feel it impossible to see what the Father is doing in the same way as I see my dad fishing, for I recall these words, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God”, and find myself asking Jesus much like Philip, “Show us the Father.” Jesus then  reminds me “If you know me, then you will also know my Father” and “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Thank God for the Gospels! Here is a reliable place where I can always find Jesus and watch as he does what He sees the Father in heaven doing! And as I come to know my Lord and Savior more in prayer, as I know Jesus, I will also know His Father, our Father! And I can ask for the grace of Jesus’s attentiveness, so that as a beloved adopted son, I too can see what my Heavenly Father is doing just as I watched my father fishing.

May my father and I always remain in the love of Christ,

Zachery

Praying at Planned Parenthood

     Recently, a few of the team members and myself decided to spend the day down in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The day was filled with smiles, laughter, and good food as we stopped for Chick-fil-a for lunch and met up with some friends at a local coffee shop. However, the day was also filled with sadness and pain as we made the stop at one of the six Planned Parenthood locations in the area. I myself have never prayed outside of Planned Parenthood and was filled with nerves as we pulled up to park. However, Gemma, a fellow teammate, has been praying outside Planned Parenthoods back in her home state of Oregon for the past few years. Gemma came not only prepared with knowledge of the laws we were to follow and local resources to help the women, but also ready to lead us in prayer. During our time there we prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet and four Rosaries, one Rosary for each of the mysteries. We began praying while standing outside the building and then decided to kneel as we continued to pray. Soon an employee came to close a curtain that no longer allowed us to see through their glass doors and into the building. It was in that moment that God showed me the power behind getting on our knees and praying. No matter what barriers they put between us we continued to pray for all those at the clinic: the women, nurses, and doctors who we saw walking in and out of the building throughout our time there.

     We saw dozens of people walk by us that day, and my heart pains for each one of them as they have never realised the true love that exists all around them and is given to them each and every moment of every single day. After spending time outside Planned Parenthood I know I will be back to pray as my heart has been changed and any fears I had have been washed away. Till then I will continue to pray for them, for their hearts and minds to be turned back to the true, the good, and the beautiful.

     -Anna

SPIRITUS: A Year in Review

As Team 8’s mission year comes to the close the retreats are few are far between, the weather is warming up and the SPIRITUS day becomes more open ended.  With this less strenuous schedule a perfect opportunity presents itself to reflect on this year of service, to search for more “nuggets” that the Lord might want to give.  There are many aspects to SPIRITUS: community living, formation, retreat and youth ministry, benefactor meet and greets, recruitment trips etc.  I would like to share with you all just one “nugget” from this year in two of these aspects.

I will start this review off with community life.  Those who know me would all agree that my calling in life will not be in a large community setting and some might say that a community of 15 is not large but let’s just say that to some that is more than enough.  With all this in mind I would say that this year's community helped me to grow in ways I did not expect to grow in.  We had good times and we had some rough patches, but within both those times were graces. One of those graces was that I learned what it means to give love freely in those moments that are hard to love the person in front of you.  Often times loving freely means forgiving those who have harmed you or simply doing the dishes for your teammates when we are running around trying to prepare for our various ministries.  Ultimately in our lives as disciples we are called to love those in front of you and let me tell you community life is a great time to practice loving.

 The second grace I would like to share with you is from the ministry dimension.  The thing that stuck out to me most when thinking about ministry this year was the relationships I made in my youth ministry internship and how evangelization is really about making and fostering relationships with those we meet whether on retreat or in the parish setting.  Our proclamation of the Gospel is far less effective if we do not have a relationship with those we are ministering to.  The youth of the Catholic Church are in dire need of good relationships with Catholics who are striving for virtue and holiness, in SPIRITUS this has provided an awesome opportunity to give that to the youth in Wisconsin, and from there we have been able to see the fruit of the same youth coming into deeper relationship with our Lord which is of course the best of all relationships in their lives.

This year has provided me a lot of growth humanly, spiritually and relationally.  I will always be grateful for these two years of service with SPIRITUS.  May God bless you.

Pax,

Mike

Reaching the End

It is incredible to know that team 8 has already eight months igniting the Catholic faith with children and young adults in the State of Wisconsin through SPIRITUS Ministries! It has been an amazing opportunity in my life to share the gospel of the Lord in the State of Wisconsin. The people of Wisconsin are kind and friendly, they are very welcoming! When I go to each parish, I can see the love they have for SPIRITUS Ministries. Parishes and schools are grateful for what the ministry has brought to their places: “The Joy of the Gospel.” I want to thank everybody who has been praying for each one of us during this time, your prayers have meant a lot to our ministry! Let’s continue praying for our ministry, for each person we encounter in every retreat.  Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for us!

-René Martínez

The Next Chapter in my Storybook Life

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Mary Senkyr and I am a notorious planner. As Spiritus is quickly coming to a close, I am mentally preparing for the next step in life. This transition is hitting me from all angles. If you had asked me four months ago if I was ready to be done, I would’ve answered “Take me home, Minnesota!”. (Retreats were back to back and I missed my family a ton) Now, seeing that we have mere days left, I find myself breaking down in tears in the quiet moments. It’s safe to say a lot is going on. I desire to continue growing in my faith after this, but I’m struggling to figure out how I’ll be able to on my own. Formation was a true blessing. I think about where God is leading me from here and wonder if I’m strong enough to overcome the temptations of moving back into “reality”. Jesus, I trust in You.  I joke that we live in a Catholic bubble here, but it’s not just a bubble anymore. I recognize people everywhere and enjoy chatting with local parishioners after mass. I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss them all.

I’m not the same person I was when I walked through the front door of MTC on August 14th, 2016. I was super nervous and had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew God brought me here so I was going to do it, and do it well. Needless to say, I’m procrastinating on the whole transition part of this experience. I want God to lead me where I’m meant to go next and so I’m keeping my options open and not making any hardline decisions. I don’t have it all together right now. Actually, I don’t have much of anything together right now, but I do know God does and I’m holding onto the hope that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. -Philippians 1:6

     -Elizabeth

Relaxing With Jesus

It’s Easter, and at daily mass we’ve been hearing resurrection stories for our Gospel readings. I love the resurrection, but if I’m honest at a certain point I got tired of all this talk about resurrection. I just want to think about something else for a bit. I need a breather, some space to clear my head. That was where my head was at on Friday of the Easter Octave: Jesus, I love you but I just need some space to relax. Ironically, the Gospel that day seemed to fit me perfectly.

It was from John 21: the story of Simon Peter going fishing. As I was following along, I thought about how Peter probably had a lot on his mind: Jesus had just died, risen, and now was appearing to various people. That’s a lot to think about. The passage says that Peter told a couple of the apostles that he was going fishing, and they said they came along. Was this Peter looking for a breather? For space to clear his head? It seemed like a good fit for me, at least as a thought to ponder.

This is one of the stories of Jesus appearing to his disciples, but it’s interesting to me that Peter and his companions were fishing all night long before Jesus appeared. Was Jesus giving Peter that space he was looking for? Dare I believe that? People talk about Jesus as a gentleman, as a man who waits to be invited before coming into our hearts. It still seems like a good fit for me.

Jesus appears on the shore and he calls out, “Children, have you caught anything?” No they hadn’t. “Put out your nets on the other side of the boat.” And suddenly they catch 153 large fish. John recognizes Jesus, and he tells Peter that it’s Jesus. And at once Peter jumps into the water and swims to his Lord. And there Jesus has a charcoal fire prepared. And he brought breakfast.

Later in the story Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times, and there’s a lot of depth in that part of the story. But what struck me this time around was that first Jesus created a space to just relax with Peter and the other disciples. He simply invited Peter to breakfast. And maybe they just talked about nothing, just had a little breather, a chance for Peter to clear his head. And as a take away, I thought when I feel like I need a breather and space to clear my head, maybe sometimes Jesus is inviting me to come spend time with him. Not every prayer needs to be super intense, I can just sit with him and relax for a moment. He’s a good God, he’s Lord of the Sabbath. I can rest with him.

-Peter

Joy in Lord

Culver's has become our team’s main on  the go food. We often stop in after a retreat or just to satisfy a custard craving. I was explaining this to a girl on retreat when she replied, “I know you guys came in to Culver’s when I was working the other week.”  She went on the describe how happy and joyful we were. This conversation reminded me of the power of joy. The greatest joy is the joy that radiates from within. A joy that is not worked for but comes from the peace found in the Lord. It is a joy that can often be found among the SPIRITUS members especially, after a retreat. It is something our world craves today so when it is shown people notice. In all honesty, it has nothing to do with me or any of the members on SPIRITUS. It has everything do with God and the love he gives. His love has embraced each of us on SPIRITUS to the extent that we have given up 9 months of our lives to share it. It is His love that we share and give that brings about joy. It allows us to be witnesses to our faith wherever we go.

-Gemma

Leading Youth in Prayer

Part of how I see my mission with SPIRITUS is really leading youth to an encounter with Christ and helping them to learn how to sustain that relationship. We often compare talking to Jesus through prayer to talking to your best friend: How many times a day do you talk to your best friend? (Youth often can't count)... but what if you only talked to them once a month or once a year? Or only when things were going poorly? They wouldn't really be your best friend. You wouldn't really have a relationship with them. Same thing with Jesus. If you don't talk to him, you don't have a substantial relationship with him. Prayer is such an important part of faith and I love helping students learn to pray!

Most commonly on retreat, students experience 1-on-1 prayer with a SPIRITUS team member but there are many other ways prayer enters into our time with youth. There are many powerful instances of this as a youth ministry intern, adoration being first and foremost. Unlike adults who may be able to occupy themselves in adoration for an extensive period of time, youth especially while learning how to pray, need direction and a lead in to that encounter with God in prayer. I often use meditations, music, and journaling to help youth enter into adoration time. Students need this silence and reflection time as does everyone. I can't remember the last time I didn't have a student ask if their class was doing adoration that week for faith formation!

Spending time with Jesus in the Chapel

Although we aren't always able to have the blessed sacrament exposed in adoration when we lead students in prayer, substantial time in the chapel is irreplaceable. I have seen this especially as we work with the middle schoolers at St. Mary's Catholic School. Bi-monthly we have an after school program at the middle school where we build community, read the upcoming Gospel, and pray together. Each week has a theme and we have been talking a lot about authenticity. We had the students make paper masks writing all that others see on the outside and then we entered the chapel and reflected on the thing we don't show others. The students wrote these things in black on the other side of the mask. This was a sobering moment as even the silliest and most rambunctious middle schoolers were serious and reflective. We finished this prayer time by playing a song, "Remind Me Who I Am" by Jason Gray, and inviting each student up to the foot of the tabernacle to write in red over all the things they don't share, "Beloved Son" or "Beloved Daughter". What a powerful experience to lead lead these youth in such a prayer experience. Students walked away with greater peace and joy but we as faith leaders can't make students dependent on the time we offer them for prayer alone. We must all develop a personal prayer life that is our own.

Recently, in our high school core leadership team, each student received a small prayer book called Following Jesus Christ. Each of the 11 high schoolers were asked to commit to prayer for each day of the week from the book: morning and evening reflections, meditations each day on Christ's passion, or 1 decade of the rosary with reflection. At our weekly meeting, we checked in about how prayer was going and if they wanted to switch to another form of prayer from the book for the coming week. Most recently, many students reported that even though they seemed to be praying with the book less, they were praying more on their own. Developing their own personal prayer life! Praise God!

Prayer is our lifeline to God. Not only must we invest daily in prayer but we must also help others strengthen that relationship with God. I am so thankful to be able to do this work! All for the greater Glory of God!!

     -Brianna

Praying together while laying our hands on the tabernacle

Easter is Here!

Happy Easter!

     This past Lenten season has been full of sacrifice, temptations, and challenges galore. But through it all, I have grown closer to the Heart of Christ. Though it has not been easy it is most certainly worth it. I am so grateful for the Lord giving me strength and carrying me to today, where I can rejoice!

     It is time once again to celebrate the glory of our Risen Lord! Now we reap the benefits of what we have prepared ourselves for throughout Lent. This is a season for us to be full of the Lord's joy and grace. I hope and pray that throughout this time of celebration and the remainder of our SPIRITUS mission year the team finds love in our lives and peace in our hearts. May the same be true for you!

Alleluia!
     -Gabriel

Learning to Celebrate

“We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.” Pope Benedict XVI

Community life is a beautiful mess, just like each one of us as individuals. We each bring with us our own quirks and habits, joys and heartaches, roses and thorns. And the longer we spend together, the more of these roses and thorns we discover… about each other, and about ourselves. From the moment we arrived we have been repeatedly told that we’re all here for a reason, a divine purpose, and that the team wouldn’t be complete without each one of us. It’s funny, though, that no matter how many times we hear this it seems as if each one of us can look at ourselves and say “everyone belongs here, except me,” or “the teens love everyone so much more than they love me, so why am I here?” These are some of the lies we fight internally, and while I don’t believe that such doubts are unique to SPIRITUS, I think that they’re certainly emphasized here. It can be hard to remember our individuality when we are striving daily to conform our wills to the SPIRITUS mission, and it is so easy to compare our failings to the talents of our brother and sister missionaries.

To put it short – I can look at each of my brothers and sisters here and tell you exactly where their talents lie and what gifts they bring to the team and how our ministry would suffer without them. But when it comes to myself, I don’t feel worthy enough, talented enough, or even welcomed. And I know I’m not the only one who feels like this.

But while it’s our comparison of ourselves against the other team members that tend to bring us down, it’s only in community with our brothers and sisters that we are able to hear of and discover our own greatness! We need our community to slow us down and remind us that we are worthy and talented and a part of a caring and attentive team. One of the beautiful ways that this happens here in SPIRITUS is through celebrating birthdays. During the week prior to someone’s birthday, the rest of the team pretends to sneak around to discover what that person likes to do, or their favorite type of dessert. Then during the week of their birthday, on whichever night we’re scheduled to have team dinner, we pretend it’s a surprise party and set out the nice table cloth and candles and blow up balloons.

Granted, some of us appreciate this more than others. I know for myself, I have built up a sort of ‘false humility’ around my birthday, not wanting to be celebrated because really, what is there to celebrate? Besides, isn’t it more ‘adult like’ to not want to celebrate birthdays? To pretend we’re not getting any older? In reality, though, it’s not about getting older. It’s about living. It’s about being able to celebrate and appreciate with renewed fervor the life that we’ve been given for another year. And this is where community comes in. No matter how much I don’t want to be celebrated (probably because I don’t want feel like I’m worth celebrating), my brother and sister missionaries can’t wait to celebrate me, and over the course of the week they managed to highlight so many of their favorite qualities in me, and in doing so made me feel like I belonged.

My birthday was back in September and one of the first to be celebrated. Since then, we’ve celebrated a few more birthdays and they only get better with time. I take so much joy in spending time to celebrate each one of my teammates and I thank God that He gave each one of them life and designed for them to spend this period of their life here with me. And if they are a necessity and joy here on this team, then perhaps I am to. If they are worth celebrating, then so am I. As my team has shown me, I am not “casual and meaningless”, but rather I am “willed,... loved,... (and) necessary,” just like Pope Benedict XVI says.

For my birthday, some of the girls decorated my room over their lunch break with streamers and balloons and left my favorite kind of ice cream in the freezer!

Below are some photos of our crazy birthday pranks! I hope they bring you as much joy as they bring to us.

Maranatha!

Ashley

Gemma’s birthday was over our Thanksgiving break, so upon our return we made sure to make her feel loved by stacking 149 plastic cups against her door! I don’t live in her household, but I was told that it made quite a ruckus when she opened the door the next morning, to which she responded “Oh my gosh I love you guys!!!!”

For Brianna’s birthday, we snuck into her hall around midnight and tapped a large trash bag over her door and filled the gap between the door and bag with balloons so that the next morning when she opened her door she was greeted by joy and color!

Simplicity

Lately, a big question that I have been asking myself is, “How do I go deeper in my relationship with God?” While I’ve been pondering this question, God sent me an answer through one of our formators, Fr. Luke Ferris who came and shared with us some ways to go deeper with our prayer and confessions.

So how does one work on deepening their prayer and confessions? Fr. Luke shared with us that it involves simplifying our prayer life. He made a point of reminding us that when we will fall, it is essential for us to not just stay down, but to get back up and continue our journey of faith. St. Thérèse of Lisieux talks about being small children who fall and then run back to their Father’s loving arms, not afraid of failure, but embracing it and the Father’s love through it all. This leads to a deeper question, am I willing to let Him help me out of my mistakes and failures? Am I willing to let Him see all my failings and faults and trust that He will still love me? As for me, I want to say I answer yes, but I know my heart has not reached that point yet. Only time and God’s grace will tell when I will be able to say yes with my whole heart. However, this leaves the question for you, the reader, how will you respond to His love?

-Mikayla Uchytil

A Soft Heart and Hard Feet

Oftentimes when I have a free moment in the evenings I find myself on a treadmill at one of the YMCAs in the Fox Valley, but my typical routine is more than just running until I can no longer pull air into my chest or pick up my feet from the belt. Usually if I am alone at the Y I’m praying and meditating on the rosary. For me, this is the most fruitful prayer time that I have and the mysteries seem to fly by with the miles, but the simple action of running and praying adds a depth to my prayer that just doesn’t exist elsewhere. In short, the amount of time I can spend running sets the pace for my life of faith, and I love it.

There was one night when I was frustratedly panting and pondering over the events of the last week and I asked the Lord to remind me of why I had come all the way to Wisconsin to serve Him. Almost immediately there was an ache in my heart and a feeling of having the wind knocked out of my chest. Despite just having posed this question to the Lord, it took me a while to put two and two together and understand what He was trying to show me: heartbreak.

Over the course of the next few weeks and many more dates with my treadmill, the Lord made it clear that all of this has been an answer to so many prayers of mine, because He does not ever place a desire on our hearts that He does not also intend to fulfill. What broke my heart was the number of young people I never saw in Mass besides Lifeteen Night or their Confirmation, that clearly didn’t know the Lord, and who did not know Love. It was a problem that I could see in the Church, and it was also a problem that I could do something about.

Something that I am learning at SPIRITUS is that on occasion the Lord allows our hearts to hurt in a certain way and that that isn’t always a bad thing. The heartbreak of seeing so many young people hurting and hopeless was what drove me (literally) to Wisconsin and SPIRITUS, and it also inspired a bit of soul searching. In my conversations with the Lord for the weeks before I knew I’d be working with this ministry I found my most effective prayer to be a simple, “Lord, give me a soft heart and hard feet. Give me the grace to love whomever you place in my life and to go wherever you are leading.” When I really gave it over to God, He moved mountains I didn’t know existed.

Peace of Christ,

Annastasia

God wants to hear from you too!

Hello readers, hope you are doing well, thank you for reading our blogs! It is great to know that you follow and pray for each one of us. We need your prayers; the Bible invites us to pray for one another (James 5, 16). This is what we do every day in our ministry, we pray for each one of the intentions written in our binders by many people who come to say hi to us while visiting their parishes. Also, we pray for the peace in the world, the conversion of humanity to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. Each day, during Angelus and Liturgy of the Hours we bring these prayers to the Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  What a great way to help one another, praying in community, sharing the love of God with many people through prayers.  My invitation to each one of you in this blogs is to continue praying. This time of lent is a good moment in our lives to think about our relationship with God, my commitment to His Word and the abandonment to His eternal love! Keep praying, God wants to hear from you too!

René Martínez

Christopher West hit me to the Cor

This is a prime example of God’s will and how everything falls into place when we keep our hearts pliable. SPIRITUS attends formation every Thursday, the different speakers (priests, religious, etc.) are typically scheduled months in advance.

At a retreat the other week, a fellow teammate noticed publicity for an upcoming speaker, Theology of the Body guy, Christopher West. Thursday evening was the date and there was nothing on the schedule for formation. That never happens. After getting approval by prostaff, we made the trek to hear Christopher West present on God, Sex, and the Meaning of Life. His message is based off of St. John Paul II’s writings on God’s plan for creation. Theology of the body is meant to help us better understand what we’re made for and who God is calling us to be. The presentation brought new perspective to my understanding of the body and its biological and theological meaning.

After the talk, a few members of the team and I got in line to have our books/memorabilia signed. Mentioning a few things that struck me, and asking a question or two from his presentation- lead to an all-out pep talk about not settling and how Mary’s yes changed the whole world and our’s can too.

The following Saturday, he had a day-long retreat in Fond du Lac and invited us. I figured it was a distant dream because our mission is primarily scheduled on the weekends. Fortunate (Holy Spirit) circumstances were already in progress though, as Anna Haiar (a fellow teammate and friend) and I were not scheduled for retreats that weekend. That never happens. We got permission to attend, bought our tickets, and went to spend a day diving into the Cor Seminar, an extended version of the session we attended just days earlier. I’m so thankful we received the opportunity to go and accepted!

The stars aligned and we didn’t even have to try, thank you God. I like to think that’s how he works sometimes. He just showers you in gifts, that couldn’t have worked out better. I realize that most of the time he puts desires in your heart and you have to work your butt off trying to accomplish them, but this time was different. It was effortless in that all we had to do was keep our hearts open, and drive to our destination (notebook and pen in hand).

It truly was a beautiful grace.

-Elizabeth Senkyr

Note: Less than a week after these events, I got his latest book, Fill These Hearts, from my spiritual director. God wink. ;)

Wisconsin Dells!

This past month the SPIRITUS Team was blessed with the opportunity to grow closer in community and have a wave pool full of fun by taking a vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. The Wisconsin Dells is a must-stop town for tourists, bringing in thousands of tourists each year, as it is the home of hundreds of indoor and outdoor waterslides and rightly earns its name as, “Waterpark Capital of the World.” The team and I were able to embark on the epic adventure that the Wisconsin Dells held in store for us by not only riding on some of the fastest slides that the Dells has to offer, but also by growing closer together in community as we laughed and screamed down our way down all the slides. A team favorite that had us all full of emotion was called the “Dueling Mammoth” at the Wilderness Resort; this raft ride allowed for six of us to ride down together through the dark twists and turns of the slide. Another ride, and my personal favorite was called “The Hurricane”, a ride that drops you down into a funnel which then shoots you back-and-forth until you reach the bottom. Overall, between the slides and the company, I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend time in community with the people of the community. Not only was I able to learn more about each one of my fellow team members, but I also was able to find out who has the loudest scream!

     -Anna Haiar

Enjoying some smoothies together!

Lent and the Transforming Power of Suffering

Far too often in our ministry we come across young people that are deeply and profoundly suffering. They come into retreat with very appropriate and reasonable questions of: “Why do good people have to suffer?” and “You seem so joyful. Why?”

Suffering is such a mystery. I always make sure when these questions arise to remind them that God does not desire us to remain in suffering. He does not want us to be in pain. He is LOVE! There is so much to say, but I want to leave it simply as that. He is love.

Remember to ask Him, most especially in those moments of darkness and despair, “What are you trying to show me?” He is always speaking to us, most intimately in those moments when we are given the grace to share in the cross with Him. Saint Therese quotes “Everything is grace!” Indeed, all of our suffering has the capability of being transformed into a beautiful resurrection.

Abandon all to Him, even the sufferings...most ESPECIALLY the sufferings! He loves you. You are loved. If you are struggling with your Lenten resolutions or maybe haven’t made one yet, let it be this: surrender your miseries, longings, fears, brokenness to Him. Place it at the foot of His cross and allow the Holy Spirit to transform you.

“Although temptations are strong, a whole wave of doubts beats against my soul, and discouragement stands by, ready to act. The Lord, however, strengthens my will, against which all attempts of the enemy are shattered as if against a rock. I see how many actual graces God grants me; these support me ceaselessly. I am very weak, and I attribute everything to the grace of God.” (1086, page 406) -St. Faustina

-Alexa Harbor

Listening in Prayer

Sometimes on our retreats we do a thing we call one on one prayer. By that we mean that we create a safe space to speak with individual youth and ask them about what’s on their heart, and then do our best to bring that to God in prayer and listen for how he might guide us. Sometimes this is a powerful moment. Sometimes it’s not.

I remember once recently when one on one prayer was powerful. For context I had been thinking about how it would helpful for me to try to listen more in prayer. So this particular day I decided to listen more deliberately in our one on one prayer.

One of the youth came for prayer; let’s call her Lucy. I asked what she would like to pray about, we talked a little, and then we opened up to prayer. We put ourselves in God’s presence, brought up a couple things that Lucy wanted to pray about, and asked for God’s help. And then I said to Lucy, “Why don’t we take thirty seconds and just listen.”

I didn’t hear much. Or really anything. The image of a present wrapped in wrapping paper came to mind, but that was it. I was going to offer that to Lucy and say, “Hey here’s this image that came to mind; if it helps it helps, if it doesn’t it doesn’t.” But then I thought, maybe I should ask Lucy first if she heard anything. So I asked her.

She said, “Yeah, it kinda felt like God was telling me that it’s going to be ok.”

That struck me deeply, especially since the phrase “It’s going to be ok” has come back to me many times this year in my own prayer. Suddenly telling her about the image of the present seemed much less important. It seemed like I really didn’t need to tell her about it. So I didn’t. Instead we thanked God, put ourselves again in his hands, and closed the prayer.

What’s my takeaway? I personally have been reflecting on how God uses me as an instrument, and how he’s working on deeper levels than I expect.

-Peter Schmidt

Esto Vir!

     Be a man! (or for those who prefer the Latin, “Esto Vir!”) is a phrase that many males hear throughout their lifetime, many times before performing some activity deemed to be masculine such as shooting a deer or participating in belching contest. Not every instance in which this phrase is uttered is contributing to the building up of a truly masculine culture, but in many cases causing the masculine culture to be viewed in a superficial way; for example a MAN is a big, strong man who wears flannel, sporting a big beard, who watches sports, works on cars, and is fluent in the language of grunting. In order to combat the American culture's view of what it means to be a man, the Catholic Church has been putting on men’s conferences to communicate to Catholic men what it really means to be a man. In the Diocese of Green Bay this conference is called Esto Vir or the Man for All Seasons Conference. It takes place yearly and brings many big name speakers to come in and speak about what it means to be a man in the Catholic sense; recently the conference brought in Fr. Larry Richards, Matt Fradd, and Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy just to name a few. This event draws around 1,000 men from across the Diocese of Green Bay to come and join together to learn how to be a man of faith.

The Eucharistic Procession

     This year a few of the SPIRITUS men were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Esto Vir Conference and provide a breakout session for the middle school guys that were in attendance and run activities, give talks and pray with the students. It did not stop there, right after the middle school portion of the conference all the men participated in a Eucharistic procession with Bishop Ricken leading the way with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I had the opportunity to hold the canopy during the procession and even though we had to fight some strong winds trying to take the canopy away and some cold, cold, hands it was a beautiful experience to have 1,000 men following the Blessed Sacrament in prayer around downtown Green Bay. Another memorable moment that occurred during the conference was the “leadoff” speaker, Fr. Larry Richards. Fr. Larry did not pull any punches during his talk, but called the men in the room to pray and to love, stating that the only way we can know how to be a man is to look to Jesus in the scriptures, and to be in relationship with Him through prayer and love of those around us.

     At the end of the day, we left very inspired and it was a good reminder of our goal in life as men, and that is to follow Christ and to lead others to Him. Now we have the challenge of going into our ministry and letting everyone we encounter know of the Lord’s great love for them and most importantly to never stop praying because if we do then we run the risk of allowing our ministry to be fruitless. This conference was a great “pick-me-up” in the midst of a hectic ministry of putting on retreats and doing youth ministry. I go forward with great hope and love for our Church and all I can do is hope that I do not get in the way of Christ carrying out His mission through SPIRITUS.

Pax,

Mike

Adoration at the Conference

Taking a Break for SPIRITUS

As I enter deeper into my year of service with SPIRITUS, I can’t help but reflect on how my life has changed. A year ago if you asked me what my year to come would look like, I would have said taking classes. Instead I am in Wisconsin giving a year to the Lord to learn, grow, and bring others closer to him. When I told people I was taking a year off of school many assumed school got overwhelming and I needed a break. To be honest, I did need a break but not because my grades were regressing or school was becoming overwhelming. I needed a break to recenter myself in Christ. I was getting so caught up in making my school’s requirements that I was losing sight of why I was in school.

SPIRITUS has brought things back into perspective for me. Everything we do here revolves around faith and our relationship with God. It is a much needed reminder that everything we do at all times should be directed towards him.The lessons I have learned here will not transfer to my transcript but they will transfer to my life. No matter what career we have we are called to bring others closer to Christ. This year has given me the opportunity to do just that. How to relay God’s love is a lesson I will never tire of using.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” -Philippians 4:13

-Gemma Cowan