A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Sunday Edition

Sunday, February 10, 2013

This Sunday began with an early start next door at St. Mary’s for Mass at seven in the morning for Aaron, Callie, Michael and me. After Mass we headed back to Mount Tabor to get ready for the upcoming retreat we had that day. We had a Confirmation retreat here at Mount Tabor for the Confirmation students at St. Margaret Mary in Neenah. The chapel was booming with singing and praising God because they were over fifty students here with us on retreat. It was awesome! The day was filled with singing, activities, movie clips, witnesses from us SPIRITUS members and pizza! I hope the students left the retreat understanding a little better how much Jesus loves them and how they can be better disciples of Him, especially through the Sacrament of Confirmation. The retreat ended in the early evening which meant time for us to clean up Mount Tabor and put everything back into pre-retreat mode. We also took time to talk through the retreat and discuss what went well and also in what areas we need to improve for next time. After everything was cleaned up and discussed we said good bye to the boys and the girls had a low key night after the busyness of retreat.

I hope you have enjoyed our week of blog updates on the daily happenings of SPIRITUS! I've definitely enjoyed writing these posts, letting you know a little bit more about the ministry. God Bless! 

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Saturday Edition

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Finally a retreat day! Our weekends usually consist of retreats and today was no exception. Karissa, Julie, Robbie and Kate were still on retreat with the Fond du Lac crew from the night before and since there retreat was an overnight retreat they really got to connect with the students. While their retreat was still rocking, we had a retreat for 9th through 11th graders at Saint Katharine Drexel in Kaukauna. I headed to Kaukauna with Callie, Aaron and Michael to spend the afternoon and evening with eleven students. Although they were a quiet group we had an awesome time together and I think they learned a little bit about our faith life as a journey. I was lucky enough to talk to the students a little bit about forgiveness which is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. But I have to say that the best part of the whole retreat for me was the fact that all the students went to Sacrament of Reconciliation and received the mercy and love of Jesus in the unique and personal way that is only found in the confessional. Overall, it was a great experience in Kaukauna filled with movie clips, discussions about faith, confession, pizza and ice cream! The retreat ended late so after the retreat we all headed straight to bed.

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Friday Edition

Friday, February 8, 2013

Happy Friday! Another morning was spent at Eucharistic adoration, rosary and Mass at St. Mary’s in Menasha. After Mass, breakfast and Morning Prayer, we headed to a local coffee shop in Neenah, Shellattes, for our weekly book discussion. We read a book together as a team and get together once a week to discuss any insights we have gained from the book. Right now we are reading, “Interior Freedom,” by Jacques Philippe. Along with formation on Thursdays, having book discussion is a great way for us to make sure we are spiritually fed. When we give so much on retreats, it is important for us to make sure that our spiritual life is still being nourished.

The rest of my afternoon was filled with youth ministry! Every Friday afternoon from three to five we have a Drop-In for middle school students at St. Patrick’s in Menasha. At Drop-In we pray, eat snacks, do activities, plays games, and learn about aspects of the Catholic faith while having a ton of fun! This week the theme of our Drop-In was Sunday’s Gospel about being “fishers of men.” We talked about our need to spread Jesus’ message to others, sang a song about fishing and did a fishing relay race. The students seemed like they had a blast and I know the SPIRITUS team did!

As we arrived back to Mount Tabor after Drop-In, we had a quick team dinner together because there was a retreat later that night. A group of Confirmation students from Fond du Lac were on retreat with us from Friday night until Saturday night. Half of our team was on this retreat and they told me that the retreat was awesome!! I was not on this retreat but instead was on other retreats during the weekend.

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Thursday Edition

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Another snowy morning! This morning the whole team headed to St. Bernard’s for morning Mass. We try to attend Mass at many parishes around the area during the week which gives us a chance to meet many different people and be a presence at numerous parishes. After Mass, we headed back to Mount Tabor for Morning Prayer followed by breakfast before formation. Every Thursday we have spiritual formation where someone comes in to teach us about various topics related to the spiritual life or the ministry. Today we were lucky enough to have Sister Margaret from CYE (Catholic Youth Expeditions) come and lead formation for us. It is always a treat for us when she comes because she brings with her such a joy and peace and she is always filled with such insight! She talked about radical gratitude and the necessity of gratitude in the spiritual life. While it is easy to be grateful when things are going well, we must strive to be grateful during those times of suffering or when things are not going our way. God is goodness and He loves us with an overflowing love so we must trust in Him through good and bad.

I left formation motivated by Sister Margaret’s words! I then headed to lunch and then had a one on one with one of my teammates, Michael. It is important for us as a community that we stay connected with each and every member of the team. Sometimes with our crazy busy schedules we don’t get a chance to check in with every member of the team and see how they are doing. That’s why we do one on ones from time to time where you just spend time with a member of the team and discuss what is going on in your lives. It was great to catch up with Michael!

The rest of my afternoon was spent with Julie in Oshkosh at spiritual direction with Sister Anne Marie Lom. Each and every member of the team has a spiritual director that they see once a month. Spiritual direction is an opportunity for you to share with another person how God is working in your life and whatever is on your heart regarding your spiritual life and your relationship with God. It is really helpful to be able to talk to someone outside of the ministry about anything and everything related to your relationship with Jesus.

After we got back from spiritual direction, us girls spent the rest of the evening together. We had a delicious dinner followed by faith sharing. Every couple of weeks we, as a sisterhood, get together and discuss a topic about the faith. Tonight, we talked about humility. We had a really great discussion about the ways that we struggle with humility and used quotes from St. Teresa of Avila to help us find ways to combat pride in our lives. It is wonderful to be able to take some time out of our day as SPIRITUS girls to share together!

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Wednesday Edition

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

What I do on Wednesday mornings to start my day is one of my favorites. Some of the team has started going to St. Mary Central High School in Menasha on Wednesday mornings for Mass. They have an optional Mass every Wednesday morning at 7:07 called the 707 Zephyr Train to Heaven. It is there that we get to see some of the students that came to our Bible study on Monday and other students that we have had on retreat. It is also an opportunity to see our chaplain for SPIRITUS, Father Schuster…he always has awesome homilies! After Mass and chatting with students, we head back to Mount Tabor for silent prayer and Morning Prayer in the chapel. We are lucky enough to have a tabernacle right here in Mount Tabor so whenever I want to spend time with Jesus I can walk down the hall and see Him. One of the best parts of SPIRITUS is being able to live right upstairs from Jesus in the tabernacle.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was work time for all of us on the team. For me, that meant that I got materials ready for the weekend’s upcoming retreats and then I did one of my favorite tasks, stuffing Mass Appeal brochures. Throughout the year, we travel to different parishes and stand up in front during Mass telling parishioners about the ministry and asking for their support. While this may seem intimidating to stand up in front of Mass, I actually really enjoy this part of the ministry! After Mass Appeal brochure stuffing, the youth ministry team had a meeting to discuss and plan our upcoming event with the middle schoolers on Friday. Jared, Kate and I met with Katherine to talk about anything and everything youth ministry related.

This evening part of the team headed to St. John Nepomucene in Little Chute for two retreats, one for fifth and sixth graders and the other for seventh and eighth graders. Those students had a ton of fun with the crazy, energetic SPIRITUS team! Since we do many retreats, many times our team has to split into halves or thirds. This means that sometimes some of us are on retreat while the rest of us are off to prep any upcoming retreats or spend time in some much needed rest. Kate and I were not on the retreats tonight so we decided to head to St. Bernard’s in Appleton for their dinner in between Faith Formation classes. St. Bernard’s is the parish that I grew up in and my parents still are parishioners there so it was great to see my mom as well as other friends I have made there. After St. Bernard’s it was back to Mount Tabor to relax and head to bed.

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Tuesday Edition

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Today is our day off. Since our weekends are usually filled with retreats, our day off is in the middle of the week. Our days off are usually just days for us to rest so we are ready for whatever comes our way the rest of the week! My day off started with Eucharistic adoration, rosary, and Mass next door at St. Mary’s. It was then a snowy walk back to Mount Tabor for some delicious eggs for breakfast thanks to Kate! Most of the rest of the day was spent catching up on some reading, writing letters to friends and family, laundry, cleaning and other projects. One of the projects I spent time on was digging my car out of the pile of snow it was buried under. Oh, Wisconsin winters! My night ended by a much needed phone call with my roommate from college then dinner and a movie with my wonderful SPIRITUS sisters before heading to bed early.

A Day in the Life of the SPIRITUS Team: Monday Edition

Hello SPIRITUS blog readers! Thank you for reading our posts throughout the year where we have given you a little insight into the beautiful ministry. We thought we would do something a little different with the blog this week and give you a little more of an understanding of what our team does each day of the week. I have decided to write a blog post for every day of the week explaining what I did that day from Monday 2/4 until Sunday 2/10. Every week on SPIRITUS is a little different and every person’s day might vary a little bit but 

here’s a glimpse of what goes on here at SPIRITUS!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Happy Monday! This chilly but beautiful Monday begins with the whole team meeting at St. Pius in Appleton for morning Mass followed by praying Morning Prayer (Liturgy of the Hours) together. After Mass and Morning Prayer we travel back to the Mount Tabor Center for breakfast and our weekly lifestyle meeting. Every week we meet together at the beginning of the week to discuss the past weekend’s retreats, go over the week’s schedule, get retreat assignments and discuss any other odds and ends. These meetings are a great time for us to gather together at the beginning of the week to make sure everyone is on the same page 

and to talk about any joys or struggles we as a team are facing.

Since it is the first Monday of the month, it is Bible study day! Every first and third Monday of the month we have our Bible studies for young adults and teens. We have Bible studies in three locations – Green Bay, Fond du Lac and here in Menasha. This night, the Bible study topic is Theology of the Body and most of the rest of the day is spent preparing for Bible study. We do take a little break to celebrate some birthdays though! Today it is actually both Robbie and Aaron’s birthday and so we celebrate by singing “Happy Birthday” and eating ice cream cake. We are so blessed to be able to celebrate with our wonderful brothers 

in Christ on their birthdays!

Finally it’s Bible study time! I stay here at Mount Tabor for the Menasha Bible study with Jared and Callie. We were also lucky enough to have Mark join us for the night. The young adult Bible study (called Inspire) is first and it’s filled with a great discussion about Theology of the Body which incorporated reading passages from the Gospel of Mark, Genesis and Tobit. Next, is our high school Bible study (Teen Disciples). Our teens that came were awesome and we had an insightful discussion followed by prayer and praise and worship. Our teens love to sing and we could continue singing praise and worship songs for hours but as it gets late we say good bye. The night ends by cleaning up, discussing how the Bible studies went and we can’t help but start planning our next one!