Wisdom and Blessings of Children

One of my favorite quotes in the Bible is from Matthew 15. Jesus tells us, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Whenever I am on retreat with the younger students, I see what blessings they truly are and I see just how much we can learn from them. For instance, they don't allow the troubles of their world to hold them down, and they bring a joyful, light-hearted persona to life that can be lost as we get older.

Oftentimes ego and social pressures can mold us in a way that keeps us from the humility that Jesus talks about. We grow to believe that we know "what is best" and oftentimes, personalities will collide into great argument. We can also grow to believe that all of the accomplishments in our life were our own doing. It is easy to forget that we "can do nothing" without God.

The practice of humility requires the recognition that we are just as dependent on God as children are with their parents. Humility requires that we are open, honest, and seek truth without fearing various pressures, rejection, and being "made small." It requires that we do not try to be something we are not.

Children do not pretend to have all the answers and are not afraid of being wrong. They want to participate and be involved without the fears that we develop as we get older. They enjoy expressing themselves in their own unique way with little concern about how others perceive them.

Jesus asks us to learn to be like children again because it is only through this path that we are able to live an honest life looking to God for all our needs and imitating Him like a child imitates his parents.

The First Month!

Hello Faithful Blog Readers!

As you can tell by the lack of blog posts lately it has been a busy first month for SPIRITUS team five! There is so much to tell that I don’t even know where to begin. This first month has been filled with preparation and training for the beautiful months of ministry we have ahead of us.

First, we spent time up at Camp Tekakwitha where we started to get to know each other and nourish our spiritual lives. We listened to talks, had discussions, shared some of our own faith stories and had fun in the process. The next two weeks were spent at Mount Tabor learning some of the key retreats that we give many times throughout the year. We’ve even given a few retreats already this year. We’ve traveled to Green Lake, Brillion, Sacred Heart in Appleton and we had the freshman from Lourdes in Oshkosh and the Confirmation students from Antigo come to Mount Tabor.

Last week, we were lucky enough to have a youth ministry guru, Frank Mercadante from Cultivation Ministries, come to train us in youth ministry. This year, we will be doing youth ministry at three parishes in the Diocese – St. Patrick’s in Menasha, Resurrection Parish in Green Bay and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Green Bay. It was such a blessing to have Frank here for two and a half days to help us really prepare to do the best that we can in the parishes we serve. We learned about large and small group events, how to get the whole parish involved, how to connect with students today (the millennial generation), how to foster growth in students so they become disciples, and so much more! We are all so thankful for Frank and his insights and we look forward to using what he taught us this year! Please pray for our youth ministry programs and please pray for Frank and all the great work he is doing!

I’ve caught us all the way up to this week. Wooo! This week marks a change for us. This year we have expanded and started a new team in Green Bay. It’s really exciting to see SPIRITUS growing and branching out into two teams! While the Menasha team will mainly focus on retreats, the Green Bay team’s primary goal is youth ministry at Resurrection and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. This past Saturday, the Green Bay team moved up to their permanent homes in Green Bay and today they started working in their parishes. The two teams, Menasha and Green Bay, will be working in their own areas for most of the week but since we are ultimately still one team, we will see each other once a week for formation. While it will be weird to not see all the team members every day of the week, we are all on the same mission and we are all here for one another. Most importantly, we are all praying for each other like crazy!

This first month has been such a blessing to me so far. I love all my teammates and they each bring something so vitally important to the ministry. I love being able to spend time with each of them, learning their stories and seeing the love of Jesus that radiates from their eyes. I cannot wait to see what is in store for the rest of the year but I know, without a doubt, that God has blessed SPIRITUS with some amazing new team members and I can only imagine the great impact they will have on the youth of Wisconsin!