Thankful and Joyful

I am so blessed to be able to serve the Lord by bringing the Gospel to the youth at Resurrection Parish and throughout Wisconsin. We had a great retreat last night for the parish. Only 10 high school students came, with many missing due to illness, but I am thankful for those who were there, because it was a truly blessed experience. In four short hours, we experienced God in so many different ways right there with the students. It was awesome!

We also had a great Bible study on Monday night, talking about joy and its role in spreading the Gospel. We also talked about the source of our joy, and how it doesn't depend on things going well in our lives. In fact, it's in the midst of suffering that sometimes God helps us to find our greatest joy. The key is something I heard in the Thanksgiving homily at St. Mary Parish in Menasha... the way to be joyful is to give God thanks for everything, including the difficult stuff. So this Advent season, give thanks and experience joy!