Rejoice in the Lord Always!

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

 As St. Paul tells us, we must rejoice in all situations. If you had asked me last year if I would be rejoicing over waking up at 5:45 in the morning to prepare for a retreat, I would have said you were crazy. However, this was my attitude as my alarm clock greeted me. Joining SPIRITUS has helped me realize that sacrifices are necessary for the sake of sharing God’s love with others. He has given me the grace to rejoice even when I do things that I find unpleasant- like waking up very early in the morning. I am able to find joy of participating in the mission of SPIRITUS, which is to ignite the faith of Catholic youth. Jesus commands us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19),and being a part of SPIRITUS allows me to follow His request. Throughout retreats I have seen students who were originally closed off become more open to to speaking about their faith. Our small group discussions help the youth think of concrete ways to live out their faith and become more aware of the need of God in their lives.

 The joy of the Lord is my strength as I make more sacrifices for the sake of this ministry. The past couple weeks have been exhausting, with continual training and several retreats under my belt. But because God has filled me with His love through prayer and daily Mass, I have found that it has been a happy, joyful, and fulfilling exhaustion. Even when I am weak- when I am unable to reign in unruly students or am overwhelmed with the numerous sessions I must prepare, God gives me the strength to go on. I know that God will continue to bless myself and the rest of the SPIRITUS team with His joy and love as we continue to share the Gospel with all we meet.

God's grace

I had a friend from home who told me, “don’t change too much while you’re gone”. Well I haven’t changed at all, I am just slowly transforming more and more into the woman God has created me to be. I am becoming myself.

No these aren't drastic differences, but they are little things that I see God created me for. If I listen I can hear the Holy Spirit, that calm voice is easier to connect to. I am blessed with each moment the Spirit comes upon me.

Receiving the Eucharist all week long has caused my heart to beat harder when it comes time for communion. The moment the priest walks down from the altar with the Eucharist, I am so excited to walk up that aisle into God's arms.

My relationship with God is growing deeper and deeper, its really stretching me out of my comfort zone and I love it. That Oceans song, “ Spirit lead me where my trust is without boarders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you will call me” has a whole new meaning to me. God seems to call me to something little, but something new every single day.

No, I am not a saint, but I am happy to feel God so much around me and within me. SPIRITUS has made what seemed impossible to me, an actuality. Daily, I wake up and work to bring God closer to others. There is nothing more my heart desires than to share the love I keep feeling, more every day, with everyone around me. If that means a smile, or just the face of love, I want to strive to give that.

Prayer shapes my day and it calms my heart. Instead of worrying I pray and Jesus has been doing a great job at taking any problems and turning them into blessings.

Waking up to a beautiful church right outside the window is a dream come true. There is so much more I could write about but I think this explains my greatest joys so far. This next 8 months will be such a blessing and I am looking forward to every moment.

And so it begins

Unfurl the sails, and let God steer us where He will. - St. Bede

When I first heard about SPIRITUS I knew that I was going to have to stop ignoring God, and let him "steer" my life. As started this journey a month ago I had no idea what to expect. Especially since my first experience was spending 10 hours in Milwaukee with two great team members, waiting for another who was flying in.  

Since then we have been going through rigorous SPIRITUS training. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Personally I have grown an insane amount this last month, and I don't think I’d be overreaching to say that the team has also grown a ton as well. All this training came to fruition on Sunday September 7th when we had our first retreat! Unfortunately being part of the Green bay team I had a previous engagement, however I heard that it went superbly! Everyone who had sessions were pleased with how well it went. The Holy Spirit was definitely working through the SPIRITUS team on Sunday.

Today the Green Bay team left the rest of the flock and are in there new homes. I am actually writing this in the "Hang out" of the Xavier house with Father working behind me. With the separation of the teams there was an air of sadness, but also an air of excitement for new beginnings.

Do you know when you just, know something? Like for example, that apples grow from trees, beds are way to comfortable in the morning, and that God is good. Seeing how the Lord has been working through this team I know it's going to be a year filled with blessings and wonder. I can't explain how, but I know without a doubt that this is where I belong, with this crazy family that God has brought together!

Called by Name

Greetings, SPIRITUS blog readers!

I’m so overjoyed to be here on SPIRITUS! It’s the first time I’ve ever lived far away from my home city of Philadelphia. A couple years ago, I never would have imagined God calling me so far away to serve Him. The chain of events that led me to Wisconsin was something only the good Lord could have planned. When we had our opening retreat at Camp Tekakwitha two weeks ago, my teammates and I all shared our stories of how we ended up joining SPIRITUS, and it was remarkable to hear how many of us never would have thought to apply if it hadn’t been for some improbable occurrence. Many of us are here thanks to the tireless efforts of our awesome recruiter Andrea, but it’s clear that the most influential person in bringing us all here was the Divine Person of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit chose each of us very purposefully for this ministry. We’ve already started to see some of the awesome things God can do through us when we take the unique set of spiritual gifts each of us has and use them as a team. Some of us are great at leading group prayers, others use their musical gifts to help us have powerful praise and worship sessions, and still others have a gift for helping the team stay on task when we have work to do. As we continue to prepare for our first retreat with the youth this weekend, we’re figuring out who has the strengths we need for every part of our retreats, and so far we haven’t run into anything that none of us can do well. It doesn’t seem like our complimentary spiritual gifts are a coincidence; it seems like God called each of us here by name because He knew we would form exactly the kind of team He wanted.

We’re all so blessed to be here, and we’re not taking it for granted. We pray every day for the youth we serve, the benefactors of SPIRITUS, and our own spiritual growth. The graces we receive from being here are immeasurable, and we’re looking forward to getting more joy from sharing those graces with others than we get from receiving them. Please keep the whole team in your prayers throughout this year, and we will do the same for you.

After only two and a half weeks here, I can already say I love Wisconsin and SPIRITUS! God bless!