The Glory Of God Is Man Fully Alive

I came to SPIRITUS in August in the hope of helping the Catholic youth of Wisconsin see how “the glory of God is man fully alive” as St. Irenaeus said. Ironically, I did not anticipate the dramatic way God is bringing this to fruition in my own life as well! SPIRITUS brings me to the foot of the cross every day as I see my infinite need to know the Lord and His generous mercy more in my own life. His love is ridiculously freeing and overwhelmingly fulfilling but my own complacency dinned that realization to thinking I knew God well. How foolish of me to think I could nearly know someone infinitely bigger and better than myself. Every day here, I discover more ways to embrace life in Christ and how to renounce the attachments and habits that keep me from a full life of joy and freedom. In the worlds of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, “to the highest!”

The youth we get to spend time with are absolutely incredible. So many though, do not know how unhappy they are without God in their lives! As happens to all of us, many are numb to the shallowness of life in 21^st century America and the solution to their emptiness. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE. SPIRITUS is a spiritual lifeline to remind the youth of their worth, purpose, and potential for happiness. 

SPIRITUS retreats give youth the opportunity to be real in a false world and free in the midst of a materialistically enslaved culture; as we walk with them in the discovery of their identity in Christ. I see my life and theirs…all of us children of the Lord with broken pasts and hopeful futures. 

-Theresa