Thoughts on Lent...

Hey everyone!

I hope everybody's Lenten Resolutions are going quite well! Speaking of which, it is very important to be evaluating our choices regarding our offering(s) for Lent. Remember, it is never too late to make changes or start a new Lenten Resolution. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you are already a few weeks into these forty days:

- Is this task too easy?

  We definitely want to find something we can do on a regular basis that will hurt a little when we give. If you never have chocolate around your house or already give a good sum of money to an organization, these offerings maybe aren't enough.

- Is it practical or unreasonable?

  Can you do this in your everyday life or are you going to burn out? Fasting and/or abstinence from food or certain foods for a day can be a great idea, but if it is     making you very irritable, or hurting yourself (especially if you are on a special diet already), it may be best to rethink your resolution. Talk to a priest or close friend!

- Am I holding myself accountable?

   If not, find an accountability buddy, set a reminder on your phone, give yourself consequences if you don't follow through 

- Is the task simple enough, yet specific enough to follow through with?

   I started off this Lent using St. Therese sacrifice beads by doing little acts of kindness every day or putting off receiving a treat for a certain amount of time, then I would then count these small acts up on beads. However, I found that, for example, I would give myself a bead per hour I would abstain from eating a cookie then would give myself one bead for hand washing all of the dishes made that day. It was very inconsistent and not specific enough. 

-Tina

My Heart Is Yours

Give him your heart- your whole being!!! Lay it at the foot of His cross! He is waiting! 

Daily Adoration with SPIRITUS

Imagine waking up to a blaring alarm at 4:30am, hoping in the shower, brushing your teeth and doing everything else you need to do to be ready for another day.  After that you slowly walk outside to a cold car to head off to another day of work, but this day of work includes driving two hours to a Catholic parish to work with upwards of 60 high school students half of whom are full of energy and the other half looking like they just woke up and could use another shot of espresso from Starbucks.  

Your day includes giving talks, running small groups, prayer and all sorts of activities with these students really giving them all that you have to offer.  By the end of the day you are confusing mix of exhausted, joyful and frustrated.  Then you have to pack everything up head back into the cold car and drive two hours back home, thus completing a 16 hour day.  Now imagine doing that day after day for weeks all within nine months.  That is what a retreat day for the SPIRITUS team can look like and if not prepared correctly this type of lifestyle can easily lead to burnout physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  

The SPIRITUS team is extremely blessed to have a method that prevents this burnout from happening.  What am I talking about?  In one word but more specifically Eucharistic Adoration.  During the week when the team is not on retreat, we have an hour of Eucharistic Adoration and in that hour we have time to pray with each other and most importantly spend some time with our Lord and Savior present in the consecrated host.  

Jesus makes all things new (see Rev. 21:5) including our hearts and minds, He is the only one who can keep us fresh for our ministry to the students we encounter.  He is our hope when we are frustrated and doubting the fruit that will be born from our retreats.  He is our joy when we feel sad about an encounter with students.  He holds us close when we have no energy to speak to Him. He listens to us when we want to share our joy with our retreats and ministry.   The time we spend in adoration is invaluable and it helps the team keep in the center the person who needs to be at the core of it all and that is the Lord because without Jesus Christ we have no ministry.  Prayer is the most important aspect of a missionary life and SPIRITUS is very blessed to have this aspect of prayer.  Keep praying for our team and ministry and know that the team prays for all of you! 

GOD BLESS!!!

-Mike

Upcoming Youth Ministry Trip To Texas!

 Things have been quite exciting here at SPIRITUS recently especially for some of us youth ministers as we have started to prepare for the diocesan mission trip. From my parish, St. John's/St. Mary's Menasha, we will be taking 5 chaperones and 15 students from grade 8 to 11 to San Augustine, Texas (one of the poorest counties in Texas) for 8 days of construction work, praise and fellowship. As our students prepare, they will be doing 50 church involvement hours including one overnight retreat, mass and youth ministry events. Our youth are looking forward to this once in a lifetime experience and the opportunity to help those in need. Please stop by our parish or grab a bulletin to read some of the biographies from the students going!

God bless!

-Brianna

Dinner and a competition!

I want to thank the Whitlinger's for hosting the team for dinner the other night! I am continuously astounded by the generosity of those who have opened their homes and resources to prepare and share meals with the team this year.  These meals have led me to a greater appreciation for the graces and gifts of God in my life including the gift of a little "friendly" competition shared among the community and the Brothers in Christ!

TOTUS TUUS!

Hey Young Adults,

Looking for something amazing to do this summer? Consider joining Totus Tuus!!! We will continue taking applications until we are full!

http://www.totustuusgreenbay.org/#!teams/c8k2

-Lexee

The Spirit is ALIVE and well!

All praise, honor and glory be to Jesus Christ! 

Nothing beats praising the Holy Spirit in song. Well, in my opinion!!! And how it delights Him to hear us do it! I have this habit that once I find a song that I really like I will play it over and over again and share it with anyone and everyone around me, and the SPIRITUS team members have definitely caught on! 

I have never encountered a group of individuals as open to the Holy Spirit as this year's SPIRITUS team. The Holy Spirit, commonly referred to as the "forgotten" member of the trinity, is alive and well here! Isn't it amazing that the Spirit is always ready and willing to bring us deeper, teach us more, ANIMATE us and bring us to life!!!?? I thank the Lord every day for sending us His Spirit and allowing us to witness this gift to the young people we are blessed to encounter on retreats. 

Veni Sancte Spiritus!

--Alexa

The MISSION

For over the past five months my teammates and I will have been partaking in the SPIRITUS Mission and within this period of time I have witnessed a spiritual transformation in myself. On the one hand, being here at SPIRITUS has made me realize that prayer is what keeps our lives grounded and it should never be substituted by our other daily activities. On the other hand, my ongoing spiritual transformation is the result of SPIRITUS having invested in my spiritual well-being. 

SPIRITUS has provided me with a spiritual director, who I meet with once a month. This is a wonderful opportunity that allows me to deepen my faith life and relationship with God. Moreover, it helps me pinpoint areas within my faith life that I am struggling with in which I can then address and improve on. Both the regularity of prayer and spiritual direction have had and are still having tremendous roles in my spiritual transformation.

Aside from my personal spiritual transformation, I have witnessed as a SPIRITUS team member awe inspiring moments while on retreat with Catholic youth. For example, I will never forget my first retreat in which a young man asked my teammate, Zach, and I to pray over him and before we began to pray he said to us, “I want to be happy. You guys just seem so happy, and I want that.” I share this moment every time I am asked the question of how is your time at SPIRITUS going because this moment is a testament to the need for the SPIRITUS Mission in the Catholic Church. 

Our Catholic youth today do not have a sense of true fulfillment or lasting joy in their lives. However, SPIRITUS is committed to changing that – we are committed to planting the seed of faith that we both pray and hope will sprout up into a deep and real relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

-Brian

A Life Changer

SPIRITUS has been life changing for me in providing me not only with professional opportunities for training and growth but also personal formation which leads to a well-balanced and virtuous life style. Learning the ins and out of retreat planning and execution as well as understanding the logistical side of youth ministry is practical knowledge I will take forward from here. However, my time spent in prayer, personal and communal, and, my interaction with the students, accompanying them in their doubts and troubles, are the things that call me out of myself. These experiences allow me to fortify my life in the Lord and live through him, receiving his love and pouring it out on those who desperately need it. Living this day by day and outwardly seeking to give my life over to the mission of SPIRITUS and to God has shown me that I am to be a vessel for God and has challenge me to continually be a living witness of joy and love. It is such a privilege to give this time and build his church.

One of the reasons this work is so rewarding for me is because time and time again I see the impact it is having on the students we encounter. Just recently, in a bi-weekly faith sharing group, I asked the students if they could think of someone in their life who is joyful and upbeat and just someone they enjoyed being around, who they could really be themselves around. One of the girls simply responded, “That’s why I come here.” In providing a safe space for students to ask questions and explore our faith but ultimately, to leave feeling built up and accepted for who they are in a world that tears us down continually and tells us we are not enough is priceless. I am so thankful for the opportunity to do his work. All for his greater glory!

-Mikayla