Blessings of Youth Ministry

As many of you know, last year was our first year doing youth ministry with St. Patrick’s Parish in Menasha.  This year we are continuing to work with St. Pat’s, but are also doing youth ministry for Resurrection Parish and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Green Bay.  I am blessed to be able to specifically work with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) Parish with Noah.  SEAS has been such a welcoming community and it has been amazing to worship with and to serve them. 

One of the biggest blessings we have had is being able to be a part of their Faith Formation nights twice a month.  We have the opportunity to meet with the middle and high school students separately to talk about what they are learning about in their classes.  The chance to be able to see the same students and develop relationships with them is what I love about our ministry.  The same has been true to be able to participate in the confirmation classes, which are great because we are able to have some pretty great conversations about the joys and challenges the students see with the faith.

Last Wednesday all six members of the Green Bay team came to help out at our Faith Formation night, which has been nicknamed, “Wednesdays with Kate and Noah”, and we put on the Super Saints Show.  I was able to be the talk show host with celebrity guests like Blessed Mother Theresa, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Maria Goretti, and Alessandro Serenelli.  These holy people talked about loving others by their service to the poorest of the poor, becoming a saint by playing their friends in pool and then bringing them to prayer and being committed to the sacraments, and also what it means to love someone so much that you forgive as Jesus forgave.  Not only was this skit a blast, but it was also a great way for students to learn a little more about the saints.

All you holy men and women, Pray for us!

God's Providence

I consider it a miracle to be here on the SPIRITUS team today. I say that because the reason I exist, along with the rest of my family, is attributed to a specific miracle. 

That miracle occurred on October 8, 1871 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, just outside of Green Bay, WI. This Shrine was miraculously spared by the Peshtigo Fire, which claimed over 2,500 lives and burned through over 1,200,000 acres of land. The 5 acres of this Shrine where miraculously unharmed, although all of the surrounding land was destroyed. All of the people who took refuge at the Shrine during the fire remained unharmed as well, and one of those people who were miraculously spared, happens to be my great-great grandmother.

My great-great grandmother, Mary Lefave Cole, was only an infant at the time of the fire. All of those in the Shrine's chapel at the time of the disaster were relying on the Blessed Mother's intercession for help. Through their strong and heroic faith, they were all miraculously spared from death. This all happened exactly one day under 12 years from the first time the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise. My great-great grandmother Mary went on to name her daughter Adele, after Adele Brise. She choose so because Adele Brise's courageous "yes" to the Blessed Mother's request of a chapel built at the spot of her apparition led to her life being saved.  

I had the privilege of visiting the Shrine for spiritual direction today. SPIRITUS has offered me the amazing opportunity of receiving spiritual direction once a month, and I could not ask for a better place to receive it. I also am lucky enough to have my former UW-Oshkosh campus chaplain, Fr. James Walling of The Fathers of Mercy, as my spiritual director. This is one of the many connections the Lord has given me through SPIRITUS. Each day God is revealing more and more connections to me through His mighty providence at work, but this connection I have to the Shrine remains one of the closest to me.

An Army of Support

Hello blog readers! I hope you are all doing well.  It is starting to get chillier here in Wisconsin, and unlike the rest of my team members I am more than ready for snowflakes to start falling.  Like always, life is busy here on SPIRITUS. Maybe it is just me, but I think we are all getting a bit antsy for our Thanksgiving break to arrive.  Despite this busyness we are always learning and growing through retreats and other types of formation. 

Since being here on SPIRITUS I have had a stronger desire to grow in devotion towards both Mary and the Saints.  I have always glossed over their importance thinking, “I have Jesus why do I need anyone else?” From being around so many other strong Catholics in this community, my curiosity has grown towards their devotion to Our Mother or a favorite Saint.  Luckily, God has provided many ways for me to act on this desire, especially by getting closer to Mary. 

I think one reason for this desire came from viewing a clip from The Passion of Christ.  We watch when Jesus takes up his cross.  Mary has always stuck out to me at this part because of the suffering that she goes through while her only son is crucified. Her emotional suffering is perfectly depicted in a stained class image, in the chapel of Mount Tabor of her pierced heart. It only makes sense that she deserves the credit of being the best mom ever. Two ways I have had the chance to become closer to Mary is through the rosary and Marian consecration. 

As a team we went to Mass on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  During the homily, the priest strongly encouraged us to pray a rosary every day during the month of October. Determined, I decided I would give it a try.  One blessing of living in community is that one of my sisters here on SPIRITUS kept me accountable in this since she already does a daily rosary.  By meditating on the mysteries of the rosary, I was able to feel more united with Christ. It helped me experience a greater understanding of His life here on earth. 

            I have heard multiple times that Mary is the one that knows Jesus the best, which is why we can go through her for intercession.  A few of the SPIRITUS team members are making the Marian Consecration. We are going through a do-it-yourself retreat by praying and reading “33 Days to Morning Glory,” by Michael E. Gaitley.  We will finish it on either the Immaculate Conception or the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The book best describes a reason for doing the consecration, “Mary’s task is to give spiritual birth to Christians, to feed and nurture them with grace, and to help them grow to full stature in Christ.  In short, Mary’s job is to help us grow in holiness. It’s her mission to form us into saints.” (25). 

            Speaking of the Saints, we give a session on retreat about the radical lives of the Saints. The session called “Living from the Inside Out,” encourages the students to live out their faith in the special ways that are unique to them.  It correlates perfectly with the quotes from “33 Days to Morning Glory.”  Our mission from God is to grow in holiness, and even when you look up Saints in the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says, “see holiness.”  The mission of striving to be a Saint seems so daunting. Good thing Mary is helping us become just that.

            One of the Saints that we as for help the most is St. Michael the Archangel.  We say the prayer to him as a team every morning.  The habit has grown and I say it whenever problems arise or when fear seeps in.  It is always a great consolation that St. Michael helps fight this spiritual battle.  I feel an overwhelming sense of support by both the Saints and Mary, as we are on this mission to ignite the faith in youth. 

            As I have prayed over this subject I received an image of Jesus with Mary beside him, and behind them was an overwhelming amount of the Saints preparing to fight the battle.  It shows that God is the one truly doing the work. We are just his instruments.  Our goal as warriors of Christ is for Him to work through us. Then most importantly, give Him the glory and praise. 

            Thank you for reading all that I have to say about my experiences with Mary and the Saints. Also thank you for supporting and joining us in this mission! We are praying for you. Please continue to pray for us too. 

Be All In

Happy Sunday! Hey guys, I am back for a second season with SPIRITUS, its been a wild, crazy and wonderful adventure thus far. The last 48 hours were such glorious a witness of God's goodness. Saturday morning was spent setting up for Youth Jam (middle school rally) at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Green Bay. Between the hustle and bustle I got to meet some awesome teens (they volunteered to be saints and help traffic the middle schoolers). As we set up the tables, decorations, lunch prep she shared some stories about her favorite saints, shared how she herself is trying to grow in holiness like the saints. Such goodness! Three hours later we headed to celebrate "El Dia De Los Muertos," at the cemetery, why you might be asking. Its a tradition, we celebrate with our deceased loved ones, eat their favorite meals and share our favorite memories, and pray for them. Thanks team for joining me.

I spent Saturday evening with beautiful people, in a beautiful place, with JESUS. I ended up at Encounter just where I needed to be…visited the ONE whom unreservedly is always there. I keeled in silence, tears began to fall, I prayed hard, I asked for forgiveness. But I also thanked HIM for everything HE has given me, all the blessings, the people, the places, the opportunities. I finally went to confession it was so hard to go but so good (you'd think it'd get easier over time haha still gets me every time). It was like coming home. Back to the Jesus, back to this Heavenly family! Sometimes we need that reminder, that we are LOVED, we are FORGIVEN. His love surpasses a multitude of sins, His grace and mercy is endless, His compassion wraps us together. As I sang along with the words I heard the priest words, "Let Him in..." So I ask you that some question, do you let Him in? Fully in? I hope you do, the process is slow but it is so fruitful. I am soo thankful. I needed last night more than I realized, He speaks through silence=LOVE! 

Youth Jam is finally here! Those were my thoughts as I woke up this morning, no joke. Today was just hmm let me see if I can find the words to describe the beauty of today...'AWESOME' that's the word one our youth used to describe this phenomenal event put on by the Green Bay Diocese. Recap of the day: Gathered in gym (about 500 of us, middle schoolers, high school helpers, chaperons and youth ministers). Started off with SFA Band singing 'What does the Fox say.' The youth went wild, so good to see some of them get out of their comfort zones, like the saints. Then Righteous B (keynote speaker) shared stories about his family and how the saints can help us get closer to Heaven. We each have a throne inside of our hearts, we fill it with things: sports, friends, landing the next job, materialism, etc but how many of us take time to make Jesus the only one who sits in the throne of our hearts. He went on to saying the saints made that choice to put Jesus as number 1 in their lives. How we are to go into a deeper and deeper relationship with our Lord, that's what the saint's did. They kept diving in deeper, striving for holiness, imitating them they'll lead us to Heaven. During one of the breakout session we got to hear from Noah (SPIRITUS Teammate) about how prayer helped the saints get closer to Jesus. He spoke about how prayer is just having a conversation with God, letting Him in telling Him how our life is going. In prayer we are to be open and completely vulnerable. After all God/Jesus/Saints are to be our best friends. Oh and I forgot to mention the theme for today was Sainthood: Searching for Holiness. We received the honor of celebrating Mass with Bishop Ricken such a blessing! Some of the things that Bishop said: "Jesus is knocking at the door of your soul, waiting for you to let Him in..." "Even if you were the only person on earth He would die for you." "Be like the saints, be all in...." Jesus Christ surprised me by haha I received communion from the priest that heard confession the night before, I felt my heart almost explode with joy. Such goodness. Ended the day with a concert with Righteous B. It was amazing to see all youth excited about their faith. To put in Bishop's own words, "See you all here, gives me hope..." Seeing so many gives me hope that the next generations to come will BE ALL IN, striving to be saints growing in holiness. Thank you for being the best and making through this long post haha, know that you are all in my prayers! 

Praise the Lord!

Today I was able to spend the day with my brothers and sisters on the  SPIRITUS team at the Green Bay diocese Leadership Convocation. Inside the KI Convention Center, where the convocation was being held, we were able to attend a number of workshops focused on envangelization and catechesis, share stories and talk with many others dedicated to the Gospel message being spread in our diocese, and of course attend mass presided by Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington D.C.

There was a lot going inside the center today but amidst all the hustle and bustle of all the excited Catholics were two monks dressed all in black. One of these men, Father Maximos, was an Australian with a full grey beard and smiling face and the other, Brother Ambrose, was a younger man just brimming over with excitement and zeal for his faith. I was able to speak at length with Brother Ambrose about the Eastern Orthodox Rite for these two men were both apart of the Eastern Orthodox Rite, which is different from the Latin Rite of the Church but still within the Roman Catholic Church.

It was eye-opening, to say the least, to be able to learn about the ways in which they prayed, what life was like at an Eastern Rite monastery, how Catholic icons all were filled with beautiful symbolism, and even the way in which they prayed the liturgy(which is very beautiful by the way). Walking away from the booth that afternoon, I felt encouraged seeing how our Catholic faith was so...universal.

The faith handed to us by Jesus Christ reaches beyond all cultural barriers and customs. It stretches past nationalities and heritages, histories and peoples. From East to West Jesus has planted a Kingdom of believers. "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light"  In this passage Peter is talking about the exact same thing I saw today. We are a Church, a body, we stretch across the whole world, and we are meant to spread the Gospel to every corner of the world! "Be not afraid!"

Video Blog Time!

Hello! I decided I'd try out video blogging for my first post. Sorry if it's really choppy or if the sound gets a little weird, hopefully it comes out good enough that my point still gets across! (Also sorry for all the hand motions, it's my Italian side coming out haha) Anyways, thanks for watching & God bless!

Melissa :)

Connecting with Students

Time flies! It’s already October and as a first year SPIRITUS member it has been a great change. Firstly, it has been great to be living in this beautiful town in Wisconsin! Being from Michigan, the beauty really reminds me of home. The life of being a SPIRITUS missionary has led me to grow in my faith, gain life skills, make new friends, and receive the joy of living in a loving community. Not to mention- fun! Being here is such a gift from God! It is such a joy to witness to the students on the retreats. We really see God working on their hearts!

In order to give or receive love, one must trust because one is vulnerable or at least feels so when they love. The combination of trust and feeling vulnerable creates openness. The retreats foster the openness that is necessary for someone to receive God’s love and mercy. We try to meet the students where they are at because the students come to us at all different stages in the faith journey. This understanding makes students comfortable and open. One of my favorite things about the retreats is when the students really open up and share deep things about their life. We do small groups on the retreats for that so we can connect with students in a deeper way. With the working of the Holy Spirit we can then give them the advice and prayer they need to lead them closer to Jesus. I have already had times when I could really connect with students because they shared deep information that I could really relate to. This really helps the students not feel alone, and makes them feel loved by God. Love and connectedness (unity) have an important relation: “And above all these put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:14).”It brings such joy when we connect with the students and witness to them because it leads them closer to God.

Thanks for reading!

God's Blessings

So here goes writing my first blog post while being a part of SPIRITUS. I hope the pressure doesn't get to me too much... :P

Well it's been under two months since I've arrived in Wisconsin (from the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia) to work in youth/retreat ministry. What is there to share except the fact that it has been an amazing experience so far- hence the title of my post "God's Blessings." I can't believe how right it feels for me to be a part of this team of young adults serving the youth in the area and bringing them closer to Christ in faith. Some of the many blessings include a wonderful community of amazing/inspirational people, getting spiritual formation, and learning so many valuable tools for a future career in whatever the future holds. It's been such an experience. These blessings I mentioned, though, are just the frosting of the cake- the real sweetness and satisfaction comes from the work we do- helping youth have an encounter with God and helping them delve deeper into the Catholic faith. Already into October, we've had quite a few retreats so far ranging from second grade to twelfth, and actually today, I was on a team that finished giving a Confirmation retreat. This past retreat, for me and many of my teammates, really was a reminder for us why we do what we do on SPIRITUS. Of course sometimes it's more difficult to engage students on some retreats we give, but this past retreat God gave us one of His breaths of fresh air. For many of the students, they shared that this retreat put things into perspective for them and allowed them to build a stronger personal relationship with Christ. We were able to discuss different aspects of the faith, but in particular, the session on forgiveness was powerful for the students. Many of them really opened up and allowed Christ into their lives at this point. It was truly an emotional experience. While the forgiveness session stood out from the retreat, overall the spirit of the retreat emulated joy, openness, and community. By the end, many of the students thanked our team and gave us a generous portion of high-fives and hugs. Even some of the adult chaperones and leaders did not hesitate to share how fruitful they thought the experience was.

Although not every retreat or youth ministry event will necessarily be as rewarding, it's these moments of real encounters with God and bonds with the students that make what we do worthwhile. It's then that we are reminded how God is really working in the students' lives but also our own as members of SPIRITUS. God's blessings are always around His children (not just SPIRITUS and the students but everyone in the world). Sometimes it just takes these special moments to be reminded of that. For me, this ministry is such a blessing- my teammates inspire me, I feel like I'm growing a lot, and the students we encounter make it all worthwhile. I look forward to what else I'll be experiencing in the next few months here in Wisconsin in youth evangelization.

So until next time...God bless! :)
         

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!