Catholic Teens - July 5, 2005

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005 10:40:10 -0500, pwxsevere wrote
> Hey All--
>
> I hope you all enjoyed the 4th of July weekend! My wife and I went
> camping with a group of people on what they called a "Frassati
> Weekend". Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati lived in the early 1900's.
> He was a very holy young many who tied outdoor activities like
> hiking, swimming, canoeing, camping, etc with learning the faith and
> giving glory to God. In fact, he was one of Pope John Paul II's
> favorite people. JPII used to do such things as a young priest with
> his youth groups.
>
> This weekend included about 30 some people, men and women mainly in
> their 20's who met for camping near Black River Falls, canoeing,
> hiking, swimming, Mass, adoration, prayers and confession. It was
> awesome! And tons of fun. Something for you to look forward too in
> the future :-)
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Good question this week:
> "Jesus was Jewish. Why aren't we Jewish?"
> -You're right. Jesus was a good practicing Jew. Mary and Joseph
> raised him that way and he practiced the Jewish faith his whole
> life. So why aren't we Jewish today? Because Jesus was the
> fulfillment of the Jewish Faith. The Jewish faith is pointed toward
> waiting for the Messiah to come. Well Jesus was that Messiah. The
> Jews who believed Jesus to be the Messiah became Christians. (Hence,
> we, who believe Jesus to be the Messiah, are Christians today.)
> The Jews who didn't accept that Jesus was the Messiah are still
> Jewish today. In fact, Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to
> come.
>
> Christians view the Jewish Faith as a type of "older brother" to
> Christianity. They are our forebearers in the faith. Without them,
> there is no Messiah and no Christianity. So we, as Christians, have
> a great respect for the Jewish people. But because we believe in
> Jesus Christ, we follow all that he did and taught. And he taught
> the fulfillment of the Jewish Faith, which is Christianity.
>
> So, in short, we are not Jewish because we believe that the Messiah
> has come, Jesus Christ. And we are "Christian" because we follow
> "Christ"--and Jews don't.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Enjoy the cooler weather!
>
> God bless you!
> Phil Lawson
>
> On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:25:01 -0500, pwxsevere wrote
> > Hey All--
> >
> > I hope this finds you enjoying your summer vacation!
> >
> > It's been a whirlwind so far for me. Getting married, graduating
> > with a master's degree in theology, and going to Rome for our
> > honeymoon. What a beautiful blessing this has all been!
> >
> > And it is a joy to find one's vocation!
> >
> > I want to talk a bit about Rome. We were able to stay at a convent
> > across the street from St. Peter's Basilica. Many convents will
> > host pilgrims to Rome. We couldn't believe how close we were! We
> > were able to see Pope Benedict and get within about 15 feet of him.
> > As I mentioned, if you go to Rome within 2 months of your wedding,
> > you can sit in a special section for the Pope's general audience.
> > There were 35,000 people there, and we were closer then almost all
> > of them :-) And Pope Benedict gave a special blessing to all of us
> newlyweds.
> >
> > Because of how close we were to St. Peter's Basilica, we were able
> > to visit the Church nearly every day. We saw the tomb and bones of
> > St. Peter. We prayed at the tomb of Pope John Paul II.
> >
> > We were able to pray at the tomb of St. Paul as well. We attended
> > Mass in the Collosseum(remember the movie "Gladiator"?) The
> > Colosseum, of course, was the place were so many Christians were
> > martyred. The Mass was in Italian and there were about 10 of us
> > there. Awesome!
> >
> > We also went to the Church of the Holy Stairs and crawled up the
> > stairs on our knees in prayer. In the 300's, St. Helen went to
> > Jerusalem and brought back the stairs that Jesus walked up to be
> > judged and sentenced by Pilate. They built a church in Rome with
> > the stairs in it. And people go there to pray, going up the stairs
> > on their knees, recalling Jesus' own walking up those stairs to be
> > sentenced to death.
> >
> > Patty and I were in Rome for a week, and it was an utterly
> > phenomenal experience. There is so much to see. It really is the
> > center of the Catholic Church. And I hope all of you get the chance
> > to go there someday.
> >
> > May God continue to bless you all!
> > Phil Lawson
> >
> > "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may
> > live as you wish." --Mother Teresa
>
> "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may
> live as you wish." --Mother Teresa

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you
wish." --Mother Teresa