Catholic Teens 10-24-06
Hey All—
We just finished our 2nd weekend of Confirmation retreats. After reading the evaluations, it looks like everyone had a good time and got closer to God in the process. A retreat is not supposed to be a boring event. A good retreat refreshes a person. It allows for the opportunity to get away from the chaos of our every day life and take a step back to focus on the deeper issues of life. Our lives can be so busy and so noisy that God gets pushed into the background. A retreat helps us to “re-connect” and provides a fruitful environment for that to occur. Likewise, it is not unusual to have a profound spiritual experience of God at a retreat. These are important, because we carry this experience and memory with us through our whole life. And these events help to sustain us through the doubts and hard times.
And lest anyone think that a retreat has to be nothing but prayer on your knees, ask the students who convinced Fr. Louis to play charades last weekend with them! Or the guys who I spent an hour and a half playing football with and then rock climbing J
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Question O' The Week:
“How can we get better at seeing Christ in others?”
-Good question. It is what we’re all called to do, but it’s easier said then done.
The easiest way to get closer to Christ. Take a look at Mark 12:28-31 where Jesus enunciates the Greatest Commandment. Notice what comes first. “Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” After that comes “loving your neighbor.” Jesus does this on purpose. If you truly love God above everything and with your whole being, you CAN’T help but love others as He does. It’s impossible to fully love God and not love your neighbors. Why? Because to get close to God is to then view everyone else as God does—with eyes of Love.
Do this and you will no longer be viewing others from a mere human standpoint, but through the eyes of God. And you will see each person as beloved in His eyes, even if disfigured by sin; and like the eyes of God, desiring that they come back to Him. And who knows, you might just be the instrument He uses for that end.
Again, easier said then done, but possible with God’s help. If you make an effort to pray frequently and even ask God directly to help you with this, He will. I often encourage college students to pray the Rosary when walking to class. That helps keep Jesus constantly before you and hence also before those you see.
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Intentions:
-For those being Confirmed at St. Peter’s this Sunday.
-For our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
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Announcements:
The Youth Group, Generation JPII:.
The next meeting is Sunday night, November 5th 6-8PM. We’ll be talking about Prayer! Mark your calendars!
Look for meetings to be held the 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month
****In addition it sounds like there’ll be a pumpkin carving outing coming up in the near future J
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com
Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.
We just finished our 2nd weekend of Confirmation retreats. After reading the evaluations, it looks like everyone had a good time and got closer to God in the process. A retreat is not supposed to be a boring event. A good retreat refreshes a person. It allows for the opportunity to get away from the chaos of our every day life and take a step back to focus on the deeper issues of life. Our lives can be so busy and so noisy that God gets pushed into the background. A retreat helps us to “re-connect” and provides a fruitful environment for that to occur. Likewise, it is not unusual to have a profound spiritual experience of God at a retreat. These are important, because we carry this experience and memory with us through our whole life. And these events help to sustain us through the doubts and hard times.
And lest anyone think that a retreat has to be nothing but prayer on your knees, ask the students who convinced Fr. Louis to play charades last weekend with them! Or the guys who I spent an hour and a half playing football with and then rock climbing J
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question O' The Week:
“How can we get better at seeing Christ in others?”
-Good question. It is what we’re all called to do, but it’s easier said then done.
The easiest way to get closer to Christ. Take a look at Mark 12:28-31 where Jesus enunciates the Greatest Commandment. Notice what comes first. “Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” After that comes “loving your neighbor.” Jesus does this on purpose. If you truly love God above everything and with your whole being, you CAN’T help but love others as He does. It’s impossible to fully love God and not love your neighbors. Why? Because to get close to God is to then view everyone else as God does—with eyes of Love.
Do this and you will no longer be viewing others from a mere human standpoint, but through the eyes of God. And you will see each person as beloved in His eyes, even if disfigured by sin; and like the eyes of God, desiring that they come back to Him. And who knows, you might just be the instrument He uses for that end.
Again, easier said then done, but possible with God’s help. If you make an effort to pray frequently and even ask God directly to help you with this, He will. I often encourage college students to pray the Rosary when walking to class. That helps keep Jesus constantly before you and hence also before those you see.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intentions:
-For those being Confirmed at St. Peter’s this Sunday.
-For our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism.
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Announcements:
The Youth Group, Generation JPII:.
The next meeting is Sunday night, November 5th 6-8PM. We’ll be talking about Prayer! Mark your calendars!
Look for meetings to be held the 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month
****In addition it sounds like there’ll be a pumpkin carving outing coming up in the near future J
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com
Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.
posted by Phil Lawson at 12:37 PM
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