Catholic Teens 12-19-06

Hey All—

Here’s a very sweet story that is sure to bring a smile.

Marvelous innocence
It was the day AFTER Christmas at a church in San Francisco. The pastor of the church was looking at the manger scene, when he noticed that the baby Jesus figure was missing from the cradle. He immediately turned and went outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon walking down the street. And in the wagon, was the figure of the infant Jesus. So he walked up to the boy and said, "Son, where did you get that little baby Jesus that's in your wagon?"

The little boy replied, "I got him from the church."
And why did you take him?" asked the pastor.

The little boy replied, "Well, about a week before Christmas, I prayed and I told Jesus if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas, I would give him a ride in it!"


Question O' The Week:

“If you are in mortal sin and you don’t know it, can you like grow in your spiritual life and learn to love God more.”

-That’s an interesting question. Because mortal sin effectively separates you from God. It’s like a brick wall between you and God. God continues to shower His Love on you, but you can’t receive it because of the wall your sin placed in the way. And you can’t receive His Graces until you allow Him to knock down the wall (confession & forgiveness).

Remember what is necessary for something to be a mortal sin however—it has to be a serious sin, you have to know it’s a serious sin, and finally you have to do it freely (without being forced). Hence, if you didn’t know you were in mortal sin, there’s some question as to whether you committed one with full knowledge.

So if you are in mortal sin, it is possible to learn more about God and that would almost certainly prompt you to seek his forgiveness and then be able to love God more and grow spiritually.

Note that in specific cases like this, you can ask the priest in confession as to whether it was a mortal sin or not. And he will help you. Of course, the best approach is to just stay away from serious sin and go to confession regularly anyway J

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intentions:
-For one of our parishioners who was just diagnosed with MS. And for her family, we pray to the Lord.
-That all may come to know and appreciate the simple beauty of Christmas, when God became man in order to bring about our salvation.
-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 will be in January. Have a blessed Christmas!

Note: There will be no Catholic Teens next week. Have a blessed Christmas!

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.