All Saints All Souls Retreat

First thing first: I am able to work in the Boys and Girls Club now and I was in there last week.
(large virtual applause)
It's been a long wait to finally get in there but I'm convinced Our Lord has his reasons for the long delay. If only I knew those reasons...

Anyway,

I'd like to inform you that I helped to plan, set up and co-lead my first retreat. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those I know who have planned, set up and lead retreats (you know who you are) because man! There are a lot of things and a lot of work that goes into hosting one of those! It just ended today and I'm exhausted! Thank you retreat leaders for all the hard work you put into planning one of those.

After all that work I can confidently say that it was worth every minute of it! I think the kids had a great time and really drew closer to Christ this past weekend.

The kids are from Mary Help's youth group. There were ten of them and were within the 12-16 age range. I knew all of them prior to the retreat because of the youth group but through the Salesian spirit of accompaniment, got to know them more. What a great group of kids; very diverse group of personalities; zealous; energetic and had me and each other roaring with laughter all weekend long!

As I commented in a previous post, this retreat was structured in a format that combines both faith and fun. Because, despite what your friends might say, faith and fun can actually go together. I really like this model because often times retreats and youth groups plan events that are strictly all faith related or strictly all fun. And there is nothing wrong with having it those ways; but its pretty cool to see them both meshed together in this way so that the youth get the best of both worlds.

Let me give you an idea of what I mean based on what our schedule looked like. Friday evening the youth arrived here at Mary Help and we drove almost two hours into Orlando to go to the Mass where the relics of Maria Goretti were being venerated. (More on this event in another post). The Mass and veneration was faith and formation related but the car ride over was fun and so was getting pizza after. We get back to Mary Help late at night and the youth spend the night in the rooms we have set up for them.
The next day we start with skits. The skits are based off of Jason Bach Cartoons (like it on facebook; his saint comics are hilarious). These skits taught them about a few different Catholic Saints that they may not have known about but in a humorous way that had us roaring with laughter during every single practice session. For example, my small group performed the "Assumptions of Mary" and the youth came up with the idea that someone should play a fat lady and Mary should come over to her and "assume" this lady was pregnant. It was a riot! We also played a scavenger hunt that involved running across the property several times to find short Saint biographies and prayer cards that we had to read and collect followed by a family feud game based on the saint bios. We were running around and laughing the entire time! We also had an All Soul's Mass inside the small cemetery here on the property.  We played a Saint themed dodge ball game. The youth minister who ran most of the retreat gave a talk on becoming a Saint and we got into small groups to process the talk. We practiced the skit a few times throughout the day and then after our BBQ with the Salesian brothers and priests we performed the skits for them. They got a kick out of it! We had a candle lit prayer service by the cemetery, adoration and a bonfire to end the night! The next day (today) we played a few more fun games and had more group processing before the Sunday Mass where it all ended.

Maybe this is just the Earl Childhood teacher in me talking but what I found cool is that they were learning about the faith without even realizing it sometimes such as through the skits or scavenger hunt. And the day was also littered with a healthy mix of faith or fun so that they could get the best of both worlds.

It was nice to break the regular routine that I have been following to give all my strength, energy and time to serving God by serving these wonder young people. Gosh! It was a weekend to remember and I'm glad I did it!

Happy All Saints and All Souls Day!

Salesian Youth Rally

A few Fridays ago we had a Salesian Youth Rally here at Mary Help Center.

What's a Salesian Youth Rally?

Well, around the Tampa Bay area there are a few elementary schools run by the Salesians. (One of which is run by those wonderful Sisters I mentioned in another post). And every year, these Salesian schools come together for a day of faith and fun.

Because you know, as the Salesians like to say, faith and fun go together. (which is very true)

They start off with Mass which was celebrated at an outdoor altar with the lake as our backdrop. Having Mass outside was a great new experience because it allows you the opportunity to contemplate the grandeur of God and His beautiful creation as it complements the actual liturgy that you are taking part in.
There were over 700 students here at this rally! It was incredible! And they were filled with so much energy and joy the entire day!

For a quick minute, rewind with me back to the beginning of the Rally when the kids were getting off the bus. I was asked to dress up in a wolf-dog costume and go and greet the kids as they came off the bus. Why? Because I was Grigio. Who is Grigio?

Don Bosco Statue at outdoor altar

Glad you asked. When Don Bosco was still alive and doing God's work, there were a few times when he was in danger. And every time he was in danger, this big dog would come out of nowhere and save him. Once he was out of danger, the dog would mysteriously disappear. Once in a while, Grigio would appear around the youth that Bosco worked with. But he was always friendly and playful with the youth. Don Bosco named this mysterious dog Grigio which simply means gray in Italian. But Grigio is also referred to by many as Don Bosco's "guardian angel" because he always appeared at times Bosco needed him the most. So I dressed up as Grigio and greeted the youth. And being Salesian students they all knew who I was. It was a good time. I encourage everyone to google Grigio and Don Bosco. They're pretty cool short stories.

The rest of their day was filled with games that took place all over the property. It was quite a day!

Religious Sisters

It's been another week or so.
Things are going well over here at Mary Help.
I'm just about used to the weekly routine (minus the Boys and Girls Club which hasn't happened yet)

One day last week I just wasn't feeling too excited for the next day. And I had to get up SUPER early the next day to drive one of the priests to a convent to say Mass for the religious Sisters over there. So we get there and there are four Sisters in the chapel. They invited me to pray Morning prayer with them before actually starting the Mass and then we had Mass.

And let me just say that by the end of Mass at 7:30am, my whole day had been made!

Why? It's hard to put into words, but my day was made because of these Sisters! Unfortunately, there is a negative stereotype for Sisters and Nuns nowadays but I assure you, these Sisters are much different. Their witness just brings me so much joy!  Their faces and their voices radiate with a great joy and peace that is difficult to describe. You can just feel it! And you can see and hear the reverence and love for God and Our Lady in their voices as they pray. And there was a maternal, home-y feeling that filled the air that morning while I was there. I didn't want to leave!

There's something about the religious sisters of my generation that I just love and can't get enough of!
So I guess you could consider this little taste of heaven my "God Moment" of the day!

"God Moment"

Each week gets better and better.

(I wrote the following post last week but never finished it - so here it is)

One practice that I have taken up again is to look for a moment in my day when I "see" God working in my life. If you don't do this, I highly recommend it because you will spend all day looking for God in your life just so you can say at the end of the day that you had a "God moment." I recommend forcing yourself to share it with someone because then you're held accountable to it. In other words, it'll make you actively seek God - all day. And you will. It's fabulous! I will share the one that happened to me yesterday: Yesterday, we led a retreat for an all girl's Catholic high school. The last hour or so of the retreat they had the option of staying for adoration, going to Confession, hanging out outside, or eating lunch (which was way overdo - I was starving!). And to my surprise, so many of the 116 or so girls on this retreat chose, on their own, to stay for adoration instead of going outside to chill and eat. But what's even better is that lots of them chose to go to Confession. And you know how people say that after going to Confession they feel like a great weight has been lifted off of their shoulders? And they experience an overwhelming sense of peace and joy? Yeah. I could see that relief, that joy and that peace on so many of their faces when they came out of that confessional. It was beautiful!

And God reminded me through this "God moment" that one of the greatest joys in our lives is not only to be reconciled to God ourselves (Which is the BOMB) but also to be able to witness other people be reconciled to our God. How much joy this afternoon must have brought God! Ahh, what joy! How blessed am I to be able to witness such an amazing thing!

So this week has been great! I've done a great assortment of things again this week:
Another Salesian Lay Missioner who was here last year has come back for a few more months to be on the Mary Help team. She's wonderful!
I took over the youth group meeting this past Thursday and played some basketball with the kids and then I told them about archangels. (I need to practice my basketball skills again) I had some of them dress up like St Michael, St Rafael and St Gabriel the archangels and we played an archangel themed remix of Taio Cruz's Dynamite song. It was a good time.
I'm still unable to go to the Boys and Girls club as a full time volunteer but within this week or next week I should be there. I'm looking forward to it.

If any of you would like my address please email or text me for it and I can give it to you.
Pray for me, and the people I work with that they may all grow closer to Christ.

Joy

Yesterday we were on a boat in the lake on site here and I fell in.....
I ended up wrestling the gator that came at me and.. I won.
So let's just say we had quite a feast last night.

......That would make a great story; if it were true.

For those that were wondering, I landed in Tampa safely on September 16th.

The next day was my birthday. People found out rather quickly and I was both delighted and surprised when the Mary Help staff members sang me happy birthday and brought out a cake. I also received a cupcake, birthday card and a phone call or two. How awesome is that! It was my first day and they already made me feel like family!

The past week or so I've just getting acquainted with the site and my jobs. (I'm geographically challenged, so this will take me longer than most) I've almost got a regular weekly routine set up except for the Boys and Girls Club.  I'm waiting to do a volunteer orientation type thing with them before I can start over there. The Boys and Girls Club will be my main "mission field" so I'm excited to finally get started later this week.

I realized that there is a larger Hispanic population here than I realized so I'm hoping to learn Espanol again. There is also a large Korean community here, so you know, maybe I can learn some Korean. But we'll see. Actually, I already learned how to say hello in Korean. Today is one of the days the Koreans celebrate their Thanksgiving and so I tried some Korean food as well. The Koreans and the various Hispanic populations have all sorts of festivals, parties and retreats here at Mary Help so I'm taking these small opportunities to expand my multiculturalism. It was pretty good. So this is my feeble attempt to be more multicultural since, ya know, I'm still in Florida, instead of another country.

In the meantime I've done a whole slew of things. (You know, to add things on my resume(you'll see why that's a joke in a minute) I have power washed things, sold hot dogs, cleaned a bus, drove the bus, set up chairs and other stuff for parish events, set up for retreats, drove some of the older Salesian priests to doctor's appointments as well as to run errands.

It's been exciting to do all of these random jobs, but more of the joy comes in when I interact with the people on site here. I've helped out at the youth group on Thursday nights and have taught CCD two Sundays now. I also went through altar server training so that I can both altar serve with the kids and be their mentor/teacher when the Deacon isn't around. (which makes me laugh because I just learned how to altar serve on Friday) But some of these kids have already inspired me through their devotion and desire to serve and know our Lord at such a young age. There's one 7th grade boy in particular who seems to come to everything and he always tries to find ways to serve. And he is always treating people with great charity because he is always thinking of other people.

Last Sunday was a ministry fair. We had to set up at 8am. I looked out my window at 6am and I saw people standing out there with candles. I thought I got the time wrong. But I found out that they had gotten there early to pray for the success of the ministry fair and all those who would come!

The Salesian priests and brothers here are delightful and I enjoy their company and conversation at meal times.  I wake up and go to daily Mass with them and pray Morning and Evening prayer with them as well. (We pray with the Psalms for those prayers) It's a great way to keep myself close to God throughout the entire day.

So anyway, Happy Sunday! Christ has risen! Enjoy this wonderful day of rest!

Gone for a Year!

Hey guys! I’m going on mission! This first blog post will be more informative in comparison to the rest of my posts.  Why? Because I want to take this opportunity to explain who the Salesians of Don Bosco are and what the Salesian Lay Missioner (SLM) program is having me do this next year.  I feel the best way to go about doing this is to copy my friend and fellow missioner, Taylor, and write in a question/answer format. Ready? Here we go:

The Salesian Lay Missioners 
(I'm the one in the orange!)

Wait, so what are you doing?

Good question. (Especially because the plans I’ve told some of you have changed.)  Upon discovering the SLM program and embarking on their 3 week orientation, I was slated to go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Plans changed while on orientation, and on September 16 I will be leaving for one year to serve as a Salesian Lay Missioner in Tampa, FL instead.  I will be living with the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) at Mary Help of Christians Center. You can learn more about Mary Help here:  http://www.mhctampa.org/  (It's a huge facility with lots to do!) I will be working with the youth that come to this center by teaching them about our beautiful Catholic faith as well as being a witness of Christ’s love for them.

What exactly are you going to be doing down there?

There is plenty to do at Mary Help of Christians and I look forward to it all! As far as I know, I will be working at the Boys and Girls club with the youth during the week. On weekends I will help host and run retreats at their retreat center. I will also be teaching CCD and assisting in a youth group. I will be assigned many other roles once I get down there too. But with all that said, all of those roles I just mentioned are subject to change. That’s the exciting thing about missionary work!

Who is Don Bosco?

This response doesn’t do him justice but St. Don John Bosco was canonized a Catholic Saint in 1934 by Pope Pius XI. The word “Don” isn’t short for Donald (as cool as that would be). “Don” means "father" in Italian. John Bosco was ordained a Catholic priest for the diocese of Turin, Italy in 1841.  Little Johnny was born on August 16, 1815 not too far from Turin, Italy.  When he was two years old his father passed away and his saintly mother, Margaret Bosco raised him.  After becoming a priest in 1815, he began his ministry in Turin. Turin attracted lots of young people because of the Industrial Revolution. He “gathered poor boys and young men that had no place to live and little education and established a place called an oratory where these young people could gather and call their home.” He focused his priestly ministry on bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the young.  In 1859 Don Bosco founded the Salesians of Don Bosco! (quote and info from Salesians.org and a Salesian booklet)

Who are the Salesians of Don Bosco?

It’s one of the many religious orders that make our Catholic faith so rich and diverse! Religious orders are Christian communities of men or women who take life-long vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience and commit themselves to a particular ministry or role in the Church. The Salesians of Don Bosco are committed to the service of the young and have a special dedication to the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope. They are named after St. Francis De Sales, who was an inspiration to Don Bosco. In other words, they’re a large group of consecrated brothers and priests who have given their entire lives to serving God by ministering to the young.

What can you do for me?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked! Please pray for me, but more so, please pray for the children, staff and Salesians that I will be with! Also, if you’re yearning for a saintly Christian to imitate and be inspired by, then I’d recommend watching a film or reading a book on Don Bosco’s life. I watched a film on his life and boy, what a witness of Christ he was! His mother, Margaret Bosco, as well as Dominic Savio are great inspirations as well.