Two days ago I watched little Marcus jumping rope. I'm pretty sure he had never done it before. At first, he could only successfully jump the rope three times in a row. But eventually he kept beating his record and successfully jumping the rope more and more times in a row. But what intrigued me was that each time he "beat his record" it was always by one jump. First he jumped 3 in a row, then 4 in a row, then 5 in a row, then 6, then 7, then 8. Each time he "beat his record" it was only by one jump; he never "beat his record" by two, three, four etc. And of course, in between his "record breaking" he would mess up and only jumped one, or none, or 3 etc. But despite his failed attempts, he remained persistent and determined that maybe in his next attempt he would beat his score. And so he kept trying again and again and again and sure enough, he would beat his last record by one jump.
Why tell you this story?
Because while I was sitting there I thought to myself. Hmm....
This reminds me of what our spiritual life ought to look like. We are called to grow in holiness and become living saints. (by Gods grace; but not without a bit of effort on our part). And as we make the effort to achieve this, it usually doesn't happen all at once. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were saints. For most people, growth in holiness usually will happen in baby steps; ever so slightly. We will grow in holiness and sanctity little by little just like Marcus beat his record by one jump every time instead of beating his record by seven.
Was Marcus upset that he only beat his last record by one jump every single time? Not at all! He was just happy that he beat it. So too, we ought not to be upset that we didn't grow in sanctity and holiness by "7 jumps" but instead we should rejoice and be content in the "one jump" improvement.
Did Marcus get upset every time he failed to beat his record? Nope. And neither should we when we try, fail and don't see improvement. Instead of sulking and crying woe is me I'm a failure, we should be like Marcus, and get back to jumping with an even greater hope of improving next time.
We ought to have the same perseverance and determination that Marcus had. He was absolutely convinced that it was possible to break his record again and again. So he kept it going with this confidence. We too ought to be absolutely convinced and have this same confidence that God, working through our efforts, will make us into living saints. And this is true for everyone. Every single human being that walks the face of this earth has the potential to become a great and holy saint. Yes, that includes you too. So pick up your jump rope with me and let's get jumping!
By the way, I changed the boy's name to "Marcus" for the safety and privacy of the child.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Don Bosco and the Pro-Life Rally
I'm far behind in my blog posts in order to catch people up.
The last weekend in January we celebrated St Don Bosco's feast day! His feast day is Jan 31st which fell on a Sunday this year. We had our annual Don Bosco festival which is a 3 day event (Fri, Sat, Sun) in order to celebrate it. I was put in charge of organizing a group rosary outside in the outdoor altar that was finished being built the day before the event. It went beautifully and I had 5 CCD children lead the Rosary for the crowd of about 50 people. At the beginning of each mystery the children and parents brought up roses and placed them at the feet of a statue of Mary that I put on the side of the altar. Then we had Mass in the gymnasium with close to 800 people in attendance. It was wild. Afterwards, and also the day before we had carnival games set up for the children to play at and my job was to run the jumpy houses. It was fun.
At the same time though I helped a Salesian Brother run the discernment weekend for 2 young men who wanted to learn more about the Salesian life. I was a bit disappointed that it would mean missing part of the festival but in the end I realized God used me for something greater. That because I said "yes" to God by co-leading the discernment weekend I was able to allow God to use me to help form these two young men into the men God wants them to be. It really hit me in prayer that perhaps I said something or a lot of things to these two young men that will stick with them their entire lives or will have helped them make some next step in their life. And then God will use them wherever they end up to change other people's lives. Now I mean this is no arrogant way, I may have said nothing edifying for them at all, but rather, it was humbling to know that God was using me for something greater than jumping on a jumpy house for a few hours.
Moving right along the beginning of February approached. We had to get ready for the next big event on Feb 19 and 20. It was the annual Tampa Bay Pro-Life Youth Rally. This time I was in charge of planning the liturgy (the Mass) that would take place in the gym. It was a daunting task seeing how I don't even know the names of all the objects the priest uses during the Mass. But over the course of those twenty days or so, with the help of others, I figured it all out. I was working on it right up until the event started Feb 19th. It was stressful, but in the end I'm grateful. I'm grateful because I learned so much about the Mass. I'm grateful because I now appreciate a lot more people who do this because I realize how much work it is to plan something like that. I'm grateful because I was able to accomplish a big project like that and see the results. I'm grateful because it went (smoothly for the most part.) It was definitely worth it!
To my surprise I was also asked to do a talk with my new mission partner, Taylor. Somebody just decided that her and I should do one because the couldn't find another good speaker. Surprise! So Taylor and I gave a talk on Pro-Life Saints and how our listeners are called to be and can be pro-life saints too. We gave the talk twice (1 talk one day and 1 talk the next day). I think that's the first time I gave a talk in front of about 100 people. I think it went really well.
Days before the Rally my parents came to visit! I was looking forward to it! It was a good time! They got to see all the people I work and live with and they got to see the property and work I do. Then we went to the state fair, saw manatees, walked the beach and went out to eat. It was very nice to have them come and stay with me.
So from January to February its been crazy busy down here for quite awhile doing all sorts of great things. Continue to pray for me and those I encounter and see everyday while I am down here!
The last weekend in January we celebrated St Don Bosco's feast day! His feast day is Jan 31st which fell on a Sunday this year. We had our annual Don Bosco festival which is a 3 day event (Fri, Sat, Sun) in order to celebrate it. I was put in charge of organizing a group rosary outside in the outdoor altar that was finished being built the day before the event. It went beautifully and I had 5 CCD children lead the Rosary for the crowd of about 50 people. At the beginning of each mystery the children and parents brought up roses and placed them at the feet of a statue of Mary that I put on the side of the altar. Then we had Mass in the gymnasium with close to 800 people in attendance. It was wild. Afterwards, and also the day before we had carnival games set up for the children to play at and my job was to run the jumpy houses. It was fun.
At the same time though I helped a Salesian Brother run the discernment weekend for 2 young men who wanted to learn more about the Salesian life. I was a bit disappointed that it would mean missing part of the festival but in the end I realized God used me for something greater. That because I said "yes" to God by co-leading the discernment weekend I was able to allow God to use me to help form these two young men into the men God wants them to be. It really hit me in prayer that perhaps I said something or a lot of things to these two young men that will stick with them their entire lives or will have helped them make some next step in their life. And then God will use them wherever they end up to change other people's lives. Now I mean this is no arrogant way, I may have said nothing edifying for them at all, but rather, it was humbling to know that God was using me for something greater than jumping on a jumpy house for a few hours.
Moving right along the beginning of February approached. We had to get ready for the next big event on Feb 19 and 20. It was the annual Tampa Bay Pro-Life Youth Rally. This time I was in charge of planning the liturgy (the Mass) that would take place in the gym. It was a daunting task seeing how I don't even know the names of all the objects the priest uses during the Mass. But over the course of those twenty days or so, with the help of others, I figured it all out. I was working on it right up until the event started Feb 19th. It was stressful, but in the end I'm grateful. I'm grateful because I learned so much about the Mass. I'm grateful because I now appreciate a lot more people who do this because I realize how much work it is to plan something like that. I'm grateful because I was able to accomplish a big project like that and see the results. I'm grateful because it went (smoothly for the most part.) It was definitely worth it!
To my surprise I was also asked to do a talk with my new mission partner, Taylor. Somebody just decided that her and I should do one because the couldn't find another good speaker. Surprise! So Taylor and I gave a talk on Pro-Life Saints and how our listeners are called to be and can be pro-life saints too. We gave the talk twice (1 talk one day and 1 talk the next day). I think that's the first time I gave a talk in front of about 100 people. I think it went really well.
Days before the Rally my parents came to visit! I was looking forward to it! It was a good time! They got to see all the people I work and live with and they got to see the property and work I do. Then we went to the state fair, saw manatees, walked the beach and went out to eat. It was very nice to have them come and stay with me.
So from January to February its been crazy busy down here for quite awhile doing all sorts of great things. Continue to pray for me and those I encounter and see everyday while I am down here!
March for Life
Hello friends!
It's been a good while since I have written a blog post:
It's been a busy last couple of months with major annual events going on.
I was in Washington DC for the March for Life back in January as one of six chaperones for 10 of the young people down here. (For those who don't know what the March for Life is visit marchforlife.org for more details)
We left on the 21st of January and our plane landed there later that evening. That evening it was bitter cold in DC. We went out to eat and returned back to the hotel and prayed a rosary together and went to bed.
The next day, January 22nd, is the day that abortion was made legal in the United States. So this was the day of the March. First we started off with Mass in one of the local churches. But what was extremely cool about this is that all of the groups who traveled from Florida were present at this Mass. Floridian Mass in DC! And after Mass there were plenty of delicious donuts and hot chocolate to go around! Next we went over to where the rallying was taking place. And it was super cold out there again that day too. After the rallying we marched out to the Supreme Court.
It was forecasted that DC was supposed to get slammed with a blizzard the day of the March, but to our surprise there were still thousands of people present at the March. It started to snow just as we began marching and in the end (spoiler alert) it wasn't a blizzard; just a big snowstorm. I think the forecasted blizzard kept pro-abortion protesters at home that day; because I didn't see any. Perhaps the snow was a gift from God this year.
By the end of the March we were all freezing and there was a lot of snow everywhere so we returned to the hotel. The youth minister had planned on us visiting things like the Washington Monument, the Arlington Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum and other such places that day and the next couple days that we spent in DC. But because of the snow, the metro was shut down, the side streets were closed and businesses were shutting down early. Therefore, our plans were thrown out the window. In addition, our flights were canceled and rescheduled a day later.
But you know what? All of this was okay. We may have been stuck in our hotel for the next couple of days but we made due with what was given to us. Most of the youth from St Petersburg Diocese (Tampa is included in there) were staying at this hotel. Therefore, many of the kids at this hotel have hardly been around snow. So of course they were outside playing in it! And what came across as humorous to me was how these high schoolers didn't have any concept of what snow is like. Here they are in their sneakers trudging through the snow banks instead of the shoveled sidewalks saying "Oh this is fun!" not realizing that in a couple of minutes their shoes and socks are going to be extremely cold and wet. Or when they would shove snow in each other's faces for fun not realizing how cold their face is going to be for the rest of the day. Or how much it hurts or how cold it is to throw snow or snowballs at one another! Oh the joy all of this was!
So did we get to do what we wanted to do? No. But instead we played in the snow for a couple of days and spent some quality time with one another which fostered new or stronger relationships. We also celebrated Mass in the hotel, prayed the rosary and shared spiritual insights with one another.
By the way, my hotel roommate is a young guy who I believe shall be joining the Salesians of Don Bosco in the fall. Praise God that I had the chance to get to know him a lot more on this trip. In short, he is a man striving for holiness. Please pray for this guy, my friend, in his discernment towards the Salesians.
In summary, this trip was another concrete example of the Salesian idea of faith and fun going together.
It's been a good while since I have written a blog post:
It's been a busy last couple of months with major annual events going on.
I was in Washington DC for the March for Life back in January as one of six chaperones for 10 of the young people down here. (For those who don't know what the March for Life is visit marchforlife.org for more details)
We left on the 21st of January and our plane landed there later that evening. That evening it was bitter cold in DC. We went out to eat and returned back to the hotel and prayed a rosary together and went to bed.
The next day, January 22nd, is the day that abortion was made legal in the United States. So this was the day of the March. First we started off with Mass in one of the local churches. But what was extremely cool about this is that all of the groups who traveled from Florida were present at this Mass. Floridian Mass in DC! And after Mass there were plenty of delicious donuts and hot chocolate to go around! Next we went over to where the rallying was taking place. And it was super cold out there again that day too. After the rallying we marched out to the Supreme Court.
It was forecasted that DC was supposed to get slammed with a blizzard the day of the March, but to our surprise there were still thousands of people present at the March. It started to snow just as we began marching and in the end (spoiler alert) it wasn't a blizzard; just a big snowstorm. I think the forecasted blizzard kept pro-abortion protesters at home that day; because I didn't see any. Perhaps the snow was a gift from God this year.
By the end of the March we were all freezing and there was a lot of snow everywhere so we returned to the hotel. The youth minister had planned on us visiting things like the Washington Monument, the Arlington Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum and other such places that day and the next couple days that we spent in DC. But because of the snow, the metro was shut down, the side streets were closed and businesses were shutting down early. Therefore, our plans were thrown out the window. In addition, our flights were canceled and rescheduled a day later.
But you know what? All of this was okay. We may have been stuck in our hotel for the next couple of days but we made due with what was given to us. Most of the youth from St Petersburg Diocese (Tampa is included in there) were staying at this hotel. Therefore, many of the kids at this hotel have hardly been around snow. So of course they were outside playing in it! And what came across as humorous to me was how these high schoolers didn't have any concept of what snow is like. Here they are in their sneakers trudging through the snow banks instead of the shoveled sidewalks saying "Oh this is fun!" not realizing that in a couple of minutes their shoes and socks are going to be extremely cold and wet. Or when they would shove snow in each other's faces for fun not realizing how cold their face is going to be for the rest of the day. Or how much it hurts or how cold it is to throw snow or snowballs at one another! Oh the joy all of this was!
So did we get to do what we wanted to do? No. But instead we played in the snow for a couple of days and spent some quality time with one another which fostered new or stronger relationships. We also celebrated Mass in the hotel, prayed the rosary and shared spiritual insights with one another.
By the way, my hotel roommate is a young guy who I believe shall be joining the Salesians of Don Bosco in the fall. Praise God that I had the chance to get to know him a lot more on this trip. In short, he is a man striving for holiness. Please pray for this guy, my friend, in his discernment towards the Salesians.
In summary, this trip was another concrete example of the Salesian idea of faith and fun going together.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
The Sunshine State
Hello
friends,
Its been another great week down in Tampa Florida. The
weather has still been fairly warm. At
the Boys and Girls Club I’ve been working with the five and six year old
children and I’m still loving it!
Here’s a thought I’ve had: I’ve heard from numerous people
and know from experience that when someone goes on mission, they desire to
help, and serve and do lots of good for others. But at a certain point they
feel like the people they are trying to help, serve and do good for end up helping,
serving or doing a lot more good for the missionary. It’s weird because you
give so much without expecting anything in return and then bam! There it is;
something in return! I see this already
happening with the children at the Boys and Girls Club because there are some
days I feel like they are teaching me and helping me more than I am teaching and
helping them. More
on that in a future post. But this week as always we had faith time on
Tuesdays. I decided to teach them about the story of Abraham and Isaac. I
connected Abraham’s sacrifice to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us.
And how God loves us enough, even though we have sinned, to sacrifice the life
of His only begotten Son for each one of us so that we can be in heaven with
Him. It brought me joy to be able to share a short version of the Gospel to the
kids who otherwise may never hear it. I pray that someday it may bear good
fruit.
The week has been pretty busy as we are getting ready for
the big Don Bosco Festival at the end of January (his feast day is Jan 31) and
a pro life Youth Rally in February. So I’ve been busy planning my part of these
two events as well as completing the other various duties I have here. Although
it’s been a busy week, I thank God for it because He’s given me the opportunity
to fill my entire week with different ways that I can serve Him and others.
Last but not least, I have exciting news! I mentioned in my last
post that the other Lay Missioner who was with me had left and mentioned how
nice it would be if God would provide another one. Well, I wasn’t 100% sure at
the time of writing that post if another missioner would be joining us or not.
But now I know that come early February we will be joined by another Lay
Missioner, who happens to also be from Massachusetts! She was previously in
South Sudan serving as a Lay Missioner but had to leave for health reasons. Now
she will be joining us here in Tampa and I’m rather excited for her arrival!
She also has a wonderful blog you can follow here. She’s got some great posts
on her time in Africa if you’re interested to hear about what life there is
like.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
New Year Update
Happy New Year!
I would like to give you a small update:
For starters, I had the great privilege of flying home for Christmas and New Years! I returned back to Tampa this past Tuesday. Being back home was great. I enjoyed my time with family and friends. I was also able to spend New Years Eve in Boston at a midnight Mass with Cardinal Sean O'Malley and saw a few friends while I was there. What a special treat that was! And I for one, (and perhaps the only one) was delighted that it snowed a bit while I was there.
After being back in Tampa for almost a week I have gotten back into the swing of things. Because lets be honest, I stayed up rather late while I was at home.
Since my last post, much has happened.
Many birthdays have come and gone. And when it's someone's birthday, the staff orders Chinese food for lunch. If it's a Salesian Brother or Priest's birthday we get a large meal with ice cream cake for dessert! Its super awesome! Mmmm ice cream!
Since it was getting closer to Christmas before departing for good ole Massachusetts we had lots of parties and events to host and attend. I may have been to three or more Christmas parties within a week or two's time as well as a few birthday parties too. Lots of great food and company.
And the week before I left the Salesian Sisters joined us for evening prayer and sometimes dinner. I've already written a post about how much I love Sisters so I will stop myself now before I get too excited.
One of the other Salesian Lay Missioners who were here, by the name of Matthew, had returned home mid-December. Its sad to see him go, but I know God has other plans for him. Since his departure I've entertained a thought: How cool would it be if God provided another Lay Missioner to join us? Hmmm... you never know.
Now that I'm at the Boys and Girls Club five days a week I have to admit, this is easily one of my favorite parts of the day. They can be challenging at times, sure, but I love working with them over there! I was working with 8 and 9 year old children for a time and since the main staff member changed colleges and is no longer around, I was switched to the 5, 6 and 7 year old age group because they need another staff member there. It's been a great joy to spend time with these kids every day!
So my friends, please continue to pray for me while I continue to do God's Will here in Tampa. And please pray for all I encounter here, adults and youth alike, that their hearts may burn ever brighter for love of Jesus and all those they meet.
Happy "almost" Sunday!
PS. I hope to be putting up a post every week now.
I would like to give you a small update:
For starters, I had the great privilege of flying home for Christmas and New Years! I returned back to Tampa this past Tuesday. Being back home was great. I enjoyed my time with family and friends. I was also able to spend New Years Eve in Boston at a midnight Mass with Cardinal Sean O'Malley and saw a few friends while I was there. What a special treat that was! And I for one, (and perhaps the only one) was delighted that it snowed a bit while I was there.
After being back in Tampa for almost a week I have gotten back into the swing of things. Because lets be honest, I stayed up rather late while I was at home.
Since my last post, much has happened.
Many birthdays have come and gone. And when it's someone's birthday, the staff orders Chinese food for lunch. If it's a Salesian Brother or Priest's birthday we get a large meal with ice cream cake for dessert! Its super awesome! Mmmm ice cream!
Since it was getting closer to Christmas before departing for good ole Massachusetts we had lots of parties and events to host and attend. I may have been to three or more Christmas parties within a week or two's time as well as a few birthday parties too. Lots of great food and company.
And the week before I left the Salesian Sisters joined us for evening prayer and sometimes dinner. I've already written a post about how much I love Sisters so I will stop myself now before I get too excited.
One of the other Salesian Lay Missioners who were here, by the name of Matthew, had returned home mid-December. Its sad to see him go, but I know God has other plans for him. Since his departure I've entertained a thought: How cool would it be if God provided another Lay Missioner to join us? Hmmm... you never know.
Now that I'm at the Boys and Girls Club five days a week I have to admit, this is easily one of my favorite parts of the day. They can be challenging at times, sure, but I love working with them over there! I was working with 8 and 9 year old children for a time and since the main staff member changed colleges and is no longer around, I was switched to the 5, 6 and 7 year old age group because they need another staff member there. It's been a great joy to spend time with these kids every day!
So my friends, please continue to pray for me while I continue to do God's Will here in Tampa. And please pray for all I encounter here, adults and youth alike, that their hearts may burn ever brighter for love of Jesus and all those they meet.
Happy "almost" Sunday!
PS. I hope to be putting up a post every week now.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
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!
(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?
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!
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?
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| Don Bosco Statue at outdoor altar |
The rest of their day was filled with games that took place all over the property. It was quite a day!
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