In today's society we live in a reality that doesn't feel very virtuous. Every movie seems to have a sex scene, or at least 1 bad word. This past weekend I was apart of a retreat that explored is that the reality or is there a virtuous reality.
So, I am going to give a quick breakdown, share some memories, and just reflect on this awesome retreat.
So there are 7 virtues in the Catholic Church.
Faith
Hope
Love
Prudence (wisdom)
Fortitude (Courage)
Justice
Temperance
This was my first retreat that I had a hand in planning a lot of it. It was different that just being an adult on the retreat, totally different than "Teen leadership" aka Teen Core, and really different than just being a retreaten (person on the retreat).
Mostly because:
I had a small group (Ft. Fortitude!)
I ran all the AV and did all the work for it (it was worth while)
I had a session (which was amazing)
For the first time, I was an adult in a small group, the other Core with me was Susan M., our group from the get go was very connected and all seemed to want to be on retreat. We made the room into a fort and our virtue was Fortitude. Hence Fort Fortitude. I know for me, some times I talked too much, and made some rookie mistakes. It was awesome to have the grow in relationships with teens this weekend, I had 1 teen in my group I didn't already know. It was refreshing to really be able to go deep in small group, even though a teen lost her (Sarah Schlosser) voice. There wasn't one person who wasn't willing to share some thing in the small group.
I saw some of the biggest transformation in teens I wasn't sure about. They were all awesome! I have gotten feed back from parents, that said "My Son was so happy to have you as one of his small group leaders, and he might even go to the spring retreat!"
Because this retreat was a Hollywood theme it was kind of AV heavy, and though we tried to use both screens, but 1 projector was broken, and 50 feet is a long way for a signal go travel though a cable (we will get it next time). I tried to have some thing on the screen at all times, and music playing when it was meal time.
In the past we would have Sent Forth (our ministry band) do the music for adoration. I am a firm believer in every one has their gifts. And for S.F. doing the music for adoration 2 times a year just didn't seem to be one of them. So I "asked" if we could just use canned or recorded music. Some people liked the idea others didn't. But we did it anyway, and it went really well. All the songs were very appropriate, and there were a lot of people singing to Our Lord. But looking back I wish I would of started with the Prepare the Way/Lay it down combo from Bob Rice's CD "You Came to Me".
It would of been perfect for the way we did it, but God had other plans, and the spirit moved in my heart to just do Lay it down by Matt Maher. Everything was going great, it was truly powerful. Then the song I love you lord started to play during the procession. At the end of the song I forgot I put a random Picture of a puppy, it looked cute and it made me smile. Well Kris Wagner saw it and started laughing, and a lot of other Core were laughing. I just looked up and said God you are funny, very funny. It was one of my favorite moments of the retreat.
I am going to put some of my teaching in this blog. To explain when you are up on the stage, sometimes you just say what is on your mind, it is the Sprite running though you.
Fortitude
The movie “facing the Giants” is all about Fortitude. As we saw Brock is a Leader and Captain on the Team. He wasn’t very courageous though, he did not know how to use the gifts God had presented him. He relied on himself, instead of finding his strength in God. He only thought he could get to the 30 yard line, but he got to the end zone. The bible says that God will not put you though anything you cannot go though. I am not saying it is bad to rely on your friends and family when you are going through a tough time, they cannot bear your cross. There is only one man who can, He is on the cross right now. Without God’s strength we have none. You have to lay it all down at God’s feet, that is where are fortitude comes from, Amen?
Do you all take care of your temple, that is right we are temples of God. The bible says so. Our Temple is a place of honor and a way to praise God. You can work out, by walking, running, lifting weights, eating right.
You can’t just do it physically but spiritually as well. One of the best ways is to go to the sacraments. Go to Mass, Adoration, and Confession. You don’t have to go by yourself either. The Bible says that if two more are gathered in his name He will be there. If you need a ride or someone to go with, call up a Core Member. It is a part of our job as youth ministers to get to the sacraments. You could join another church ministry other than Life Teen, Like the Little Rock Bible Study, The Choir, help at PSR, or the Pro Life Group. We are blessed to have so many ministries at this parish you can join. Take advantage of it. The last thing you can do is to fine a devotion that works for you. There are a lot of different ones you can do, The Rosary, Divine Mercy, praying a litany, Liturgy of the Hours, Finding a saint do the devotion they did. One of my fav. saints is:
St. Max. Kolbe was born in 1894 in Poland and became a Franciscan. Before his ordination as a priest, Maximilian founded the Immaculata Movement devoted to Our Lady. After spending time starting many monasteries across the world he had poor health and returned home. In 1936 he returned home because of ill health. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, he was imprisoned and released for a time. But in 1941 he was arrested again and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. On July 31, 1941, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband and father. And he was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst, and neglect. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982. His feast day is August 14th.
In Mary’s life she showed fortitude a lot. One of my Favorite stories in the bible is the Nativity story. Take a minute and think about all the ways Mary showed fortitude. 1st off she had carried a baby for nine months which is a feat in itself, I don’t know how women do it. She was between 14-17 years old, Joseph and her were supposed to have a special Jewish marriage where you don’t make love. I am sure there was a lot of gossip going around. She also had to travel to be counted in a census, that Cesar was having every one do. So she had to travel on a donkey. Then there were no vacancies, she had to go to a manger. There were cows, sheep, chickens, straw. Then she gave birth, with no drugs, epidural, nothing to ease the pain. She did not know who was going to be there. But she trusted God, and had the fortitude to do it.
The opposite of fortitude is giving up; there was a time in my life where I thought about giving up. There was a time in my life I had hit rock bottom. I was in middle school and a lot of things were changing in my life. My parents’ marriage was falling apart, my grandma had just died of lung cancer, but I blamed myself. My mom also had a surgery that put her in a lot of pain. I was getting in fights at school, acting out in class, and the principals’ office was my second home. I stole, lied and cheated. I felt like God wasn’t there and I had nothing left to give. A million times I thought about ending it all and killing myself. I thought of everything from putting a bullet in my head, to cutting my wrist to even jumping off a tree and breaking my neck. I struggled for two years, but I am way over it, I found my strength. What I am saying is there is hope; there is a place that you can find strength, and it is right here. At Queen of Heaven, it has become a second home for me. Suicide is never the answer, the people you will meet here can help you though everything you can face. The Core here are some of my best friends, I learned over my four years that my strength my courage lies in God.
This retreat opened my eyes to a possible career path, I am not going to transfer schools and major in it, but if I ever get the chance I would take it! I feel that God has made me to great things for him. I grew a lot as a Core member this retreat and it has been unbelievable. I even had a teen who I didn't even know, come up to me and ask if I could burn her a CD of some of the music from this weekend....How could I say no!
You are my prince of Peace and I give my life to you,
~Afro Bobby
p.s. here is our theme song Prince of Peace as sung by Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment