ST. FRANCIS YOUTH MINISTRY

Hola. Sorry for the late post.

Please pray for Chris. Next week he is attending the Lifeteen Youth Ministers retreat. Chris will join other YM’s as the pray, study, and find fellowship.

Also, please pray for Core Members Ryan and Stephanie and I as we attend the Franciscan YM retreat in Ohio. We will join 150 other YM’s as we seek to go deeper in our faith and relationship with Christ.

Remember, registration is now open for the Lifeteen Spring Retreat Feb 22-24th at Natchez Trace Group Camp. This will be a great retreat. Open to all high schoolers. Registration forms are available on the YM board in the church, in the Lifeteen room, and in the church office. Cost is $75 and financial assistance is available.

God bless,

bob

This semester we continue the theme “What’s Your Focus?” Lifeteen considers the subtopic: “What’s your problem?” as they explore some barriers to putting Jesus at the center of our life. These will be great life nights with the goal of giving you experience and resources to put these barriers aside and focus on Christ.

I’m also very excited about Edge. With the blessing of a full Core Team, Edge will meet every Sunday this semester and start building community through fellowship as they also consider “What’s Your Focus?”.

As we move through this semester staying focused can be hard. Many distractions pull our attention away from the Gospel. School, work, sports, clubs, TV, cell phones, girlfriends or boyfriends, friends, and more.

Monsignor told a great story during his 5:30 Homily on Sunday about a man who told a Priest he used to feel very close to God as he served at Mass, and did many other activities associated with Church. But now that he is older and more mature, he does not serve at Mass, and participate in these other activities, and God seems farther away. The Priest asked a simple question: Who moved?

I find it interesting that the man says he is more “mature” and yet his relationship with Christ suffers. This semester as we consider What’s Your Focus, consider how your focus can affect your maturity. Perhaps this man was mature in the eyes of the world, but he is not mature in terms of relationship with God.

Consider this semester at what level your Christian Maturity is? Are you close or far from God? Are you strong enough to proclaim the Gospel in your daily life? Do you deny Jesus when tested?

True Maturity; is not measured by our activities, but how strong we are in our beliefs. True Maturity is measured by God’s terms not by man.
True Maturity is an account of how you respond to God’s plan.
True Maturity is accepting who you are in God’s image and giving Him glory everyday.
True Maturity is Christian Maturity.

Are you Mature in the eyes of God, or in the eyes of man?

God, thank you for creating us in your image and likeness. Thank you for instilling in us beauty and dignity. Thank you for blessing us with gifts and talents. Lord we pray that as our lives become filled with school, work, sports, and other activities that we would continue to put you first.

We pray Lord that You would reveal to us your plan for our lives that we may submit our will to Yours. That we would grow in Christian Maturity. That you would be our focus without question.

And Lord, we pray that You use us as examples of Your faith and allow us to be ministers of Your Love to those around us. We ask these things in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

May God bless you and protect you.

Do you have one? Many millions of people make New Years Resolutions each year. People resolve to lose weight; to change diets; to reduce expenses; to be better friends, better husbands, better parents, better children, better people; to increase prayer lives, faith lives, improve relationship with Christ; etc.

And despite all these resolutions……we still gain weight, eat badly, spend more, treat each other with disrespect, and make decisions based on many things without considering Jesus.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN??? Why do we do this? Is it that we as a people can’t keep promises? Is it that we don’t understand commitment? I think the biggest reason we fail, is that we think we are better than we are and take on too big of a resolution.

What is a resolution anyway? It’s a promise. It’s a commitment. Commitments to change, delete, or add a habit. How can we commit to changing a habit? If we habitually don’t pray, we can’t simply un-train ourselves in one week and miraculously begin a new habit of praying always. That is an unrealistic expectation of us. We are not that good.

If you are like me, you can’t stand the fact that “I” can not do this on my own. “I” CAN change myself! “I” can make this a habit! “I” “I” “I” “I”!!!!!!

Here is the biggest secret of 2008. “I” is the problem! We can’t change our habits immediately because “I” isn’t enough!

This new year please take on the challenge to do two things:

First: Make Realistic Resolutions! Start off trying to pray or read the bible 5 minutes a day. That is all it takes to start! Remember, holiness is not a measurement of prayer time; it’s not a measurement at all. Holiness is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and the Holy Spirit will use that 5 minutes a day to transform your life, your job is to say YES! Your prayer time will increase as a result of your growth in faith and relationship with Christ.

Second: Do Not Try To Do This Yourself! Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to His people. He knows a thing or two about keeping promises. Take him with you. Ask the God of the Universe, Jesus Christ, to help you. And, when you fall, STAND UP! Do not be discouraged! The Apostle Paul writes about Hope in Hebrews; “…be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior beyond the veil.” - Heb 6:18-19.

By making realistic resolutions and taking Jesus with you, you can break the chain of failed resolutions. You can succeed.

To close, I find it fitting that Pope Benedict XVI wrote his latest Encyclical on Hope. Here is a link to read it. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

Remember an Encyclical is a letter and is meant to be read by the Christian Faithful. It is not a document to be put in a library somewhere. READ IT! LEARN IT! LIVE IT!

God bless you all on your walk of faith.

Jesus, renew in us the Hope you bring. Holy Mary pray for our purity as we pray:
Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
Amen.

I love you all.

bob