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Tag Archives: Sacraments
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5 Things That Teens Are Counting On
In the Northern Hemisphere, Teens will be heading back to school and heading back to a parish this fall. As a companion of teens on their faith journey, there are some basic things that teens are counting on you doing and being. Here are 5 things that teens are counting on from you.
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Happy – It’s Not Just a Yuppie Word
These days the word happy is carelessly thrown around. Even Switchfoot wrote a song entitled "Happy is a Yuppie Word" that speaks of the emptiness of the word happy. For Catholics, happy is something much more. Here is why I believe it is key to our Evangelizing others.
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Learning From 25 Amazing Years of Catholic Youth Ministry – Thank You St. Timothy’s
This Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday) is the 25th Anniversary of the first Life Teen Mass at St. Timothy's Catholic Community in Mesa, Arizona - where Life Teen began. Even for most of the parishoners at St. Tim's the significance of this amazing day may not be fully realized. Imagine if your parish had strong youth ministry for 25 years?
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Finishing Lent Strong – How to “Crush It” All Holy Week Long!
I noticed that my two middle school aged sons had transformed the palm leaves handed to them when entering Mass into "Palm Crosses." I asked why they always make crosses out of the palms on Palm Sunday? The reply was one that got me thinking about Holy Week. They looked at me and said, "Dad, we take the crosses home and put them up on our bedroom wall so we can remember Jesus every day." Ah, the simplicity of the answer reminded me of what Holy Week is supposed to be about--contemplating Jesus and His Passion!
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It’s a Mystery: Drawing Teens Into a Time of Mystagogy
Scripture, Sacraments, and the community. Where in our faith do those three things come together? The Mass. Simply put, the process of mystagogy is to make their lives a liturgy. The community comes together to hear the Word of God (with the Gospels as preeminent) and celebrates the Eucharist.
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Sacramental Wallflowers: How to Include Parents & Sponsors in Confirmation
A wallflower is one who remains on the sidelines of an activity due possibly to shyness or unpopularity. Unfortunately, we can look around many confirmation preparation “dances” and find some sacramental wallflowers tucked away in the dark corners. It is not uncommon that those who are not fully engaged into the rhythm of our efforts are adults – both parents and sponsors.
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Finding Freedom in the Sacrament of Reconciliation
The Sacrament of Reconciliation. For many teens, it’s an answer to the question: “What about the Catholic faith do you appreciate?” It’s also an answer for many teens to the question: “What part of our faith do you not understand or practice?” Therein lies the beauty and complexity of the Sacrament of Reconciliation; teens can easily name it as one of the seven, yet many of them don’t frequent it regularly for various reasons: i.e. they find it intimidating, they’re not sure what to confess, or they don’t understand why they need to go to a priest instead of directly to God for forgiveness.
Edge Night
Role of Sacraments & Grace In Living Life In Christ
Keywords: Grace | Sacraments
Objective:
The middle school youth will understand the concept of grace, and consider how they experience grace through the Sacraments. Overview: Our life and being come from the grace of God. According to the Catechism: Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become [...]
Edge Night
Vocation
Keywords: Sacraments | Serve | Vocation
Objective: The middle school youth will understand the concept of “vocation.” They also will discuss the Sacraments of service and consider whether they are feeling a call to serving God and His people as a lay person or through the religious life. Overview: The word “vocation” is derived from the Latin word vocare, meaning “to [...]
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Teens Distracted at Mass? Reverence Begins with Relevance
My first year in Youth Ministry was painful. I had a few solid Core Members and our Life Nights were going well. I had a supportive priest and a decent budget. I had a talented music ministry and parents who would do anything for me. I developed strong relationships with teens; saw an increase in [...]
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Practical Tips for Teaching Teens to Pray
A few months ago I took twelve of my teens to our Lenten Parish Mission to listen to a talk about the Holy Spirit and evangelization. I’ll never forget it. I was sitting in the front row at the end of the pew next to my teens. The speaker asked us to open up our [...]
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Words Matter: Communicating the Importance of Confirmation
If you have been working with young people long enough, it is entirely possible that you have sat through a high school production of the musical Into the Woods. The closing song is a cautionary plea reminding us that Children Will Listen. The refrain reminds us: Careful the things you say Children will listen Careful [...]
Life Night
Superhero University
Keywords: Adoration | Holy Spirit | Mass | Moral Life | Prayer | Sacraments | Virture
Goal for the Life Night: The goal for this night is to help the teens understand that living a life in Christ is a heroic calling. This night will point out to the teens all the tools God gives them to sustain a moral life, live heroically for Christ and to find their ultimate happiness [...]
Life Night
Life Teen Curriculum Guide 05: Sacraments
Keywords: Sacraments
This book is the fifth in the series and breaks open the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. In this book you will find eight Life Nights that break open these sacred mysteries for your teens in creative and engaging ways. What you will not find is the issue and social Life Nights that used [...]
Edge Night
Sacramentals
Keywords: Church | Prayer | Sacramentals | Sacraments | Senses
Objective:
The middle school youth will come to a better understanding of the use and meaning of sacramentals, how they remind us of the Sacraments and keep us focused on God. Overview: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare men to receive the [...]
Life Teen Retreat
Full Filled Retreat
Keywords: Bible Geek | Church | Faith | Renewal | Sacraments | Tradition
Theme and Goal of the Retreat This Life Teen Retreat resource entitled, Full Filled, is inspired by and based on the book, Blessed are the Bored in Spirit: A Young Catholic’s Search for Meaning by Mark Hart. While it’s not necessary to read the entire book before attempting this retreat, we do encourage the Core [...]
Life Night
Family Traits
Keywords: Baptism | God's Life | Sacraments
Goal for the Life Night: Building on the first Night, the goal of this Night is to show how the Church itself is the first Sacrament. Teens will come to a greater understanding that through the Church, the very Life of God flows into our lives giving us the grace we need to follow Christ [...]
Life Night
Road Work Ahead
Keywords: Sacraments | Semester Intro
Goal of the Life Night: The goal is to give the teens the broad understanding of what a Sacrament is and the incredible power available to us in each individual Sacrament. Life Night at a Glance: Many Catholic teens don’t really know what sacraments are or understand what they are all about. But, the Catechism [...]
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