Friday Afternoon & Evening

We wrapped up our worksites today!! Be sure to check out all the Team folders for pictures of projects. It’s really impressive how much we can get done! Ten years ago, the most we could do was paint or pour concrete. Now, we are constructing pavilions and ADA-compliant ramps, building roofs and finishing them out, and so much more.

Thank you. To all of you who have contributed to this mission by donating money, praying for us, sending your teens (or wives or husbands), and attending our fundraiser events… thank you. We truly could not do this without you or without the love and support of our parish behind us.

We were really blessed to have our pastor, Father Edwin Leonard, with us for a few days this week. For a parish of our size, it really is a sacrifice and a miracle that he is able to be away from a church that never seems to slow down! Not only did he hear confessions and say Mass for us, he prepared talks, taught teens how to make rope rosaries, and visited worksites. Here’s a glimpse of how much fun we have had with him this week:

We celebrated Mass at 4 pm today, and it happens to be the Memorial of Saint Bonaventure. Father Edwin shared the story of St. Bonaventure: he was brilliant, and his superiors wanted him to be a bishop so he could teach, write, and lead. He desired a life of service, so he left the community and disappeared into the countryside. When they finally found him, he was washing the dishes in a small house in a small town.

Something we can learn from St. Bonaventure: “The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things in a perfect manner. A constant fidelity in small things is a great and heroic virtue." Fr. Edwin summarized this as, “Be attentive to the SMALL things.” He said that the most important things we can do as we go home is to make space and time for God and to prioritize the Sabbath. In doing small things consistently, like spending time in prayer every day, that we build great virtue.

“The Lord will magnify and multiply all that you do.”

— Fr. Edwin

He concluded Mass with a special blessing and a sincere sendoff: “I want you to know how much I love you (even the group at La Frontera, who ambushed me with water guns today.) We are stronger as a community when you have experiences like this and return to live out your faith. Your zeal is contagious.”

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After our last dinner together here in Laredo, we met in small groups to share stories and look at what has happened for us this week. Groups took time to pray with and for each other before we head back home tomorrow.

We are in awe of what we were able to accomplish this week with the strength of God’s grace: we ministered to people in need, He used us to show His love, and we restored and built up these communities. In our own lives, he taught us humility, community, reliance, and trust. We made more eye contact this week than we maybe have in the last six months! We entered into prayer in song and silence, opened up to the idea of choosing to belong to Christ, and in some cases, have surrendered our lives to Him.

It has been an incredible week, and we are so thankful.

And what better way to celebrate than a Mission Laredo fiesta?

We are headed home in the morning! See you soon!

Thursday Afternoon & Evening

Today is the Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, so Father Edwin opened Mass this afternoon by telling us a little about her: Kateri was a Native American Christian who began preaching Christ to her own people, but they were hostile to her evangelization. Many of us might feel the same way today as she did about bringing the Gospel to a world that doesn’t necessarily want to hear the Gospel message.

A verse from the First Reading really stood out in the midst of the work we have been doing:

You have accomplished all we have done. (Isaiah 26:12)

And today’s Gospel hit just right, too:

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,  for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. 
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

In his homily, Father Edwin explained that this passage is about allowing the Lord to be the Lord. Our desire for a sense of control in our lives is the opposite of what we need; we need to be saved from ourselves, which is why we call Jesus our savior! In the Gospel, Jesus refers to a farming process that might be unfamiliar to us today: yoking two oxen together forces them to combine their strength in a single direction. To be yoked to the Lord means to rely on Him to guide and do the work with us and for us. The most important thing we can do is surrender to Him. Unless the Lord is the One who leads, anything we do is in vain.

“He has everything under control. All we need to do is keep faithful.”

— Fr. Edwin

a statue of Jesus stands just outside of the adoration chapel here at St. Patrick

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As we started our last night of games for the week to earn team points, here were the standings after Wednesday:

9th: La Frontera
8th: Fortress
7th: Rin Tin Tin
6th: Santa Monica
5th: Matador
4th: Brick
3rd: Lawn Mower
2nd: Santa Margarita
1st: Umbrella

We played a series of quick games tonight, including an object scavenger hunt, a crab walk relay while building a cup pyramid, and the human knot game. Teams racked up points as we played, and we ended with an insane game of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, Cup!” To play, you follow the leader’s cues to put your hands on your head, shoulders, or knees in whatever random order they decide. The last call of the round is, “Cup!” and the first person to grab the cup between you is the winner. We narrowed it down to three and had one of the most hyped final rounds of all time!

Even though we already heard a great homily from Fr. Edwin this afternoon, he was willing to prepare a talk for our evening session as well. He began by sharing a recent experience of administering the Anointing of the Sick to a parishioner on his deathbed and read to us the prayers that are said. As he left that day, he promised the prayers of our church family. The man died shortly afterwards — and while many might say how sad it is, it is truly a victory and a celebration of eternal life!

How quickly do we forget: our goal is heaven!!

We have the power in this life to open up ETERNAL LIFE for someone by our words. This is an awesome power we have because of what the Lord has done in our lives — how He has moved and proven His love and mercy time and time again.

A picture of the Titanic appeared on screen, and Father asked if the teens even knew what that was. Of course! But had they seen the movie from the 90’s? Not a SINGLE one raised their hands! Oh well… he went on — Our world is like the iceberg, but it has already hit the iceberg! It’s sinking, and people are in danger of perishing. In the Titanic, Rose just lets Jack die… but there was room on that door for him to survive! Don’t be like Rose and let Jack DIE… you have the means to open up the world of eternal life to others!! 

In knowing what we know, we can do this. 

St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit missionary, led 300k people to know Jesus through his generosity and zeal. He lived among those who were enslaved and shared in their live despite the terrible conditions. When the slavery ships came in, everyone else saw property. He saw people who had an immortal soul, and he went to them with the Gospel message of salvation.

As human persons, we are meant to give of ourselves. Our hearts have been opened this week to know that “it is in giving that we receive.” We have seen how true it is.

When it comes to sharing our faith with those who have none, or even those who need encouragement to keep the faith, we might struggle with a couple of lies. Satan would love nothing more than to destroy any confidence we have in sharing our faith and bringing others to salvation, so we must be aware and be on guard.

Lie 1: You’re not good enough. 

Amen! We are NOT enough! But we can point to the one who is enough — Jesus. We worry that we won’t know what to do or say; but Scripture promises us that the Holy Spirit will provide the words and the way (Matthew 10:19).  

As a freshman, Father Edwin attended Life Teen at St. Ann, where he met other teens who were seeking and growing in the faith. Upperclassmen talked about Jesus like a friend, but Fr. Edwin only knew Jesus as a bunch of stories from a long time ago. Something began to shift, and he began to really desire to know and love the Lord. The other students didn’t convert his heart, God did. But God used their faith to help convict his heart and move him along in his journey. 

Lie 2: You can’t preach because you are a sinner. 

In Mark 16, Jesus appears to the eleven and rebukes them for their unbelief and hardness of heart — but then He tells them to go proclaim the Gospel. The APOSTLES are struggling to believe… and Jesus SENDS THEM OUT. The remedy is to go out and preach our faith it over and over again! 

“Sometimes the only way to grow is to GO.”

We take a step out into the world and proclaim again and again until our faith and confidence grows. We need to trust what God has said. When we leave this place, we have to share.

“If you don’t go, you won’t be listening to the Lord - you’ll be listening to the lies.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 — We can encourage others toward faith when they are hurting, far from the Lord, struggling, or afflicted with anything because God encourages US in our own brokenness first.

Earlier this week, we surrendered a chain link that represented a lie that is a struggle for us. Tonight, we received someone else’s chain link to carry with us and remind us that there are others who need to hear about the One who breaks chains, saves us, and gives us eternal life. 

We spent time in Adoration tonight, just being with and worshipping the Lord. Father Edwin offered to hear confessions, and Core Team members were available as prayer teams to pray with teens. It was a great evening, and really powerful to see so many of us — teens, parents, and adults — entering into authentic, sincere worship.

Wednesday Afternoon & Evening

We had extended free time this afternoon, and started the night session with what is possibly our favorite HSM game: Priests of the Parish. I could try to describe how intense this game gets… but it’s really difficult to put into words. Each team plays as a row, and they have to be perfectly in sync to avoid getting out. Here are some photos to show how crazy it can be:

Deacon Alex Fry arrived Tuesday night, and many of our teens were thrilled to see him. Dcn. Alex has a real charism for working with the youth, and he has been such a gift and a huge presence to HSM this past year. He was tasked with speaking about what it means to belong to Jesus, and he didn’t waste any time getting us to understand what a decision point this Wednesday night is for us.

“The beauty of [Mission] Laredo is that when we’re working together and sweating together and under the sun together... and we come together at night and listen to these messages about the Lord — something happens.”

There’s something about this week that just feels… right. We get up, we eat together, we work, we pray, and we play. We are detached from our phones and not distracted by the noise of our usual busyness, and we are pulled out from our isolation and feelings of loneliness. We are together, living a simple but joyful life this week, and it is so good.

Deacon Alex encouraged us to reflect on what we have experienced this week. Maybe we are encountering this person they call “Jesus,” and we are asking ourselves who He is. Or maybe we know Him but He’s doing something new, and we are examining ourselves to ask what He is doing.

“The Lord is not just working through us this week, but in us. ”

In John 6:52-69, we find the disciples in the middle of their time with Jesus — their Wednesday. They’ve seen the Lord perform many miracles, then they hear him say to eat His flesh and drink His blood. It was hard to hear, and many of his disciples stopped following Him. They arrived at a decision point, because Jesus has the humility to offer a choice: “Will you also go away?” 

This is our choice, and we are at the midpoint as well.

This is our decision point this week. “Will you follow me? Will you say YES to me?” 

Following Jesus will not necessarily make us happy. That is not the promise. The promise is that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will abide in Him — belong to Him. We don’t have to know everything to follow Him.

“Have you felt Him, have you seen Him? Just say yes.”

Jesus brings us into community, gives us purpose, frees us from sin, provides healing and restoration, and leads us in a life of adventure. It’s completely worth it. What He can do in our lives is better than anything we can imagine. 

We went to small groups to talk about what it means to belong to Jesus and what might hold us back from saying “yes” to Him. Afterwards, Father Edwin gave us a unique opportunity to dive deep into a greater understanding of the Mass by celebrating a “teaching Mass.” He paused every so often during the Mass to explain what was happening, and spoke a lot of the quiet or silent prayers out loud so we could hear them. It was really enlightening and a great way to celebrate Mass and end the night.

The invitation, ultimately, is to go to Mass with the intention of saying “yes” to Jesus over and over again.

Tuesday Afternoon & Evening

Tonight’s activities began with Mass and a delicious dinner. Our dinner prayer was ENTHUSIASTICALLY led by all of our teens who are The Pines Catholic Camp campers or alumni! They taught us the “Johnny Appleseed” grace, and everyone loved singing along. During free time, we played cards, Spikeball, and Spot-It, and we made lots of rosaries and friendship bracelets. Some teens and Core members even braved more of the heat to play basketball!

After getting cleaned up and gathering for the evening session, JP hosted a fantastic game of Family Feud. Small groups racked up points and LOVED having their construction dads help them come up with answers!

Our speaker tonight was Mary Mahaffey, who is on the youth ministry staff. She began with her central message:

“All Jesus wants you to know is that you are loved.”

Mary shared with us about who she is and how the Lord has shaped her identity. Continuing the talk from Monday night, she shared that a lie that often surfaces for her is, “I don’t belong.” Can any of us relate to that? A feeling that we don’t quite fit in at our job, with our friends, in our family, in leadership, and so much more.

We heard about the woman at the well, who came to draw water in the middle of the day because she felt like she didn’t belong with the rest of her community. Jesus meets her and reveals to her that He knows who she is — and that He wants her to know who He is.

Knowing who we are and that we are loved is the greatest desire of our hearts.

God sees our goodness, not the lies we tell ourselves. In knowing Him, we can see who we are — and are supposed to be.

Mary closed with three practical ways to experience this kind of intimate and enlightening grace with the Lord:

1. Sit with Jesus. Be with Him and let Him speak truth over you. He will fight for you where you struggle. To really believe Truth, we need to be where we can hear Truth.

2. Lean in when He speaks. It’s important that we hold on to the Truth that is revealed to us. The woman at the well “leaned in” as she ran to her community to tell them Who she had met. Sometimes, we need to walk in the Truth until it feels familiar and real.

3. Write it down. You get to know His voice by writing it down and keeping track of the words you hear so you can see patterns of what the Lord is speaking to you. God works through many things: people from all areas of your life, words, Scripture, song lyrics, and situations. Noticing and writing it down helps us to see it as His real presence.

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After time with our small groups to discuss the day and the talk, we came together for an evening of worship and adoration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Father Samuel processed the monstrance holding our Lord to each person in the room, giving them a special opportunity to be intimately near to Him for a few moments.

It was a profound and moving experience — and the Holy Spirit’s presence was palpable in the room. As we closed, the teens pulled into tight circles, arm in arm. It was an unprompted moment that made this large group feel a lot like family! We are so grateful for this time away together.

We broke out the ice cream and popsicles before sending everyone off to their rooms to get some rest. What a great day!

Monday Afternoon & Evening

The first work day is always a little tough — it’s a lot of hurry and wait! We unload tools at the worksite but then have to get the lay of the land and an overview of the projects for the week before anything can begin. Some groups had more prep to do than others, but everyone got in the action before lunch!

Here’s a brief description of what is happening at each worksite:

• Brick House: roof repair

• The Fortress: repair roof leak, flashing; reconstruct rotting window frame; painting

• La Frontera: build a 24’x36’ pavilion to provide shade for refugees waiting for services

• Lawn Mower House: install ADA-compliant shower, replace insulation and drywall; repair stairs, hole in the floor, and bathroom cabinet

• Matador House: roof repair, put up new sheetrock, shower repairs

• Rin Tin Tin House: build 30’ ADA-compliant wheelchair ramp on exterior; repair landing and steps; repair rotting floor in bathroom

• Santa Margarita church: paint interior; scrape exterior wood, sand, and repaint; repair ramps on exterior

• Santa Monica church: phase 1 of roof construction over the pavilion area (to be finished next year)

• Umbrella House: roofing, sheetrock, and insulation

• VBS is being hosted in the mornings at both Santa Monica and Santa Margarita

Joey and some of the guys on the roof at the Brick House on Monday

After a delicious taco dinner, we gathered for our evening session. Kicking it off was a game called “Dutch Auction” where a panel of judges (moms, dads, and core members) eliminated participants until one winner remains. The first challenge? Stinkiest shoes. 😂 They also competed in sound effects (mimicking the sound of paper being ripped), a speed race to find a stick of deodorant, and best creative handshake.

Teams will continue to accumulate points this week as they work toward the grand prize (which, honestly… is still TBD.)

No adults were harmed by participation in this activity.

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Taking the lead on the evening session tonight was the coolest Director of Youth Ministry any of us know: Joey Scancella. As we continue on this journey of learning more about belonging, Joey broke open a tough topic: the lies we often learn to tell ourselves. We often hear these lies thanks to the tricks of satan, who ultimately desires to destroy us… but we repeat them to ourselves and end up believing that we don’t belong — that we aren’t good enough, that we are unloveable, that we are too broken, and so on.

Instead of sharing from his experience alone, Joey invited six Core Team members to share testimonies that related to some misbeliefs about ourselves that we might have in common. As Joey named each of these things, such as “God can’t use someone with my past” or “I am only as good as what I can do or accomplish.”

As these Core members shared why that particular lie resonated with them, they also shared how God has worked in those wounds and brought about healing, understanding, and a greater relationship with Him. It was a really powerful evening of testimonies, and it was a really unique opportunity to hear from multiple people who are earnestly following the Lord and wanting to find His healing.

Between each testimony, Joey was able to reinforce the truth that needs to be heard when those lies arise. As he concluded his talk, Joey shared about St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, or Edith Stein, and the courage she had in turning her life over fully to follow the Lord. The talk was followed by a great opportunity to discuss and share in small groups.

As we entered the church for our evening prayer, every person was given a single link from a chain. Father Paul led us in Eucharistic adoration, and we prayed in silence so we could listen for the Lord’s voice. After a few minutes in prayer, Joey led us in a litany that was written for this retreat in particular. We’re calling it the Litany of Direction, because it focuses on the guidance and love we so often need from the Lord. You can pray with it by clicking here.

After praying the litany, we were all invited to consider a lie that we want to surrender to the Lord, approach the sanctuary to kneel and pray, and then leave the chain link in a bucket before Him. It was a really beautiful prayer experience for everyone.

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Then, it was off to bed after snacks to be ready for tomorrow! The teens and adults were all happy to go to bed a little early!

Sunday Evening Session

After dinner on Sunday evening, everyone grabbed their bibles and journals before gathering for our evening session. But first things first — it was time to run off some of that pent up energy after a long drive! We played an all-group game of Pull Up, which has become a tradition and an HSM favorite.

This is a boys vs. girls game where teens have to “pull up” someone of the opposite gender across the circle in order to take their seat. The goal is to have less of your own in the middle at the end of the round to get a point. Mix it up with other instructions like “you have to dance across the circle,” and hilarity ensues!

We reset the chairs for a talk by John Paul O’Brien, our new youth ministry associate at St. Ann. JP began by challenging us to embrace this week, not as a separate reality from our “actual lives,” but as the ultimate Truth and Reality in which we live our lives fully. What happens this week is not as isolated experience or an aside to our lives in Dallas — far from it! It is an experience of a greater fullness of what God has for us and wants us to bring home and integrate everything else into this Reality.

WHAT DO YOU SEEK?

Generally, we are all always seeking something from others, from experiences, and from ourselves. Is it possible to ask ourselves and find the reason why we seek certain things? Can we set out this week to find a reason within ourselves to seek the Lord?

JP shared that as he grew up in a family with siblings, he often felt “unseen” by his parents because the family was busy. In order to make himself more noticeable (and to earn more real estate on the family calendar), JP signed up to play multiple sports and participate in more and more activities. It wasn’t until later that he realized he was overworking himself to satisfy the subconscious desire for attention and love.

In the Gospels, we read that John the Baptist calls out to his disciple to “behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). They turn to follow Him, and Jesus shows how well he truly sees them and their hearts when he asks, “What do you seek?” They ask where He is staying, so they can begin to accompany Him.

Do we hear Jesus ask us: “What do you seek?”

How do we respond?

JP ended by sharing the story of St. Anthony of the Desert, and reminding us of the importance of our presence and intention this week. What we put into this week is our investment, and we will receive a return based on how much we invest. If we put two cents into a bank, we cannot expect it to grow very much. The same is true for this week: if we make an enormous effort to be fully present, to participate with enthusiasm, and to give it our all, we will reap the rewards at the end of the week!

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The BIG and much-anticipated announcement of MISSION TEAMS was just after the talk! Our teen missionaries finally find out who they will be with for the week: their Construction Dads, Core Team leaders, and their peers! This is our one big retreat where we don’t let the teens choose their own small group or leaders — and it is always such a gift to see how God works so purposefully in what seems random to us. Friendships that might not have happened naturally pull our youth group even closer together. How good is our God?!

Small groups broke out to get to know each other and discuss the talk from the night. We took the opportunity to close in a short prayer experience where we distributed Holy Family medals to all of the missionaries to remind them that we are, indeed, family. We are here for each other. Our pastor, Father Edwin, wrote a letter for the teens to read tonight. He closed it with this:

You belong on this trip.
You belong to this Church.
You belong in this family.
It is good that you are here.

We took some group pictures and sent everyone off to bed with a snack and MANY, MANY reminders to hydrate a LOT in advance of starting work on Monday!

Sunday Check-in and Travel

I’m pretty sure we were already feeling the heat of the week as we loaded the buses this morning at 7:00 am! As everyone checked in, they received a lanyard and nametag. The group vibes were already forming!

After a quick meeting and instructions from Joey about loading the buses, we walked over to join our parish community for 8:00 am Mass. Father Samuel celebrated Mass, assisted by Deacon Alex Fry. Deacon Alex gave a great homily about The Good Samaritan, and he challenged us to SEE our neighbor, be MOVED with compassion, and to APPROACH them. We ultimately have to change the way we see “the other” in our lives — not as a stranger, not as a victim, not as insignificant, but as our brother or sister. When we are moved with compassion, it’s a movement from our core (literally, “from the gut”) that urges us to respond. And we serve and love our neighbor because their inherent dignity as a son or daughter of God demands it.

“We serve – not because we are good – but because the person we are serving is good.”

Dcn. Alex reminded us that we don’t serve in order to show the world what we can do, but to magnify what God has done. Jesus is the one who served the man on the side of the road first… and that man is each of us. We have been beaten down, robbed of our inheritance, and left for dead by satan and sin in so many ways — but Jesus has been moved with compassion for us, come to our aid, bandaged our wounds, and restored us to life. We love because He first loved us.