Sunday Evening Session
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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!
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!
