Hello to all! It’s Shayla from Team Five. This week has really flown by so far. The whole team is being kept busy with ministry. There’s a lot on the go from the usual Lifenights and Edge, to an upcoming Edge retreat and Lifeteen retreat planning, Merge, XLT, and not to mention that Real Men and Glass Alabaster are starting soon. I guess you can call it crunch time for the parish ministry.
I had so much fun at our Lifenight. It was on the vocations of marriage, priesthood, and the religious life. Tom gave the priesthood talk and Rebecca gave the religious life talk. For the marriage one we asked a married couple in our parish to give the talk. They were amazing. They really knew what they were talking about because they give marriage talks often. What I found really interesting about the talk was that they got the teens really involved. We started by writing down what we thought is the one thing that helps a marriage and then posted it on the chalk board (picture to the top right). They then used that to show how each thing is equally important to help a marriage as a whole, and they really laid marriage out to show everyone that marriage isn’t as easy as it seems, or as people are lead to believe. After the talks we played a teamwork game. We gave each group a bag of Lego candy to use so they could put together a replica of a diagram. It was a bit difficult because every person in the group was given a handicap. They were blind, mute, or without hands. The teens really got into it, and loved the fact that they could eat their tools when they were done. Overall, a very fun and informative night.
On Monday, our team dropped Alyssa off for a personal retreat at the Divine Mercy center because she’s a team leader. After that the rest of us went into Ottawa to attend Mass with Cardinal Levada. It was at Notre Dame Cathedral, in downtown Ottawa. It was a very encouraging Mass because a lot of the homily was about evangelization. I was also very happy because I received the Eucharist from the cardinal. That was a first for me.
Yesterday was Edge. Like always, a million young teens attend Edge…well more like 60, but it’s still a lot. This night was on speech. We spoke about gossip, slander, sarcasm, and negative humour. I was blown away by a lot of the response I got to this topic in small group. My favourite part of the night was when we did a form of prayer ministry called "silent blessing". (editor's note: Silent blessing consists of the team member placing their hand on a retreatant's shoulder - with their permission - and silently praying for them for 30 seconds or so.) Normally it’s pretty difficult to keep a bunch of young people to stay quiet for long, but they were golden! During the prayer ministry, they were all so quiet. If we didn’t have prayer ministry music playing, you most likely would have been able to hear a pin drop in the gym. The Edgers never cease to impress me.
I had so much fun at our Lifenight. It was on the vocations of marriage, priesthood, and the religious life. Tom gave the priesthood talk and Rebecca gave the religious life talk. For the marriage one we asked a married couple in our parish to give the talk. They were amazing. They really knew what they were talking about because they give marriage talks often. What I found really interesting about the talk was that they got the teens really involved. We started by writing down what we thought is the one thing that helps a marriage and then posted it on the chalk board (picture to the top right). They then used that to show how each thing is equally important to help a marriage as a whole, and they really laid marriage out to show everyone that marriage isn’t as easy as it seems, or as people are lead to believe. After the talks we played a teamwork game. We gave each group a bag of Lego candy to use so they could put together a replica of a diagram. It was a bit difficult because every person in the group was given a handicap. They were blind, mute, or without hands. The teens really got into it, and loved the fact that they could eat their tools when they were done. Overall, a very fun and informative night.
On Monday, our team dropped Alyssa off for a personal retreat at the Divine Mercy center because she’s a team leader. After that the rest of us went into Ottawa to attend Mass with Cardinal Levada. It was at Notre Dame Cathedral, in downtown Ottawa. It was a very encouraging Mass because a lot of the homily was about evangelization. I was also very happy because I received the Eucharist from the cardinal. That was a first for me.
Yesterday was Edge. Like always, a million young teens attend Edge…well more like 60, but it’s still a lot. This night was on speech. We spoke about gossip, slander, sarcasm, and negative humour. I was blown away by a lot of the response I got to this topic in small group. My favourite part of the night was when we did a form of prayer ministry called "silent blessing". (editor's note: Silent blessing consists of the team member placing their hand on a retreatant's shoulder - with their permission - and silently praying for them for 30 seconds or so.) Normally it’s pretty difficult to keep a bunch of young people to stay quiet for long, but they were golden! During the prayer ministry, they were all so quiet. If we didn’t have prayer ministry music playing, you most likely would have been able to hear a pin drop in the gym. The Edgers never cease to impress me.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, we’re going to be having an Edge retreat soon! I can’t wait. The teens seem really enthusiastic about it, and I believe we’re, so far, getting a good response. Tonight is also going to be our second time ever doing XLT. I’m praying that it goes well. There’s no better combination than some Adoration and Praise and Worship. Well, we leave you now this week. God bless you all!
Shayla, Team Five-Alive
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