Right Click> Tools> Build Relationship with God

The dispersed conversations and laughter ease at the sound of microphone feedback as the red shirt clad young retreat leader announces the beginning of the last talk of the day. 

“Now, many of you may have experienced various things that are motivating you to further your relationship with Jesus. Awesome! However, in day to day life it can be easy to lose this motivation and forget to nurture our relationship with Christ. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED…we have some tools for you! Repeat.after.me.”

With this cue, the retreat leader utters the strangest yet most intriguing acronym known to mankind. 

“PSsssssFSssss”

The ensuing hiss of high schoolers repeating this odd arrangement of letters, though music to our ears, is halted approximately 13 seconds later and the acronym is thoroughly explained as a key to enriching our faith.

It rings so truly that Prayer, Sacraments, Fellowship and Service (or P.S.F.S.) are essential parts of spiritual growth. This applies not only to the youth but all people and most assuredly to NET missionaries.

As Encounter 1, we are given the unique gift of time to experience all these things in our evangelising journey together, travelling around Canada but ultimately travelling towards heaven.

Prayer - Personal Prayer, Team Prayer, Night Prayer, Dispersed During Day Prayer. The afore mentioned routine that was established within our training phase now brings us joy and focus for the work ahead. Is it as simple as that? No, some days it is difficult for us to commit our hearts to conversing with God. In fighting to not neglect prayer, we are given hope that we enter a relationship that is totally free and we are convinced that it is worth battling for.

Sacraments – receiving the body and blood of Christ at Mass during many of the retreats and on Sundays consistently reminds us of God’s love for us and the pertinence of sharing the Gospel to all those we meet.

Fellowship - a constant axiom whilst being on a team that truly shines when each one of us chooses to invest honestly in one another. Together in faith we can be strong. 

Service - “God is first, others are second, I am third”… now that sounds like a rallying cry to service if you ask my opinion and other respectable circles. ;) Daily, I am boggled by the testimonies of students and team mates sharing what they experience during Encounter Retreat days. The more we invest in service the more graces we behold. As in the prayer of Saint Francis, ‘it is in giving that we receive.’

Please keep us in your prayers so that Prayer, the Sacraments, Fellowship and Service are always sought by our team and that this message is instilled in the youth we encounter. I hope that you will get to know us to a greater degree this year via this blog.

God Bless,

Encounter 1 

Encounter1 = 11 members

6 Canadians

2 Australians

1 New Zealander

1 Salvadorian

1 Nazarene

Presence

Here I am

These are three of the most perfect words that one can say to God. This phrase was spoken by Our Lady in the film ‘Mary of Nazareth’, which my team and I went to see recently at the cinema in Kamloops, BC. The moment that “Here I am” was spoken, I was intrigued by the words. It was so simple, yet so profound. How could just being present, just being open, be so deep and so striking?

In the same way the presence of God, presented by those who strive to know Him, can be deep and striking. At the end of a recent two-day retreat, our team noted that the grade ten youth we had been spending time with were remarkably open to us, but more importantly, to God. We put up an open mic and allowed the youth to come up and share with their classmates about how they had been inspired during the two days. The last girl to come up shared something beautiful: “You guys showed us what I had been praying my peers would get to see. I hope you realize how powerful you are.”

NET tries to reflect God in everything it is, and our ministry is a ministry of presence. By merely being present, by encouraging the youth to be open to Christ, we reflect the part of God which is always present to them, always longing to draw His children closer to Himself. And that in itself is powerful enough to change hearts, move mountains (yes, even big BC mountains), and bring a beautiful light into what was once the darkness of being alone. Just by saying, “Here I am,” to youth, I have seen them dare to uncover their brokenness and become present to God, just the way they are, and know that He loves them just the same.

Just by simply saying, “Here I am,” and then pointing them to the cross and saying, “There He is,” I have seen hearts change in the light of His love. And THAT is powerful.

Peace and Love,
Samantha Wigglesworth ~ Encounter Team 2

The Sunrise is Hidden Behind Clouds for Now, but it’s Still Beautiful

It’s 6:45am and the dawn is greying. Our War Monument guard killed yesterday will not see this sunrise; neither will the gunman. Through the Mercy of God, rest in peace. Likely you remember where you were when you heard about the shootings; I was at an accounting seminar at the Ottawa Golf Course, 12km from Parliament. 

 We often remember such moments of tragedy. During 9/11, I was a young missionary at NET training. Between then and now, I’ve experienced death, both as a citizen watching major events unfold and beside a loved-one’s sickbed. Death is harrowing and profound, but I remember a prayer card at a host-home on my NET year that read, “Death is letting the candle blow out because the dawn has come.” The dawn outside is pale orange now and life is stirring outside.

 What would you consider the liveliest example of life? I think of a playground. A few weeks ago, I visited a NET team giving their first practice retreat at a school. It was the first retreat I’ve experienced since I was on NET 11 years ago. Such HOPE! From the playground to the NET prayer time; it was all throbbing with LIFE! My 18-month old just toddled into the attic where I’m writing – such LIFE! On that retreat, I “teared up” more than once (like many retreatants I might add), especially during the prayer time and hearing them all sing “may these ‘hallelujahs’ be multiplied.”

 The soldier and gunman were both once children on a playground. What went wrong? I don’t know. But our Lord said, “Without Me, you can do NOTHING.” Without God’s grace and blessing, no law, gun registry, protest, educational campaign or air strike will solve the world’s problems. Please pray. Pray for the deceased, their families, our Canadian leaders, military, and emergency workers…and pray that God’s kingdom come. Pray that His will be done in your life today, since you too are a missionary.

Robin Daniels, CA ~ Director of Finance, NET Canada

P.S. The sunrise is hidden behind clouds for now, but it’s still beautiful.

Not So Pop Culture

Not So Pop Culture 

As we start out our traveling as a team, there has already been a considerable amount of hours stacked up in our two vehicles. One thing that we found instantly that all of our team members have in common is that we love listening to driving music, so there is often someone's listening device hooked into the speakers for some tasteful background harmony to our conversations.

The other day I became really excited hearing one song from popular culture. The thing about living your life for Jesus means that you begin to interpret the world in a refreshed way. I became excited about this seemingly ordinary, secular song, because I was able to relate it back to God. And I found it's true that so many songs in popular culture can be linked back to themes of salvation, spiritual warfare, and especially searches for truth and love. It is as if the music scene is holding back all explicit mention of God, but their search for Him is bleeding through their work, leaving blots of Him that mark His presence.

The culture is a desert, and people are lost and hunting for an oasis where they can truly be at peace--and that oasis is Jesus. I saw it at a recent retreat where one of the girls sat off to the side by herself, completely uninvolved and not interested in being there. I felt drawn to talk to her, and despite the awkwardness, I kept speaking to her until I found common ground: she loved to read, and so did I. She was not placed in my small group, but I found out later that during the time of prayer ministry she approached her small group leader, packaged rosary clutched in her hand, and said, "I don't know why, but I just feel called to pray this every day." As she left that day, she had a rosary, instructions written by her small group leader for how to pray it, and an easier smile.

This girl had recognized what she had been searching for, and even though she didn't understand why, she had a newly focused understanding of how to get there. With the way God works, I know that won't be the last time people realize what they're searching for during this year. Our whole team is excited to listen to God's symphony of salvation, and to see how He plays upon us as His instruments to amplify His sound of love.

Encounter 2 Blog ~ Samantha Wigglesworth

Bonjour de la part de Les Équipes NET!

We pray "...that the seed which they sowed may grow and give fruit of new men and women with courage,  with foresight, with a heart open to the call of the Lord.” ~ Pope Francis 

Hello! Bonjour! 

It’s been about two weeks since we arrived in Beauce, and we are so excited for the year! The trip was about seven hours long, and we were given a very warm welcome. As a team, we are involved in twelve parishes, and have been presented to four, to date. The priests, the youth, our host families and the whole community are very excited with our arrival. Being a second year parish team, many parishioners and youth have now heard of NET and were especially enthusiastic to hear about the work we will be doing this year.

Last Friday, we had our kick-off youth event which involved music, a live game of Family Feud, small groups and snacks! This year, we will be putting on youth nights for middle school and high school youth, as well as young adult nights. We will also be having youth masses and Adoration nights in the various parishes. Looking at our calendar of events for the year, it is seemingly overwhelming and we have little free time, but we are so blessed to be in such a beautiful, welcoming (and not to mention, French) environment! 

To close off, I want to share a portion of Pope Francis’ homily from this past weekend. He spoke of our team patron saints, St François de Laval and St Marie de l’Incarnation, in thanksgiving of their canonizations. As you can imagine, it is a great inspiration and providential message he spoke:

“The Church of Quebec is prolific! Prolific in many missionaries, who went everywhere. The world was filled with Canadian missionaries, like these two. Now the advice: that this memory does not lead us to abandon forthrightness. Do not abandon courage! Perhaps… no, not perhaps. It is true. The devil is envious and does not tolerate a land that is so prolific in missionaries. Our prayer to the Lord is that Quebec returns to this path of fruitfulness, to giving the world many missionaries. And that these two who—so to say–founded the Church in Quebec assist us as intercessors; that the seed which they sowed may grow and give fruit of new men and women with courage,  with foresight, with a heart open to the call of the Lord.”

In Christ,

Rebecca Atkinson, Les équipes NET  (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Matthew, Josée, Lisa, Zak, Mickel)

Hello! Bonjour!

Nous sommes en Beauce depuis deux semaines et nous avons tellement hâte pour l’année! Notre voyage a duré environ sept heures et nous avons été chaleureusement accueillis. Comme équipe, nous sommes impliqués dans douze paroisses cette année et nous avons été présentés à quatre d'entre elles pour le moment. Les prêtres, les jeunes, nos familles d’accueil et toute la communauté avaient tous très hâte de nous rencontrer. Comme nous sommes la deuxième équipe à venir, pour une deuxième année de suite, beaucoup de gens ont déjà entendu parler de Les équipes NET et ils sont tous très enthousiastes d'apprendre ce que nous allons faire cette année.

Vendredi dernier, nous avons eu notre première soirée jeunesse avec de la musique, le jeu de La Guerre des Clans, des petits groupes et une collation! Cette année, nous allons organiser des soirées jeunesses pour les jeunes du secondaire et du Cégep et d'autres soirées spécialement pour les jeunes adultes. De plus, nous allons avoir des messes jeunesse et des soirées d’adoration dans les différentes paroisses de l'unité pastorale. En regardant notre calendrier de l’année, nous pouvons déjà voir que nous serons très occupés et que nous n'aurons presque pas de temps libre. Cependant, nous sommes vraiment bénis d’être dans un environnement si beau, accueillant et merveilleux!

Pour conclure, j’aimerais partager une partie de l’homélie du pape François de cette fin de semaine. Il a parlé des deux saints patrons de notre équipe – Saint François de Laval et Sainte Marie de l’Incarnation – en commémoration de leur canonisation récente. Comme vous pouvez l’imaginer, c’est un message vraiment profond et inspirant qu’il a partagé :

 «Église féconde que celle du Québec ! Féconde de nombreux missionnaires qui sont allés partout. Le monde a été rempli de missionnaires canadiens comme ces deux-ci. Maintenant un conseil : que cette mémoire ne nous conduise pas à abandonner la franchise et le courage. Peut-être – ou plutôt non,  sans peut-être ! – le diable est jaloux et il ne tolère pas qu’une terre soit ainsi féconde de missionnaires. Prions le Seigneur pour que le Québec revienne sur ce chemin de la fécondité, pour donner au monde de nombreux missionnaires. Que ces deux-ci qui ont – pour ainsi dire – fondé l’Église du Québec, nous aident comme intercesseurs. Que la graine semée croisse et donne comme fruit de nouveaux hommes et femmes courageux, clairvoyants, avec le cœur ouvert à l’appel du Seigneur.»

Que Dieu vous bénisse!

Rebecca Atkinson, Les équipes NET (Sara, Andrée-Anne, Matthew, Josée, Lisa, Zak, Mickel)