It's Not Over Yet

       It's getting to the point of the year where the end of our mission is in our sights, and often times consuming our thoughts. This has been making it difficult to stay focused on the present and to keep our eyes on why we are here, serving on NET. So at this point in the year, I've been falling short, losing my zeal and energy because I've felt like I've done all that I could do, that we've met all the youth we are going to encounter and that I just have to finish up the last couple months. But I was so wrong!

       Our team went to the My Generation Youth Rally in March and helped them out with a few things. We brought 7 youth with us to participate in the weekend. We thought that our group would be the only ones going to the rally from Swift Current but it turned out that there was a youth there from Swift Current that we had never met before. I was introduced to her and she told me that she didn't even know there was a NET team in her city. I was quite surprised. The thing is, her family doesn't attend Mass anymore, and we don't encounter her at the High School because we are confined to being in one classroom because it's a public school that isn't very open to our presence.

       After meeting this youth, I invited her to come to our high school youth group, and to my surprise, she actually came. She had such a great time at youth group that she told me she wanted to come to every youth night we have. Myself and another member of the team hung out with her at Starbucks not too long ago and she told us that she's really glad she met us and wish she had known about us sooner because she wants to get to know us and hang out with us more.

       The thing that really gets me about this is that I didn't realize that we could still make a difference and that there are new youth out there that need to encounter Christ through our help. I too wish that we could have encountered her months ago, but I see now that it's not too late to make an impact in this young person's life. We can still challenge her to love Christ and embrace the life of the Church in the next month we are here. We're leaving in a month but we plan to hang out every week until we leave.

As much as I think this youth needed to meet us, I think I needed to meet her all the same because if I hadn't, I think I would have lost even more strength and zeal for this ministry than I already had. It's not over yet. We're still here, we still have ministry to do, we still have youth to encounter. I'm not going to let the end of the year get into my head. I'm going to fight even harder to bring youth to Christ in this last month.

        Now I'll end with a beautiful quote from the beautiful Mother Theresa, “We may never know all the good that a simple smile can do”.

Blessing to you,

Hunter Norton

iNFUSE 1, Swift Current, SK

Caught in the Current

Time can seem to be the enemy these days.

Laura shares joy with a small group

We are already halfway through April, the second-to-last month of our year of ministry, and it often feels like time has lost its regular flow. Retreats, travel days, supplies runs, team days, all our one night stays in host homes--everything seems to either fly by, or else crawl past. This is the point where our team may become weary, where it may seem like we have nothing left to do but let life sweep us helplessly along... but there is so much more hope in store than that!

Envision a river that flows through an expansive forest glade. The river current does not have the same character all throughout the woods, however. At some points, it flows gently, meekly slipping over little pebbles and easily slipping onward. Sometimes it will become a cascade, falling and tumbling over rocks, bubbles of confusion forming before sweeping on. Occasionally a torrent will form, where all the water rips into a funnel of white foam rapids, and it seems like nothing that goes in will come out on the other side exactly as whole as it was before.

Corbin finds a quiet moment before the tabernacle

I once heard time described as this same kind of river. When the river is flowing gently, that is when we have time to breathe, to take in God's beauty and providence. This is a time of great spiritual richness and consolation, when we are able to bask in God's goodness.

Then the river of time begins to cascade, as complications in our personal or spiritual life arise, and problems seem to become more and more insurmountable. We are called to take greater and greater risks, like taller and taller waterfalls, which can leave us feeling almost breathless as we are hurriedly swept along.

Finally, the torrent: the really difficult points in our life. This is when we enter into a time of great pain or spiritual desolation, and all the circumstances of our life seem to sweep us along in a heartless current. Often the fear is that we will lose something during this time, that the pull of the water is so violent that there is no way we could make it through as whole as we were when we started out.

Our team prepares for team prayer: the strength of our ministry

Over the past month, I feel that our team has experienced all these currents on the river. For a few weeks in March, we were left reeling from an accident that our team got in that left our trailer totalled, many of our supplies damaged, and our team shaken (though nobody was injured at all--praise God and His goodness!). Personally, experiencing that torrent let me realize that now is all the time I have been given. I recently wrote in my journal: I am beginning to grow weary, but I will not pray that You will give me rest, Lord, but that You will give me the strength for louder battle cries and stronger fights. Now, of all the time I have been given, is God's gift to me, and no matter where I happen to be in the current, I must trust that God is riding this river along with me.

So I suppose that time is not the enemy at all, but a gift, a means by which God is letting me be swept closer to Him, swept up in His love.

Peace,

Encounter 2

One Month.

As you're reading this, our team in Weyburn is realizing that we only have one month until we leave this beautiful little town and drive back to big old Ottawa to say goodbyes. For some of us, our time with NET is over. For some of us another year with NET is on the horizon. However, no matter where next year will take us, chances are it won't be Weyburn and it certainly won't be just the six of us working together again. The year ending is bittersweet and busy. We're moving on, but we still have so much left to do. We're praying that time doesn't slip us by as we seek to carry out of mission with as much success as possible, Lord-willing!

Coming to Weyburn, I really didn't think I would become as attached to this place as I've become. You see, I'm a city girl. Big buildings, busy streets, and bustling sidewalks are what I've always had. Then I was plopped in a town of 10,000... just a fraction of what I'm used to. I was surprised how quickly I adjusted to life here, and not only adjusted but grew to love the small-town feel this place has. Everyone knows each other. People are willing to help each other out. People cry together and celebrate together. This town knows what community is and has gladly made me a part of theirs.

After Christmas break (which doesn't seem very long ago!) our supervisors asked our team why we decided to return to NET after our time at home. After thinking for a little bit, I responded "I fell in love." And it's true. I fell in love with someOne. I fell in love with Christ and the love of Christ I see in all the members of the community here in Weyburn. I came into this community with nothing to offer but myself, and have been given all that I need. I see Christ in the host homes that feed me and give me a place to rest. I see Christ in the volunteers that relentlessly lend a hand. I see Christ in the office staff who have become my second parents. This community shows me Christ in every single gesture of love, even if it's small. This community has shown me love that I've never experienced before.

Yet in a month I leave, we leave, to move onto whatever crazy thing God has planned for us next. I pray that I may be able to bring the love I've experienced here to those who I encounter on this crazy road.

In His Service,

Jillian, iNFUSE 2 Weyburn

"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
Matthew 25:35

You Revive Me

“How are you doing today?”

This is a question asked daily in our office and, like a lot of things, has started to become normal.

After being placed on an iNFUSE team, I was so excited to be able to build strong relationships with young people that would hopefully lead them to a deeply-rooted faith in Christ. As St. Thomas Aquinas said; “To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.” I know for certain that my faith is only what it is today because someone chose to get to know me and guide me there. All I wanted, and still want, is to be able to do that for someone else.

After being so motivated for so long to join this mission, I never believed I’d see the day when so much of our ministry would go from exciting to normal. I never thought praising for an hour every day in the presence of our Lord would become unexciting, or that I’d get sick of so many praise and worship songs, or that I’d develop guitar calices on my fingers so thick that an iPod can no longer detect their touch. I knew that work or study could become menial, but for some reason I had the illusion that ministry could NEVER become that way.

Rachel's sisterhood (Rachel, Jillian, and Whitney enjoying a
team day in Moosejaw

I don’t know where I bought my rose coloured glasses, but somewhere along the line they have fallen off. I find myself asking God to give me the same zeal that I had at the beginning of the year, when I couldn’t wait to get to know people, when I was so ready and willing to do whatever it takes to bring someone to Christ.

All too often I get to the end of the day and I didn’t get a chance to call that student to hang out, but I made a bunch of calls to retreat centers and school teachers. When my heart desires to sit down with a cup of tea and hear of what God is doing in my sisters’ personal prayer, I find that my lunch break comes and goes, and whilst I may have finally responded to that important ministry email, I’ve missed my chance to grab the hands of those around me and gaze towards our creator.

After avoiding this song for a long time out of fear of normalcy, I felt led to play You Revive Me in team prayer today, and I fumbled my pick when I actually took in the words of the chorus:

You revive me, You revive me, Lord

And all my deserts are rivers of joy

You are the treasure I could not afford

So I’ll spend myself ‘til I’m empty and poor

All for You, You revive me Lord.

In the wake of Jesus’ resurrection, I have been asking Him to bring new life to all of the tasks that have become normal, to all of the things that I desire, deep down, but have no energy to do. Through prayer, God is helping me to see that by pointing any task’s intention toward heaven, it can go from ordinary to extraordinary. In doing that, God will be able to do everything that he needs to do in the hearts of those in Weyburn, whether He chooses to let me see the fruit of it or not in the little time we have left here. After all, "He doesn't ask us to be successful, he asks us to be faithful." (Mother Theresa)

In learning to rely on God’s strength rather than our own, we can return to asking,  “How are you doing today?” out of sincerity rather than habit, and hope that people will see the face of Christ in that small, daily surrender.

Ad Maiora Nata Sum

Rachel Hennessy,

iNFUSE Team 2, Weyburn SK

Heavy Cross, Rising Light

Painting at the Pure Witness house in Saskatoon

“This is the deep breath before the storm,” muttered Gandalf to Pippin in the Return of the King movie. If Pippin was an allegory for Encounter 1, then Gandalf would be correct in saying so. We are about to experience eight days without leading a retreat proper. And yet, the great storm is Christ’s death and resurrection that, although occurring centuries ago, will be commemorated in a significant way in the following days.  It is when Catholics especially rally in awe, repentance and thanksgiving for the miracle of our salvation that goes beyond all time. Imagine, in one perfectly loving sacrifice, Jesus becomes the bridge between humanity and God. We are eternally grateful for the bridge of the cross.

Crucifixes are religious art pieces that as a Net team we have ample opportunity to see.  An early observation I had was the difference between the average representation of Christ in art between southern and northern Ontario. In southern Ontario Christ is shown as muscular, strong, willing in sacrifice and majestic. This was especially the case in a given parish in Toronto and in the Stations of the Cross at the shrine of the martyrs. Up north on the other hand, Christ was shown as frail, thin and vividly carrying the weight of all sin upon his shoulders. Venture out west into BC, and you’ll find crucifixes that are life size common place. Christ here is shown relatable to even proportion. He was the God man that truly suffered and felt human pain.

One of the first charismatic Christian songs I ever heard, and that we sing often as a team, is “Here I am to worship” by Chris Tomlin. A line that has always struck me in the song was:

“I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sins upon that cross.”

…it is true. I will never comprehend the full burden of God’s free sacrifice for my sins. As a team we watched the Passion of Christ film for Good Friday which highlights the heavy suffering Christ’s journey towards Calvary. At the end of the film however, the glimpse of the resurrection shows Christ’s shroud falling softly as if His body had dematerialised. Christ so absolutely desired our salvation and new life in Him that he rises with ease and power, a light contrast to His Passion, and He reigns as the Light forever.

My family and team, Encounter 1, have strived to emulate Christ’s time in the desert (even if it is to the smallest degree) so as to be as ready as possible for the paschal mystery. The great hope of Easter is that our Lenten sacrifices help us love God and others more, as well as life itself.

Jesus, you are the saviour of our past, present and future. That is why we will continue to do your work and our mission.


-Francis Nowak