To the most Amazing Retreat Core Team and Back Angel Team (Terri, Megan, Natalie, Patty, Derrick, Daniela, Susan, Jeanie, Martha, Richard, Jonathan, Marty, Jim, Stephanie -- Savannah, Cecely, Xandra, Elle, Carson, Becky, Marie, Micaela, Maddie, Elliese, Ryan, Jeff, Alex, Justin), our guest speakers: Tim Johans and Matt Stivison, Deacon Steve, and our incredible priests who helped to hear confessions: Fr. Henry, Fr. Brian, Fr. Pat Dennis and Fr.Bill Taylor.
After a good nights sleep and an even greater appreciation for my own bed, I just want to take this time to tell you all how incredibly blessed Johnny and I feel to have had this incredible opportunity to work beside each you in ministry to the confirmation candidates of our parish.
In all of our busy lives, with crazy schedules, and deadlines it is never easy to step away for an ENTIRE weekend to completely pour yourself out for the love of others.
And yet, with unimaginable gratitude and words that we have yet to find to express our thankfulness, we come to each of you with a heart full of love and deep appreciation for the extraordinary ways you each gave of yourselves (your time, talent and treasure) to make this retreat possible for the youth this weekend.
To the backangels - words truly cannot describe the ways each of you went above and beyond to make every little detail so special for those on the retreat. The decorations at each of the meals were INCREDIBLE. You each worked SOOO hard. Thank-you also for all the little notes you made, the hours of prayer that you spent before our Lord and the late nights tirelessly cleaning and preparing. You each are truly outstanding young people with a very beautiful gift of faith and we are so blessed to have you in our parish and youth program. Carson, Becky, Maddie, Jeff - thank-you for your awesome testimonies! Elliese and Savannah, thank-you for all the pictures you took, and Elliese thank-you so much for putting together such a rockin' slide show!!
To the adult core members: Thank-you so much for loving the teens this weekend in the ways that you did. For counseling them, listening to them, sharing your lives with them, hugging them, praying over them, comforting them and for leading them closer to Christ. Johnny and I feel so honored to know each one of you. There are so many ways you reveal Christ's light and love!
A few specific shout-outs to:
Marty: Thank-you Brother for all the extra work and hours and love you put into the underground Church! You are so talented and amazing!
Megan: Thanks for burning 100 CD's at the last minute! Thank-you also for leading the ROCKIN' Music session! You are so COOL!
Jeanie: Thank-you for shopping all last week and preparing and coordinating DELICIOUS meals. Great hospitality is one of the surest signs of LOVE and I am certain that what you and the Back Angels did with the meals was felt deeply by the teens.
Terri: Thank-you for all of your extra help in the office last week with this retreat, especially with making all the name tags and cutting fabric! I'm so blessed to work with you!
Tim Johans: Your talk, as always, was INCREDIBLE and set an amazing tone for the entire week. Your testimony is powerful and your willingness to give of yourself to our youth group is truly a gift and blessing!
Matt: Thank-you for you heartfelt and powerful testimony on Sunday! We are so thankful for you and your willingness to share your story each year! You are awesome!
Deacon Steve and Sharon: Thank-you for staying extra late on Friday evening to do Benediction. It was really special to have you there.
Alex: Oh my goodness.... I seriously do not know what Johnny and I would have done without you! I think for sure, I would have had a meltdown! Thank-you for coordinating all the hours of adoration, helping with the backangels, running around town, helping me call priests, creating playlists, leading worship and writing beautiful songs! (I know there were a million and seven other amazing things you did as well!)
Fr. Henry, Fr. Brian, Fr. Pat and Fr. Bill: As always, the walls come down and hearts are melted by God's extraordinary grace, love and mercy during the sacrament of Reconciliation. Undoubtably it was so healing for our young people to receive this Sacrament on this retreat. I spoke to one young man just a few minutes after his confession and he was glowing and told me, "I feel so good right now...I can't remember the last time I felt this great!" It's just one more reminder of how much God desires to set us free!!
Once again to all of you, we sincerely thank-you for all you did to make this weekend so special!
Lorissa & Johnny
"Where is God? How can we love him? It is not enough to say, "My God, I love you!" We love God in this world by giving something up, by giving something away." Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
"Where God is made great, men and women are not made small: there too men and women become great and the world is filled with light."
"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary." Pope Benedict XVI
"We long for the joy of heaven, where God is. It is within our power to be with him in heaven even now, to be happy with him in this very moment. But to be happy with him now to help as he helps, to give as he gives, to serve as he serves." Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
"The glory of God is man fully alive." St. Irenaeus
"He who made you also knows what He wants to do with you." St. Augustine
"He became what we are, so that he might make us what he is." St. Athanasius the Great
"As the Father sent me, even so I send you." John 20:21b
"After I recognized that there was a God, it was impossible for me not to live for him alone." Blessed Charles De Foucauld
"Confirmation: As the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples who were gathered at Pentecost, so the Holy Spirit comes to every baptized person for who the Church requests the gift of the Holy Spirit. It secures and strengthens him to be a living witness to Christ."
"As one candle is lit from the flame of another, so is faith kindled by faith." Romano Guardini
"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition of love, embracing both trial and joy." St. Therese of Lisieux
"I am created to do or to be something for which no one else is created: I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has." Blessed John Henry Newman
"It is part of your vocation to shout the Gospel from the rooftops, not by your words, but by your life!" Bl. Charles De Foucauld
"The happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth." Pope Benedict XVI
"The happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth." Pope Benedict XVI
"Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." Pi
"I will bless you so that you will be a blessing." Gen 12:2b
GOD is GOOD..........
