Author: circleoflifeyouth

Hey Everyone,

1. MASS this Friday – Due to last week’s rainstorm from Hurricane Harvey, we have rescheduled our Labor Day Mass for this Friday at St. Luke at 7pm. Please arrive by 6:30 to help prepare for Mass and bring food for afterward! Fr. Riccardo of the Fathers of Mercy has agreed to celebrate this Mass for us, including a great talk on the importance of Chastity in today’s culture.
2. SAINTS ALIVE this Friday – After Mass, the Ambassadors for Life with Ed Harpring and Karl Dolson of the Archdiocese will be having a discussion about Fr. Riccardo’s talk. We will join in on this discussion and transition into our first Saints Alive auditions / casting. Some of the scripts will be completed by then so this will begin the process. This years Saints are as follows:
   1. St. Michael the Archangel + Our Lady of Fatima
   2. St. Kateri Tekakwitha + the North American Martyrs
   3. St. Vitalis of Gaza, Egypt
   4. St. Agnes
   5. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
3. MISSION TRIP – Next Friday, September 15 is when registration opens for our high school trip through Catholic Heart Work Camp to Wichita, KS (July 15-21, 2018). Please pray we can get into this camp quickly. I will have more information about this by the end of the month.
4. MARCH FOR LIFE – First $50 deposit is due October 30. Click on the link for more details. Parent meeting for this is tentatively set for Sept 26 @ St. A (Time TBA)
5. SILENT RETREAT – Our first ever “Mobile Silent Retreat” for high school+ will be to New Orleans, LA to see the theatrical performance of “Garden” by Dumbox Ministries. This is tentatively set for the weekend of January 12-14, leaving after school and coming home Sunday evening. The play will be on Saturday.

More to come next week!

In Christ, for Love & Life,

John Sohl, CYM

502-428-6757

Hey Everyone!

Here is the Fall Calendar, including the Middle School Calendar, & the new SVDP Wednesday Dates, and more!

1. Fall Calendar
2. Middle School Dates
3. St. Vincent DePaul Wednesdays

1. MISSION TRIP – Keep an eye out for registration for our first BIG High School Mission Trip to Wichita, KS on July 15-21, 2018! After we secure our spots in mid-September, I’ll have more information about first deposits and more before the end of November.

2. SAINTS ALIVE – Auditions will be next Friday, September 8 @ 6:30-9pm @ St. Luke. The commitments are Sat, Oct 21 @ St. Luke (5-10pm) & Sat, Nov 4 @ St. Rita (4-9pm) at the Fall Festivals. Remember, this is HUGE for evangelization so be prepared to be at all the practices and rehearsals to make this the best Saints Alive yet!

3. St. Vincent DePaul Wednesdays, etc. – Check out the dates above, but please come to our newest outreach of the Circle of Life Youth. Contact Mary Whitfill @ 502-383-3295 for more information.

4. MARCH FOR LIFE – We will have more details on logistics in the coming weeks. First deposit of $50 will be due October 30. The tentative itinerary is as follows:

Wednesday, January 17 — Depart for Washington, D.C.

Thursday, January 18 — Holocaust Museum & Basilica for Vigil Mass

Friday, January 19 — Youth Rally & March for Life

Saturday, January 20 — SFLA National Conference (return home Sunday morning)

More to come in the coming weeks!

In Christ, for Love & Life!

John Sohl, CYM

The Circle of Life Youth

502-428-6757

The Silent Key

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, as we begin these daily reflections on the Silent Key and what it means to adore you properly, we offer up our whole selves as the only appropriate gift to you. Just as you gave your life for us, it seems fitting that our response to your unconditional love should be to allow you to have all of us as well. I ask all the saints in heaven, especially St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Paul the Great to pray for me, an unworthy servant of the Eucharist, that I may be able to endure the sacred tasks of this noble endeavor.

Above all, on this Feast of the Queenship of Mary, I ask you Immaculata to dissolve me completely into your womb so that these words may be yours entirely, in a way that my only contribution is perhaps the flavor by which these truths are received, similar to the salt in the ocean. Only, you exemplify what it means to be dissolved in the Ocean of Mercy Mary, and for that—your title as Queen of Heaven and Earth is most fitting. At last, I offer up this initial reflection for the intentions of the Holy Father Pope Francis and for the continued expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven, particularly through the teachings of the Theology of the Body.

We pray all of this to Jesus, through Mary. Amen.

August 22, 2017 – The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

From Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Spirit of the Liturgy” before he became Pope Benedict XVI, excerpt from page 36-37.

“What, then, is special about the liturgy of Israel? First of all, without doubt, the One to whom it is directed. Other religions frequent direct their worship to subordinate powers. … Adoration is due to God alone: that is the first commandment. Now this one God is worshipped through an extensive sacrificial system, the meticulous regulations for which are set out in the Torah. However, when we look at the cultic history of Israel more closely, we run up against a second characteristic, which leads finally, by its inner logic, to Jesus Christ, to the New Testament…What at first seems to be a break turns out, on closer inspection, to be a real fulfillment, in which all the paths formerly followed converge.” (SL, 36-37)

At the foundation of every relationship is Communication. Without this giving and receiving of one another, it is impossible to know any substantive aspect of a person. Yes, while information can be acquired through other people and through other means, the reciprocal reality of relationship can still come into being only through the willful embrace of two persons. In other words, if you don’t talk to someone, you won’t know who they are!

But it goes a bit deeper doesn’t it? If we only ever talk to someone, we may thoroughly communicate who WE are to the other, but we may still know nothing of the other. This could present a problem if we don’t learn how to LISTEN. Suddenly, it’s not just in the giving or doing that we find relationship, but in the receiving of the gift of the other. What better way to receive than to be silent before the other in both manner and speech? Body language is critical in this because that too communicates whether or not we are invested in understanding what is being communicated from the other. That means—pay attention by looking them in the eyes, calming your movements, asking questions, waiting for them to finish what they’re saying, and then restating what they’ve said to ensure you understand what’s being communicated.

I experienced this in Adoration just last night. After sitting with a particular chapter from Scripture, I started to wonder exactly what God was really trying to say to me. After everyone else had left the room, I got my chance to just sit before the Tabernacle in total silence, in both manner and speech. After a while of reading the Word made Flesh over and over in meditation, I felt the confidence to speak outloud what I felt God was saying to me. Suddenly, the peace of my relationship with Jesus came flooding back in a way I had not felt in a long while. Give it a try sometime, and see what Christ is trying to say to YOU, if only we communicate with Him in prayer in Silent Adoration.

More reflections to come as the Silent Key continues!

Good afternoon everyone!

Don’t forget, this Friday is when the Crescendo Talent Show Acts will be DUE for our lineup! Again, that will be Sunday, August 13 @ 2:30-4:30pm, St. Rita Casper Center. Text me at 502-428-6757 (John) to sign up officially!

This Friday, meet at the Big Four Walking Bridge @ 7:45pm for a Rosary Walk. This will be right after the 5pm Mass for the Fortnight for Freedom at the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Ambassadors for Life will take part in that before we meet at the Walking Bridge for our follow-up Rosary. Our walk will only last about 45 min so please make sure your ride stays and prays with us before you head back home!

We hope to see you there!

Also, if you can help us–all the Ignite teens will be doing a Circle of Life CAR WASH at St. Rita on Saturday morning, 8am-1pm in the front parking lot. Please come out and support their efforts! We’ll also be selling donuts after the 9am and 11am Masses at St. Rita on Sunday morning.

Thanks and God bless!

John