 So so anyway, I'm your track coordinator. I'm happy to help also just a heads up this This track is in is just in the middle of a little bit of change Because in November our bishops are supposed to we'll see if it happens approve a new Document on youth and young adult ministry and we're going to it's not going to be anything radical You know like oh wait, we should talk to young people, you know like it's all in there You know what we cover is good But we do want to update it with kind of the language and the vision because part of the part of the beauty of Documents like that is it helps everybody in the field have a similar vocabulary and you know vision to work with so We're not exactly sure how that document is going to look but it will be an opportunity for us to update a lot of our videos on on this on the franciscan at home website and Not also to mention. I don't know if we mentioned this already There won't be a Bosco conference next year on campus. I'm not the first person dropping the bomb on that one, okay? Because next year is the Eucharistic Congress and we recognize that many you know a lot of the Eucharistic Congress is focused on church leaders Like yourself and so we didn't want to have any competition to what the bishops were trying to do in Indianapolis We'll actually be very pre Franciscan will be very present at that particular conference So you kind of get like a little Bosco if you end up going to to that conference, okay? So Let's actually just start off with maybe a bigger vision of what we talk about when we mean youth ministry I in addition to doing ministry and speaking at conferences and you know as Petrach mentioned yesterday I was a parish minister for ten years I've worked with a number of different groups such as life team also young life if you're familiar with young life and Even now as a deacon in my parish I'm helping out, you know one of the reasons they sent me there is because I'm at the parish where the pastor is the chaplain of the Catholic High School And so I've gotten to be really involved in that also just having seven kids. It's just a perpetual youth group that's going on Because we just have all their friends over at the house all the time and it's just a real gift to to be a part of all of those things and ministry and stuff like that so But in terms of a bigger vision of ministry I would say that there's there's a there's a way that When we think of youth ministry sometimes we we narrowed the definition too much Which is to say we talk about a youth group or a youth ministry at a parish And I I do think those are very important elements of youth ministry But sometimes I actually just like to refer to it as ministry with youth I find when I'm at like dies diocesan events if I do like a talk on youth ministry I get a bunch of parish youth ministers, but if I do a talk on ministry with youth I get a whole wider range of people and so throughout this track Even though I think maybe one of the defaults is going to be you know ministry in a parish specifically We want to keep casting a wider vision of it which is to say we're talking about ministry with youth Which takes on a lot of different forms. It really needs to be adaptable. You'll hear later in some workshops You know that That stereotype that youth ministry is youth group is really not what the church's vision of ministry with young people It is that being said a youth group can play a very important part in the context of youth ministry And so hopefully as you get through this week You might be able to start expanding your mind a little bit and seeing various different ways Doing ministry with young people Ways to coordinate ministry with young people in different You know elements in the parish or in the diocese and of course We really want to as we get later on in the week it very practical with what are some of those things You know, what does that look like? You know, how might we do that more effectively in today's age? I One of my favorite scriptures is in the gospel of Luke Chapter 3 and it's or chapter 2 rather and it's the finding of Jesus in the temple Each year Jesus his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover and when he was 12 years old So he's isn't like junior high, right? They didn't have that back then, but you know that that helps us They went up according to festival custom and after they had completed its days as they were returning The boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it Thinking he was in the caravan They journeyed for a day and look for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him They were turned to Jerusalem to look for him I Have some great sympathy for Mary and Joseph. I don't know how many of you have kids and How many of you have lost a child for a good period of time? Yeah, everyone. Oh, come on I'm not the only one. Thank you for at least remaining there. I mean like for an hour half hour Ten minutes. You've been at Walmart. Come on. Okay. Okay. Yeah, you know what we're talking about Yeah, I That one of the worst was Well, there's two bad moments my oldest son one time we were we were driving I don't know where we're driving but we stopped at a truck stop or a rest stop and you know food stuff like that and then you know we get back on the highway and Suddenly there's a little voice in the back going. Where's John and it's like. Oh, no We forgot a child, you know because we had five at the time and I don't do math I'm really bad at it and of course it was one of those highways. That's like next exit 23 miles You know, it's just this this you know or like flooring it trying to get around he was totally fine He was actually chatting with the bartender and he was having a great time The scariest though, but at least I knew exactly where he was that was totally fine the scariest though I went to I was visiting some friends in Indiana I think we had about six kids at this point So visiting some friends in Indiana and they also had a large family and we saw the movie happy feet remember that movie I hate that movie, but it's another story Probably because of this experience. It's not the movie's fault. So Anyway, I had six kids this these friends of ours had five kids So just a you know gaggle of kids that were around and the movie stops and we get up And I take the boys to the bathroom my wife takes the other kids, you know The girls and some of the other kids to the candy counter I I come out and I recognize that I'm missing a boy Bobby my third son And I think well He's probably with Jenny and I look at Jenny and you know my wife's name and we had this immediate recognition that is Bobby with you No, I thought Bobby was with you. Okay. Don't panic. You know just take some breaths. I'm sure he's around here somewhere He was not around anywhere. I run back into the theater. He's not there now It's like freak out level starts happening. It's felt like an eternity It's probably ten minutes at most, but it was a long long ten minutes and then finally He comes in an adult brings him in through the front door I guess what happened was in the darkness. He just got up and he thought he was with another family or with our family But they just like walked out You know those doors at the back of movie theaters that don't have door knobs on them You know like the one Jesus knocks to get into our heart. So Yeah, so he was just standing out. He was probably six He was standing out in the parking lot just sobbing, you know, because and again I know isn't this and we're in Indiana like he has no idea where he is and we're like running around You know the the polyester vest kids are like, you know code seven code seven so when we saw him it was just this absolute joy and It was yeah, it's just nothing nothing like finding a lost kid so I can't imagine the anxiety that Mary and Joseph had in Losing Jesus for three days like that is that's just craziness. I mean it's just absolute craziness now to soften the blow of you know Not thinking them irresponsible parents The Jesus was 12 at the time and 12 was the age of bar mitzvah it was the age of becoming a man and when communities used to caravan down to Down to Jerusalem the men would walk together and then the women and children would walk together So as a kid at that age, he would be moving from the women and children group to the man group That was present and so it was really easy for Joseph to think oh Jesus is so kind He's probably doing his last walk with the women and children and Mary's thinking Oh my little boy's grown up and he's doing his first walk with the men And so it's only a day because they're not walking with each other at the end of the day of traveling All the groups get together and there's this Wait, you don't have Jesus. I thought you know, oh my gosh, right? You know, and it's it's looking really really bad and I would I would probably say of the two of them Joseph was probably more stressed out right because You know in the holy family, you know If you've got a holy family of the incarnate word in the immaculate conception and something goes wrong It's probably on you Joseph, you know like like God's a father's like like Joseph. You literally had one job You know just just don't lose that kid So then it takes them a whole day, you know, but you know, they can't travel at night because it's not safe So then they have to you know, they have to get up in the morning and they they travel a whole day back to Jerusalem And now it's the next day and they're searching Jerusalem. They're looking at you know all the acquaintances all the places they go and They finally find him praise God After three days, this is that third day they find him in the temple Sitting in the midst of teachers listening to them and asking them question And all who heard them were astounded at his understanding and at his answers When his parents saw him they were astonished and his mother said to him son Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety I think we just always need to remember the humanity of our blessed mother, you know, like as she's holy She was without sin, but she's a mom and she was anxious, you know She was really anxious about her son. My mom used to say stuff like that like why have you done this to us, right? Joseph says nothing. Maybe Luke just edited that out for kindness and And and Jesus said to them, why were you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my father's house? But they didn't understand what he said to them He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them And his mother kept all these things in her heart and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age in favor before God and man I'm I find this gospel story to be so beautiful because it's a story of Jesus as an adolescent and What a gift that you know, we hear him as a baby and then we get him when he's 30 But the gospel of Luke just shares with us this one beautiful story of something that happened when he was 12 years old And what I think is amazing is that Jesus truly Was an adolescent, you know, he allowed himself to be an Adolescent he all stages of life, but particularly being 12 I think of all the ages that I'd like to go back to 12 and 13 would be at the very low end Of the list, you know, like seven would be cool 20 would be cool 13 No, please never never again, and it's good to understand a little bit of Christology to really grasp what Jesus does for us. So Jesus the second person of the Trinity fully God and becomes fully man like us in all things But sin that's the gift. He doesn't just zip on a human suit He genuinely becomes human and retains his Godhead. That's that's part of the mystery the beautiful mystery of his life He takes on our human nature and sometimes people don't get this that actually our intellect and our will resides in our human nature So you could say that Jesus had two intellects a divine intellect and a human intellect He also had two wills a divine will and a human will and This understanding this is important because it helps us understand some of the gospel moments Like for example when Jesus is in the garden and he says father not my will But your will be done. Well, the your will is the divine will but the my will is the human will and It's so beautiful that Jesus does not ask us to do anything that he didn't do himself Isn't the challenge of our human life to surrender our will to the divine will and so he himself did that Also just in his humanity. He had this human intellect and human will That's why the scriptures say he advances in wisdom at the end of that, you know Like well, how could God advance in wisdom? Well, it's referring to his his humanity and He didn't cheat that's what that's what's incredible. I would have cheated all the time like as a baby You know, he wasn't speaking 12 languages You know, he wasn't explaining to Mary how she needs to do the diaper better, right? Like he allowed himself in his humility to really embrace the human condition He had to learn how to walk and he probably fell a few times doing it He had to learn how to speak. He had to learn how to write. He allowed the human brain as it was to just grow and function and that meant that he allowed himself to be an Adolescent and I think there's nothing more adolescents a great example of adolescent is that when Mary When Mary says why have you done this to us? You've been looking for us with great anxiety and Jesus says Well, why were you looking for me? Like isn't that a total teenage response was the problem, you know, like why are you so stressed about this, right? Now Jesus didn't sin. He didn't do anything, you know sinful in that sense But part of humanity is learning from our mistakes not all mistakes are sinful, right as he learned to speak He probably didn't form every word exactly correct the first time and he has to learn right So he's actually learning what it means to be in a family, which is part of the role of adolescents like maybe you should just Give your parents a heads up, you know, if you're gonna stay behind and they're all gonna keep pilgrimage, right? Like again, no sin involved just Adolescence, you know, how many times do you talk to a teen and you want to say what were you thinking and they just weren't Because their brain is still forming, right? You know, so Jesus seemed to think this was a wonderful idea to hang out in the temple for a while And the parents obviously had a bit of a different impression of that You know, it's fascinating, isn't it that the one story that we get of Jesus as a teenager is Filled with miscommunication Anxiety worry, right? That's what happens with teenagers and families You know everything seems cool, and then they become teenagers and suddenly the rules have all changed on us And if that's how it is again in a family with the incarnate word the immaculate conception and the terror of demons How much more so is it with the young people that we minister to or those that are in our own families? But there's two things I want to draw from this scripture as we lead into this idea of our own spirituality Like what is the spirituality that we really need to embrace? In terms of doing ministry with young people and I would I would say there's there's two things to look at There's Mary and there's Jesus The first is Mary To have her heart for young people I Mean she she did this with great anxiety You know, I mean I imagine Joseph was like look we just have to go to bed now Like we can't you know like she probably wanted to immediately go back to Jerusalem and Joseph the protectors being like look We just wait till the Sun comes up, you know, you know how moms are, you know And and to have that heart that passion for young people lost young people I pray that the church would be inspired by this passion overall that we would have a greater recognition of the lost young people in Our parishes in our country in our world And I don't need to preach to the choir here The reason you signed up to do this track is because you have that heart as well and praise God for that I'm always grateful that you know the heart of Jesus the heart of the father is so big I couldn't handle all of it, but I'm really glad he gave me a little piece of his heart for young people and I keep asking the Lord to just keep that part on fire that I would have a passion for young people that our church Would have a passion for young people We often hear laments about you know young people leaving the church in high numbers But sometimes I feel like when at least in the way it sounds that Sometimes we're more worried about how that's going to affect us than affect them Like young people are leaving the church and now they're gonna close my parish And sometimes we can be kind of selfish in thinking, you know, oh, that's gonna be such a problem for us But the real problem is for them. They do not know Jesus who is the way the truth and the life You know Jesus said the thief comes to steal kill and destroy I've come that you might have life to the full They're not living that fullness of life And it's really important that you know and Mary's heart for her children that we would have that same zeal that same enthusiasm that same Anxious concern for the young people in our own parish or whoever they've put into our lives and The other image is just Jesus himself as a young person You know when I was in ministry and I still recall this and in my office I have a picture of Joseph and Jesus and Jesus is a teenager. It's a really cool picture It's hard to find good pictures of Jesus as a teenager There's a lot of baby Jesus and then there's a lot of you know, 30 Jesus But there's very few teen Jesus at least the ones that aren't like too weird Even the story of Jesus is teaching in the temple, you know There's a there's a few of them out there where it's like Jesus is in the temple And he's like saying something really inspiring and the rabbis are like dang, you know, you're really smart, right? But listen to actually what the scriptures say about what Jesus was doing He was sitting in the midst of the teachers listening to them and asking them questions So Jesus wasn't lecturing the rabbis at this Right and sometimes I see a picture. I'm like, I don't think that's what the gospel says He wasn't lecturing rabbis. He was listening to them He loved the Lord. He loved the faith and he wanted to learn more about that So being in the context of the temple, he was just eating this up. This was awesome Isn't again wait. God is learning from us. What is going on? What is going on? That is the humility the humility of God And yes, they were amazed at his replies and how they answered How they answered his questions and their understanding. I mean, yeah, they were amazed that this 12 year old kid was Asking brilliant questions and they're asking him questions and this dialogue is going on But he allowed himself to be a teenager And and during this week, I just encourage you at some time in your prayer When you think of Jesus think of him as a teenager It'll make some huge changes in the way you approach young people You know Think of you know, when you when you go to the you know, the port or an adoration and you're just you know have that We all have these mental images of Jesus One of my strongest mental images is Jesus as a 13 a 12 and 13 year old And sit down and talk to Jesus as a 12 or a 13 year old. Let him bless you Because when you can start seeing Jesus as a teenager You'll be able to more You know fruitfully see Jesus in teenagers And you're going to be able to help teenagers see Jesus in themselves That that a teenager doesn't need to grow up To become an adult to be holy That holiness is accessible to them right where they are That Jesus sanctified all parts of the human condition And that includes adolescents You know and again, thank you st. Luke for sharing with us that beautiful story and that insight Into jesus as a teenager. He didn't cheat. He embraced it fully One of the documents that we're going to keep referring to throughout your Throughout the tracks is a beautiful document written by pope francis called christus vivis Which is in english christ is alive And i don't know if you've read that or not. How many of you have read that document? Okay, just a handful of you so christus vivis Is a It's gosh You just need to read it. It's really really amazing. So a number of years ago. I think 2018 Uh pope francis called a synod And he titled it youth faith and vocational discernment And he did something somewhat unusual which isn't unusual for francis to do something unusual But he actually did a Pre-synod where he gathered together a few hundred young people from around the world And listened and talked to them now by young people it was youth what we would call youth and young adults So in europe and also in other cultures You know hoveness would be 16 to 30 And so that's actually a more common world definition of when you have a young person Most people in the world think of somebody between 16 and 30 In the united states, it's a little weird Because we're the united states. So we're a little weird But we usually break off 12 to 18 year olds and we refer to them as youth and then 18 to At one point it was like 39, but that's a little crazy 30s. Let's just say 30s, which could include 39 As young adults And the there's the reason we do that in the united states is is mainly because of our legal system That at the age of 18 One become you know goes from being a minor to being a legal adult And so a lot of the legal stuff makes it You know more conducive just to kind of do the 12 to 18 Also in our country We have a very established secondary school system Where you know, we have young people in A junior high and then a high school that goes right up until you're 18 years old So just part of our school system and legal system and culture in the united states made 18 seemingly be a really good marker denoter of Youth and young adults and that's why it's good to understand that because when you read christis vivet He's really talking more, you know kind of an older youth, but certainly a young adult A young adult crowd, you know that that is present there And and yet it really does apply the principles still apply You know to younger people I would say to those in that 12 to 18 year bracket So he does this send it and he invites all these folks of different ages, you know to come together actually our our speaker tonight Katie prajahn Katie migrady is um She was one of when she was a young adult. She was one of the delegates that was picked I mean the united states only sent about four or five people She was one of the delegates to participate in that senate and it was an it was an amazing experience And pope francis was just really available to everybody and was essentially just hanging out with these youth and young adults for the whole week And uh wrote and then the the senate happened and then he wrote this Exertation called christis vivet beginning by saying christ is alive There um, I want to I want to share oops wait darn. Oh, I don't have it open I'm so unprepared. I'm just so excited about being a granddad My my brain isn't working as fully as it usually does All right Pope francis is one of the most quotable popes of all time and And he does not fail to disappoint in this document. It's worth waiting for Here it is The beginning of the document is such a wonderful message christ is alive He is our hope And in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world and everything he touches becomes young new Full of life these first words then I would like to say to every young christian are these christ is alive And he wants you to be alive Have you read his document evangeli godium the joy of the gospel? Okay, so what's really cool is That when you read the joy of the gospel and then you read christus vivet He is doing everything he said to do in joy of the gospel In christus vivet christus vivet isn't really about Youth it's for youth his main audience are young people themselves And so one of the great things about christus vivet is I think it gives us a wonderful model As well, how might we more effectively proclaim the gospel to young people? But there are certainly beautiful moments. It's almost like Somebody explained it to me this way. It's like, you know, you're in a living room and and there's yeah You know po francis is sitting in a chair and there's like young people on the floor and on the couch But then there's like some adult chaperone standing in the back And so he's kind of like talking to young people and every once in a while he goes and you need to make sure you do that And da da da da. Oh, and you need to do that, right? So there's this there's this little back and forth, uh, which has to do with The the dialogue that he's having flame flame find it. Yes And this is this is such a great phrase. He says here in number 67 Anyone called to be a parent pastor or guide to young people? So now he's kind of looking at the back of the room. He's looking at us, right? Must have the farsightedness to appreciate the little flame that continues to burn The fragile reed that is shaken but not broken The ability to discern pathways where others only see walls To recognize potential Where others only see peril This is how god the father sees things He knows how to cherish and nurture the seeds of goodness sewn in the hearts of the young Each young person's heart should thus be considered holy ground A bearer of seeds of divine life Before which we must take off our shoes In order to draw near and enter more deeply into the mystery It's not a great that that's 67. It's it's just incredible This idea and this is what I was getting back to with this vision of Jesus as a young person, right? You know pope francis is saying there's such beauty In the gift of youth the gift of being young there's a sacredness there And that we who minister with young people need to acknowledge the sacredness the giftedness of being young He notes that in scripture the same word in greek for young is also the same work in greek for new And so you can you can translate things With that word instead so for example if anyone is in christ, they are a new creation You could also say they are a young creation That jesus christ is ever ancient ever new. He's ever ancient ever young And in fact at one point he talks about how jesus himself really is eternally young That the ministry that he did was really while he was a young person a young adult in his 30s And many of his apostles were in their 20s or in the case of john in their teens Our blessed mother when she said yes Was likely 14 years old 13 or 14 years old that would be the common age of where she would be at And so even though sometimes, you know, we envision these icons and these pictures of really old people and the path of salvation history That might be when they died But much of this happens in their youth I say this to youth my students a lot because I think it's so beautiful and francis does an incredible job of giving A history of saints, you know in the old testament as well as in church history young people who made a big difference in salvation history And it's good to highlight those who died young because that's how we know their saints, you know, i'm rhea garedi hosé del Sanchez del rio Carlos acuity, right, you know, these are all great, but but if you only do that then a young person things like oh crud I have to die violently, you know in order to be holy But it's worth highlighting, you know francis was a teen when he had his conversion You know the the work that many people did in their teenage years when they made that That definitive decision to become a disciple of jesus christ And that that is the gift of youth. That's the gift of newness As the brain develops and one of the workshops you'll get is on adolescent development and how the brain works because that is important But one of the one of the dramatic things about Adolescence is your brain starts able being able to think in the abstract You're able to think of concepts. You're able to envision the future You know, these are things that isn't really a big deal for a seven or eight year old But when they get to 11 12 13 Suddenly, whoa, i'm seeing the world in a whole new way Um psychologists say that the most dramatic time of change in our lives are are zero to two You know and just look at a baby from zero to two and it's this massive change But the next one is in puberty whenever that hits. I mean again, look at you pre puberty and after puberty I mean, it's a physical change. It's an emotional change. It's a cognitive change. It's a spiritual change And what's beautiful is that even though that puberty hits There's still a few years that they're still trying to deal with it And that's that is I think the real excitement of working with young people They're open to new ideas because they themselves are very new They are seeing things in a in a whole new way And so as ministers of the gospel, we have a beautiful opportunity one to reinforce The faith of their family This is hoping their family has faith and is active in it Because they're asking questions now and one of the first things an adolescent does is well I've been listening to you for a while I wonder what other people have to say about it and that's not necessarily an act of rebellion It's an act of trying to find the truth. Well, if what you've been saying is true I should be able to find that in other places And I think that's a great gift that we get to do in ministry is that You know, we read we might say the exact same things that their parents told them But it hits them in a different way because they go, oh So this is a true statement. This wasn't just a parent thing that that I was a part of and it's a longer I'll I'll I'll rant this in probably another workshop at some point, but it is a It is very true that much of the work that we do in ministry with young people Is to make up for what isn't present in their family lives You know that there are many families that are just Not faithful living their faith feel empowered enough to pass on the faith, you know, that that is that is a true statement And so that really dominates a lot of the ministry that we do with young people But that being said, there's some that would take that I think a little bit too far and suggest that Youth ministry only exists Because the family has broken down And and I would say that's absolutely false. That is not true at all And I say this even being a dad and I think I'm pretty good at raising my kids in the faith But I want them to be involved in youth ministry in their teenage years for a number of reasons. First, I know They need this reinforced. They've heard me a lot. I need to make sure that I'm surrounding them with people that will say what I've been saying I can't help them find fellow Disciple peers that are present like I don't know their friend group. I can't help navigate that I can't empower them for leadership positions in their high school or in their parish as a teenager, right? Like there's there's a whole depth of ministry with young people that if we had You know rock star faithful catholic families Somebody in ministry with young people would be able to go really deep And really empower them to be evangelists and disciples and living the faith But it is true that we often do get caught up in a fairly rudimentary approach Because we have young people coming to us who you know, don't even know that jesus is god Or or the place in life And tangent back to the workshop so in terms of our respecting and loving young people and You know that vision that pope francis talks about of taking our shoes off In the sacredness of what god is doing in their lives When we talk about a spirituality of young people, I would put that at the very heart of it A recognition that jesus sanctified this time of life That jesus is ever young. You know, he's ever new. He's ever young That the the time of life that they are in is a sacred and beautiful time And it's a short time You know, we really want to be present because it's a difficult time It's a difficult time for young people They're not they don't know what's going on, right? You know, their bodies are bigger So they're breaking stuff knocking things over their their brain is developing They have this they have this thing now and it's so easy that we forget about this, but sexual awareness That was something they never had like that's like, you know, we have to we have to be sensitive to that This is a whole new thing they're dealing with And they have no idea what's going on And sadly the world has a lot of opinions about what's going on with them, right? But there's a lot of confusion and anxiety that's present there They're navigating difficult things with their parents because sometimes parents They're they're just not ready for this shift. I mean it it's like we have collective amnesia about how difficult it was to be a Teenager I think that's similar to like giving birth and I'm only saying that because my wife says it, you know, like in the moment of giving birth, you know, she's Saying very colorful things to me of what I did to her and that she'll never do it again And then just a few hours later. She's holding a baby. She's like let's have another I'm like, are you Did you hear yourself earlier? You know, right? You know, I think there's a similar thing with adolescents like we can and especially other adults if you don't work with adolescents It's really easy to romanticize Adolescents. Oh, we were so carefree back then, you know, we had no worries in the world. Well Well, maybe we think we didn't have worries compared to the worries that we have now But they are very worried. In fact, they're one of the most stressed out generations ever And people coming up saying this is the greatest time in your life Is maybe the worst thing you could say to them because they're not feeling like it's the greatest time of their life, right? But it's a sacred and beautiful time that we have the gift and the pleasure to Walk with them in certain ways And in our prayer life, it begins With jesus at the heart of it as a young person the sacredness of who they are It's really easy in youth ministry to get caught up in the ministry part and forget about the youth part There's a lot of logistics that can go on in Running a confirmation program Getting ready for a youth night Doing a mission trip and all these other things And it is so easy and i'm just saying this at least in my own experience. It is so easy To forget The point of what it is about I when I was in youth ministry This was a wonderful awareness that the lord gave me, you know, we were doing I think it was a student book conference, you know, and I'd always been encouraging kids to bring other kids and do things like that And we had to go like the bus Was ready to go and there was one kid who was missing. He was a bit of a space kid at kid really friendly really nice but just a space kid at kid And he wasn't there. He wasn't there. He wasn't there. He was like a junior. He's a junior senior So I called his house his phone wasn't on the mom's like well, I know he left He left, you know, a half hour ago. He should have been there by now, right and anyway So he pulls in Right now we're like 20 minutes behind everybody's anxious getting upset and stuff like that and he not he drives up with two friends Who he wants to take To the student book conference And they don't have forms. I mean they just have nothing. They have no idea what's going on And God Stopped me from talking From what I really wanted to say in that moment because what actually had happened was he had been trying to convince his friends And he just felt like you know what I've got to make one last pitch So he went to their house And he argued him into it and he said just get in the car. We're gonna do this And isn't that what I've been telling them to do like for the past few years Like isn't this the exact example of a disciple and evangelist, you know, right? And here I was so close to dropping f-bombs, you know, do this kid And it was such a glorious holy spirit moment where it's like I almost had a vision of Jesus like Step in between being like stop like look and it was and I was able to get over The forms we didn't have the money. We didn't have the other stuff and be like Wow, you're you're doing it like you are worried about these kids souls and you're doing it and I said well I Get on the bus like you give me let me call your parents right now We'll start I'll tell the secretary to fax forms and And we'll figure it out, you know and we got there and it was like hey, I got two more It's just what happened and they were like, okay, and it worked. I don't encourage this but But but it was one of those like, you know what holy spirit like you're making this happen And I'm not going to get in the way And and it really made me realize wow like it's so easy for me to just Get into schedule mode and kid mode and and just forget the lives of the young people that we're ministering to So a youth minister, I think is always looking for that sensitivity is always looking to reflect that heart It's just a part constantly of our prayer and it's something we want to be we want to be grateful for And grateful too, you know We all encounter very annoying young people And that's okay You know, it's it's a similar you've had similar situations where you have this kid who's just a real Obnoxious jerk of a kid and he you know just drives you crazy the whole time Of course he goes on the retreat at the retreat. He's a total obnoxious jerk But then you have this wonderful moment where you proclaim The gospel and he listens to it and he decides that he's all in And now he's going to become a disciple. He's going to become a catholic And so this young kid that was an obnoxious jerk becomes a devoted disciple Who is an obnoxious jerk? Because the personalities don't change right it's like like you don't get a personality change with it And uh, and then maybe i'm speaking cruelly of them But what I would ask the lord and he always he always gave me this gift when somebody who's driving me crazy I would say this lord Let me see in them what you see in them Let me Love them like you love them change my heart Because we always I love the phrase we always hate most in others what we hate most in ourselves You know the people who annoy us or do things it's usually a tell What is it about you that's reminding me of what I don't like about me that I'm trying to shut out And young people will do that to you a lot right? And so that gift of just saying lord You died on the cross you were thinking of this person when you died on the cross you love them madly and completely and totally Help me love them like that And he would He always would you know, I it was just it wasn't an overnight change. Sometimes it would be a novena Sometimes it'd be a 54 day novena But that's I think part of the that's part of what we're coming to the lord with that's part of our spirituality That we're recognizing I need god to change my heart I need god to change my heart You know petrarch was just so nice to me last night when he introduced me and and something he said is that I have no rough edges Um, I don't spend a lot of time with petrarch, so I'm able to fool him and I'm great I'm grateful for that, but I would say this though and I would give glory to god with this that Ministering to young people as long as I have has smoothed out the rough edges of myself That god has helped me love people in a supernatural way in a way that I could not love them myself You know, I'm finding myself attracted to people that I have nothing in common with And yet I find myself I really understand, you know, st. John Bosco used to often say Just that you are young is enough to make me love you very much And after 30 years of youth ministry, I'm finally getting that that idea that just that you are young You know when I'm at a mall And I see teenagers just like everybody else fades and I'm just and I try not to be creepy, you know because I'm Because I'll just and and sometimes I I keep forgetting that I'm like 50 because I'll I'll just walk up to a group of teenagers And they'll be like what the you know, and I just be like Right. This is this is creep. Bye. I'll pray for you, you know And um, but yeah, it's just but this isn't because I'm awesome like just ask the lord for this gift Like that's what I did just just ask the lord for this gift. He'll give it to you. He loves He loves to share his heart with us. He loves to share his passion with us And and make that a prayer. He also doesn't force it if we don't want it to right now There's a I love the image of the heart of jesus on fire because fire purifies, but fire hurts And when you ask the lord to help you love young people like he does you feel the joy And you feel the pain It can be difficult to love young people. It's very difficult when they're in Hard situations, but even in those moments where you're feeling You know the the flame of the lord is like the burning bush, you know That was the imagery that that pope francis gave, you know that you would take off our shoes before the mystery It burns, but it never consumes You know, that's when am I operating on the flame of the holy spirit or the flame of my own power If it's my own interest if it's my own curiosity if it's my own desire I can start off on fire But it's going to get consumed right away a couple years into it. I'm sick of these kids I'm sick of these parents. I'm sick of this pastor. I'm sick of this bishop But if it's the flame of divine love if it's the flame of the spirit It's that burning bush In which is never consumed but is always on fire And one of the and and it wasn't just a scheduling thing that had a start with this like this is The beginning of understanding ministry with young people It's our relationship with god And making sure that what is begun in the spirit doesn't end up in the flesh That it doesn't become something that's formulaic or programmatic That being said we'll talk in this track about some good programs and formulas and you know things to do How to give a talk how to structure a night like we'll we'll get to those things But we would be really remiss if we wanted to make it sound like the effective youth ministry Is if you do a bc and then d always occurs right effective ministry with young people is that we ourselves would allow The holy thought you know the our heavenly father To share in his heart and his passion For young people that we would be able to see the sacredness of youth That we would be able to see jesus in all of them to see see the potential in them that they can't see themselves That we would allow ourselves even to be hurt By young people that's a vulnerability in any relationship That we would be hurt by them and offer up those sacrifices to god and to the lord But at all times really keeping in mind and keeping in heart our prayer life um A scripture that always Called me out When I was in ministry and still calls me out to this day Also from the gospel of luke. Thank you luke for all these challenging scriptures um Is when he talks about Hello, it's luke chapter 11. Hello 11 There we go Have I forgotten this my this is my favorite scripture and I can't even find it right now Wait a second, maybe six hundred twelve This is when you can edit this part out of the recording that that's present. I mean really it's absolute. It's my absolute favorite This is a different bible. You know how like you're used to having a bible and you're used to seeing exactly where it is on the page Thank you for Groaning and appreciation for that statement. So it's luke chapter 17 and it's verses seven through ten Jesus said this who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field Come here immediately and take your place at table What he not rather say to him prepare something for me to eat Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink you may eat and drink when I'm finished Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded So should it be with you when you have done all you've been commanded say we are unprofitable servants We have done what we were obliged to do Well, why did that call me out so much? Well, there's a there's a thing that's happening that the servant is in the field all day And when he comes home at the end of the day, he's supposed to serve the master He's supposed to you know give the master food to eat and something to drink And then the master's promise is you yourself may eat and drink afterward And I realized that there were a number of years actually for me in ministry Where if I was in this parable, I would be the servant that came back after a long day of work And the master said you need to serve me and I'd be like, yeah, I've been working all day. Okay I'm off the clock good night, and I just go up to my room and really Go to bed without my spiritual supper The catechism beautifully talks about prayer as an encounter of God's thirst with our own That actually it's God who thirsts for us in prayer And so this idea then of the servant Giving himself to the master giving food and drink to the master and then the master giving food and drink To the servant is a beautiful image of the reciprocity of our prayer life And of course the food and drink he gives us is his very body blood soul and divinity It's the fullness of the gift of himself And the heart of the servant really is not the stuff he does out in the field But taking care of the master and being in relationship with the master And I think this is one of our biggest traps in ministry not just youth ministry in any ministry Is that we can end up serving the household of the Lord And forget to serve the Lord of the household That we can forget that our primary call Is intimacy with God is holiness God is more concerned About the ministry he does with you Than the ministry he does through you You are not a means to an end In terms of God's heart and God's life And we want to be very careful, you know, there's a one of the ancient heresies of the church's pelagianism And pelagius said that Jesus gave us a great example with which we can now follow And by ourselves We can do it like the real gift of Jesus was the example to follow now We know the way to do it, but we don't necessarily need grace to do it. We can do it on our own And I think in ministry we can often struggle. Maybe we're not conscious of it with a pelagianistic attitude Your ministry should not try to be paying back the Lord for all the goodness he gave you You can't pay that back. That was a free gift But I know sometimes in my life, that's how I treated ministry. Lord, you've done so much for me I'm gonna do this for you And the Lord was up there like Okay, you know like kind of but you know But my problem was then I started to identify myself before the Lord As a youth minister You know, that's who I am. That's what I'm called to be. This is how I love the Lord And Jesus was at that point being like no, that's that's way off But I was just kind of caught in that and so, you know what when my ministry was going great The Lord loves me and everything's wonderful. But when my ministry wasn't going well Lord, what have I done? What have I done? Please forgive me, right? Because my identity was really based on the ebbs and flows of ministry, which is not a good thing to base your identity on When I started ministry a real veteran shared this great words with me He said, Bob He said you need to remember that when you're doing ministry and ministry is going great You're not that great And when ministry is going really bad, you're not that bad There's so much that goes on in ministry that you have no control over, right? I can't control who's in the room that night You know, I mean, I invite people but you know, they're not there for me And then they stupidly start dating every each other and then everything goes downhill, right? And so like being able to separate ourselves As a child of God That my identity is rooted In you know, the heavenly father As a you know as a disciple of Jesus as a temple of the holy spirit And my call to holiness Certainly might be lived out in this particular vocation lowercase v to do ministry with young people But I also always want to have a holy detachment to that That I would be open to being called wherever the Lord might be calling me You know, no matter no matter what that is I'm grateful that I've been in youth ministry as long as I have and I keep bringing it to the Lord even You know, I mentioned I was ordained a year and a half ago and I Going into formation. I brought that to the Lord Lord You know, is there a new ministry field that you want to take me in? Is there something else you want me to do? And then the Lord just reaffirmed Just stick with young people and I'm like, oh good. That's really what I was hoping you'd say But that's because that's what the Lord is calling me to do But that's not my holiness. That's not my spirituality It can be a challenge because we do so many spiritual things with young people We might have a liturgy that young people are involved with we might do a holy hour That's for young people. We we almost feel like maybe we can get some kind of spiritual osmosis By doing holy things with young people that somehow it might just bleed into our own lives And there is some of that which is really cool. You know, I mean again Just coming off of a youth conference, you know being there at adoration I'm loving the Lord at that moment with everybody else but I'm also working the event and I'm you know, praise you Jesus. I love you Jesus shoot He needs to wrap this up in five minutes because we have something else to do, you know, right? Because I'm the host of the event and That's why it's important that you know, my spiritual moments can't just always be around young people You know I made it a habit actually When I was working in a parish To go to you know, when I went to daily mass to go to a mass not at my parish Not at a place where there'd be three parents with Liability forms that needed to be signed or something else that needed to be done Like I just wanted to just be a random catholic somewhere who just loved the Lord and was present In all of that I think are the fruits of a spiritual life that is truly grounded in a love of Jesus That doesn't feel like God only loves me if I succeed at ministry or if I do this ministry or work at a church Because those of you that have worked at in you know church situations know how how very difficult they can be You know parishes and diocese can be really really hard places to work And I think sometimes we over spiritualize the work environment In those places. This is still a job. You know, this is a hourly thing that's going on It's awesome that we're doing ministry, but You know, sometimes you need a good hr person to you know resolve some difficulties because we're human That's that's part of it. I mean, I always say Catholicism would be so much more amazing if it wasn't for all the Catholics involved in it But we're sinful broken humans and then we work with each other and We gotta Get through the crap for the glory of God and the Lord blesses us and does that But we're able to do that if our eyes are fixed on Jesus If we can truly say that You know, I have a relationship with Jesus. I have a daily prayer life. I'm engaging in the sacraments Everything, you know, here's a here's another good thing whenever you hear a really good talk Try to actually listen to the talk for yourself And not think about How this would be a great talk to tell your young people next week, you know Oh, those are great points. I gotta remember to tell my teeth It's just maybe you can just receive, you know, just receive and allow the Lord to bless and receive This is the heart really of ministry with young people We we need people who pray if you're not praying, please don't do ministry Um, let the Lord love you and have a relationship with the Lord Your relationship won't be perfect because you're not perfect and that's totally cool You know, you need to be patient with yourself You are still growing but the Lord is calling you to something deeper You want to be able to go deeper than an adolescent spirituality in your own life You want to be reading more challenging things praying more deeply and contemplatively, you know, allowing the Lord just to guide you And let that be the core of what it's about that love of Jesus that seeing Jesus as a young person Seeing Jesus in young people so that in your ministry, you'd be able to point Jesus out in their own lives And help them see that that's the transformative power of the Holy Spirit And really at the heart of what the spirituality of a youth minister should be about