Happy Monday and a little more of Espanola

Happy Monday! And isn't it a beautiful one!

This is a must-see skit that the Revive Espanola team and youth retreat volunteers put on during their awesome youth retreat. If you've seen the original skit on Youtube you'll see that their version is just as good - if not better! Good job Revive!!

And for your enjoyment I will share with you a short story I was requested to write of a funny incident that happened while I was in Espanola. You can read it on the Revive Espanola blog here. :)

Have a great week!!

Saints with jeans and tennis shoes

If there's one thing that can inspire us, it is teens who want to live for Christ.

To finish what I started before about my visit to Revive Espanola, it was in every way amazing. It was filled with perfect little moments of joy, and it was so much fun to feel like I was both visiting a friend's cottage and on mission again. The highlights after the faith study night (which I already blogged about) are the youth group, when we had an incredibly fun paint war in the school yard, the Summit (a night of Eucharistic Adoration with praise and worship), the Masses in the parish on Sunday, hiking with Angele, swimming/rope jumping with Mary and Angele in Agnew Lake, and just being with my dear friends on the Revive team.

There is something just so incredible about seeing God's kingdom being built on earth through young people. I am so blessed, inspired, and always blown away by these close friends of mine who God has blessed with powerful gifts for evangelization. As I was writing them a thank-you letter after I returned home, the words coming to mind that I felt God wanted me to affirm in them were such things as "leaders of an army" and "phalanx," which was a term Archbishop Prendergast used to describe uOttawa and Carleton's CCO student bodies, and I find it a very appropriate word. It was a huge joy to witness, as an outsider, the powerful movement towards Christ sweeping through the lovely little town of Espanola.

Impact Throwback

This is my third day in Espanola Ontario visiting the Revive Espanola mission, which is my friend Angele's initiative to bring a parish renewal mission like CCO's Impact mission to her hometown. So far everything has been awesome! Last night was the best so far - it was a complete throwback into Tuesday nights from Impact Halifax last summer.

Choice Chain

Last night I participated in a peaceful pro-life protest called "Choice Chain." Choice Chain involves two methods of expressing our views to the public: one through conversation, as we explain to people why we think that abortion is a massive injustice, and one through graphic images. The graphic images are highly controversial, but the reason we use them is because they effectively show people the tragedy of abortion. Just like showing graphic images of other terrible injustices and tragedies is effective, such as war, slavery, bullying, and the holocaust, and just like cigarette boxes use graphic images to show you the negative effects of smoking.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday

Happy Victoria Day!

Found this scripture verse and love it. The background is from the Ottawa Tulip Festival. Isaiah 43:19:

New things every day. Have a great week! :)

Wishing you a Joyous Monday!

Happy Monday! There's a theme of joy in the air these days, which is God-incidentally stalking me everywhere (God-incidentally - like, coincidentally, but by God's sneaky hand).

On Friday night I attended a prayer night called the Summit, which is a night of encounter with Christ through Eucharistic Adoration and praise and worship, and through the sacrament of Reconciliation. Eucharistic Adoration is when we as Catholics adore the exposed Blessed Sacrament (the host), which we believe to be the true presence of Jesus Christ.  At the Summit, I think every song had the word joy in it! Including Hillsong United's "Up in Arms" which has this incredible line in it:

"My joy is boundless, my soul knows its worth"

which I have been singing every day since. (Pretty much just that one verse.) Sunday Mass also was just bursting with joy, all throughout the readings and Gospel and the music. It was the first time I'd been to my parish, St. Clement, in a while, and we recently had our bells fixed. They were ringing at the beginning and end of Mass, AND at the Consecration!

"Declare the word of joy, and let it be heard, alleluia: declare it even to the ends of the earth"! (from the Introit)

The things that have brought me the most joy today - my week's off to an amazing start! - are that on campus with the CCO mission for summer school, we got 72 new contacts from our surveys, who we will be inviting to participate in our Discovery faith studies, and... wait for it... our first piece of news from the Revive Espanola mission!! Revive Espanola is a kind of mini-version of CCO's Impact mission, which one of my own very dear friends has initiated in her hometown this summer. Check out their blog (had to link it twice, it's too awesome)!!

Have a joyful week!