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Speaking Out

Michelle D'SouzaLiving in a secular society, many people see chocolate eggs and bunnies as the reason to celebrate Easter. But the Easter season is much more than that. As Catholic youth, we have prepared for 40 days and nights, commemorating the passion and death of Jesus as we eagerly await the Resurrection. During this time, I have done my best to prepare.

Jesus died for all mankind, suffering for all of our sins. To know that Jesus gave up His life so that I can live in happiness is a sobering thought.

Today, many give up a vice during Lent in hopes of becoming one with Christ. As a frequent Facebook user, I found myself wasting too much time on the popular social media network. I always made time to fit Facebook into my life but never had the time for important things, like family and prayer. As a Lenten initiative, I gave up Facebook.

Expressing our love of neighbour in dialogue

By
Annette GaglianoI was sitting down at a study carrel absorbing lecture material for an upcoming exam when my eyes drifted from my notes to the desk. I noticed some vandalism — there were words written in black ink on the tabletop.

Expecting to find a meaningless, yet humourous inscription like “U of T is awesome” or “X loves Y,” I was surprised when I pushed my notes aside to expose the entire message. The first word was an underlined heading that said “challenge,” followed by a detailed message that read: “Next time you’re on the bus/subway, talk to the person sitting beside you (if not crazy). It’s amazing what you can get out of a five-minute conversation with someone,” followed by a smiley face. Upon contemplation, I realized that the vandalism had an intrinsic meaning.

In the Bible, we always hear stories of Jesus interacting with people He did not know, tax collectors, lepers, the poor and the blind. Jesus talked to strangers and healed them. Although we cannot heal the blind and crippled in its direct sense, we can make a difference in the lives of those around us.

We are called to be everyday missionaries

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Michelle WalshIf you were to ask me two years ago what came to mind when I heard the word missionary, I would have probably said it was a person who dedicated their lives to going overseas and helping the poor while telling them about Jesus. This was not something that I could see myself doing, and I did not think I was a missionary, or could ever be one.

That is, until the summer of 2009 when I was accepted to participate in Catholic Christian Outreach’s IMPACT mission in Saskatoon. During the mission, my view of a missionary changed as I learned that, through our baptism, we are called to be missionaries in our everyday lives.

“The Church on Earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit,” says the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We were encouraged to ask God for a missionary heart, longing for people who do not know Jesus or have fallen away from the Church to enter into a meaningful relationship with Him.  


Trust in God while seeking your vocation

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Stephanie Kelly, 20, is a journalism student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B.If you were given a glimpse into your future, what would you see? It’s impossible to predict, but that doesn’t stop us from trying.

As students, we are faced with uncertainty every day. At a young age, we face pressure to decide our life’s mission. Before we leave high school, we are expected to make decisions that will map out several years of our life and decide our careers.

Every student has moments when they feel their lives are crumbling around them and there is no way out. Those moments usually involve a library, a term paper and more than a few cups of coffee. When those moments arise, we need to remember one thing: we are not alone. Put your trust in God and you will never be led astray.

Logging off Facebook and Twitter for 40 days

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During the Lenten season, Catholics prepare their mind and soul for the commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One way we can do this is through sacrificing something to eliminate a distraction that may divert our attention to God.

While most people give up pleasures such as chocolate or junk food, this year I have chosen to surrender my main method of communication and entertainment: social networking. To be specific, I have given up the two main social networking sites I use — Facebook and Twitter, tools that most teenagers cannot go a day without, let alone five minutes without refreshing the page.

For someone who heavily relies on these sites to communicate with friends and could easily spend hours on them, this is proving to be a big challenge. When I first informed my friends of this Lenten promise most of them snickered and said I wouldn’t last a day, while the rest stared at me in shock and wished me a meaningful good luck.

Faith-filled reflections can offer youth solace

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Each academic year comes with its own sort of headaches, deadlines and stress. We constantly look forward to the next break — be it a long weekend or a longer holiday — and its promise of relaxation.

But even these breaks are filled with work or studying. We never truly seem to be able to find a break from our constant stream of work.

Amidst this organized chaos, it is easy to forget about faith. Most people I know, myself included, often think, “I’ll go to Mass next Sunday; I’m too busy today.” We often forget the benefit of taking time throughout the week to pray because we are focused on more tangible deadlines. Worship becomes an obligation that quickly gets overlooked.

When I do go to Mass, it is difficult to leave worries and deadlines at the door. Outside of the church walls, multi-tasking prevails. I walk to class with a running mental list of deadlines, assignments, outlines, readings, events that I need to go to, think and write about, remember. When I get home, all of these tasks need to be completed quickly, and well.

The Catholic tradition contrasts this chaos by offering structure. During Mass we are asked to focus, meditate and pray within a structure that can be both comfortingly familiar and shockingly alienating after a week of stress. The abrupt switch can be difficult to navigate.

And if an hour a week seems difficult to spare, other Church events seem impossible. At my college, one of the campus ministers organizes a busy person’s retreat near the end of each semester. It requires participants to dedicate an hour a day for four days: 30 minutes of meditation on a couple of Bible passages and 30 minutes of discussion with a retreat director.

But students tend to have the same reaction when they hear about it: “I’m way too busy for that!”  I had the same thought when I heard about it — that is, until I went to one.

Unlike long weekends or holidays, this was time during which I could not multi-task or study. It forced me to slow down, focus and, ultimately, regain a sense of my true priorities. Though I had difficulty switching from work to the retreat for the first couple of days, I started to value the time that I spent away from my studies by the end of the retreat. I could relax and think for an hour a day without worrying about a deadline. When I did approach my work again, I approached it from a more focused perspective.

Going to Mass or prayer groups regularly helps in the same way. The time spent must be dedicated to the activity at hand completely or the effort is meaningless. Worship and prayer, whether with others or alone, provide opportunities for focus and reflection that is unrelated to work or school. They provide a break from the stress of everyday life and the chance to regain a sense of balance.

Afterwards, the chaos does not seem so unbearable.

(Liska, 22, is an English major at the University of Saskatchewan.)

Youth get creative to worship the Lord

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Since childhood, we have done our best to stay true to our faith in all aspects of our lives — especially worship. We maintain the same habits we were taught as children and often do not think of other ways to pray to the Lord.

At times our prayer life may feel quite repetitive and we may find prayer more of a chore than a form of worship.

To stay interested and involved in worship, as with anything, we must rethink ways to worship Christ.

Many Catholic youth — myself included — have found ways of worshipping that elicit a deep interest within the one who is praying and allows for a newfound intimacy during prayer. The use of song, art, poetry and dance are platforms utilized by this generation of Catholic youth to worship and promote Christ.

Putting our faith first

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As Valentine’s Day approaches, my friends ask me what I’m doing on Feb. 14. They usually ask because they want to share their own plans which usually involve chocolates, small gifts and a romantic dinner with their significant other.

Although this day is exaggerated by retailers, it is safe to say that many young people — Catholics included — put great significance on finding their true love and being in a relationship. Yet how much significance must we put on the relationship we are in as Catholics? How can we put our Catholic faith first?

Nowadays, relationships are too often associated with sex. The media portrays sex as an exciting and fun activity. The more promiscuous you are, the sexier and more wanted you become is the basic message. The modern world seems to have mistaken romance and sex as something that come in a package. Some people justify their actions by saying sex is just part of a healthy relationship.

Spiritual role models help us ‘walk the talk’

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We all have role models, albeit some more positive than others.  Maybe we strive to be just like our favourite athlete or singer. Others may be inspired by someone who has a career in a field that they’re hoping to get into one day. But we also have spiritual role models: people who live out what it means to be Catholic in their everyday lives.

The lives of the saints are excellent examples. Yet, there are other examples too. For me, one of my most influential spiritual role models is my grandmother.  She was the one who introduced me to the rosary, the saints and even The Catholic Register. She is also an excellent role model in the way she acts because she is proud of her faith. She is friendly, cheerful and always willing to lend an ear when I need it. She does not judge.

Education helps to bust religious stereotypes

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As Catholics, we are called to understand and respect different religious beliefs and practices. Throughout my life, I have been immersed in my Catholic faith but knew very little about other religions in our society. That’s why I was excited about the world religions class that every Grade 11 student at a Catholic high school in Ontario must take.

In class, we learned about the practices, customs and beliefs of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism. The more I learned about other religions, the more I started to see the social misconceptions about different religions, such as the social stigma of baptized Sikhs wearing a kirpan at all times. Many people are concerned about Sikhs wearing this ceremonial dagger, when in reality kirpans are a symbol of non-violence and are only to be used in emergency situations to defend victims of crime.

The blessing of a full stomach

By
As a privileged youth never wanting for food, I got a taste of what the underprivileged experienced during a 24-hour “starve-a-thon” at my school in November. It was a life-changing experience.

We hoped that through our efforts we would be able to make a difference by helping in some small way to end world hunger.

Fasting and reflecting with my friends made me realize how much I have to be thankful for: food, shelter, family and friends. For us, resources are so readily available we take them for granted. At times during the starve-a-thon, I found myself feeling extremely hungry — I could have eaten anything. And that was after just 24 hours.

Being hungry helped me understand that 24 hours is only a short time compared to the lifetime that many people are left to go hungry. Despite this, we too often criticize our blessings, unhappy with what we have. It’s not until something is taken from us, such as food, that we realize life’s difficulties and acknowledge how incredibly lucky we are.