The Wii recharges. Do you?

Being a father of seven children and involved in youth ministry brings many different demands and responsibilities. One of those small but very important tasks that I have to oversee is making sure that the wireless Wii remote controls are properly returned to the charger after being used. We all know that feeling of picking up a dead controller that has not been recharged. Nintendo makes it easy by illuminating a light when the controller is properly placed in the rechargeable cradle.

This process made me think about our lives as youth ministers and our own need to be recharged DAILY. Just like Nintendo, the Catholic Church illuminates the places that we can recharge. Here is a short list of ways we can recharge our ministry batteries.

1. Daily Mass: Recharging our batteries from the Bread of Life offered for us on the altar each day is a great way to offer our ministry to Christ. It is the candles lit next to the altar that highlights the “rechargeable” nature of Christ inside of us.
2. Reconciliation: Recharging our batteries by humbling ourselves to receive Christ mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a tremendous witness to the young people that we minister to and an even bigger gift to us. Also, in most parishes the confessionals are marked with a two small lights, one for the priest, and the other will illuminate when you enter to be recharged.
3. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Recharging our batteries by simply sitting in prayer before Christ in adoration gives Christ the priority in our ministry. The red candle lit next to the Blessed Sacrament or the tabernacle is a sign of His presence and His ability to recharge us.

Youth Ministry is very demanding and we can always find something to do, but how effective are we in ministry without being recharged daily? Our Baptism has given us the rechargeable batteries that we all need, but we need to dock in the Sacramental life in order to be useful in the hands of Christ to do His will.