The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility

By St. Josemaria Escrivá
1. To think that what one says or does is better than what others say or do
2. To always to want to get your own way
3. To argue with stubbornness and bad manners whether you are right or wrong
4. To give your opinion when it has not been requested or when charity does not demand it
5. To look down on another’s point of view
6. Not to look on your gifts and abilities as lent
7. Not to recognize that you are unworthy of all honors and esteem, not even of the earth you walk on and things you possess
8. To use yourself as an example in conversations
9. To speak badly of yourself so that others will think well of you or contradict you
10. To excuse yourself when you are corrected
11. To hide humiliating faults from your spiritual director, so that they will not change the impression they have of you
12. To take pleasure in praise and compliments
13. To be saddened because others are held in higher esteem
14. To refuse to perform inferior tasks
15. To seek to stand out
16. To refer in conversation to your honesty, genius, dexterity, or professional prestige
17. To be ashamed because you lack certain goods

How are you doing with these 17?

Each Lent, we have another great opportunity to immerse our teens into the heart of the Church. We have such a gift in the 40 days of Lent. We need to walk with our teens through the desert of Lent and help them meet our Lord there.  Our ministry should be a reflection of the changes happening in the Liturgy and be an invitation to fully participate in the mystery of Christ’s Passion, death, and Resurrection.  There are a lot of resources that Life Teen has for you to being Lent to Life in your program. Here are just a few:

Ash Wednesday

If your parish has an early morning Mass before school starts on Ash Wednesday, invite the teens to Mass. If time allows, have a light breakfast and explain the significance of the ashes and why Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Encourage the teens to share with their friends at school what the ashes represent and why we are reminded of our mortality at the beginning of Lent. If possible, use the Life Night “Ashes to Ashes” early in the season of Lent to help the teens prepare.

Prayer

Lent is a great time to teach teens new types of prayer. One type of prayer that would be especially appropriate during Lent is the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Invite the teens to gather right before Mass and pray the Chaplet together.  Life Teen just released a Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Teens on DVD that would be a great resource to use.  You could also challenge the teens to a 40-day commitment of prayer.  The Life Teen book 40 More is a great resource for that.

Reconciliation Service

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an important part of Lent, allowing us to prepare our hearts by turning away from sin.  Encourage your teens to participate in the parish’s Reconciliation service. Have an examination of conscience specifically for teens ready to give to the teens there, or use the booklet Come Clean: A Teen Guide to Reconciliation.  Also, invite your priest(s) to be available for Reconciliation at Life Nights or weekly bible study during Lent.

Stations of the Cross

Have a night of reflection where the teens walk and pray through the Stations of the Cross. Have a few Core Members and teens help by reading the reflection at each station.  Check out Come Walk: a Teen Guide to Stations of the Cross as a resource for this prayer time.

Holy Week

Holy Week is the highest time in our Church. It is packed full with opportunities to fully enter into the Easter Season.  If possible, have a Life Night on Palm Sunday that explains the Triduum. There is a Life Night called “UUM” in the free resource section of this website.  At the end of the night, pass out your parish’s Holy Week schedule.

By incorporating the liturgical seasons into your ministry we give the teens a unique opportunity to fully participate in the life of the Church. Thank you for all the ways you are serving the young people of the Church.  May God continue to bless you and those you serve in abundance during this Lenten season.

Ask Jesus today to allow you to share in His suffering, death and to lead you to the cross.

Open your heart, mind and soul this powerful day. A few years ago while visiting Cardinal Stafford at the Vatican, he told me “Don’t Blink during Christ’s suffering especially at the piercing of His side – for you might lose sight of the Glory”

It is my prayer that you will ask Jesus to allow you to share in His suffering, death and lead you to the cross and when you do, you won’t blink! Have a great Good Friday!

“Tomorrow the Church begins her celebration of the Easter Triduum, a time devoted to silent prayer and contemplation of the mystery of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. The liturgies of these days invite us to ponder Christ’s saving sacrifice and His promise of new life. In this Year for Priests, the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass, at which priests renew the promises made on the day of their ordination, will take on a particular significance. May priests everywhere be conformed ever more closely to Christ as heralds of his message of hope, reconciliation and peace! The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated the evening of Holy Thursday, recalls the institution of the sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders. The liturgy of Good Friday, in which we enter into the mystery of Christ’s redemptive death, invites us to contemplate the deep relationship between the Last Supper and the sacrifice of Calvary. Following the great silence of Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil proclaims the resurrection of Christ and his victory over sin and death. May the joy of the resurrection even now fill our hearts as we prepare to celebrate the great events of the Lord’s Passover from death to the fullness of life.”

The past couple of weeks priests, bishops and even the pope have been under criticism from the media especially in Europe. Last week while visiting parishes in Germany and the Netherlands we could really feel this heaviness. In this year for priests – we continue to lift up the holy priests – may their example as foot washers this Holy Thursday remind us all about the call to serve in a deeper way. We are not called to serve only those who we easily love, we are called to wash the feet of the most difficult in our lives as well. Most priests I encounter, know this and live it by example. Thank you to all the Holy Priests who serve Life Teen throughout the world. We truly could not do this without your support and example.

Join Life Teen this year in praying for priests the following prayer:

Almighty Father, Hear the prayers of Your teens and their families and for the priests of our Church.

Grant to Your servants the dignity of the priesthood. Renew within them the Spirit of holiness. As a co-worker with the order of bishops, may they be faithful to the ministry that they receive from You, Lord God, and be to others a model of right conduct. As they stand at Your altars throughout the world offering Your Body and Blood to a people in need of Your love, unite their hearts with Your own Sacred Heart.

May Mother Mary wrap her mantle around Your priests and lead them always to Your Son. May the intercession of Saint John Vianney, the patron of Priests, keep them joyful in their vocation as Priests of Jesus Christ. We make this prayer in the name of the same Christ our Lord, Amen.

Watch this video on Vimeo!

Are you ready for Lent?

Each Lent, we have another great opportunity to immerse both ourselves and our teens into the heart of the season and get them thinking with the mind of the Church. We have such a gift in the 40 days of Lent. The Church knows that we need time to ready our hearts before the great celebration of Easter. We need to walk with our teens through the desert of Lent and help them meet our Lord there. Our ministry should be a reflection of the changes happening in the Liturgy and be an invitation to fully participate in the mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The following are a few suggestions to make the season of Lent come alive for and tangible to the teens in your parish.

Ash Wednesday

If your parish has an early morning Mass before school starts on Ash Wednesday, invite the teens to Mass. If time allows, have a light breakfast and explain the significance of the ashes and why Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Encourage the teens to share with their friends at school what the ashes represent and why we are reminded of our mortality at the beginning of Lent.

Fasting, Prayer, Almsgiving

Fasting:

Explain the purpose of fasting and abstinence during Lent and how to make the sacrifice a prayer. Instead of having an elaborate snack before or after Life Night, try something much simpler like chips and salsa and water.

Prayer:

Lent is a great time to teach teens new types of prayer. One type of prayer that would be especially appropriate during Lent is the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Invite the teens to gather right before Mass and pray the Chaplet together. Try hosting a weeknight Lenten prayer series on the themes of Lent (such as prayer, fasting, almsgiving, desert, Baptism, repentance, and purification). Each of these nights could be split between discussion and prayer.

Almsgiving:

Lent is a good time to give back to the parish community. Most parishes will have a fish fry or spaghetti dinner. Volunteer to help set up, serve dinner, and clean up. You can also give back to the larger community by serving at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.

Another national program to get involved with during Lent is Souper Bowl of Caring. Souper Bowl of Caring is an outreach program that helps to fight hunger and poverty. It uses the excitement of Super Bowl Sunday to empower youth to give a weekend of service. For more information on how to get involved visit www.souperbowl.org

Visible signs: Transforming the Youth Room / Office

By visually transforming the youth room or office, teens can be reminded that the Church is in a time of preparation and purification. Pull all the excess stuff out of the office or youth room and make it as barren as possible. Decorate the space with Lenten symbols like a crucifix, crown of thorns, purple accents, large nails, sand and water. If you cannot decorate the entire youth office or room, a table set up with a few of these symbols would work just as well.

Prayer / Reconciliation Service

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is an important part of Lent, allowing us to prepare our hearts by turning away from sin. Encourage your teens to participate in the parish’s Reconciliation service. Have an examination of conscience specifically for teens ready to give to the teens there. Also, invite your priest(s) to be available for Reconciliation at Life Nights or weekly bible study during Lent.

Stations of the Cross

Have a night of reflection where the teens walk and pray through the Stations of the Cross. Have a few Core Members and teens help by reading the reflection at each station.

Holy Week

Holy Week is the highest time in our Church. It is packed full with opportunities to fully enter into the Easter Season. If possible, have a Life Night on Palm Sunday that explains the Triduum. At the end of the night, pass out your parish’s Holy Week schedule. Talk to your parish liturgist about getting teens involved in the various celebrations throughout Holy Week.

Holy Thursday:

Include teens in the Liturgy by having them represent the teens of the parish in the washing of the feet, reading, serving or greeting.

Good Friday:

Encourage the teens to attend the Veneration of the Cross Service. Have a few teens be a part of the service by participating as lectors for the Passion of Our Lord reading.
By incorporating the liturgical seasons into your ministry we give the teens a unique opportunity to fully participate in the life of the Church. Thank you for all the ways you are serving the young people of the Church. May God continue to bless you and those you serve in abundance during this Lenten season.

What Not to Wear is a show on The Learning Channel featuring Stacy London and Clinton Kelly. The show is an ambush-style reality program where fashion victims are critiqued on their current clothing choices, and then coached on buying an entire new wardrobe, all for the entertainment of the viewing audience.

The approach taken by What Not to Wear actually helps both its victims and the audience make smarter fashion choices and often with the benefit of improving their self esteem. The show is a sort of educational program and I believe a method that when applied to Lent helps us grow in our faith. We may be able to truly look at what we are projecting by the attitudes we are “wearing” during the 40+ days of Lent and by eliminating some of the things in our spiritual closet help us to have a holy Lent.

Here are 5 Things We Want to Avoid Wearing During Lent:

1.) Over Inflated Pride

Pride is an excessive esteem of oneself. It is excessive because it is contrary to the truth. Pride may be expressed in different ways: by taking personal credit for gifts or possessions, as if they had not been received from God or by glorying in achievements, as if they were not primarily the result of divine goodness and grace. Pride is holding oneself superior to others or disdaining them because they lack what the proud person has. Pride strives for mean excellence. It despises others and, depending on its perversity, even looks down upon God.

If you struggle with pride the remedies for pride are a sincere knowledge of oneself, the acceptance of daily humiliations, avoidance of even the least self-complacency, humble acknowledgement of ones’ faults, and a prayerful communion with God.

2.) Comfortable Covering of Sin

Sin is “A word, deed or desire in opposition to the eternal law” (St. Augustine). Sin is a deliberate transgression of a law of God, which identifies the four essentials of every sin. A law is involved, God is offended, there is a transgression or disobedience since Catholicism holds that grace is resistible and the divine will can be disobeyed and the transgression is deliberate, which means that a sin is committed whenever a person knows that something is contrary to the law of God and then freely does the action anyway.

If you are struggling with sin (we all do) make sure that you go to Reconciliation weekly during Lent. The key is to not grow comfortable with sin and to strive each day to not repeat the sin!

3.) Handcuffs of Hatred

Hatred is a voluntary act by which someone or something is regarded with bitter dislike. Personal hatred of someone is the direct opposite of the virtue of love. While love inspires a person to wish well to another, hatred arouses the desire to do harm or have harm befall the one hated, not as a source of possible good, but precisely as evil.

A remedy for hatred is to bring the person you are having the hardest time with to the Altar at Mass as you approach for communion (not physically) but spiritually offer them to the Lord and ask Him to help you love them.

4.) Coat of Many Conflicts -

Conflict is to be incompatible, in opposition, or in disagreement. Conflict is the opposite of peace. The root of the conflict may be between simply between one’s own will and the will of God. To avoid this type of conflict – stop fighting God and be obedient to what He is asking you to do. You may just find out as I have that He really does have a plan for you and His plan is much better than any you could dream up.

5.) Joyless Expression
To be Joyless means we are unhappy, sad, miserable, gloomy, dismal, dreary, dejected, dispirited or downcast. While Lent is a time that we normally make sacrifices by giving something up, it does not mean we are to wear a frown for 40 days. We are called to be a light, even during Lent. If you are growing in your faith during Lent – show it by radiating some Joy!

So with all of the things we shouldn’t wear, what are we to wear?

According to our ultimate Catholic Coach – Pope Benedict XVI we are to put on 1. Prayer 2. Almsgiving 3. Fasting

Pope Benedict gives us this message for Lent 2010 -

Dear Brothers and Sisters!
At the beginning of Lent, which constitutes an itinerary of more intense spiritual training, the Liturgy sets before us again three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, fasting – to prepare us to better celebrate Easter and thus experience God’s power that, as we shall hear in the Paschal Vigil, “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy, casts out hatred, brings us peace and humbles earthly pride”

So what are the current items in your spiritual closet that need to go in order for you to grow in our holiness this Lent? May you have the courage to make the changes that God is asking you to make this year!

The goal of this Life Night gives both teens and their families an opportunity to break open the season of Lent, specifically the theme of sacrifice. It also challenges the teens and families to create a Lenten prayer plan.

About this night

This Life Night can be used as an introduction to the season of Lent. This Life Night is designed to include teens and their families and help them to dive deeper into Lent. Be sure to plan ahead to invite all teens and their families from the parish. Have Core Members personally invite families by making phone calls or sending notes. Above all, make sure to offer extra hospitality to this night. The Life Night begins with a short, funny video. After, the night will move into a teaching focusing on the theme of sacrifice and challenge the teens and families to dive deeper into the Lenten season this year. Next, the teens and families will take some time to discuss further the theme of sacrifice through a few Scripture reflections as well as creating a Lenten plan of sacrifice and doing. The night will end with a brief time of sharing and Stations of the Cross.

Table of Contents

• Behold the Mystery: Life Teen at 25 and beyond
• Behold the Mystery: A Life Night on Life Teen’s 2010 theme
• Parish Spotlight: St. Timothy’s Catholic Community, Mesa, AZ
• From the Desk of… Tobi Ballentine
• Missionary Life: Meet the 2009-2010 Life Teen Missionaries
• We Got a Resource for That: Life Teen’s newest resources
• Ashes to Ashes: A Life Night on Lent
• Spring Break 2010: Programming Ideas for Sp ring Break
• The Grace of Giving: Profile of a Life Teen donor
• United in Music City: An Interview with Michael W. Smith
• Pardon Me! Bringing Manners Back into Culture
• Be My Valentine: A Social Life Night
• Words from B16

This is our Liturgy Planning Guide; the purpose of this book is to facilitate the planning of vibrant youth-focused liturgies. As Catholics, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith – the celebration of Mass draws the faithful into a dynamic encounter with the living God. As a movement of the Holy Spirit, Life Teen recognizes more than ever that teens are hungry for God and it is our Lord in the Eucharist who will fill that hunger. By taking the time and effort to have quality youth liturgies, we draw young people into the life of the Church and set the stage for their hearts and lives to be transformed by the presence of our Savior.

You will find liturgy planning guides from the 1st Sunday of Advent all the way to the 5th Sunday of Lent. We pray that this resource helps break open the seasons of Advent and Lent for the entire congregation. We have included many ideas to help make these beautiful seasons connect to the everyday experiences of teenagers today. Each Sunday is packed with information and ideas for the priest, musician and youth minister. Be sure to share the resource with the entire team.