A Pilgrim's Journey

This summer I took a group of teens to the Archdiocesan Youth Conference.  They all had a great time and were particularly interested in the Evening Prayer that we participated in.  That gave me an idea!! I asked them if they would like to meet every Monday night from the end of AYC to the beginning of school to talk about  different types of prayer that they may not have heard of or participated in.  So far I feel like it's been pretty successful.  The first evening we learned about Liturgy of the Hours and we prayed evening prayer together.  The next week we tried a Lectio Divina.  I thought none of them would come back after that.  Lo and behold the next Monday night, there they were!  So we prayed a Scriptural Rosary (always a favorite of mine because by the third Hail Mary I have usually forgotten what mystery I was meditating on) and believe it or not-they liked it.  Some had never even prayed a regular Rosary before. But that was the last trick up my sleeve. I was running out of ideas.

Recently I have been reading up on Labyrinths and so I decided that had to be my last hurrah to finish the summer up.  I needed to take the kids to one.  I found one at the Holy Name Retreat Center not far from our church.  Permission slips in hand I set out with 6 kids on a very special journey.  Up until recently, the only Labyrinth I had heard of had a minotaur in it.  What I discovered through my research is that a Labyrinth is a tool for prayer and meditation.  They have been around for centuries but became very popular during the middle ages.  Christians wanted to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land but the Crusades, expense and plague made it almost impossible.  Cathedrals across Europe were designated as pilgrimage sites and they installed circular labyrinths to mirror a pilgrims journey to the Holy Land.  The twists and turns of the Labyrinth reminded the pilgrims of their own lives and their own faith journey.  Today we can use Labyrinths for our own spiritual growth.

A Labyrinth is divided into three parts, the journey in, reaching the middle and the journey out.  We began by silently stating what our intention was.  Two of the kids are going off to college this fall and I wondered if that was what they wanted to ponder about.  For me, my intention was just to find a peaceful end to a terribly busy and demanding day.  We each chose something to keep us focused during our journey, some chose a bible passage and I chose to repeat the Hail Mary. Then, one by one we began to walk.  I have to say I was somewhat preoccupied with how the teens were doing and in taking a few photos so I didn't feel like my mind was quieted enough to receive the peace I was looking for, nevertheless, I still came away from the experience happy and rested.  I noticed that when the kids reached the middle, one by one, they sat down and didn't leave.  At first I thought they just didn't know what to do but as I got closer I realized that most of them were praying.  No one said a word the whole time.  One by one they slowly walked back out.

VBS-Pandamania

I know it's been a while since I've been on, I took it easy in June and July to rest a bit.  Since I was on last I completed my VBS program at the church.  Around 40 kids attended the week of fun and exciting events.  Here is how it went. 

This is how the stage decorations came out.  My husband built the screens and my kids and some of our friends, the Blanco's, helped out.  At night, lit up, it really felt like a bamboo forest in China!  Here is how we decorated some of the other rooms.

I LOVED the Junior high room, I really think they had a blast.  I made the table decorations in the snack area with my CRICUT machine.  This is such a great program for the children of St. Matthew's!

 Here are some of my favorite shots!  There is even a shot of our "whale" from the Jonah and the Whale Bible Adventure.  The kids loved sitting inside the giant whale!

As you can see we had a blast all week!  If your child attended Totally Catholic Pandamania this year and you want these or other pics, e-mail me and I will e-mail them to you-I have ton of shots.