LifeTeen.com for Catholic Youth

Don’t Take a Vacation From God

Alison Griswold — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:00:10 +0000

As a kid I remember being super excited for a road trip from Massachusetts to New Jersey to visit my grandparents. In my five year old brain, “New Jersey” might as well have been the moon and a week was basically forever. I had to pack accordingly. Pulling bags out the closet I filled them with my stuffed animals, dolls, books, art supplies, my sticker collection and a panda poster. Wisely, my mother did an audit on the bags when I told her I was ready to go. She explained to me that I needed to bring fewer toys and games and pack the items that were really important like clean socks and underwear. Dumping out my first attempt, we picked outfits for each day, pajamas and a swimsuit for the sprinkler and placed those inside first. When I got to Grandma and Grandpa’s, I was ready for anything. And I didn’t miss my panda poster. We can treat our summers like I treated my first attempt at packing—as a big space to fill with fun stuff. As school lets out and our responsibilities lessen, the possibilities for awesome seem endless and we can start filling our days with trips to the beach, vacations and odd jobs. Yet, if we’re not careful, a lapse in our routine can lead us to forget what’s most important. The Eucharist—the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ which we receive when we participate in Mass is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1324). We don’t take a holiday from Christian life. Therefore, it would be foolish to think we could take a “holiday” from receiving the Eucharist and not suffer. Just like I would have been in a world of hurt if I had attempted a vacation with no clean socks or underwear, skipping mass on Sunday is a mortal sin that cuts us off from the graces God wants to give us in every moment of life. Have you ever not realized how hungry you were until you walked into the kitchen and smelled dinner cooking? Suddenly your stomach is growling loudly, your mouth is watering and you can’t wait to eat! Our need for the Eucharist can be like this. When we drift away from the sacraments – especially the Eucharist – we find ourselves more prone to give in to temptation, feeling distant from God and just struggling. We may not always realize the graces we’re getting from the sacraments – just like we don’t always realize that we’re hungry. Just like a balanced diet keeps us physically healthy, regularly receiving the Eucharist keeps us spiritually healthy. This summer, don’t let your soul starve! Some tips: Mass is actually offered every day at most Catholic Churches. Take advantage of the break from your school schedule and commit to attending mass not just on Sundays but another day during the week. Ask your youth minister if there is a mass they like to attend [...]

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5 Things That Aren’t Helping Your Body Image

Christina Mead — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:30:10 +0000

There are two kinds of people in this world, the people who struggle with body image and the people who lie about it. I think that no matter how confident you are, or how much your hair and outfit looks like it’s straight off Wanelo (because it is, obviously) there’s always a part of us that is afraid we’re not good enough. Which is no surprise when skinny, photoshopped people are held as the ideal in everything from advertising to Abercrombie and Fitch stores. Yes, body image is a thing. But let’s not make the fact that we struggle with body image one more reason to beat ourselves up. Isn’t the first step of healing from something admitting it’s a problem? It’s difficult to let go of the constant, vicious cycle of body monitoring (pulling at your clothes, positioning your body just right) and the inner dialogue that sounds like this: “Do I look okay? Do I look okay? Do I look okay?” It is possible to get to a better, more peaceful place in your mind, but here are 5 things that aren’t helping: 1. Sucking in your stomach for photos. Or hiding parts of your body. Or deleting all the photos where you don’t look as perfect as you know you’re capable of looking if you put everything in it’s place. You’re the only one over-analyzing your body. If your best friend isn’t a size negative 7, do you love them less? No! People feel the same way about you. Relax. It’s not your arms but your heart that people care about. 2. Buying clothes for the size you want to be. This is like buying peanut butter for the day when you get over your anaphylactic, face-swelling, peanut allergy. If you buy clothes that fit right, you’ll be happier with yourself today and mentally in a better place to continue to pursue a wholesome, healthy lifestyle. 3. Talking about how fat you are. Just stahp. If you want to eat a cookie, eat the darn cookie and don’t announce to the whole room that it’s your “cheat day” or that you’re going to the gym later. You’re assuming everyone is judging you and all it does it highlight your own insecurities. Your own words have the most power over your mind. In the words of Christine Arylo (it’s okay, I don’t know who she is either . . .): “Be nice to yourself. It’s hard to be happy when someone is mean to you all the time.” 4. Commenting on how someone looks as soon as you see them. It gives priority to something that shouldn’t have priority (outward appearance) and conditions us to believe that looks are everything. Which is clearly bologna because Shrek and Fiona are actually very lovable. 5. Beating yourself up. If you just realized you ate more than your date, and simultaneously failed your 7-day-miserable-chicken-and-carrots-crash-diet. Food is a good thing that God made to fuel our bodies. Starving yourself in anticipation of [...]

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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: 06/23/2013

Mark Hart — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:00:51 +0000

"God's plan is often wrought with suffering, and if we're constantly trying to avoid suffering, if that's our goal, then a lot of times we're going to miss out on the trials and those things that God may place before us not because He doesn't love us, but because He does."

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Happy Fr.’s Day

Emily Pellarin — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:59:15 +0000

This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day. The day you say thank you to your dad for feeding you, clothing you, and being at your soccer games by giving him a photo mug. No matter how we show our appreciation: through a craft project, or a family dinner, or a phone call, Father’s Day is truly a day worth celebrating. Our biological fathers are meant to be a gift to us from God, to be a sign of the love God the Father has for us. We are told God wants to provide for us (Deuteronomy 2:7) but that idea becomes real when we see our dads stay up late or wake up early to go to work every day so we can have what we need. Scripture tells us God is our protector (Judith 9:11) and we experience that in a unique way when our dads want to meet the person we are dating to make sure he or she is “good enough” to date his child. Scripture tells us the Lord is good and forgiving (Psalm 86:5) but there is nothing like a dad telling you “it’s okay” as he hugs you, after you just broke his most expensive tool. Now, don’t get me wrong. No father is perfect. Even the best dads aren’t always the perfect example of God’s love. Some of us have fathers who don’t really remind us of God . . . ever. Some of us don’t even know our fathers. That’s okay. God has promised that He is “father of the fatherless” (Psalm 68:6). But God is so good that He provides other men in our Church to love and care for us with a father’s love when our dads fail: He gives us priests. Priests are men who have been called by God himself to serve the Church, God’s family. They feed us by giving us true food and true drink (John 6:55), the Body and Blood of Christ. They forgive us all of our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They stay up late and wake up early to pray for us. Some of them even go to our soccer games! While they don’t have biological children, their children are all people at their parish. We are their children. That is why we call them Father! So as we celebrate dads today, don’t forget to say thank you to the priests in your life! Drop off a Father’s Day card at the rectory, call a priest you know and tell him thank you for all he does for your parish. Maybe even make him a photo mug.

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Beyond Words: 06/16/2013

Mark Hart — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:00:14 +0000

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Fear Nothing.

Joel Stepanek — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:00:03 +0000

One little bump and I go from calm and collected to, “This plane is going to crash, and I’m too young to die!” Yes, I’m that dramatic, sometimes. I think of all the things that I want to still do with my life, things that I want to accomplish, places I wanted to go; I think of children and enjoying the benefits of becoming an old man who sits on his front porch drinking lemonade and yelling at kids to get off his lawn (face it, you know that is going to be awesome). Fear will grip me the rest of that flight. I can’t focus on anything – not the weird in-flight movie or awkward conversation I am having with the person next to me. I’m gripping the armrest like it will actually steer the plane for the rest of the flight.

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You’re Not Crazy: Getting Help for Your Mind

Megan Bodenschatz — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:00:27 +0000

Let’s imagine that one day in Phys Ed class you’re playing volleyball and you twist your ankle while you dive for a save. Everything feels all right, but you wake up the next morning with a giant bruise, a swollen ankle and a lot of pain. What would you do? Most likely you’d go to the doctor’s. In fact, if you didn’t go, but kept limping around insisting you were all right, your friends would probably drag you there themselves. We know when it’s important to get professional help with our physical ailments. It just makes sense to us. But as a society we have problem seeking professional help with our mental health. We often label people with mental illnesses as “crazy,” and think that if we can’t take care of issues that affect our mental health (like stress, anger, or loss) then we must be weak.

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Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: 06/16/2013

Mark Hart — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:00:22 +0000

Part of being a Christian is accepting that we're not perfect. How we respond to other people calling us out of sin says a lot about what kind of person we are.

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Beyond Words: 06/09/2013

Mark Hart — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:17:54 +0000

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Falling in love with the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Christina Mead — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:00:47 +0000

Jesus wanted to show us that His heart is constantly, forever, always, eternally loving and forgiving us. He loves you. He loves me. He loves every person so intensely that His heart burns with that love. Look into His eyes and you can’t see anything else.

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