Life Teen Missions -

The Lion’s Den

By Felix | May 20, 2012

So imagine this: you are stranded and lost in the middle of an African jungle. As you travel, you grow weary and tired, not sure exactly which direction to go. Finally you come to a path, which splits off in two directions. to the right the path goes off into an open meadow, which has a stream running through it, and what looks like a possible village in the distance – in other words, Safety. To the left, there are only more trees and behind the trees is a large cave, which you happen to see a lioness entering just [...]

Missionary Perfection?

By Danley Dizon | May 15, 2012

In the movie Remember the Titans, A group of young men were called to perfection by their coach. The same thing is asked of us today. Although we might not have to run a mile if we aren’t perfect, our reality is much more serious. If we do not become perfect, we might lose our chance at gaining eternal life. My definition of perfection has changed over the years. When I was a kid in school, perfect for me was not missing a day of school or getting 100% on my spelling or math test. Sure, those things mattered, but [...]

Remain in Me

By Taylor Family | May 14, 2012

John 15: 1-8 Remain in me. This comes from Jesus talking to His disciples. In the Gospel of John, especially, it is extremely straight forward. My wonderful son pulled this one out as the “Word of the Day” – to live by for the day. It got me thinking. For me, on this particular day, in this particular situation, there is almost a double meaning. I can take “remain” to mean something like “remain in this situation, remain as a missionary in this foreign country, remain in learning how to live into this new German life.” Or, I can take [...]

Seeing God

By Annie Asmussen | May 10, 2012

I have been praying to be able to simply look at the face of Christ, so the psalm from the third Sunday of Lent, “Lord, let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved” (Psalm 4:2), really meant something to me. Reading scripture, the popes, the saints, the liturgy – I feel like they all points towards this mysterious and real encounter with the face of Christ. For a while, I didn’t even know where to begin. God is beyond this world, not comprehensible to the human mind… How do I begin to find Him, let alone be [...]

My Way or the Lord’s Way?

By Joe Zagursky | May 10, 2012

I wish the Lord would just come out and blatantly shout out to me what it is that He wants me to do. I’m sure I’m not the only one that would really appreciate something like that. Coming into this mission year here at Covecrest, I was thinking that it was going to be a one-year commitment for sure, but I wouldn’t totally shut the Lord out if He had other plans for me. Sure enough, you give Him a little space to work with and He will start constructing something the size of the Empire State Building. I was [...]

God? Who?

By Danley Dizon | May 9, 2012

While helping with a bonfire, I was asked a pretty deep question. Usually when faced with something so deep, I change the subject as fast as the question was asked. That night I couldn’t. That night I was put on the spot. I had to answer. That night I had to rise up and answer the way a missionary of the Catholic Church would answer. That night I called upon the Holy Spirit to give me the words to answer. All the formation, all the time I spent learning, serving, praying was preparing me for this one question: “Who is [...]

The Empty Tomb

By Mark Bocinsky | May 9, 2012

Part of the mission for our first year as Life Teen missionaries can be very difficult. Almost every Friday, different parishes of teens arrive at Camp Covecrest (our home for Life Teen Missions year one) to go on retreat with their respective youth groups. Our mission is to Lead Teens Closer to Christ. Christ basically brings teens to us in order for us to lead them to Him. How much easier can it get?!? We don’t even have to leave home. The mission comes to us. So Mark… if the mission comes to you, why do you say it’s so difficult? [...]

Divine Mercy

By Annie Asmussen | May 8, 2012

On this past Divine Mercy Sunday, I imagined the blood and water flowing out of Christ’s side and over me like a waterfall of mercy. After Christ won for us salvation on the cross, the soldiers pierced his side, and flowing forth came blood and water. Jews during that time would immediately connect the blood and water flowing out of his side to the blood and water from animal sacrifices that flowed out of the temple into the Kidron Valley. The blood of animal sacrifices were used to purify the Israelite’s of their sins. How much more does the blood [...]

Lion and Lamb

By Carrie Miller | May 3, 2012

A song we often sing during praise and worship is “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin. A line that really sticks out to me in that song is one that calls Christ “lion and lamb.” After reflecting on this line, I realized that Jesus, by being both lion and lamb, is the perfect example of masculinity. He is strong and bold and brave and mighty and wise like a lion, but He is also kind, gentle, joyful, sweet, tender, and innocent like a lamb. He isn’t cowardly or fearful and too lamb-like, nor is He brutish and too [...]

Victim or Victor?

By Willeke Franken | April 25, 2012

Happy Easter, or as we would say it in Dutch: Zalig Pasen! I was in Colorado this Easter and went to mass in a town called Breckenridge. The priest had an awesome homily! He talked about being a victim or a victor in life. As a victor, you claim your own life. You do what God asks you to do, you choose to be happy during the day. You rose with Christ: you claim victory for everything you have overcome with Christ. As a victim, all the bad stuff happens to you, people mistreat you, and you let the things [...]