Author Archives: Alyssa Maddock

Future Full of Hope

By | July 17, 2011

I’m learning over and over again, that my life is most fruitful when I just spend time with the Lord. This past week, our mission community traveled to the countryside of England, near London. We arrived on Wednesday evening, the 6th of July, at the SPEC center, a Catholic retreat center. It was a time to visit one of our missionary sisters, Kristin, who had started serving there earlier this year; additionally, we got a feel for God’s mission in the UK. Most of our time was spent on the grounds

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A Call to Receive

By | June 4, 2011

On the weekend of April 8th 2011, at Rolduc Seminary, people from all over Europe gathered for the European Life Teen Training Conference. The theme for the weekend was “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” which means, “Come Holy Spirit.” Randy Raus, the President of Life Teen, had mentioned that when you call upon the Holy Spirit, you should expect BIG things to happen. Boy, were we in store for the unexpected! The program consisted of sessions, praise & worship, fellowship, and most importantly

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“You Have Me”

By | May 14, 2011

A little over a week ago, as I sat down for Mass in the wooden pews of the Carmelite Convent in Sittard, I really wanted to take some time to prepare my heart to be completely open to whatever the Lord had for me. Lately, I’ve encountered a lot of challenges in living each aspect of my life for the Lord and it’s been a little disheartening. I took a moment of silence and just opened my hands. I took a deep breath and let it out. I opened my Magnificat® to the day’s readings and found such

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Sacrifice of Love

By | April 2, 2011

An inspiring woman in my faith journey has been my Mom. This week was her 50th birthday and she celebrated BIG. Although she threw a party it was not your typical birthday party; oh no, it was a dancing fundraiser. Okay, let me explain.  It all started five years ago when my Mom’s good friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ve never seen a whole faith community come together so fast. Her friend is a wife, a mother of two and a sister in Christ. Within a blink of an eye, she was in danger

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A Gift?

By | January 17, 2011

One thing I’ve learned to appreciate over these past couple months is the gift of detachment. A gift? Yes, I did mean to use that term because God gives us the opportunity to choose the graces of detachment. So what does that mean? This means to rid yourself of anything that you might unintentionally be idolizing and to free yourself in order to be in the posture of “receiving.” These idols may include the ipod, cell phone, internet, and T.V. This doesn’t mean these items can’t be used

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Seeing Jesus through Mary

By | January 7, 2011

In November, our community of Life Teen Missionaries committed to praying a special set of prayers each day, for a month, in preparation to consecrate ourselves to Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin Mary. I know this might sound a little odd; I myself had trouble with this at first. Mary is the mother of Jesus, but what does that have to do with me? Everything! It took me until the day before the consecration to fully understand that we are not making the Blessed Virgin Mary an idol but that

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What’s your Rembrandt?

By | January 4, 2011

For first year missionaries, our main focus is the formation of our hearts so that we can grow into a deeper relationship with Christ. We are intentional about setting aside specific time during the week for spiritual reading and discussions. The second book we read during formation was Fr. Henri Nouwen’s, The Return of the Prodigal Son. In his book, he describes how Rembrandt’s painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son, changed his entire spiritual journey. It was God’s way of pursuing him

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Attitude of Gratitude

By | December 20, 2010

While reading the Gospel during Morning Prayer on December 2nd, I scrambled to find my Bible. I began to read Matthew 15:32 – 39, The Multiplication of the fishes and loaves. I got about half way through the passage when I figured out that I wasn’t reading the right gospel for that day. Despite this, I continued to read. While we pray The Liturgy of the Hours, we take a few moments to share how the Lord is speaking to our hearts. When we began our time of sharing, I recognized how God was clearly

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Gather around the Table.

By | December 4, 2010

Once a year, there is a glorious occasion where family members from all over the United States travel for miles to gather around a table, break bread, and share what they are thankful for. We know this day as Thanksgiving! This is a holiday that has always been near and dear to my heart. I was a little bummed to find out that this year, I would be half way around the world away from my family in a country that doesn’t recognize this day as significant. A week before the holiday, our missionary

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Divine Providence and Spicy Peppers

By | November 28, 2010

Lately, God has been teaching me to pay more attention to what and where he’s leading me. I like to describe it as tuning into those initial gut reactions that happen before making a decision. I’m finding that the common, everyday decisions are where it counts the most because those are the ones that get easily overlooked. Yesterday, for our Sabbath Day, Father Roland took us to visit a historical German Castle and its surrounding town. After we came back and celebrated Mass, it was time

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