Tag Archives: sacrifice

LifeTeen.com Blog

Why do Catholics Abstain from Meat on Fridays in Lent?

By | February 13, 2013

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Picture it: You’re in a hurry. You’re focused on school or work or family or friends, where there are a thousand things going on. You stop “real quick” to eat in the middle of the day. Halfway through the meal – or a little while after – you remember it’s Friday. And it’s Lent! And that’s a burger in your stomach!! In the words of Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”

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LifeTeen.com Blog

What to Give Up for Lent: 25 Creative Ideas

By | February 6, 2013

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Are you looking for something unconventional to offer up for Lent? We asked Life Teen missionaries and our friends on Facebook for cool stuff they’ve done in the past. This is what they shared.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Do you have room?

By | December 13, 2012

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In case you haven’t seen a calendar, looked at people’s front yards, or watched enough of those ridiculous cars-with-huge-ribbons-on-them commercials (because most people we know regularly get a Lexus for Christmas) . . . Christmas is coming soon.

The Church celebrates Advent – a time of preparation – for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. I never really used to get into Advent; it seemed like an unnecessary reminder when we already have radio stations playing Christmas music, Christmas episodes of our favorite TV shows, and those red Starbucks cups to let us know that Jesus’ birth is just around the corner.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Meatless Fridays: Can You Take This Food Challenge?

By | December 7, 2012

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Yep. Because Friday is the day that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, the Church instructs that we should call this to mind frequently—not just the forty days before Easter. While most of us are familiar with abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent, we are challenged by the Church to recall the importance of Good Friday throughout the year by making some act of penance each week.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Accepting the Challenge from Blessed JP2: Be Not Afraid

By | October 22, 2012

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I believe that Pope John Paul II was one of the greatest Popes to have ever served the Church. History has shown him to be a man who can be all things to all people. He was an athlete, an actor, a writer, a priest, a bishop, an activist and most of all a follower of Christ . . . In terms of leadership and bravery, William Wallace has nothing on this guy. During the years of Pope John Paul II’s service to the Church, he encountered many things that would make the average person run and hide.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

The Answer to Pain

By | October 16, 2012

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Suffering will always be hard to understand; there’s no quick answer, bumper sticker, or 140-character tweet that can totally answer all of our “whys.” But even in our grief, we can look to the crucifix and know that we have not been forgotten or abandoned by God.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

How to Have a Perfect Vacation

By | June 25, 2012

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Bad weather, theft, sickness – no matter how well planned a vacation is, it will never turn out perfect.

It was the shoes that did me in. The cheap fashion sneakers that were good enough for mall hopping but not for traipsing four days across the cobblestone streets of Rome, Italy. By the second day of my vacation my feet were throbbing and blisters were forming. Every vacation will go wrong somehow, but what are you supposed to do when it does?

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Good Friday Devotional

By | April 6, 2012

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Listen “Nothing but the Blood” by Hillsong Listen on iTunes Listen on YouTube Reflect The new meaning that Christ gave to suffering was not so much made manifest in his death but rather in his victory over death, that is, the Resurrection. He “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25): the two events are inseparable in the thought of Paul and of the Church. It is a universal human experience: in this life pleasure and pain follow Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Why I Hope We Devour the Hunger Games

By | March 26, 2012

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Okay, listen. I really like the Hunger Games. I could not put the first book down this summer and so of course at the first minute of Friday the 23rd, at 12:01am, I was sitting in a theater to see the movie. “But it’s about teens killing each other!!!” This is the reaction a lot of adults have. (At least that’s what my parents said.) Yes it is about killing. And it’s terrible. It’s horrific.

See, this movie is not supposed to be about glorifying killing. The two main characters, Katniss and Peeta, are horrified that they have to participate in the Hunger Games and fight to the death, much like Roman gladiators. Though the governing body, the “Capitol”, finds it enjoyable, the majority (except for three districts) of the population is appalled by these games year after year.

But I found some very inspiring themes in this story . . .

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Do You Feel Like You’ve Failed This Lent?

By | March 21, 2012

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Then it happened. In a moment of weakness and stress, I found a Coke and failed my annual challenge once again. I was really frustrated. This was supposed to be the year that I finally got it right, the one Lent that I could finally prove to God and to myself that I could do it. I spent a day or two so frustrated that I couldn’t bring myself to pray. I couldn’t face the God who suffered and died for me when I couldn’t give up a freaking soft drink.

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