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CatholicYouthMinistry.com

Catholic Youth Ministry

Resources

When It’s Dark

A Life Night Addressing Crisis

About This Life Night

The Life Night begins by welcoming the teens to a comfortable environment and saying an opening prayer under candlelight. The Proclaim discusses the crisis and how to process crisis situations in a healthy way, as well as the existence of evil and living victoriously with Jesus in the midst of darkness. The Break is a small group discussion and prayer about how the crisis is affecting the community and each person individually. During the Send, the youth minister, parish priest, or deacon leads the group in praying the Order for the Blessing of a Victim of Crime or Oppression.

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is to discuss the emotions teens may experience when a crisis happens, and the existence of evil, as well as inspire them to have hope in Jesus when it’s dark. The Life Night is designed to be general so it can be adapted to meet the needs of various crisis situations.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– God does not create evil; He creates only what is good. Evil is the absence of good.

– Crisis affects every person differently. There is a wide spectrum of emotions that can be experienced, and it’s important to honor and pay attention to those emotions.

– Through Jesus, divine life and grace are dispensed to all who believe in Him. With Jesus, we can overcome darkness.

Broken

In this powerful video resource, a work of art that appears trashed and tarnished is stripped away, layer by layer, while a stark and honest narration outlines the brokenness all around us, but the saving grace that remains at the core.

Choices

In this Life Teen video resource, we follow a teenaged girl throughout her day and see the drastic differences that can occur based off what moral choices are made.

The Older Brother

In this video, we see the well-known story of the prodigal son visualized, but with a focus on the lesser-known older brother from the parable, and how we can avoid falling into the trap of not knowing the Father’s heart, as the older brother did.

The Witness Stand

Mission and Culture

About This Session

This session begins with an interactive, large group game on pop culture. The Proclaim discusses what it means to be a missionary, how we are called to interact with culture, and how we can engage teens in their specific temperaments. The Break is a handout that helps the Core Members identify unique ways they can reach out to specific teens. The Send encourages Core Members to choose a saint to be an intercessor for their ministry and then closes with a period of Praise and Worship.

Goal of This Night

To equip and empower the Core Members to be missionaries to the teens.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– As Core Members, we are called to enter into a different culture (music, social media, celebrity personalities, TV shows), become acquainted with a different language (text shorthand, urban dictionary colloquialisms), and learn about and reach out to each temperament differently.
– There are specific ways we can minister to teens of different temperaments.
– The mission is urgent. So many souls do not yet know the love of Christ. Jesus is calling each of us, as He did the first apostles, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

Accepting The Evidence

The Temperaments and the Spiritual Life

About This Session

This session begins with a comedic, improvisational game that ties in the four temperaments. The Proclaim provides insight on how the four temperaments engage in the spiritual life and specific ways people of each temperament can grow in holiness. The Break is a personal reflection that applies the principles of the Proclaim. The Send is a period of Eucharistic Adoration acknowledging it is ultimately Christ who makes us holy.

Goal of This Night

To provide insight on how each of the four temperaments can help us grow in holiness while still acknowledging it is ultimately Christ who makes us holy.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Just like our natural tendencies to be talkative, reflective, driven, or a peacemaker we have natural tendencies that apply to our prayer lives and apostolic endeavors.
– We are each called to a deep, meaningful, and personal relationship with Christ, no matter our temperament.
– Growing in holiness is not solely up to us. It is Christ who makes us holy.

Investigate and Discover

The Temperaments and You

About This Session

The Gather for this session is the Temperament Test. The Proclaim is a detailed explanation of the four temperaments. The Break is a personal activity that helps the Core Members reflect on their unique blend of temperaments. The Send provides opportunities for the Core Members to affirm one another and intercede for each other.

Goal of This Night

To provide Core Members with the opportunity to discover and reflect upon their unique blend of temperaments.

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Each temperament has strengths and challenges and most people have a primary and secondary temperament.
– The choleric is a natural leader, they also can be domineering and prone to pride. The melancholic is principled and thoughtful, they also can hold impossible standards. The sanguine is fun loving and friendly, they also can be superficial and inconsistent. The phlegmatic is prudent, they also can be unassertive and non-confrontational.
– Each individual blend of temperaments can contribute to the community in unique ways. On the other hand, the community can also support each other’s individual blend of temperaments in unique ways.

A Motley Crew

Community That Is Sent

About This Session

The session begins with a lively Gather that gets the Core Members moving and introduces the idea of the community and mission of the apostles. The Proclaim explores the receiving and passing on of the Good News. The Break gives the Core Members the opportunity to reflect on and share how they first heard the Good News. The Send is a variety of community building games.

Goal of This Night

To introduce the Core Members to the idea that community life is part of the mission to share the Good News and it requires dedication, self-reflection, and an openness to continual growth in holiness.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– As a community, the apostles were devoted to the teachings of Christ, fellowship with each other, and to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. The apostles were also sent out on mission to bring the Good News to ends of the earth.
– Core Team communities are called to model the community of the apostles, which comes with the blessings of friendship, fellowship, and accountability, and also the challenges of different personalities and communication styles.
– Knowing ourselves, as well as the members of our community, transforms our community life and helps us bring the Good News to teens.

The Drive Of Your Life!

A Life Night on Conscience Formation

About This Life Night

This Life Night begins with a Gather meant to get the teens up and moving and challenge their sense of direction. The Proclaim directs the teens’ focus to the things in their life that they are unintentionally allowing to form their conscience and encourages them to allow Jesus to form their conscience instead. The Break gives teens time to reflect on the deficiencies in their own conscience formation and to think of people who might be able to help them form their conscience well. Then, they have a chance to spend some time in prayer discerning which gift of the Holy Spirit they need most in their life right now. The Send gives teens an opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to give them the gifts they need to form their conscience.

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is to help teens understand that forming our conscience is an integral part of the Christian life and to challenge them to form their consciences in an intentional manner, rather than allowing the prevailing culture to form it for them.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Jesus has given us the gift of a conscience so that we can know the difference between right and wrong.
– Since we are imperfect and live in an imperfect world, our conscience can be malformed.
– To live the life that Jesus calls us to, we must allow Jesus to teach our conscience the difference between right and wrong. This allows us to trust our conscience.

Key Terms

-Conscience
-Vincible Ignorance
-Invincible Ignorance

Social Media Hashtags

#LT_TheDriveofYourLife
#CalibrateYourCompass
#theWAYthetruthandthelife

Life Support: January 2017

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