Feedback

If any parents or youth have feedback on the retreat, please email Monica at mashour@tobet.org. She would love to hear any responses you may have.

Play It Again, Sam

ADULTS: We have CDs of Monica's talk "This Is My Body" if you missed Friday evening's presentation or if you just want to hear it again and really absorb the great lesson. CDs are $5. Contact Sheryl 773-2219.

YOUTH: It has been highly suggested that we have some (smaller) events this summer to follow up the retreat. Please send your email address to the Life Is Good Committee at sclare27@aol.com so we can inform you of the whats and wheres and whens.

The Youth Are the Hope of Our Church

We are so proud of our kids for being willing to open their hearts to this message. They came, they listened, they responded.

Pope John Paul II said to the youth: "The greatest deception, and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility. The Lord is calling you to choose between these voices competing for your souls."

They made good choices this weekend.

The Blessing of Multiplication

Jeff stands by with 2 plastic cups of water... back-up in case the "bonfire" got out of hand.

Isn't that a perfect picture of God's multiplication of our work? We have our little cups of water to throw, while God moves entire oceans. All we have to do is contribute our modest efforts, and God does the rest.

The Texas Tornado

Our presenter, Monica Ashour, of Dallas, Texas.

Even though she is a diehard Texan, she was pretty charmed by our little corner of Paradise here on the central coast. By this time next year, she will be needing to come back for another dose of us Californians.

Monica poured herself out for us and genuinely cares for our eternal souls. Thank you, Monica.

Winner of the Good Sport Award

Leo, sleeping on a patio lounge chair in a strategic position in the hallway, making sure everyone was safe and protected through the night. The chaise lounge collapsed every time Leo changed positions, closing him up inside it like a clam in a bad mood. Sleep was not had.

His t-shirt pretty much says it all.

Ultimate Ping Pong

Do We Live in a Great Place, or What?!

A short walk from the church is the mighty Pacific. Late on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Pismo, there were still surfers in the water and strollers on the pier. The kids were the picture of patience as we took head-counts on every corner, and the Scripture was fulfilled... "Not one of them was lost."

We flooded the ice cream shops on the way back to the church and got a friendly blessing from a "Bikers for Jesus" group passing by on their Harleys.

God smiled.

The Never-Ending Story

Amber and Mark lower the veil on Little Ritchie.

The Mass is being celebrated all the time, all around the world, in every country and nation, every second of the day... and eternally. We don't hear or see it all the time, but it's always right there.

When we are actually at Mass, the veil is lowered and the "volume" of the Mass goes up for us, but the Mass never ends... the wonder of Christ's love for us goes on and on and on, every moment of our lives.

Back to the Future... with Jesus

Andy and Cameron as the flux capacitors, driving Lauren through time and space.

Whenever we participate in the Mass, we are present at the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord 2000 years ago and at the same time we get a little taste of Heaven, our eternal home.

And some people think the Mass is boring!! Wake up, McFly!

Egg Olympics

A couple of (dozen) eggs were broken as the girls raced the boys in the Egg Olympics. It took awhile for everyone to get the hang of bouncing eggs off a sheet, and the birds will reap the benefits as they cruise our parking lot for the next few weeks, nibbling eggshells.

The boys won the race, which was a metaphor for the fragility of our purity. The boys, in their rough, tough buff-ness, proved they can protect their own purity, as well as the purity of the girls they know and care about.

A Lesson in Christian Anthropology

The entries in the Ugly Contest... the evocative aroma of new Play-Doh wafted through the air as the kids made the ugliest figurines they possibly could. Some pretty formidable nasties were constructed! It's a lesson in how the human body was designed by God to be giving and generous and loving, rather than hurtful, destructive and ugly.

He could have given us claws to tear others, but He gave us hands to help them. He could have given us rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth, but He gave us lips to speak words of love and affirmation.

A particularly ugly creation with horns and one eye won the prize of chocolate chip cookie dough.

The Troops Have Arrived

Monster Fish

We all have a great heart for teenagers, growing up with pressures on them that we didn't have. Some of the issues they confront have life-and-death consequences. They are subjected to burdens their young souls were never meant to bear. It's like trying to land a 3,500 pound fish on 12-pound test line.

This weekend, we have a chance to give them a hand, by helping them find God's own plan for their lives, a gentle and joyful plan, custom-made for each one.

We would have done this retreat even if we had only one teenager registered; it's that vital. But we get to do it for 21 teenagers (and registration isn't closed yet!) Wonderful things are in store...

Borrowing a Page from Cursillo

Palancas are an idea borrowed from the Cursillo crew: expressions of support and prayers from a community on behalf of Cursillo retreatants. "Palanca" means "lever"... the leverage of prayer, to entreat God's special blessing on those in retreat.

At Masses this past Sunday, we supplied prayer cards in the pews for people to sign and pledge spiritual sacrifices for a teen on retreat next weekend. Rosaries, Holy Hours, fasting and sustained prayer were all offered for the teens. Each of them will be blanketed, pillowed and cradled in the prayers of the community.

We'll give the kids these prayer cards at the end of the retreat, but the prayers will have been covering them all along.