As we drew closer to Mass, the speaking team led teens in prayer and worship to call upon the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
They first explored the Spirit’s true purpose and identity by explaining what the Spirit is NOT. It is not an emotion. It is not a feeling. It is a person. It is God’s living water in its simplest, purest, and most powerful form. While our own spirit may be weak, the Holy Spirit is stirring strongly inside each heart. The Holy Spirit is changing us into His instruments of peace and filling us with the power to conquer all fears, heal all hurts, and have victory over all spiritual deaths. Each member of the team took turns asking the Spirit to pour out their favorite life-giving gifts on all of us.
Joel Stepanek – Courage
Let the Holy Spirit cast out all fears. Break the chains that hold you captive and surrender your fears into Jesus’ outstretched arms. When we are courageous enough to speak our fears aloud, they start to lose their power over us. Be bold. Cry out to the Lord. Laugh, cry, and sing praise at the top of your lungs. Do all these things without shame. You have nothing to be afraid of any more.
Katie Prejean – Unity
If you light a match, it will burn down in 10 seconds. If you light a candle, it will eventually blow out. We don’t want to be solitary flames that cast little light when we are all alone. We need to be a raging wild fire, taking over the world and burning throughout all of America. The gift of oneness urges us to stand united together as an unmovable force and as a movement that can not be contained. We are always stronger together.
Matt Regitz – Right Judgment
Society tells us to make decisions solely on what feels right. After all, we know what makes us happy better than anyone, right? Why let others tell us how to live or act? The gift of right judgment reminds us that God’s truth is greater than that of the world’s. It says: “I desire what you want for my life, Lord.” Right judgment won’t merely lead you to the happiness for which you thirst; it will give you freedom.
Fr Chris Martin – Perseverance
The world is filled with mediocrity. We need to stop being lukewarm people who blend into society and start being children filled with zeal. Have passion and perseverance to actually change something about your life. Don’t wait around and make excuses. Filled with the joy of the Spirit, we can start immediately to bring God’s love to every shadow on the earth. Young people really can bring illumination and change to their homes, schools, peers, and community.
Adam Bitter – Purified Hearts
When you sacrifice your purity, you sacrifice you ability to have intimacy. We all want to be closer to God, but impure pasts lead to colder hearts. It is hard to connect with others when we can’t fully reach out to the love around us. The gift of purification says goodbye to the ghosts of the past and makes more authentic men and woman out of all of us.
Chris Padgett- New Beginnings
The Holy Spirit knows each one of us is a collection of scars and shattered pieces. Jesus lets us start over, every second of every hour of every day. Every moment of our life is a beginning. Whether the stone rolled across your heart is sin, anger, fear, hurt, or depression, you can always rise out of the tomb into something new and beautiful. The Holy Spirit connects us right to God’s divine mercy.
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