Posted on May 2nd, 2011

May 2, 9, 16

Objective: To develop a deeper awareness of the need to be creators of peace in all aspects of their lives modeling their actions on Jesus Christ. Overview: In the bible, Matthew tells us: When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you (6:6). For many people, especially middle schoolers, piety, or religious reverence, might...

Posted on Apr 4th, 2011

April 4, 11, 25

Objective: To develop a greater understanding of the gift of knowledge and how they can use that gift to look at the world in a new way. Overview: The knowledge we are given by the Holy Spirit is quite different than the worldly definition of the word knowledge. The Holy Spirit does not bless us with a plethora of information that no one else has. However, it does give us a new perspective, that comes from the...

Posted on Mar 14th, 2011

March 14, 21, 28

Objective: To develop a deeper understanding of the gift of fortitude and how it can help them deal with peer, cultural and media pressures. Overview: As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of...

Posted on Feb 14th, 2011

February 14, 28, March 7

Objective: To develop a deeper desire to seek counsel from God to guide the path of their lives. Overview: One of the greatest signs of God’s love for us is in our free will. As it says in Sirach, “When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice” (15:14). With that freedom comes the responsibility to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God. Sirach continues: If you...

Posted on Jan 24th, 2011

January 24, 31, February 7

Objective: To develop a deeper awareness of what the gift of understanding is and how they can use it to help them view their worlds from the eyes of their hearts. Overview: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Faith seeks understanding”: it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed; a more...

Posted on Jan 3rd, 2011

January 3, 10, 17

Objective: To develop a deeper understanding of the gift of wisdom that is given to them by the Holy Spirit. Overview: in the New Testament, we learn that wisdom becomes God’s own word incarnate in Christ, so it becomes a gift of the Spirit.  Through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is alive and active in all of us: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....

Posted on Dec 6th, 2010

December 6, 13, 20

Objective: Through the prayer of St. Michael, the middle school youth will come to see how prayer can help them stand up against temptation. Overview: In order to truly be Christian, one must recognize the reality that the devil is present in the world. The temptations we face in life are a tactic used by the devil to pull us away from God. The devil desires for us to reject God and seeks to destroy our relationship...

Posted on Nov 15th, 2010

November 15, 22, 29

Objective: To learn how they can grow in their faith by giving thanks to God in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Overview: The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption and sanctification. Eucharist means...

Posted on Oct 25th, 2010

October 25, November 1, 8

Objective: To pray the rosary and learn how prayer with the Virgin Mary will always point them to Christ. Overview: As Jesus was dying on the cross, He presented His mother to His disciple and to all of us by saying, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27).  Today, we still view the Blessed Virgin Mary as mother to us all.  As with any mother, we can turn to her for guidance and prayers and we look to her to show us...

Posted on Oct 4th, 2010

October 4, 11, 18

Objective: To come to a deeper understanding of the Lord’s Prayer and learn how to apply the principles of this prayer to their lives. Overview: Often Jesus makes things quite simple for us, as He did with this prayer that He taught us, which we call the Lord’s prayer or the Our Father.  The disciples asked Jesus how to pray and He gave them the words to use (Matthew 6, Luke 11).  Through this prayer we learn...