Troubadors

Before he became a priest, St. Francis was really into the Troubadour's love poetry. He would listen to the ones who would come through Assisi with fondness. If you can read French, and I know you all can do so fluently, here is an example.

After he became a priest, St. Francis became a Troubadour for the Lord, he sang love songs to God. One of his most famous is Brother Sun, Sister Moon and if we listen to it, we can get a sense of the sort of sappiness that is so common in Troubadour songs.



Two thousand years later people started calling Bob Dylan a "modern day Troubadour." He would travel around the country singing song that weren't complicated and spoke to people's simplest values. During his (admittedly) short Christian period he recorded What Can I Do For You? Its one of my favorite Christian songs. Take a moment to listen and think about what Dylan is asking us in this song? What he trying to tell us about God?

Just a Reminder

On October 18 (next Sunday) we will be meeting at Hopewell Community Park at 1:30pm.

If the weather forecast for Friday is really bad we will meet at Fatima. If the weather forecast is bad I will call people and let them know.

Youth Ministry Digest for October 11, 2009

Guys, I slipped up this week and didn't have this in time for Friday. Sorry about that. Just the same, there's a lot of new stuff this week so pay attention.

Our First Two Youth Group Meetings
Fright Night @ Kennywood
Movie Night
The Red Door
December

Our First Two Youth Group Meetings
The Youth Group has had two meetings so far. The first meeting had 29 people show up. The breakdowns were like so:

• 26 from Our Lady of Fatima
• 3 from St. Titus
• 48% boys
  
• 52% guys

There were 31 people at the second meeting:

• 28 from Our Lady of Fatima
• 4 from St. Titus
• 48% boys
• 52% guys

Six people from the first meeting did not come to the second meeting, and eight people showed up at the second meeting who were not at the first.

Fright Night @ Kennywood
I realize that I'm sounding like a broken record here, but we are going to Fright Night at Kennywood on the 24th. You need to RSVP with me by October 14 (that's Wednesday). You can RSVP by leaving a voicemail on my office line (724)375-7940, emailing me or through the Facebook group.
The cost of the ticket $21 dollars. The bus is $5. You also need to have a filled out Permission form.
Meet at Our Lady of Fatima at 5pm.

Movie Night
On November 14 we are having Movie Night at Our Lady of Fatima at 5pm. You do not have to RSVP for this event and there is no cost, simply show up.

The Red Door
The Red Door is a ministry to the homeless in Downtown Pittsburgh. We will be making and distributing lunches. We will be meeting at Our Lady of Fatima at 8:30am on November 21.

There is no cost to attend, but we are asking for a $5 transportation fee. Also, I need a permission form.

December
We have scheduled two events for December. An Advent Day of Reflection on December 5 and the Our Lady of Fatima live nativity on December 21. I will be putting more information out about these events closer to when the occur, but at this time I can say that you have to RSVP for the Day of Reflection by November 22.

One final note, I'm on vacation this week so I won't be in my office. If there is an emergency, please e-mail me.

Peace,

Adam
Your Intrepid Youth Minister

p.s. Here is a picture of my dogs

In The Desert

When St. Anthony of Egypt (in the fourth century ad) was twenty he sold all of his possesion, and donated his land to other villagers, and gave all the money to the poor. He then went out into the desert and became the first monk. He did all this because the Gospel that was read in Church that day was the story of Jesus telling the rich man "'If thou wouldest be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor; and come follow Me and thou shalt have treasure in heaven."

Its rather obvious to us that the Church does not expect us to sell everything that we have and give the money away. The rich man was told to do this because his money was standing in the way of his ability to follow God. St. Anthony was a rich man before he became a Monk (he owned almost three hundred acres of land). Clearly he saw himself as the rich man.

St. Anthony left the world behind and lived the rest of his life in the desert. The desert is where God sends people to be tested and cleansed. After the Israelites left Egypt God kept them in the desert instead of letting them enter the Holy Land. Additionally, Jesus entered the desert for forty days after he was baptized. St. Anthony had the same reasons for entering the desert.

Probably none of us will never enter the wilderness (on a permanent basis at least), but we should maybe think about how St. Anthony viewed all of his stuff. Anthony's possessions made it harder for him to focus his life on God, and things finally reached the point where he had to make a choice between the two. What do we have that maybe holds us back from God? What would we be better off without?