On Fire

Destroy. Purify. Warm. Illuminate. Consume.

There are a lot of things that fire can do, and depending on who you ask, you can get different opinions on whether it's good or bad. During our most recent confirmation retreat, I think it's fair to say that we came to the conclusion that the fire of the Holy Spirit is, indeed, good.

Maybe it seems a little cliche to center a confirmation theme around fire, but I have to say that out of the 12 retreats I've been on, this was one of the best yet. Why? Because we got back down to the basics of what it means to have our lives centered around Christ. Too often, our world tries to make Christianity fancy and entertaining and attractive, but what we don't always realize is that it is already exciting on its own. We worship a God we haven't yet seen. We believe in the presence of a man who was crucified and resurrected in the Eucharist. While so many people throughout the world spend December rushing from store to store and wondering what kind of foods to place on their tables, we focus on our God who came down from heaven to be with us.

Taking time to spend time with 27 teens and 13 adults may not sound like an ideal weekend to the average adult, but to me, it was everything I needed right when I needed it. Seeing a group of young adults and our awesome priest, Fr. Dan witness to the young church was such a privilege. We hear about how our age group of 20 and 30-somethings are self-centered and materialistic, but when I looked at my fellow leaders, I only saw generosity and the fire of the Holy Spirit WARMING the youth.

Perhaps some of the most surprising and inspiring moments came during our gender sessions. We know the stereotypes. Girls can be catty. Boys can be obsessed with being cool. Teens don't think about anything but themselves. But this weekend those stereotypes were DESTROYED. I saw girls unite for a common cause of lifting each other up, and I saw boys put aside the "cool factor" and reach out to one another in times of need.

As important as the teamwork between our teens was, it paled in comparison to the work of the Holy Spirit who was present and hard at work all weekend. I was so moved by how the teens were PURIFIED in the sacrament of reconciliation.

While I was part of the team who hosted this retreat for teens, I definitely came away with the understanding that a lot of this retreat was for me, so I could renew my relationship with Christ, so I could be CONSUMED by his love for me. When I take the time to pause and think about how the same Christ who was crucified and rose wants ME, I am overwhelmed. Christ wants ME. He loves ME. He pursues ME. It sounds countercultural to allow yourself to be consumed by fire, but that's what happened. I realized I have to surrender everything I've thought would be best for me so that Jesus could consume me with his love and my will would be the will of the Father.

In youth ministry we warn against the "retreat high" when people go away for a while and have a deep experience with the Holy Spirit. But then the feeling fades and they go back to being what they were before. They lose the fire. My hope for these teens is that they be CONSUMED to the point where they share in the mission of destroying what's wrong in the world, purifying what's tainted, warming those who are left in the cold and illuminating the love of Jesus wherever they may go.