| STAT: Saint Thomas the Apostle Teens
Saint Thomas the Apostle Youth Program is a Catholic ministry open to teens, grades nine through twelve, of all faiths. The aim is to bring young people into communion, conversion and solidarity with the Church. It encourages teens and their families to grow closer to Christ and His Church through the celebration of the Mass, understanding the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the experience of growing in a Christian community. Parents, young adults and young married couples are invited to minister in this program.
Meetings for teens take place twice a week. On Monday nights we meet for STAT, a gathering that takes an in-depth look into our faith life. On Tuesday nights we meet for mass, dinner together and Ignatian prayer followed by Ultimate Frisbee. Tuesdays have a much more casual atmosphere of fun, fellowship and socializing. All meetings take place in the St. John Bosco Teen Center, located on the north side of the property, next to the Parish Hall. There is no formal enrollment for the STA High School Youth Program. High School students are encouraged to simply attend the meetings along with their friends.
What is Prayer? How does one pray?
This semester will not only teach us what prayer is but we will learn all kinds of different prayers and why it is essential to our everyday lives. On Tuesdays we will look at Ignatian prayer which will help us to pray with the Scriptures and teach us the ways of spiritual discernment.
SCHEDULE:
Monday Nights
August
24th Kick off
31st Communication With God
September
7th NO STAT-Labor Day
14th ARRR/Levels of the Heart?
21st Setting up Prayer Times
28th Praying with the Bible/
Lectio Divina
October
5th Our Father
12th Social
19th Liturgy of the Hours **Taught by Fr. John Ehrich
26th Prayer in the Holy
Spirit
November
2nd Safe Environment
Night
9th Mary and the Rosary **Taught by Dominican Sisters here at St. Thomas
16th Adoration **Taught by Poor Clares
23rd Thanksgiving
Celebration
30th Mysteries of the Rosary **Taught by Fr. John Muir
December
7th Communion of Saints
14th The Mass and Prayer **Taught by Fr. Robert Bolding
21st Christmas Trolley
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Tuesday Nights: Ignatian Prayer and Frisbee
October
13th This week pray with: Hosea 11:1-9
20th This week pray with: Jeremiah 18:1-6
27th This week pray with: Genesis 22:1-19
November
3rd This week pray with: Genesis 3:1-24
10th This week pray with: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 & Romans 7:15-25
17th This week pray with: Psalm 51:1-19
24th This week pray with: Luke 19:1-10
December
1st This week pray with: Matthew 20:20-28
8th This week pray with: Luke 1:39-56
15th This week pray with: Philippians 2:1-11 or Luke 2:1-20
22nd This week pray with: Matthew 3:13-17 |
Ignatian Guide to praying with the Scriptures:
 (Download this as a PDF)
Ignatian Scriptural Prayer Guide
After finding a place and time where you know you will not be disturbed:
1) Preparatory Prayer
Ask God our Lord for the grace that all my intentions, thoughts, and actions may be ordered purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty. [I usually add something like, “I am not here in your presence because I am worthy Lord, but because you are worthy to receive my praise....
2) First Prelude
This is made by imagining the place. Here we should take notice of the following. When a meditation is about something that can be gazed on, for example, a scene where our Lord is visible, the composition will be to see in imagination the physical place where the event is happening. By physical place I mean, for instance, a temple or a mountain where Jesus Christ or our Lady happen to be, in accordance with what is written....
(This sets the mind/intellect....)
3) Second Prelude
Ask God our Lord for what I want and desire. What I ask for should be in accordance with the subject matter. For example, in a contemplation on the Resurrection, I will ask for joy with Christ in joy; in a contemplation on the Passion, I will ask for pain, tears, and suffering with Christ suffering.....
(This sets the will....)
4) Actual Meditation
#’s 1-3 are always included, although #3 obviously changes with the passage prayed. The following points change according to what fits the passage...
Follow the Lord through the scene, and stop when something impacts you. “Look” into the scene at Jesus, His heart, His actions, His words, and the heart, actions, and words of any one person or many persons nearby.
As soon as you stop because something impacts you, look more deeply right into that impact point. What is happening at that moment in the scene? What are you noticing that so captures your attention?
5) Communication With the Lord
Speak to the Lord about what you are seeing in Him or in others in the scene. Discuss with Him what is happening in your heart because of what you are watching. Listen to anything that comes to mind as a response from Him.
Repeat steps 4-5 until you feel as though your conversation is “complete” or you have no more time....
6) Final Colloquy (Final Conversation)
A colloquy is made, properly speaking, on the way one friend speaks to another, or a servant to one in authority -- now begging a favor, now accusing oneself of some misdeed, now telling one’s concerns and asking counsel about them....
Each of these exercises will close with the three colloquies: one with Our Lady, one with the Son, and one with the Father....
a) Talk with our Lady about what you just saw. Ask Her help in various ways. Ask Her to take all of your prayer up with Her Son....
b) Talk with Jesus Crucified (or in some other mystery of His life) and ask Him to help you in various ways. Ask Him to take all of your prayer and life to the Father.
c) Talk with the Father about what you just saw. Ask His help in various ways. Ask Him to receive all that you are and help in ways related to what you have just been through in prayer. Tell Him that you want to live still more deeply, more completely, for Him.
Links & Resources
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