Youth Group

Last night we did youth group... it turned out pretty well... though the game went long, the talk went long, and by the time I realised it, we ended up cutting 10 minutes out of adoration time...

The topic yesterday was the morality of actions but I told them the theme was "trustworthy" since it was easier to remember, and is a rough approximation of the topic.

I really focused on CCC 1759
"'An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention' (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means"

I tried to give them an understanding of Part 3 Section 1 Chapter 1 Article 4 of the Catechism (The morality of human acts)... I think I lost them briefly, so I tried to restate it in a simpler way, and the simplist I could get was "The end does not justify the means" and "good can not come from evil" without losing the basic understanding... even then it lost some of the meaning... but in common language and understanding, I think it was adequate. I also used "Be holy because I am holy" 1 pt 1:16 and "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect" Matt. 5:48 as quick verses.

Interesting though, was one of their questions (they tend to ask questions that are quite intelligent, and they don't realise how intelligent). The question was about obeying a "bad" law. I started by saying that even then you should obey it (I was going to refer to Thomas' arguments from De Regimine Principum about Tyrannts and how even if you could overthrow them, you would risk disunity, a greater tyrannt and other great concerns that could greatly out weigh the sins of the tyrannt., but I ended up referring to 1 peter 1-3, about slaves obeying even perverse masters. ) Another of the youth (I was not going to call on him, because we were running over time) added that sometimes laws are not valid laws. And then a mother mentioned briefly about abortion. Which brought me to talk about spheres of authority (another misunderstood concept by most people) and how the Government can't make valid laws that are not within its sphere of authority... Such as permitting abortion... since the only authority who has the right over life and death, is God.

I gave the example of how as a youth minister I can ask anyone in the youth group to obey me, (some one said "but you can't demand that they do it", which I said, I *could* command them, and if they didn't obey I could ask them to leave the youth group. And the mother said, that even she would be obliged by the 4th commandment to obey, if I asked her to do something.) Then I mentioned how if I went to another ministry and walked in and told people to do things, that I would not have the authority, because my sphere of authority is the youth group, and that's it. I get my authority from Fr. Pat, and I give authority to the adults and young adults. They get their authority from me directly, and indirectly from Father, though they could always appeal to a higher authority than me if they felt that I was not doing something right.

Anyhow... the night was good, and the mother really liked it (it was her first time to come, she sent her younger son to join us last week, and she was so amazed by how happy he was, and how joyful he was about what he told her. I had told them the quote "If you only knew how much Jesus loves you in the Eucharist, you would die of joy" from St. John vianney I think. The topic last week was the radical love of Christ, and I told them what the parable of the lost sheep meant to the people of the time... since today we arent shepards and we have heard it so many times that most of us have forgotten how radical what Jesus said in that parable really was.)

Then later a father of one of the youth (he was in a different meeting) came up and told me and Lee about how much youth group has changed his daughter... (and she's only in middle school).

So last night God was trying to uplift me, and humble me, which only he can do at the same time. I was very thankful for hearing the praise of both of those parents.

Thanks be to God, who chooses to send His light through a glass of dirty water like me! How amazing, merciful, and magnanimous is His love!!!
Abba Father, I adore thee.
Edward