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Training our teens to rely on Jesus

I’ve been spending time with the teenagers in my parish as they prepare for their Confirmation this spring, as my youngest will be confirmed this year. I volunteered for the first time this year because I realized in my own faith journey, many of the cultural ideas that conflict with Catholicism became real for me between the ages of 15 and 25. Although I didn’t understand the traditions of my faith back then, I understood the ten commandments.  It is that time between when you start having freedom through the time before marriage.  The human brain isn’t even fully developed until age 25 but yet teens are making all these decisions, while at the same time feeling very vulnerable to the need to “fit in”.

I wanted to make sure that the kids understand that God has a great plan for each of their lives, for them to realize that He loves you, even when it you feel like you’re not fitting in.  I tried to reiterate to the kids that they were created by God, for a specific purpose but they have to listen.  In other words, to spend time with Him by reading His word.  By receiving our spiritual food, the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and praying.  By praying I mean, not to asking for what we think will make us happy but to LISTEN for what He knows will bring us the most happiness for all involved.  He is our creator and only He knows how all of us together make a better world. 

I did my best to help them understand that just like all decisions in life, when you make a choice to do nothing, you are actually making a choice.  God is just there waiting for us to respond to His love.  He wants us to get to know Him, and just like spending time with a friend, coming to church every week and receiving the healing power of the Eucharist is one way we can do that. I tried to convey what I’ve experienced in my own faith journey which is that coming to Church CAN be your retreat from the world, if you let it be.

I first heard Jim Walberg’s story on the Hallow app, and I thought, wow, the devil starts early.  Unfortunately, I know that, but it was nice to hear it from someone else.  What I felt even at an early age, was a lack of purpose.  I wasn’t tempted in the same way Jim was, but the devil has his tactics for each of us. 

The kids learned that their receiving their confirmation this year was one more way they can protect themselves and others against the tactics of evil, by becoming a soldier of Christ.  I learned something new also.  We anoint with Chrism in the Catholic Church because in the biblical times when they were at war, they covered themselves in oil, so it was more difficult for the enemy to grab them.  The sacrament of Confirmation is the strengthening of our Baptism on our journey as a child of God.  A protection, in other words against the tactics of the evil one.  Ephesians 6:11

What about Faith and Mental Health?

A second reason I wanted to help with Confirmation this year is a little harder to talk about. I’ve learned about the rising statistics in the U.S. related to suicide and addiction of all kinds.  I’ve seen this in my own family and in my community.

I listened to a podcast from Dr. Greg Bottaro, founder of the Catholic Psych Institute. In the podcast, I am paraphrasing here but it was along the lines of “if we were to compare dollars thrown at the mental health treatment industry with the dollars thrown at the cancer treatment industry, the funding would have been stopped a long time ago.”

Treating mental health is very important, but what if it’s missing a crucial element?  What if we understood that suffering is a process that we can all grow from, and that each of us has our cross to bear?  What impact would that have on the afflicted if they knew they are actually involved in a two-thousand-year-old battle?  How has the decrease in the practice of the Christian faith impacted the mental health of our human population?  The Christian faith that mattered so much to all humans who walked the earth after the resurrection of Jesus, that they actually started counting the years to which He would return.

In this age of scientism, where the human level of self-preservation and individual happiness appears to be an all-time high, maybe we’ve forgotten what we really are and why we’re here. If the act of war is the manifestation of evil in the physical world over material things by separate nations, could it be that the way evil weakens on the individual level is through the battles created within an individual which we have termed mental illness? 

Be aware of what you allow into your mind

In class, I’ve shared an old saying with the kids:

“Show me your closest five friends, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Be aware of what you’re filling your mind with—who you spend time with, what you listen to, what you read, what you watch—it all impacts what you process between your ears, which leads to what you hold in your heart and how you live your life. Said another way, all sin begins in the mind in small ways.  It is these small steps that lead to the breaking of a commandment, that seem like just another step that comes all too easily.  A step that leads to separation from God which can be healed in the Church.  I’m not throwing rocks, no judgement here, I’ve been there remember, I was married in a Trinitarian Church outside the Catholic church in a second marriage to a divorced man as a divorced woman.

A Lenten Challenge: Watch The Passion of the Christ

Here’s the challenge: 
If you haven’t seen The Passion of the Christ (2004) directed by Mel Gibson with Jim Caviezel—especially my brothers out there who are husbands, fathers, and sons, I beg you to watch it with an open heart.  As Americans, we stand for the national anthem at every sporting event. We remove our hats and place a hand over our hearts. There are great men who have died for our freedom in this country. No doubt about that!!  I believe that God created men as warriors and as leaders of their families, to fight the spiritual battle that many of my brothers are unaware of.  Your children, wives, sisters and mothers need to you to take the time to listen to God’s call for your life.  Jesus deserves your time, and your praise, like no other war hero in history.  He is the Greatest Of All Time, the King who is leading us into battle.  I beg you, pick up your cross and follow Him.

Cheerfully in Christ,
Karen ✝️

 

    • Teen Brain:
        National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
      📄 The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know – This resource explains how the brain continues developing into the mid-20s, especially the prefrontal cortex.
      🔗 NIMH – The Teen Brain

 

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