Life-teen update (01-28-2007)

February is fast approaching and you know what that means, all the discount Valentine’s day candy that you can eat will be available for your sampling pleasure in only a few short weeks. This is a yearly ritual that I look forward to with no small amount of fear and trepidation. How can I sample all of the various new delicacies out there on the market and still eat my fill of all my favorite chocolates without making my self disgustingly sick? In short the answer is, of course, that I can’t. This inability most certainly does not stem from a lack of strong desire, but more from a lack of ability to eat large quantities of chocolate without becoming rather ill for the next several days. This is a good thing. It is like a built in mechanism that God has given me to prevent my overindulgence around the various holiday seasons that involve the reduced price of chocolate. Left to my own devices, I would cause my body physical damage, but if I get sick before that particular point than the seriousness of the damage is greatly reduced. This is not unlike our spiritual life. If we have a properly formed conscience then we will realize that we are getting closer and closer to sin before we actually fall into it. This is why it is so important to come to Mass on Sunday and youth group. Our conscience is a gift from God telling us what is right and wrong. If we fail to form it correctly than we will be less likely to know when our actions are leading us away from our God who loves us. The Church is here to help us with that formation. My exploits of this past week have allowed me to come in contact with several people’s consciences and how they make their decisions. While I was up at the high school this past Wednesday I met some people who desired the pizza that I was carrying. They asked me who I was, why I was up at the high school, the usual runaround. Then they asked about the pizza. I explained that I was a youth minister and had come to meet with anyone from my youth group who would be willing to have lunch with me. They asked about who was in my youth group, and then asked if they could join. I told them that they would be welcome to come at Life-teen, but that me giving out pizza was not dependent on it. We talked a bit more and I gave them the rest of the pizza to share at their table. You may draw what conclusions you wish from my little adventure, but I found the whole thing rather thought provoking.