St. Thérèse of Carmel Youth Ministry

PRAYER TIME! PAUSE AND TAKE A MINUTE TO QUIET YOUR HEART AND MIND, AND THEN READ ALONG IN THE CAPTION TO PRAY, OR TO JUST SPEND SOME QUIET, QUALITY TIME WITH GOD Lord God, This time change has been extremely tough...these nights just seem to be getting colder and colder and darker and darker. There are some nights that make me feel as if the sun will never come back - that the light is gone. There are things in my life that I just don’t know if I can do on my own. There ...are things that I know I should do and that you want me to do, and sometimes I feel like...like I just can’t do them well enough, or even that I can’t do them at all. But, God, I know that I am not the first to experience these cold nights and fears of letting you down. I know about the small family on that night thousands of years ago that seemed like nothing was going their way, and brought a light that still shines bright today. I pray for the courage and strength of Mary, the trust and patience of the blessed mother and her spouse, Joseph. I pray that you fill my heart with a kind of trust worthy of you. I pray that you can continue to remind me that You love me and that whatever it is You give me, You will walk with me through it. I pray that you remind my heart and soul and mind of the victory that we have with and through You. I pray that you never let me forget the warmth and hope of You, the light that will never be overcome by darkness. God, teach and guide my heart, prepare me in a way that that I will not fear the dark because I will remember your promise of light. Lord, I love you. Continue to remind me that the light will always come back, no matter how dark the night is. Come, Lord God. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen. See more

THIS IS JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT YOU ARE NOT DEFINED BY YOUR GRADES/STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES! SERIOUSLY. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You are a constantly loved and beautifully made Child of God - nothing will ever change that. It is so easy to get caught up in all these things on the surface and to feel like if we don’t meet certain expectations, we are deemed as failures or not enough. But, friends, be still in this truth that your identity, your salv...ation, your joy is rooted firmly in Jesus Christ! That you have been given life and love and purpose through and with God. You are not a failure or worthless - you are CHOSEN and BELOVED always. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But, with all that in mind, doing your absolute best is super important and we want to remind you that we are here to support you in being and doing everything you can to thrive (not just survive). If you need help with school (or anything else in life), we’re happy to help as much as we can! All you need to do is reach out to HT and we will do everything we can for you! Or, even turn directly to God and ask for guidance in prayer! (PHOTO FROM PRE-COVID NO HATE)

Ugh, Harrison, I really wish I could come to PLP+, but I have SO much homework/so many tests... - An obsolete excuse for PLP+ this week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out the #stocymweeklyupdate for all the rad things we have coming up this week we’d L-L-LOVE to see you at! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’ll be hosting a Study Party tomorrow (Monday) and you for sure need to be there! You can find all the details in the email tomorrow (or link in our bio).

Y'ALL ARE AWESOME!

Tuesday’s are rough for Harrison. Let’s be honest, things have just been rough in general. Can I get an ‘amen?’ But, guess what? We are going to make it. You are going to make it. I am going to make it. You know why? Because God is with us and has inspired us and has empowered us to do wonderful and incredible things. ... Our God is one of hope, one of joy, one of possibility, one of good things that cannot be taken away from us. Ever. Even on our worst days. So, what do we do? We rest, we pray, and we look forward to all the glory that is in store for us.

THE HIBERNATION IS OVER!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are wide awake #stocymwinterevents are making a triumphant return, along with their 2021 debut! Check out the #weeklystocymupdate to see what’s up! We’ll be playing AMONG US tomorrow and got a bunch more rad stuff in store. Come hangout with us!

|| SpOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoKy - HT trying to make things spooky at the Monster Mash || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congrats to the winner of our costume contest this year!! While our PLP+ Spooky celebration was a tad different this year (and late) , it was still an awesome time!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But, remember, no matter what we wear on the outside, know that deep down our identity is rooted in Jesus Christ and the love of God!

We sure do love y’all. A whole bunch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hi friends! Happy Tuesday!!! Whether you’re having the best day of your life so far, or the worst - we just wanted to remind you that we LOVE you, we are ROOTING for you, we are PRAYING for you, and we are HERE for you! God is good, and so are you.

Hey Harrison, wasn’t Halloween yesterday? Why are we celebrating STOCYMween at PLP+ tomorrow? BECAUSE WE CAN, THAT’S WHY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out the #weeklystocymupdate for all the reminders of the cool things going on this week. As we celebrate All Saints and All Souls Day this weekend, and looking back at some memories from the last few years...we realized we kinda missed our STOCYM traditions. See your email for all the SpOoOoKy details of things to come!

|| Children, let us love not in word or speech, but in deed and truth... - 1 John 3:18 || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are you just talking the talk, or are you able to walk the walk when it comes to serving others and living out your faith?

|| Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times - Tuesday’s are the most difficult day of the week. But, I’m trying harder and harder to remember these words from Paul’s epistle. To give thanks always, even during difficult times. How much different would our lives... be if we strived for this ideal, truly? To REALLY pray without ceasing in ALL circumstance -the good, the bad, the wonderful, the not so good, and everything in between? Man, that’s what God really wants for us. God gave us Jesus, gave us this life to experience JOY: to sing, to dance, and to live. Even in the tough times, that joy is constant - no one can take that Away from us. So, I reintroduce to you our mantra - #TGIT - Thank God it’s Tuesday. Yeah, dude - Thank GOD it’s Tuesday and thank GOD for everything in my life and thank GOD for all of you and thank GOD for all of this. For ALL of this. See more

THE #weeklystocymupdate IS BACK AND WE GOT SOME FUN STUFF COMING UP. YOU SHOULD COME HANGOUT - VIRTUALLY THIS WEEK! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COOL THINGS TO COME. AMONG US. HIP. HAPPENING. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHOUTOUT AGAIN TO OUR INTERN @georgiewilllis FOR THE DESIGN!

ALL THIS HEATIS MAKING ME THINK, MAN - I COULD REALLY GO FOR A FLOATRIGHT ABOUT NOW...ANYONE ELSE? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We sure do love you, and wish we could do events like this right now, but we also love you enough to stay as safe as possible! As our favorite saint, St. Thérèse reminds us that is not just about the few, big moments (or events) - we are encouraged to live ‘the little way,’ and how we can glorify God in al the little things in our lives. We look forward to celebrating the little things (and the bigger things, too) with y’all real soon.

|| P R A I S E & W O R S H I P || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When was the last time you shouted out how much you loved God? What’s holding you back from doing it all the time?

DO YOU ONOW WHAT TIME IT IS? #weeklystocymupdate O’CLOCK!

Can’t wait to get things up and ROLLING ( + ) again here! Whether it be hanging out with our friends at @skateworldsandiego or really anywhere - we can’t wait to praise and glorify God with you and all the current and future #stocymhomies wherever we are (and in whatever we are doing)!

No quirky/clever caption - just hoping for more beautiful memories with beautiful friends like this real soon. Love y’all.

|| Hey, does it smell like update in here? || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What’s (the) update?! BOOM-ZING. It’s the #weeklystocymupdate back again with all the fun things going on in and around our mini-youth ministry-universe! Hangout with us - we miss you.

Just a little, hey, happy Thursday! for ya from two of our favorite guys - Fr. Chris & Fr. Nick! Did you know that everyone in our community (and especially these guys) love you so so so much? Seriously, friends, we do.