By Incarnation School Principal Leah Coghlan, Vice Principal Amanda Ooten and Assistant Principal Kristi Erickson

Back to school is such an exciting and busy time of year for everyone! The promise of a fresh start, new friends and faces, and the anticipation of the unknown waits for us. But is it unknown?

We know God is there for us in any season of our life, even the busy ones. When we become overwhelmed or anxious, we are always invited to turn to prayer and find our silence and peace with God. At school, we invite our staff and students to take some moments in the morning, afternoon, and before we nourish our bodies to pray together. These moments might be small, but they are consistently beautiful as students stop in their classrooms, hallways, wherever they may be to take that moment with God.

This school year kicks off with a new goal for our school community.  We are intentionally focusing more and more on our mission to ‘walk in the footsteps of Jesus’.  We will be launching a new theme to Live Like Jesus, Love Like Jesus, Act Like Jesus. This will be integrated throughout the classrooms, academics, expectations, and most importantly prayer.

As you and your family begin another busy season, remember to slow down and find that prayer time together. We also invite families to attend our all-school Mass on Friday mornings. Seeing our students and teachers pray and worship together is the highlight of our week!

As always, the school families and Our Lady of Light parishioners are in our prayers. Thank you for keeping the students and staff in yours!

Written by Christen Aquino

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” // Matthew 11: 28

I don’t know about you, but these words resonate within my heart.  In the fast-paced world we live in, my soul desires to find a deep, fulfilling, abiding rest.  Too often though, this idea feels like wishful thinking since there are a million things to get done, trips to be traveled, assignments due, meetings to be had, events to be run, and more; and it seems like the time to get it all done in is getting less and less.  Perhaps this is why Jesus’ words are more important today than ever before: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”  He knows just how whirlwind our lives are, and He is offering us a solution: that we would come to Him for an abiding peace and rest that only He can give.   
 
In my years of experience, youth ministry summers look like the total opposite of rest.  For example, this summer included two conferences, a mission trip, one weeklong camp hosted at Our Lady of Light and two weeklong camps hosted by LifeTeen in Georgia.
 
And yet, during all these conferences and camps, I often find more rest than I do during the rest of the year, because every day is centered around being with Jesus.  Daily Mass, praise and worship, adoration, opportunities for confession, talks and messages focused on growing in the spiritual life, small group conversation, and prayer.  All the chaos of life is stripped away, and I am able to focus on Jesus, present in the Sacraments, the Word, and in the community made up of our teens, our core team, and other ministers.
 
This summer Life Teen introduced our theme for the year: SANCTUARY.  While we’ve looked at this word and its meaning from various angles, the one that continues to most resonate with me, and our teens, is the idea of rest – rest from the world, from anxieties, from social media, from the demands we place on ourselves, etc.  The Eucharistic Jesus resides in the Tabernacle in the Sanctuary of our Churches and He dwells in the inner sanctuary of our hearts, if only we take the time to seek Him out and put Him first. 
 
I will always have a million excuses, but every day Jesus extends the invitation to come to Him so that He can give me the rest that He alone can give.  The question is, will I take the time to do so?
 
Challenge: Start small.  Set aside 5 minutes a day to encounter Jesus in the inner sanctuary of your heart.  Find a quiet place you will pray every day.  Read a passage from Scripture, listen to a worship song, or reading a writing from a saint and reflect on the words, asking Jesus how you can internalize them and make them present in your life.  The Hallow App has a great guided 5 minute meditation on Scripture or you can use the Sanctuary 30-Day Challenge.

Written by Caroline Doorley

Hey there, Our Lady of Light Family,

This summer I had the pleasure to be the youth ministry intern for our family of parishes. It has been an amazing opportunity for me to serve Our Lady of Light in a new and different way.

At the beginning of the summer, I was lucky enough to travel to Arizona for the Catholic Youth Ministry Conference hosted by Life Teen. The Arizona trip not only offered spiritual refreshment, but also an opportunity for  professional development and community building within the Our Lady of Light youth ministry team. The most impactful part of the CYMC conference was the idea that your effectiveness in ministry is directly related to your ability to be uncomfortable — this does not just apply to those of us getting paid to work in ministry. Ministry is part of our faith, and it is not an easy task. Your ability to be uncomfortable will help you exceed in this task to ministry to those who haven’t experienced the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. This idea was something that I kept at the forefront of my mind throughout the summer.

Toward the middle of the summer, I gained experience with events and programming within our parish. I assisted the inaugural Into the Deep week for our Edge and Life Teen programs. We guided teens through the different historical periods in which the Bible took place by praying, playing, and eating our way through the Bible. Another event that I was a part of was Americana Fest. This opportunity not only provided an amazing learning experience on how to evangelize to those parking or walking by on our campus, but also how to assist managing a team of volunteers.  This event wasn’t specifically under the “Youth Ministry Umbrella,” but it really showed me that our parish staff do more than we could ever imagine. As a youth ministry intern, I am not just ministering to our youth, but also to their parents and anyone that they interact with.

At the end of the summer, I had the opportunity to travel with our middle schoolers down to Georgia for Camp Hidden Lake. This was such a fulfilling experience watching our teens grow closer to the Lord and begin to understand the upcoming theme for this school year: Sanctuary. It is truly inspiring to watch a group of teens not only grow closer with our Lord, but also with each other and with all the adult leaders on the trip. My favorite experience with our teens at camp was their willingness to support each other. Whether they were supporting a teen that was nervous to take part in a lake day activity, messy games, or after a particularly emotional experience with the Blessed Sacrament. Teens at Our Lady of Light have an amazingly supportive and welcoming culture.

It has been a blessing and privilege to work with our family's youth this summer. This internship has been a very formative experience. As I head back to Marian University for my sophomore year, I would appreciate it if you could keep me in your prayers.

Thank you for a wonderful summer!

Our Lady of Light's Director of Youth & Mission, Christen Aquino, found remarkable inspiration in our parish youth during this year's 8th Grade Retreat.

"This past weekend we held our first 8th Grade Retreat for Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes. The retreat theme, “Some Assembly Required,” reminded us that each of us are unique and unrepeatable, are here for a specific purpose, and our relationship with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – gives us a foundation for living out our faith both now, into high school, and beyond."

As the retreat leader, Christen had the opportunity to witness EDGE students and school students come together and build community around their common faith. Sharing meals together served as a big uniter, as well as Saturday night's time in Adoration.

"I was sitting up front, eyes closed in prayer. After a few minutes of exposition, I invited the teens to take a comfortable position to pray and talk with Jesus. I heard loud noises and was about to say something to them when I realized that what I had heard was all of them coming up to sit before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament."

​When she opened her eyes, Christen saw not one or two, but the entire group of 8th graders together before the Blessed Sacrament.

"It's moment like this, watching young people “seek the face of Christ” as a community, that I’m reminded how powerful young people are in a parish. Our teens have the power to change the culture of our community for the better – to help all of us, young and old, seek the face of Christ more, and particularly in our worship at Mass and in Adoration."
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Even after a weekend retreat, several 8th graders were present Sunday evening for our Parish Mission, True Presence Night, and once again found themselves eagerly approaching the altar to be close to Christ.
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Please pray for the 8th graders in our family of parishes, who grow closer each day to graduation. Ask God for His many blessings upon them as they enter high school, so that they may continue to seek Him throughout their lives.

​"And while I'm standing there taking photos of these young men and women receiving the sacrament of Confirmation, I can't help but smile and feel a tear pool in the corner of my eye. I'm witnessing the Holy Spirit live in front of us like we see Christ each week in the Eucharist and it's spiritually overwhelming. He's with us in this room and He's igniting a flame that will catapult these young people into their faith in a way they haven't experienced before. Just watch them as they turn from Archbishop Schnurr - there's a soft smile that they just cant help. That's pure joy from a true encounter with God."

Our newly hired Digital Communication Specialist, Sarah Chivers, recalls her work taking photos during the recent Confirmation celebrations in January. In her service to the Church, Sarah shares how she witnesses God among us, especially in the sacraments. Through the lens of her camera, she captures special moments such as the proud smiles of the newly confirmed seen below.

Apart from larger occasions like Confirmation, Sarah finds the special moments of being Catholic while celebrating weekly Mass, engaging in youth programs, and even while out in nature. As the primary photographer for Our Lady of Light, she takes inspiration directly from our community to tell the story of our family of parishes.

"I like to think that God is still writing unpublished chapters of the Bible. That there are hundreds of thousands of books lining the walls of Heaven filled with the stories we've lived out. The moments that I capture illustrate His love stories to us and from us."

Whether those moments are a couple in their golden year of marriage sharing a sweet hug during the sign of peace, a LifeTeen student kneeling before the blessed sacrament during an XLT or even a young family celebrating that first Mass with their newborn child, Sarah hopes to share the beautiful stories of our family of parishes.

Similar to how Sarah looks for special moments in our congregation, try to notice the special moments in your life. There are no moments in life too small to glorify God. 𝗜𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲?