By Christen Aquino

It’s a Wednesday morning.  I notice the caller ID on my phone; it’s one of my best friends, Kelly, who serves as the VP of Program Development for Life Teen.  I barely get the greeting out when she asks, “Do you want to go to South Africa?”  I pause.  “Come again?”  She says more slowly, “Do you want to join me in Cape Town, South Africa for their annual Life Teen Empower Conference?  Please say yes.”

Six weeks later, I find myself on a 15-hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, or Joburg, as it’s known by locals.  Apart from sleeping, I’m thinking about the two keynote talks I’ve been asked to give: one of which is, “Answering a Call: Why Did God Call Me?”  No surprise, this is the same question I’ve been asking myself since Kelly asked me to attend the conference.  Certainly there are more eloquent, more equipped people to be here, than me - a youth minister from Ohio.  Why did God call me?

In prayer and reflection, I was drawn to think about the time I was invited to Haiti on a mission trip to Life Teen’s first mission base (2013) and to Israel on pilgrimage (2016, 2019), and I realized that often God has to move me outside my comfort zone to get my attention; to stretch me and help me grow; and to force me to rely on Him alone.  The experience of being in South Africa certainly provided me with these moments; seeing the beauty and diversity of the Church, the jaw-dropping splendor of God’s creation in Table Mountain and the surrounding topography, and total reliance on God while being away from the familiarity and safety of home.

Additionally, as I reflected on the question of why did God call me to go all the way to South Africa, just to give two keynotes, I reflected on St. Paul, Timothy, and the early church.  Why did they travel places, like I had done, like other priests and youth ministers had done, coming from as far as the country of Ghana to Cape Town to attend this conference?  St. Paul and his companions traveled to visit other communities for the sake of one another - encouraging and strengthening one another in faith and continuing to proclaim the Gospel.  The conference brought together over 130 youth ministers, priests, and religious together from across South Africa, as well as a special delegation from Ghana looking to bring Life Teen to their country as a means to better serve their young church.

While these reflections helped ease some of my doubts at being asked to attend the conference in Cape Town, I still couldn’t get past the feeling of unworthiness at the call to be there.  This brought me to pray with one of my favorite Scripture passages: Peter Walking on Water (Matthew 14: 22-33).  If you’re not familiar with it, I encourage you to read and pray through it, but to summarize: Jesus has just fed the five thousand, he sends the disciples off in a boat, while he dismisses the crowd and goes off to pray.  While Jesus is praying, the disciples are caught in a storm at sea.

​​As the story continues, Jesus comes toward them, walking on the sea, and the disciples become even more terrified.  “At once, Jesus spoke to them, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.’  Peter said to him in reply, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’  Jesus said, ‘Come.’”

Have you ever stopped to wonder what qualified Peter to walk on water?  It’s not because he was fearless or the leader.  Nothing qualified Peter to walk on water, except that Jesus called Him.  “Peter said to him in reply, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’  Jesus said, ‘Come.’”

God doesn’t call Peter according to his skill set or qualifications.  God values Peter’s availability over his ability.  God sees something in Peter - who Peter can be with Him.  He does the same thing for us.  We need to make ourselves available to God and trust in the work He can do through us.

Ultimately, I went to South Africa because I made myself available to God’s invitation. I’m not perfect, not the most eloquent speaker, not the most experienced, but I was able to trust that He would bring me through it and that His work would be accomplished in me.  When doubts began to enter, I look back at all the unqualified people God has called throughout Scripture:

• Moses had a stutter
• Timothy was too young
• Abraham was too old
• Jeremiah was depressed
• David was an adulterer
• Paul was a murderer
• Peter was a failed fisherman, who betrayed Jesus

God is calling each of us to do what is impossible so that we have to rely solely on Him.  He reminds us in John’s Gospel, “without me you can do nothing.”  But “with God, all things are possible.”  Even walking on water. 

FOR REFLECTION

• How have you relied more on your own ability than on God?
• How can you make yourself more available to God?
• What work do you think God wants to do with you (and through you)?
• Have you never had a “walking on water” experience?  That is, something God called you to that was beyond your ability that He brought to fruition?

By Sophia Hosford

​Over the past two weekends, I was present for the First Communion Retreats our young people attended as they prepare to receive the Sacrament in April. The youth and their parents were so attentive throughout the day as we read stories from the Gospel, learned about the miracle of the Eucharist, and practiced how to come up for Communion. I heard parents sharing their own stories of faith with their kiddos and asking questions.
 
My favorite part of the retreats was ending in Adoration. I've always had a great love for this form of worship: coming right up next to Jesus who is truly present in the host. I find it incredible that we have a God who is so great and so powerful that He created the universe, and yet so humble He would just sit in silence with me, without demanding or asking of me. Both of us just sit together, loving each other, seeing how beautiful the other truly is. In this crazy world, where everything is so noisy, from our cars to our radios to our video chats for work and school, it is a miracle to be given time (even just 5 minutes) to be in silence. Often in Adoration, I find myself wondering how often I take time to simply see the people who are in my life - how can I take time to adore my husband, my family, my friends, the nature around me? I'm so busy filling it up with activities and noise that it's easy to forget to love. This silence and opportunity to love is the gift Adoration offers us.
 
It was incredibly moving to watch everyone at the retreat enter into this kind of prayer, some of them for the first time ever. Parents and children knelt down together and as a family they worshipped and prayed. Before Adoration began, I explained what we were about to do and encouraged everyone to take this time to talk to Jesus, to tell Him about what they did today or what they were most looking forward to over the weekend. Bring fears and hopes and joys and nervousness. Jesus wants it all. Jesus wants you. It may not be easy, but it is simple - He just wants to love you. After I explained Adoration, we prayed together, and I invited a young girl sitting up front to join me in front of the altar. She excitedly came forward and suddenly we were surrounded by other young people who all wanted to be close to Jesus in the Monstrance.
 
As I looked around and saw all these amazing parents and children praying together, I was filled with hope! The Eucharist is life - not just a story or a fairytale. Not just the legends of a man who lived 2000 years ago. But real life. This year Pope Francis has asked us to celebrate a Jubilee Year of Hope! In the midst of war and sickness and political divide, and now as we enter the prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of Lent, I saw our families completely embrace Jesus Christ as their hope. 

This past weekend I had shared a short list of ideas for a Lenten sacrifice that didn't involve food during my homily.  I only gave a short list, and many asked if I could share a more complete list. 

This list comes from our Evangelical Catholic "Reach More" training booklet.  Our family of parishes just recently partnered with them. Right now our first group of parishioners are going through the "Reach More" missionary discipleship training. Please take some time to pray over this list and talk about this with your families.  I hope it may help you have a blessed Lent.

IDEAS FOR SACRIFICES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD
Get creative about incorporating small, unseen sacrifices into your routine to pray for others.  Call the person you're praying for to mind whenever you make your sacrifice.

At Work 

• Stick to a schedule.
• Start on time and end on time.
• Do unpleasant or difficult tasks first.
• Whenever anyone asks for your help, give them your immediate attention (if your position allows)
• Or the opposite: schedule focused time, shut your door, close your email when not using it, silence unnecessary notifications, etc.
• Stay off of social media during work hours.
• Compliment people; go out of your way to be friendly; smile even when you don't feel like it.
• Finish your tasks as well and quickly as you can, and then offer to help someone else with their tasks.
• Close your computer if you don't need it for your current task.

At Home

• Go to 6:30 morning Mass Tuesday and Thursday mornings at our Incarnation Campus
• Let others choose music, movies, tv shows, etc.  Accept their choice with a cheerful spirit.
• Lessen a spouse's or roommate's burden: do an undesirable home task or one of their least-favorite chores before they get to it.
• do a certain number of loads of laundry per day or week.
• Fold and put away laundry immediately after it finishes drying.
• Don't leave clothes on the floor.
• Set the table, wash the dishes, or offer to make a meal if these are not part of your regular responsibility.
• Drop whatever you're doing whenever someone asks your assistance.
• Exercise regularly; or if you tend to be indulgent with exercise, end your exercises on time.
• Cut out certain amount of social media time and instead play a board game with friends/family/roommates.
• Put your phone in another room when you get home; treat it like a landline.  Only get it if it rings.
• Make your bed first thing in the morning.
• No phones or screens at the dining table or while doing activities with someone else.
• For married couples: give your spouse a five-minute massage every night.
• For parents of small children:
  • Be the one to brush the little kid's teeth.
  • Do the bedtime routine, and make it fun!
  • Offer to change the diaper or assist the toddler in the bathroom

​Miscellaneous

• don't listen to music or podcasts in the car, but drive in silence.
• Get up early and go to Mass.
• Don't hit snooze in the morning.
• Get to bed on time.
• Cut out screen time one hour before bed.
• Decrease your news or podcast consumption by one source.
• Don't give your opinion if you're not asked for it.
• Avoid positions or postures that hinder concentration or that convey negative nonverbals (legs crossed, slouching, folding arms, etc.
• Modify your curiosity/imagination: fast from browsing the internet except for work or to help someone with a specific request.
• Avoid talking about certain topics: i.e. yourself, topics that draw out negativity, things you obsess about, complaining, topics that are indulgent, etc.
• Instead of grumbling, say a prayer at red lights, when someone cuts you off, or when stuck in traffic, etc.

 
Let us pray for each other as we enter into Lent and continue to walk this path together as Our Lady of Light.
 
In Christ,
Fr. Brian 

By Sarah Chivers

Every year as we approach Lent, I tell myself I'm going to give up social media. It often drains my happiness and more importantly, it drains the time I spend with my family, outdoors, reading a good book, etc. But it doesn't take long for me to remember that my job revolves around social media - there's not much that I can do to avoid it. So I choose something else to give up or I add a special spiritual something to my daily life and still feel bogged down by my inability to avoid social media throughout Lent.

But I may have discovered a solution.

I recently read a blog article about the idea of 'First World Penances.' The writer goes into detail about how he altered his phone's settings to make everything appear in grayscale. Every text, photo, app - colorless. It took the joy and excitement from his phone.

I'd like to imagine that it gets boring pretty quickly, seeing everything in only shades of gray. He's right - it sucks the beauty out of pictures. How much quicker would we put our phones down if there wasn't anything flashy to escape the stresses of life with? How much brighter and happier would the living world around us be if technology wasn't so colorful? 

So as the person behind Our Lady of Light social media, I thought to myself... if life around us were that much brighter without color on our phones, how much more beautiful would the resurrection be if our social media went grayscale for Lent? If all of our photos through Lent were only visible in gray, how much more meaningful would color be for our Christian story as Jesus is risen from the dead?

So this year, Our Lady of Light social media will be going grayscale for the duration of Lent. We want our community to remember the solemn journey we are on towards the cross and rejoice the resurrection more fully with the celebration of the Easter Vigil. As we approach Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season, know that our parish staff is praying for you!

“Each marriage is a kind of ‘salvation history,’ which from fragile beginnings — thanks to God’s gift and a creative and generous response on our part — grows over time into something precious and enduring.” // Pope Francis

Valentine's Day serves as the culmination of National Marriage Week, a week that Catholics celebrate each year. The 2025 theme for National Marriage Week is 'Marriage: Source of Hope, Spring of Renewal. Pursue a Lasting Love!' 

As we celebrate marriage this week in our Jubilee of Hope, we want to recognize two couples from our family of parishes who met in their youth at one of our family churches and have grown together in faith since as husband and wife. Throughout their marriage journeys, they have turned to their faith as a source of hope and renewal, recognizing that God is the piece that holds them together.

Andy and Noelle were married in June 2005 at Noelle's childhood parish in Fishers, Indiana. The two found themselves primarily focused on the liturgy of their wedding day, inviting friends and family to participate as altar servers, lectors, cantors and Eucharistic ministers.  It can be easy to get swept up in the fun and excitement of the reception party, but the true celebration was the Mass and the sacrament itself.

What incredible stories of love that have grown from our parishes; we are inspired by their witness to God's love in their marriages. To say it best, Noelle shared some knowledge for other couples:

This past weekend, two of our parish staff members were honored at the Center for the New Evangelization Appreciation Banquet. This annual banquet recognizes and celebrates evangelists across the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who go above and beyond to share the Gospel and bring people closer to Christ.

One staff member who received an award at this year's banquet was our very own pastor, Fr. Brian Phelps! Fr. Brian received the Radiate Christ Award for Parish Evangelization.

His program bio read:

"Fr. Brian Phelps is the pastor of Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes in Centerville and Dean of the Emmanuel Deanery. He was ordained a priest in May 2014 and eventually appointed pastor of Our Lady of Light in July 2022. Fr. Brian was nominated for the Radiate Christ Award by an OLL parishioner. In her words, 'Fr. Brian [has] done an incredible job leading Incarnation and St. Francis through the Beacons of Light transition... the joining of our parishes into one larger family has been both spiritually enriching and organizationally practical... on a more personal level, Fr. Brian's counsel and guidance have been very helpful to me... His gentle and patient guidance and generosity with his time really made a difference for me.'"

Our second staff member who received an award at this year's banquet was our Digital Communication Specialist, Sarah Chivers. Sarah was the first to receive the Radiate Christ Award for Communications, a new category for the 2025 Radiate Christ Awards.

Her program bio read:

"Sarah Chivers is the Digital Communication Specialist at Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes in Centerville. Sarah demonstrates an amazing ability to use her creative skills to promote the Family of Parishes and evangelization happening locally and nationally though their social media, website, and other digital mediums. Sarah has a knack for using photography and video to share the story of the OLL Family of Parishes and God's calling to people throughout the Archdiocese and beyond."

Congratulations to Fr. Brian and Sarah! We are so thankful to have such innovative and motivated staff members serving our family of parishes.

We are less than a week away from Christmas.  Advent always seems to go fast.  Granted it is only 4 weeks long, yet it seems way too fast to prepare for the day we celebrate God entering the world as a human being, a baby born of the Virgin Mother. 
 
When we recount the story of birth of our Savior, we see the struggle of a young family who is trying to just make it to Bethlehem so that they can be counted by the Romans.  As they arrived, we remember there was no place for them to stay.  So they stayed in a stable and Jesus was laid in a manger or a food trough for animals.
 
This seems like the most illogical beginning of a story for someone who is the Messiah.  Yet, that is the point.  God enters into the world to take on and transform the human experience of original sin into the redeemed children of God.  The lowliness and poverty that Jesus takes on tells the story of the human experience.  We are all lowly and poor due to our fallenness and sinfulness.  God in his goodness and mercy takes that on so the we may be raised up out of that state and be restored to the people God created us to be...in His image and likeness.  We were not created to be lost, broken, and disillusioned.  We were created to live in the peace and love of God's life.
 
Yet, that is the story we all walk... the hospitality of the manger.  God invites us into a new relationship.  We walk knowing that our sinfulness can weigh us down, the Incarnation of God becoming human in Jesus Christ heals, restores, and makes us new again.  God rescues us from ourselves and reforms us in his likeness.  

Over this Christmas how can our hearts be the manger for Jesus.  A place where he is welcomed to stay and be kept warm, so that he can make our hearts ready to welcome all those around us.  God shows us the axiom belonging leads to believing.  We belong to God first, and He guides us to greater belief and faith in Him. 
 
This Christmas, let us make sure we are saying hello to people around us.  If they are new to you, please ask them if they need anything.  Be ready to welcome someone you may not know into the pew next to you.  We will be welcoming many people this Christmas, how can we help others and see Christ when they arrive this year.  Belonging leads to believing.
 
This January into spring we have an opportunity for all those who have not yet gone through the Rescue Project. Come and check it out. Ask those who have gone through it already of their experience.  The Rescue Project helps us to renew our relationship with God and those around us.  Please take some time to check it out.  
 
Let's make our hearts like the manger, so that Jesus may always be welcomed into our heart.  
 
Have a blessed Christmas!
 
In Christ,
Fr. Brian

Looking at the pictures above, you wouldn't necessarily know that there is a visiting priest present for Adoration. You wouldn't know that there are mothers or fathers or students, you wouldn't know who's retired or who just started a promotion at work. You wouldn't know anyone is celebrating a new stage in life or struggling with some difficult news. You wouldn't know anything about the people present except that they are children of God.

Adoration is an experience for people at any stage of life. Think of God as your grandparent that lives across the country - He wants to hear from you through prayer like your grandparent wants to FaceTime to see how you're doing and ask what's new. He wants to be a part of our lives, even the parts that feel mundane to us. While we may just be silhouettes in Adoration, God sees each of us individually. Before He formed us, He knew us, and He wants to continue that relationship with us throughout our human experience. 

As part of that human experience, it can be hard to find the time to participate in scheduled Adorations or XLTs. We're overwhelmed with busy schedules, we spend all day at work and school and with our children or grandchildren, then we go to our second jobs, our after-school jobs, we have chores and yard work to do and dinners to cook and bath time and bed time and time for exercise and hobbies. The last thing we may think about is setting aside time to simply be and put a pause on all of that busyness to spend quiet, peaceful time before the Blessed Sacrament.

"In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host." // Pope Benedict XVI

As we prepare to enter the Advent season in the coming weeks, we invite you to join us for hope and rest, especially in Adoration and other prayerful opportunities offered by our family of parishes. Bring your family, bring a friend, bring an open heart and an open mind. Know that you are worthy and welcome to any Adoration, XLT or other prayer event at either Our Lady of Light campus. Whether you are...

• Catholic or exploring Catholicism 
• With kids or without
• A student or retired
• A parishioner at one of our churches or from the surrounding community
• A sinner or a saint

You are welcome. Find peace with us in the midst of our busy lives.