Teens
Bible Verses About Teens...
Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. -1 Timothy 4:12
The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is their gray hair. -Proverbs 20:29
Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature. -1 Corinthians 14:20
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -Romans 12:2
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever! -Psalms 111:10
Teens Q&A
Why is Mass boring?
This can be a difficult question simply because one needs to consider what the expectation is from Mass. Any repeated action can be considered boring, but we might mean is unfulfilling. The question I am forced to ask is what do you expect from mass? I mean, we all gather, we sit facing the same direction in a large group and we assume it will be like any other time we commit to that kind of position, so concerts, theater, and movies. Yet the obvious difference is that mass is not a form of entertainment, whereas the other events are. Mass is supposed to be a fully participated and shared ritual action. The ritual part means that it will be consistent: repeating week in and week out the same or very similar events. But mass is not meant to be "watched" and it certainly isn't here for our entertainment. Mass is part of the beautiful liturgy of the Church.
The very word "liturgy" means work. Liturgy requires work on our part, not just the priest, but everyone attending. Once we see that mass requires participation, the question becomes what are we putting into the mass from our end, because like any work, we get more when we put more into it. Do we know the readings before lector begins? I do not mean you should memorize the Scripture, but no one ever fully understood something by only hearing/reading it once. Do we understand the parts of the mass, and could we express what is happening in the different points of the liturgy? Have you ever watched your favorite sport with someone who knows nothing of the game you are passionate about? Often enough those who don't understand a sport are willing to criticize the sport and do not appreciate it's finesse or the skill required to play, and the true fans at times are at a loss for how much the non-fan doesn't understand. Mass is certainly not a sport, but it does require that we understand what is going on and the more we understand the aspects of the mass, the more we see its beauty.
Why do I have to go to Church?
The short, obvious answer to this is because God said so. From the very commandments we received from God there is a mandate to keep holy the Sabbath day. Part of keeping holy that day is the attendance to Mass. It is our worship of God in His greatness and the sharing of that worship with each other. The simple reality we face is that no one of us can be perfect on our own. We are unable to do so by drawing merely on our own abilities. Most of us also recognize that we cannot even be great without the help of God. Mass helps us maintain our relationship with God, and shows us His children in the same place, also in need of God. Consider this: God loves us, He cares for us, holds us in existence, and wants the very best for us. In return God asks us to deepen and relationship with Him. For someone who cares that much, it seems such a small thing to give Him some of our week.
Not convincing? Consider this. The human body needs food and water constantly remain healthy. At most the body can only last a few days before dying of dehydration. Also the body needs sleep, or it begins to fail and eventually die. We NEED the mass if we are to keep a healthy spiritual life. We face the very obvious challenge that it is harder to see spiritual health or decay because it is not made of matter, but that does not make it any less true. Simply put, go to mass for your health. Your soul needs it.
What's with all the rules?
Basketball has about 100 rules. MLB Baseball has basically 45 rules. NFL Football has roughly 11500. My sources for these numbers are google, and you are free to disagree with any of my numbers for those sports and their rules, but lets understand something clearly: these are just the rules for one game, which is but one part of life. Within the Catholic church there are rules for everything our faith affects, which is basically each and every part of our life...hopefully. Think of it this way: invent a new game. Take away the rules, what's left? Not much
Granted, Catholicism is not a game, but let's be honest; rules guide our life, we need them. Without rules, cars could be parked on your lawn, I could decide I want to make your bedroom my exercise room, and only the strongest would get their way. Rules are in place to help us. American football is a great example: there are so many rules and there seem to be new corrections with every season. Why? Because someone found a way to abuse the current rules to make the game less fair, or at least that is the hope of addendums and new rules. The Church has rules to help us, and when the rules do not help, or someone is abusing the rules for themselves, more rules have to be made to correct. It may not always seem fair, but always consider what fair is, and more particular to the subject at hand, consider WHY a specific rules exists before deciding it is not worthy of our time. Show me the rule we do not need, and I will show you the example that perhaps we do need it. Some sound strange and appear even silly at times, but each is there for a reason.
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