I had a plan for the summer of 2011. I was going to work as an interpreter in a provincial park; I’d teach kids about pond creatures, chat with happy campers and get a sick tan. I definitely didn’t think I’d be back in my hometown. However, after one day at my job with the park that I spent in my bed recovering from the flu, I packed up and moved back home. When people asked me why I hadn’t stuck out the park job, even for a few days, I’d tell them that I just knew I had to come home. And so I spent the summer in my hometown, where I swore I wouldn’t be. I was consoled by the fact that I would be able to see my family everyday again and I did end up landing a really great job working with kids, but I was still kind of bummed. Now, as I look back though, I can see that I was actually scared to be back. In the 8 months that I had been away at university I had grown immensely as a person. The last time I had lived at home I hadn’t even been Catholic, and now I was not only Catholic, but passionate about my faith. I didn’t know how to make the transition from the person I had been when I had last lived there to the person I had become during my first year of university. However as time went by, I was affirmed time and time again that I was where I was suppose to be. I had endless opportunities to grow in my faith and learn to love the community I had grown up in and I also figured out my new role within it.

Another great thing about being home was that my job was really flexible, where as the park one wouldn’t have been. This flexibility gave me the opportunity to apply to be a counsellor at a weeklong camp held during the end of August. Again, when people asked me why I was applying to work at this camp and giving up a week of pay and sacrificing study time for the online final exams I had, I said I just was; I knew I had to.

Once at the camp, I quickly grew aware of the passion for Christ in the other counsellors and campers. I spent much of the first days just observing and taking everything in. Then, on the third day my summer truly came to its pinnacle. The day started off when I gave my testimony and that experience really made me realize how amazing God was, and how much He had blessed me, not just throughout summer, but throughout my whole life. Then that evening a partner and I were doing prayer ministry. During this time I felt the Holy Spirit working within me, and moving throughout the whole room. During a lull my partner asked me if I wanted to be prayed with and I said yes. While she was praying, what she was saying was going straight to my heart, and I experienced Jesus in an incredibly personal way. I knew that He was with me, that He always had been with me.  That simple message completely changed me. After prayer ministry we ended the evening with Adoration and I sat before the Eucharist and conversed with Jesus like never before.  During that time I knew that I had to trust in Him. I came to understand that everything that had happened during summer lead me to this amazing encounter. I realized that Jesus would lead me amazing places in life if I truly put all my trust in Him, and so that night I did.

Since then there have definitely been times when I’ve started to take that trust back from Him, but then I look back on summer, and remember how Jesus lead me and I remember that God has an amazing plan for me, a plan that is infinitely better than any plan I could come up with on my own and all I have to do is trust in Him.

There is a great event happening once a month where young people come together to have an intimate encounter with the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration & Confession.  The event is called the Summit and it is put on by Catholic Christian Outreach.  We are a university student group on campus and we exist to give young people a deeper experience of the faith.

The Summit is an event that allows you to take time out of your busy schedule and spend it with the Lord.  Many young people have experienced God in a deeper way through it – you are invited to come and have that experience too.  It’s also a great way to know some other Catholic young people in Saskatoon.  Hope to see you there. THIS IS OPEN TO EVERYONE!!

The Summit will happen at St. Augustines Parish 602 Boychuck Dr.

Wondering more about what exactly the Summit is? See the video here.

The next Summit, is March 2nd

Some choices are easy, some choices are hard, and some choices we don’t really know how to make. In the summer of 2008 I went to World Youth Day Australia with CCO. This was an easy choice. I thought it was going to be a fun pilgrimage to the land down under: I’d pet a kangaroo, go surfing, and see the Pope. I didn’t realize it was a mission project, and I had no idea that I would be sharing the Gospel. Choosing to be a part of the mission suddenly got harder. Before flying overseas, we stopped in Vancouver for a few days of training as a mission team. We were in a session learning how to use the Ultimate Relationship booklet and how to teach its simple message to others. This was not the first time I had seen it. Every time someone showed it to me, I’d say, somewhat reluctantly, “Yep, thanks, I’ve seen this before. I know all this, but I guess you can show me again.” I had heard the four points: I had heard that I was created to be in a relationship with God; I had heard that I had broken my relationship through sin and separated myself from God; I had heard that Jesus came to restore my broken relationship through his passion, death, and resurrection; and lastly I had heard that I could choose to repent from my sins and accept Christ’s sacrifice. I had heard all these truths on multiple occasions, but I still didn’t know how to have the personal relationship with Jesus that I so badly desired.

Growing up, I listened to countless testimonies of people who were living with Jesus at the centre of their lives, but I didn’t know how they did it. It frustrated me because it seemed so easy for them and I couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t until that training session in Vancouver that my heart finally opened up to the simple message of that little booklet. I sat in the session, and – once again – I heard the four points of the gospel message. But this time, when I heard the last point, I really heard it, with my heart, and I knew that all I had to do was choose to accept Jesus into my life. It was the infamous light bulb moment when, click!, I finally realized that all I had to do was say yes to Jesus and actively ask him to be at the centre of my life. It was that simple.

I want to challenge you to really consider the choice that is before you – the choice to invite Jesus into your heart. Maybe you feel like you have heard all of this before, but sometimes we need to hear a message multiple times before it makes sense. That’s what it took for me to understand how to have a personal relationship with Christ, and making that choice changed my life! If you’ve already chosen Jesus, I challenge you to recommit yourself to him. He will always accept another invitation! Turning away from sin and choosing Christ brings us eternal salvation. Will you decide to let Jesus into your life? The choice is up to you.

Going to Mass as a kid and a teenager, I definitely did not always think that the Eucharist was literally Jesus. I didn’t think it was a symbol, but I didn’t realize that the Eucharistic wasn’t someTHING, but someONE. It was a bit like my relationship with God. I knew that God existed, and that he made me, and I might have even known that God loved me, but I didn’t think he was important in my life.  And while I went to Mass with my family when I was a kid, and even altar served, my first step toward knowing more about God came when I went to different youth events at my church. It was good to be accepted and cared for, and I went on a few Catholic retreats as a result.

Then I was invited to a Catholic Youth Conference in the US called Steubenville, and I decided, pretty casually, that I’d go. I didn’t think much of it at the time. One of the big events at the conference was time of Eucharistic Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I had gone to Adoration before, when I was preparing to get confirmed, but it wasn’t a big deal to me. At least, it wasn’t as big a deal to me as some of the other people at the conference, who were really excited for Adoration for reasons I couldn’t figure out.

The conference was different from anything I had experienced before. It was mostly outside, in big tents on the grounds of a beautiful Marian shrine in Massachusetts. There were a number of talks given by lots of young, faithful, and excited people. Before Adoration began, there was a talk about Christ’s love for us, and how He showed it to us on the cross. It spoke to me in a very clear way, and  it prepared me to encounter Jesus.I had been to Adoration before this, but nothing had changed or happened. I mostly just sat there, and knelt at times too. This time, in a big tent with 3,000 other people, it was different, but not just in a size way. As the priest was processing through the tent, I looked at the monstrance, and thought about Jesus’ sacrifice and love. While I was looking and praying, I had a deep sense of God’s personal love for me, specifically. I compare it to a radio with a dial on it, when you’re looking for a station. You hear a lot of static, but if you come across a radio station, music can come out so clearly, and suddenly. Before, I hadn’t heard anything clearly, but when I opened my heart up to Christ, I suddenly got a deep sense of His love, and it was amazing. I still remember it, over 7 years later. After I left the tent, I remember walking around the grounds of the shrine at night and just being so overjoyed by Jesus’ love for me, something I hadn’t experience in that way before.

God’s True Presence in the Eucharist changed who I was, through my encounter with Him. I stayed involved in the Church throughout high school and university. God even took me from Nova Scotia to Saskatoon! When I look back on my life, I am able to confidently say that the evening that I knelt in front of Jesus present in the Eucharist, my life changed direction, steering me closer to God, and closer to the life he wanted for me.

In my first year of university, if you asked where I would be after I finished my degree, I would have probably said “traveling the world” or something witty like “saving the world.” I’ve always had a heart for the world hence why I studied International Studies, I just never knew that my little heart for the world would have translated to me being a missionary.

It all started in my first year of university. I came to understand and accept Jesus Christ as my personal saviour during CCO’s national Christmas conference called Rise Up. From there on, my missionary heart grew as I knew that others had to experience our Father’s love for us as I did at my point of conversion.

A year and a half later I signed up for one of CCO’s summer missions called Impact where 60 students from across the country become missionaries and live in community, growing in their Christian life. It was there where I first felt a desire to become a CCO staff members. However, I chose to be stubborn and ignored this call.

Unfortunately, months after the Impact mission was over, I started struggling with my faith. I was having a hard time understanding why I had to be on fire for Christ as oppose to just living a mediocre faith life and going to Church every Sunday. I continued this way for a while until I ended up in another mission in Uganda.

The mission in Uganda consisted of six experienced students and two staff members. We went to Uganda to train students on how to be missionaries. As I was teaching them on the concept that holiness and mission are two sides of the same coin, I came to realize that I needed to grow in both and that living a lukewarm faith was not enough for me. I needed to live in the fullness of Christ, through growing in holiness and mission. As a result, my desire to join staff was rekindled once again. Since I was entering my last year, I decided to discern this call more seriously. I used CCO’s application process as my discernment process and here I am on staff for CCO.

In the beginning of my university career, I would have said I would be traveling the world or saving the world after I finished my degree. In a way that’s not entirely false; proclaiming Christ is just my way of saving the world.

(With my friend Dawn. I am on the left)

I grew up in a great family in Regina, Sk. I have four little brothers who I love dearly, although they definitely drive me crazy. Growing up we’d go to church together, pray together and play together. Maybe it comes from being the oldest in a bigger family, I had to learn to amuse myself, and take care of myself, but I learned to depend only on myself.  This independence wasn’t just limited to my family life…in school I would do group projects alone, because I didn’t want anybody else to mess up my hard work, and I only had few close friends…I had a hard time trusting people, because it seemed like anyone I depended on would just let me down. This technique worked out just fine for me through high school, and I got through the all tough stuff, the heart aches, the gossip, my dad being sick, alone.

For me, university was another thing that I expected to make it through alone.  And at first, I did a pretty good job. I was living away from home for the first time, so it was the first time that I could make every single decision all by myself, and I loved the freedom. However, by the middle of October I was having some problems handling everything I was going through all by myself.  The one amazing friend that I had made in the first month of school wasn’t even a friend anymore, and school was getting overwhelming.   And I couldn’t even tell anyone what was going on…I wasn’t used to sharing, and I didn’t even have close enough friends in Saskatoon that I would have trusted enough to discuss my feelings with. I figured that I’d be able to get through it alone again, that I just needed a little bit of time.

Turns out it wasn’t quite that easy. My life never quite got back under control…I’d cry myself to sleep every night, and then tell myself in the morning that I was fine, that I just needed a good weekend at home to get my life back under control. I was convinced that I could do it all alone, even though anyone looking at my life from the outside would have found it obvious that I needed help.  It was during this time that I started to consider my relationship with God.  I started going to church during the week, and from there heard about events such as Cornerstone and Summit. At these events I heard awesome talks and testimonies about people giving their lives to Christ. I began to want the same kind of relationship with Jesus that these people had, but I still felt like I was doing fine on my own. I was unwilling to open my heart completely to Jesus, because I wasn’t ready to trust anyone that much when I was doing ‘fine’ on my own. I could feel God pulling me towards a deeper relationship with Him, but I was too attached to my freedom and too used to doing everything alone to really give my life to him.  Fortunately, something happened that made me wake up and see that I couldn’t rely only on myself, that I needed something…or someone, else in my life.  After a girls night got out of control and I woke up smelling like puke and having no idea why I had a black eye, I realized that the freedom that  I coveted really wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. I finally realized that my life hadn’t been in my control for a long time. I felt alone and more than a little guilty.

Luckily, only 2 weeks after that I went to this great Catholic Youth Rally.  The talks and testimonies there really made me realize that there is no better person to place all of my trust in than God. Finally that night in Adoration I was able to surrender my life to Christ. A quote from Blessed Mother Teresa summarizes what happened during Adoration perfectly. She said “Put your hand in the hand of Jesus-walk along with Him all the way”, and that’s what I did that night. I realized that Jesus had been extending His hand to me for quite a while, and I had been ignoring Him, thinking that I didn’t need to hold on to anything but myself, but finally I was realizing that I was incapable of going through life alone, that even when I couldn’t trust myself I could trust Jesus.  That night, Jesus opened my eyes to two very important truths. Not only was He always with me, but I NEEDED Him to always be with me.  Since then I start every morning by just offering my life to Jesus, and I tell him everything that I am dealing with, or worrying about, and I let Him lighten the load, just like he promised to do in Matthew 11:28 when He says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Knowing that I Jesus is my constant companion in life has changed my life in so many ways, and I can never stop thanking Him for that.

CCO will put on a social about once a month so stay tuned to find out about the next social! This events serve so everyone can come out, have fun and meet new people.

January 24th-Pizza Party: This Pizza Party will take place 6:30pm till 7:30pm right outside Arts 241 at the UofS and will be followed by the event Cornerstone. 

February 9th- ICE Skating: This type of social can not happen in most of the world. But in Saskatoon it can!! Outdoor skating will happen from 7-8:30pm in the park right beside the Bessborough Hotel downtown. You can rent skates at the rink and after we are going for warm drinks at Broadway Roastery on Broadway. Click here for more

March 10th-Progressive Supper: is s a dinner party in which each successive course is prepared and eaten at the residence of different hosts. We gather and then drive to each of this hosts.

March 31st-Spring Banquet: This end of the school year celebration is going to be a blast. With a hundred students and non, dressed in semi formal attire. We have Mass, a meal, a program and end of the night with an epic dance party. If you want to see the fantastic dancing at the Winter Formal click here.

This semester, the socials plan to be amazing. The dates are subject to change; and, to know more info about each event, check out the facebook page here  closer to the date.

Have you ever known a child that seems to break every single rule they don’t know and when you tell them the rules, they always find some way to break it again by using a loophole? Well unfortunately that was me. Between turning a hairspray can into a flame thrower to getting thrown out of religion class ever Wednesday, I could be quiet a handful. Because of this I grew up in an environment with a large emphasis on following the rules. This led me to the thought that Catholicism was mostly about following a set of rules in order to not go to hell. Over the years, I got very involved in my parish in Vancouver and my faith was an integral part of making decisions in my life making sure I followed every last rule. However I began to make decisions which were not in keeping with my faith and slowly started down a slippery slope. This led me to living a double life where the people around me had a pretty pious image of me but they were actually in the dark about the decisions I made against the faith. I had some bad experiences in confession and so I feared telling a priest about all the things I had done.

When I arrived in Saskatoon, I was still not ready to confront the faith crisis that I was experiencing. However God had other plans. I was connected with CCO and was soon enrolled in a faith study and also the fall retreat. When I arrived at the retreat I was not sure what I was going to get out of it. I felt horribly unworthy to be with such faithful people. I quickly began to feel guilty for the double life I was living. There was a talk about sin and what it does to our souls that really cut to my heart.  I didn’t want to be separated from my God.  Right then and there I made up my mind; I had to go make an honest confession.  When I came out of confession I felt completely at peace and it was as if a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. It was truly an amazing feeling! Later on during that retreat, I made a decision to recommit to Jesus by putting him at the centre of my life.

Since the retreat, I have grown to learn that the Catholic faith is about more than just following the rules. It’s about a personal relationship with a God who loves me.  This December I attended Rise Up, which is CCO’s national conference, and my faith grew even deeper!  I realized that God wanted still more for my life and so I’m striving every day to be all that I can be for God. The words of John Paul II, “Do not be afraid, Open wide the doors for Christ”, have continued to inspire me.  There is an amazing life waiting for us if our confidence is put in the Lord.  I have realized that God loves me no matter what and will always be there for me and He has this same love for all of you.  Knowing God’s unconditional love and forgiveness, I ask myself a question every day that I invite you to think about for yourself.  Reflect on this parody of the words of JFK, ‘Ask not what God can do for you, Ask what you can do for God’, because in return I know God will be with you and love you for eternity.

******* Estimated reading time 2 minutes *********

Christ has always been a part of my life, but He hasn’t always been the centre of it.  As I was growing up, faith was an important aspect of my family’s life.  We attended Church and I was involved in a Catholic girls’ club, but I still had times where I didn’t understand why I was involved, or why I needed to be at Church.  My little brother, Daniel, is Autistic, and super important to me.  He has always been excited to go to Church every week and he is the reason that I would still go whenever I was doubting – to me, if someone who isn’t able to understand much in our world is able to understand the importance of going to Church, then I just needed to follow in that example.  Even though my brother’s simple understanding motivated me to continue going to Church, I didn’t live the way that I knew I should and I was always looking to worldly things to fill the space where I should have placed Christ.

It took a bad break-up for me to realize my need for Christ.  Months after the break-up, I was praying in the STM chapel on the University Campus when God showed me the one area in my life that I was holding back from Christ; the one thing that I was holding on to and that was keeping me from so much happiness.  After some internal struggles about this realization I made the decision to put Christ at the centre of my life.

After this decision, I was looking for ways that I could live it out.  I knew about CCO and I had been to some events, but now I wanted to be so much more involved.  I started going to every event that was offered and I joined a faith study.  Being part of a community so focused on our faith and being surrounded by people that were on the same path got me so excited and on fire for Christ.

As I continued attending different events and moving forward in the Discovery faith study, I started to realize that I needed to share this fire.   I was learning the importance of evangelization and it became clear to me that it was because I was seeing other people sharing their faith that I was opening myself to Christ more and more.  Because of this I started to feel that it wasn’t enough to experience this fire in my life alone, I wanted to see more people feel the same way, and I wanted to continue growing in my faith by sharing it with others.

This year I am leading two of my closest friends in a faith study and I am able to let them see how great it is to have Christ at the centre of my life.  I find so much joy in watching them grow in their relationship with Christ and this experience is one of the many ways that my decision that day in STM has been affirmed.  My decision to have Christ at the centre of my life has also led me to consider applying for a CCO summer mission this coming summer in Halifax – something that I NEVER would have done when I was still allowing other parts of my life to be the focus, mostly because of fear and also because I just didn’t understand the need for sharing Christ with others.

After choosing to have Christ at the centre of my life I turned to CCO for help and guidance.  I attended events like Cornerstone and Summit to experience fellowship and to help deepen my faith and I also joined a faith study to strengthen my understanding of my need for Christ.  These experiences have helped me to grow in my relationship with Christ along with many other ways and I hope and pray that I continue to do so through my future involvement with this movement.

*******Estimated reading time 2-3 minutes*********

I think almost everyone experiences doubts about God and faith at some point in their life. When I was in my teens the doubts I struggled with shook my faith to the core. Even though I had grown up in a family that really practiced our faith, I came to a point when I was about 15 where I began to doubt God’s existence and the faith that I had practiced when I was younger. I really needed to know if God was real and if He even cared about me at all. What I had been taught about my faith and about God no longer seemed to line up with my daily experience of life, and this caused serious doubts within me. Although on the outside my life remained normal, no one really knew the turmoil that was going on inside me. I wanted to be the kind of person who was really confident in his beliefs, especially because I saw many young people who found great joy in their faith, but I could not seem to overcome my doubts.

I ended up going on a retreat during grade 11, mostly because I had friends there and I wanted everything to seem normal, but I didn’t really feel comfortable there. Not knowing what else to do, I cried out to God in my heart and asked Him to show Himself to me in a way that would allow me to believe strongly enough to give my whole life to Him. One evening, I was sitting in my chair during one of the talks, and all of a sudden I experienced something that I’d never experienced before. It was as if God tapped me on the shoulder and said “Here I am” without feeling an actual tap and without hearing any actual words. The experience was totally “out of the blue” for me; it had nothing to do with the talk or anything that was going on around me. For that moment, all my doubts vanished. I felt a great joy and peace and I knew with every part of me that God was real and that He loved me, not just mankind in general, but me! More than anything, I think I just felt loved by God. That night I committed my whole life to Jesus and did something I had been avoiding for a long time – I went to confession. After that I felt even more at peace because I knew that my relationship with God was fully restored.

Ever since I committed my life to Jesus that night, I have not struggled with doubts about God’s existence and I feel a great confidence in His love for me, despite my sins and even when I don’t particularly “feel” His presence. There are still many things about my life and my faith that I don’t fully understand, but through my relationship with Jesus, my faith remains firm no matter what questions arise. If you feel that you lack conviction in your faith or you question whether God exists or loves you, then I encourage you to ask God, with an open heart, to make Himself more real to you and to show you His love. Persevere until you get an answer; God will never disappoint you and always exceeds all our hopes and expectations!