Going to LifeTeen will most likely be the best and most memorable experience of my high school years. It truly made me change the way I look at my religion; how I look at other people, the Eucharist, the Bible, Mass, family, and of course the virtues.
The highlights of my experience at Life Teen would be meeting other Catholic teens, in particular the teens around me at Kellenberg and Chaminade. Even though I did not know any of the kids going into the week, I came out of it with some very good friends that I hope to see more often once school starts again.
The best part of LifeTeen itself was that we got the chance to go to Mass and Adoration everyday, and neither became boring at any time during the week. Even now at home, Mass has taken on a completely new setting. I followed the advice that Mark Hart gave us during one of the Bible Study sessions and looked up the Sunday Mass readings beforehand. It really did change the whole Mass for me and the practice of reading them before Mass is now a commitment of mine. I am trying to convince my family to do the same.
I also really enjoyed the speeches that we got, in particular Mark Hart's Theology of the Body and Apostolic, the Girls Empowerment and Ownership, and Matt Maher's Mary and the Magnificat. The Bible Sessions every morning were also amazing. The sessions made the Bible much less big and scary to look at. I made a commitment to myself to open the Bible every day/ whenever I can. Already I found a whole group of readings I've never seen, such as writings by the prophets that foretell and confirm that Jesus is the Messiah. (So far I assumed that Jesus was the true Messiah because the Church 'said so' - I've never looked at the readings for myself until now. Zechariah and Isaiah in particular have a number of prophecies I've never seen)
Thank you so much for including me in this trip to Notre Dame. It was an experience I will never forget.
Maggie Tonn
At the end of June twenty-four students from our Marianist high schools will be traveling to Benedictine College in Kansas for the Life Teen Conference. Pray for us!
