LIFE TEEN RESOURCES

Gospel Reading
Luke 2: 41-52

http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/2:41

OMOS LIFETEEN WEBSITE: http://omoslifeteen.weebly.com/

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that todays Gospel reading is what the Fifth Joyful
Mystery of the Rosary is based on? Lets review what the rosary is.
The Rosary is a type of prayer that usually involves a string of beads
and is devoted to Mary, the Virgin Mother of God; which also acts as a
brief recollection (remembering) of important events within the Gospel
(CCC 971, Youcat 149). According to the Catechism:
"The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks
the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here
Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total
consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship:
'Did you not know that I must be about my Father`s work?' (Lk
2:49)" (CCC, 534).
What is the Catechism? It is the written work that contains the
summary of all the beliefs of the faith and is used as a teaching tool
(USCCB).
In todays Gospel reading, we see a young Jesus astounding all the
adults around Him because He shows wisdom of the faith in being able
to discuss it with them. Scripture also states that He was asking the
adults around Him questions. How can we become fighters of the faith
without asking questions? The answer is we cannot.
If we want the peace and joy that Jesus promises us, then we have to
ask questions about our religion and investigate who Jesus Christ is.
Who is He for the Catholic Church? Who is He for the entire world?
Who is He for you as one little person in a big Universe?
It is also not enough to ask questions, but you have to find the right
answers. Come to LifeTeen and find those answers.

Each year Jesus parents went to Jerusalem for the feast

of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great
anxiety.
And he said to them,
Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house?
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.

Reflect:
1. How did Jesus act after his parents picked him up from the
temple and returned to Nazareth? What is the 4th
Commandment?

BATTLEFIELD OF FAITH
Majority of concepts are from Truth Be Told; Basics in Catholic
Apologetics, by Mark Hart and Joe Cady
Question: How do we know that God exists?
We know that God exists based on the philosophical truth of cause and
effect. Nothing that exists can alone bring itself into existence.
Take an iphone for instance. If we were to put all the many separate
pieces of an iphone randomly piled together on a table, would the
pieces assemble themselves into a complete and working phone?
Obviously, they would not. What is needed?
Someone or something has to glue the pieces together. Moreover, the
pieces cant just be glued in any old way, but in a special way so that it
looks and works like a phone. For instance, to make the phone you
have to be smart enough not to put the home screen button where the
camera lens goes. So, it can be said that an intelligent designer is
needed to cause the pieces of the iphone to become a usable device.

FAMILY MASS
December 27, 2015
CATHOLIC FAMILY CHALLENGE
Gather together at the dinner table to share a meal. Ensure that all cell
phones and electronic devices are turned off and put away for the
duration of the family meal. After praying together before or after the
meal, go around in a circle and have every family member openly
share something good about every other family member. This may
include praising someones talents or strengths, as well as praising
something that a particular family member did to help another.
Every single family member reclined at table must share one thing
good about every other family member at the table. Do this at least
once a week, preferable Sundays, until January 10 (you may also
choose to do this for as long as you live).

The same can be said about all of creation; that an intelligent designer
must have made everything fall into its current place. The human body,
for instance, is far too complex and miraculously functioning to have
been created through a random and meaningless process (Big Bang
Theory, for instance).
As an example, how awesome is it that the bodys white blood cells
(phagocytes, specifically) can differentiate between normal healthy
cells and intruders in the body? Healthy white blood cells are designed
in a way that they can tell the difference between what to kill or leave
alone in the body.
Because cause and effect, by common sense, cannot be endless, there
must be a first cause that started everything and did not need to be
created. God is this ultimate first cause, which simply exists and was
never created. He simply IS, WAS, and ever shall BE.

And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age

and favor before God and man.