Jackson Youth Group

06/14/2026

We made it back safely. Thank you all for the prayers. It was a great week of growing in our faith and doing acts of service in the Chicago area. Till next year…

06/13/2026

My highlight of the week was listening to and meeting Catholic convert and comedian, Shayne Smith. His journey from militant atheist to devout Catholic is truly inspiring.

Today was also our free day and we went pedal boating (which fun fact is not the same as paddle boarding 🤷‍♂️) and spent quite a bit of time at a beautiful waterfall.

We will celebrate Mass with the Slovenians tomorrow morning and then head back to Michigan. Please pray for safe travels back.

06/12/2026

We completed our final workday at Alive in You. We had the privilege of helping out Sharing Connections, a company founded by a humble woman with the hope of helping families sleep safely in a bed. Mrs. Leeanne McGrath, who founded Sharing Connections came and spoke to our group, sharing stories of how her small idea to help one family turned into an amazing organization that helped over 29,000 people last year.

06/11/2026

It’s been an adventurous few days but we’re having fun in the Chicago area. We arrived safely on Tuesday night for our Catholic youth camp, Alive in You. We’re staying at the beautiful Slovenian Catholic Cultural Center (which is awesome since my family comes from Slovenia 🇸🇮).

Yesterday we braved the brutal heat and did work around the grounds. Today, we did more outside work at a gorgeous Byzantine Catholic Church. It was neat to see the complementarity of our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters. As Pope St. John Paul II said, the Church breathes out of both lungs, east and west.

06/07/2026

Check out the first video in our summer series, where we take a deep dive into various aspects of our Catholic faith, in the hope of creating opportunities for our youth and their families to have meaningful discussions to enrich their spiritual lives.

This is the first of ten videos that I'll be releasing throughout the summer.

God wants to have a relationship with us. This video explores the n...

06/03/2026

Today is the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions.

Charles was a 19th century Ugandan convert to the Catholic faith.

Fearing losing his power to the Christians, the king at the time ordered the Christians to renounce their faith or be executed.

St. Charles was the chief servant of the king and often protected the boys in his charge from the king's wickedness.

As the persecution got more intense, St. Charles baptized those in his charge.

Refusing to renounce the faith, St. Charles was burned alive.

As he was being burnt, he said to his executioner: "It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me."

What an incredible witness of faith from an incredible saint.

This is why we honor and revere the saints.

They are ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives by the grace of God.

May we all strive to imitate their virtues and love for our Lord and the Church.

St. Charles Lwanga, pray for us!

06/02/2026

In our first reading from St. Peter's second letter, he encourages the faithful.

He tells them: "Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire."

He reminds them of God's promise that there will be a new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

St. Peter says to "be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation."

Our hope is in these promises of our Lord, that we will one day experience a new heavens and a new earth.

We live in the world, but our true homeland is in Heaven.

We must keep our eyes fixed on the things of Heaven and not on this earth.

The things of this world are passing away, but the things of Heaven are everlasting.

As St. Peter tells us, we must look to our Lord and his example of patience.

By our patience and sufferings, we will one day come to the eternal glories of Heaven!

05/31/2026

Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity!

Today we reflect on one of the most profound mysteries of our faith.

What we understand about the Trinity comes from the beautiful revelation that God is love (1 John 4:8).

The Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is an eternal communion of life-giving love.

The Trinity is a core belief of our faith, but the Trinity is so much more than an abstract concept.

It's a reality that we are called to share in.

We're invited into a deep relationship with the Trinity, and to go out and share that dynamic love with everyone we meet.

It's time to go deeper in your prayer life.

It's time to let this mystery pe*****te your heart and inform everything you do.

God's calling you farther in and higher up.

Are you listening? Will you answer this great call?

05/29/2026

In the Gospel today, Jesus drives out those in the temple who are trying to buy and sell there.

They're making the temple--which is God's house, intended to be a place of prayer--into a marketplace.

What is holy is being used for unholy purposes.

In Jesus's intense love for his Father and the temple, he cannot stand to see something so holy being treated so profanely.

Sadly, we see this same attitude in our present day.

The Church--God's dwelling place--is often treated as an entertainment social gathering.

This is a call and challenge for all of us--to reclaim the Church, especially the Mass, as a holy place of worship.

Too often, we make a mockery out of religion and the Mass.

Let's end this abuse and treat the Mass with great solemnity.

As Jesus cleansed the temple of sin and vice, let's also cleanse ourselves so we may more deeply enter into the Mass.

God will not be mocked. Religion will not be mocked. Let's live that way.

05/27/2026

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells the Twelve all that was going to happen to him.

He says that he will be mocked, spit upon, scourged, put to death, but rise on the third day.

After telling them this, James and John approach Jesus and ask to sit at his right and left when he comes in his glory.

It's an odd request considering what Jesus had just told them, and even the other ten become angry with James and John.

Jesus summons the Apostles again and tells them that the great among them will be servants to others.

He says that he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus equates his coming in glory as the moment of his crucifixion, when he gave his life as a ransom for many.

This is why he told James and John that to sit at his right and left in his glory is for those for whom it has been prepared.

Our true glory lies in suffering with Jesus.

May we also live not to be served, but to serve others.