1. NEW! Get your Epiphany on! Read the Gospel before coming to Church on Sunday!
   
2. Get your Epiphany House Blessing Kits at this weekend's Masses
3. NEW! SPX CYO Basketball Games Saturday & Sunday
   
4. NEW! Sunday Youth Nites are Back this Sunday, Jan 5th
5. NEW! Teen Leadership Team meets next Sunday, Jan 12th
6. Sign Up for our Parish Youth Retreat February 7, 8, 9
7. NEW INFO! CYO Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship!
8. NEW! Consider a new kind of Vacation next summer - Family Camp at Camp Koinonia!
9. Sign Up Genius Link for Parents Volunteering with Youth Events and Retreats
   
10. PDF of Sunday Youth Nite Schedule

Instructions for Blessing the Home

Using the blessed chalk mark the lintel of your front door (or front porch step) as follows:

20 + C + M + B + 20 while saying:

The three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of God’s Son who became human two thousand and fifteen years ago. May Christ bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.

Then offer the following prayer: Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live or visit here with the gift of your love; and grant that we may manifest your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen us in peace, O Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen

“Chalking the door” is a way to celebrate and literally mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of our lives and home. With time the chalk will fade. As it does we let the meaning of the symbols written sink into the depths of our heart and be manifest in our words and actions the Latin words, Christus mansionem benedictat, “May Christ bless the house.”

Our 6th & 7th graders will discover how faith provides Hope in Times of Trouble and our high schoolers will have a special meeting exploring the faithful side of a Hot Topic on Abortion. We will begin a series of occasional Hot Topic meetings that will help young people learn HOW to research topics that involve moral decisions and help them learn good listening skills while learning to understand and respect the Church's position on these issues.

1. Pull Back

· It’s strategic. You withdraw from your regular life, pulling in all the energy that’s otherwise fanned out and thinned out in multiple directions.

· You gather your forces to focus them on something/someone you love.

2. Become Spacious

· You step out of your structured scheduled day-to-day and step into space and time, space-time.

· At school, home, with friends, social media, clubs, sports, school, homework, all are vying for attention, time is taken. All of it. There is no free time.

· Time on retreat is different, fluid. There’s no more rush!

· You find a space where you can give yourself time to connect with the flow of the Holy Spirit, genius and inspiration in many areas in life.

3. Get Inspired

· Inspiration, translates as “to breathe into.” Ruah – is a name for Spirit in the Scriptures.

· So, you breathe Life into your life.

· How it comes is different for everyone, but one thing’s for sure: Inspiration won’t strike out of nowhere, while you blindly do the same rote stuff every day.

· It’s a frame of mind that can come from a change of landscape and outlook.

· We’re all creative. Creativity and inspiration happen when you take the time away from your daily life to remember your life dream.

· You play with what inspires you, whether it’s crochet, writing, jogging, sculpting, cooking or a little bit of everything.

4. Listen

· When you are on a retreat you get to listen.

· Why? Because, depending on where you are, there’s no phone, parents, TV, friends, limited or no WiFi, and maybe a few trusted adults who might be worth spending time with.

· What do you hear?

· The sounds of nature coming alive as your heart reconnects.

· The wind, but more importantly, that quiet inside your own heart.

5. Detox

· Everyone needs to unload, clean out and empty their mental desktop.

· You will leave a retreat lightened, clearer, recharged, refreshed, and more present.

· This new perspective can guide you to make changes in your life that you know you need to make.

6. Lose the Fear

· How many of you live part of every single day steeled for confrontation?

· Our retreat is a safe space, literally and figuratively.

· Cell phones are put away and used rarely.

· You don’t have to lock up your belongings.

· You can trust the people around you with your most precious possession, your self., your peace of heart.

7. Remember Who You Are

· Society wants you to be the brother, sister, student, athlete, musician, performer, friend, etc, etc .

· When we go on retreat we are reminded that we are actually individuals, human beings, as opposed to “human doings.”

· On retreat you can drop all the roles.

· You can just be you for the first time.

8. Find Your People

· We’re all the same/different.

· You meet other people in the same position.

· Here, no one has to justify themselves- they are taken seriously.

· Here, no one has to justify their faith – whatever expression it has – is taken seriously.

· You allow yourself to be different because the people around you are.

9. Help Others

· When you take space-time your family gets space-time too. This brings appreciation.

· Why?

· They realize what it’s like when you’re not around, to hang out, work, practice, shop, love them.

· Without you taking up your usual spot, people shift positions to fill that space.

· Life takes on a new shape.

· Life is actually different when you return and you are free to take up a new space in it. This is growth.

· People see a new you, and they see that they’re new, too.

· People are motivated to make more positive change.

10. Establish a Routine/Practice

· Sure, you can optimize conditions in your own life to create a non-negotiable private time.

· But if you’re trying to squeeze time into an already full schedule, creating those conditions at home can take years.

· Establishing them on a retreat is easier.

· As opposed to having to fight through your routine to refocus on God you go on retreat and get encouraged by the example of others.

· You go back home and re-establish your life in a new way.

· Retreats are important because people leave retreats fitter, rested, happier and clearer.

· Who doesn’t want some of that?

PLUS retreats are so much fun! And you’ll find great friends that are right in your parish!

Our St Pius X Youth Retreat offers you prime time prayer with God and with Friends!

This year we are offering the same retreat on two different weekends at Camp Stella Maris Wegman House. Each weekend can take up to 40 students. Confirmation Prep members will be given priority before the retreats are opened to other parish youth.

We are beginning to form Adult Retreat Teams now.

Please contact Barb if you’re interested in being a team member.

The retreat dates are: February 2, 3, 4 OR April 24, 25,26

Hello Parents:

My name is Todd Esposito. As a St. Pius X parishioner and a member of the St Pius Tenth Knight of Columbus, Council 17086. I am writing to invite you to promote the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship that our council is hosting on Sunday, January 26 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the gym of St. Jude’s.

As you know, free throws are a huge part of the game of basketball. The ability to make free throws at crunch time is what every coach covets. Plus, by getting your players to value the free throw, you are also teaching them the finer tenets of the game. For instance, players that learn to take the ball to the basket in an aggressive, but controlled manner help their team’s offensive output. Winning the free throw battle means that your team finding the open person and playing team basketball.

Please encourage your player to attend the contest. Entry forms will be distributed to all CYO coaches from Mrs. Legere. Because of administrative tasks from the Knights of Columbus, all competitors must register using the official Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship Entry Form/Score Sheet. Registrations are due to the CYO/Youth Ministry Office by 9:00 AM, Monday, January 13th. Proof of age must accompany all entry forms. Players may give their forms to your Coach by January 12th OR Parents can turn them in to the office directly.

Winners from our Council will progress to the district, regional (Syracuse) and state (West Point) and national levels of competition!

I look forward to seeing you on the 26th. It will be fun!

Sincerely,

Todd Esposito