TEENAGERS RETREAT

First Communion and Confirmation

Your Spirit gives me Strength

 TEENAGERS RETREAT

10:00 – 10:10 am Welcome! Responsible: ALL CATECHIST

We will Welcome the children. Each child will receive a name tag and get checked off on
the attendance sheet.

Material: Attendance sheets for participating classes. Name tags and markers.

10:10 – 10:15 am Opening prayer Responsible: MINA

God of goodness,
You send out your Spirit to touch the hearts of all people,
Look kindly on our candidates for Confirmation and those who will receive your Most
Holy Body for the first time, as they seek to hear your voice.

As they embark on this retreat weekend, we pray that you send your Spirit to enlighten,
guide, strengthen, console, and open their hearts as they continue to seek a closer
relationship with you.
Help them to truly know the deep and abiding love you have for each of them and fill them
with the joy of your presence.

As our community prepares these children for Confirmation,

make us an instrument of your love,
Teach us to reverence what is holy in others,
and to be patience with what we do not understand.
Deepen our faith and help us to pass it on by our example
We pray that you continue to guide and sustain us,
and teach us the Way of Love
We praise you through Christ our Lord
Amen!
10:15 – 11:00 am Rally Responsible: JACKY & SISTER

Objetive: Get the children to engage actively in this retreat. Help the children by means of
the game activity and competition, to deepen their understanding of the “graces” they will
be receiving the day of their sacraments, of Confirmation and First Communion.

Form 4 teams of 11-12 participants.

Team 1 color blue

Team 2 color yellow
Team3 color red
Team 4 color green

Each team must organize themselves,to accomplish the tasks given. They must work as a
team, an choose a leader for their group. After each task is completed they will return to their
original group área.

Materials:

- Cards representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit (four sets of cards, each set represented
in a different color
- Tokens with the description of each of the 7 gifts (four sets, each set will be in a
different color).
- 4 soda bottles
- 4 cards with questions for task #3
- 4 cards with phrases from scripture
- Picture of Jesus
- Poster board with “I Love You ¡” written on it
- Paper to cover the black board

The following are the challenges to be accomplished (the winner with be the team that
finishes first).

1.-. Each
team will be assigned a specific color to find. These cards will have the names of each gift
of the Holy Spirit (7 total gifts).The cards Will be in the shape of fire. Once they find the
seven cards of their assigned color ,they can advance to the second task.
2.- With the complete set of 7 cards they obtained in the previous step, they will receive 7
tokens with the description of each of these gifts of the Holy Spirit. Working as a team ,they
must now match the description of the gift with the name of the gift. Once the matching is
completed the team must pick on of these gift and explain it in their own words. Once they
finish this part ,they can go to the next task.

Example:

I Exist so that you can enjoy life.

So you can love your true Friends,
your family and all creation. And
help you discover how much you
are truely loved by God. I tell you
“!Live, don’t be mediocre, ¡ Live
,don’t stop living,! Live and live
=
with enthusiasm ¡”

3.-They should clean up the retreat area, here they will pick a member of their team to go up
on stage, here that child will find a soda bottle. Their team must answer a question posed to
them. Pending what is answered, Will they get to drink the soda as fast as they can, the winner
with be the team that finishes drinking the whole bottle first, With this completed, this
winning team can go to next Task

- Team 1: When did Jesus Institute the Sacrament of the Eucharist?

- Team 2: Who is really present in the consecrated host?
- Team 3: What is the name of the place where the consecrated Holy Eucharist is
stored?
- Team 4: Can you receive holy communion if you are in a with sin?

3.-The whole team must represent in a form of a mimic the following Bible passages:

Team 1:

Acts of the Apostles 2, 1-8

1
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And
suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled
all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them tongues as of
fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance
 . 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation
under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7And
they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking
Galileans“? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

Team 2:

Matthew 26, 20-30

20
When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples, 21 and as they
were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you Will betray me.”
22
And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, “Is
it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “ He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me,
will betray me. 24 The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that
man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man
if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed him, said, “is it I, Master ¿”He
said to him,” You have said so.”

26
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave
it to the disciples and said,” Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a chalice,
and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “drink of it, all of you;,
28
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. 30 And when
they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives..

Team 3:

Mark 10, 17-22

17
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him,
and asked him,” Good Teacher, what, must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God
alone. 19. You know the commandments: Do not kill, Do not commit adultery,
Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and
mother.” 20 And he said to him,” Teacher, all these I have observed from my
youth.”. 21 And Jesús looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “ You lack
one thing; go sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 At that saying his countenance fell and he
went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
Team 4:

Matthew 14, 22-33

22
Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other
side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds,
he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there
alone, 24 but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from land, beaten
by the waves; for the wind was against them. 25 And in the fourth watch of the
night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out
for fear.27 But immediately he spoke to them, saying,” Take heart, it is I; have no
fear.”
28
And Peter answered him, ”Lord if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.”
29
he said,” come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came
to Jesus;. 30 but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he
cried out,” Lord, save me.”. 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught
him, saying to him,” Oh you of Little faith, ¿why did you doubt?”. 32 And when
they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him,,
saying, ”Truly you ser the son of God”.

4.- When everyone has finished presenting there mimic, they should return to their assigned
tables, here they will search for the written riddle to solve for the last task : there will be
stated the last final possible solution .

I am big and White ,through me many colors emerge and form words and
figures, in me you can draw images and graphics. But nothing inside of me will
spoil or rot, because with just a touch from a finger all of this vanishes. Today I
am covered, and I have a message for you, in my center. I am not far from you
if you look closely ,surely you’ll finding me and solve this task.

(For this last task: we will have to prepare the black board in advance, se Will tape an image
of Jesus of the board and we Will write on a sign I LOVE YOU ).

11:00 – 12:15 PM First Reflection ¿What do you fear, what are these fears?
Responsible: LETTY AND VICKY

We will start with a short recap of the passion and resurrection of our Lord, emphasizing on
the disciples who were scared to suffer the same fate as Jesus.
All the disciples stayed locked upstairs in the cenacle, even after they saw the resurrected
Jesus. They were happy, but also scared, the situation was still fresh, declining. They all came
together in prayer, to reflect on everything that was happening. Jesus was alive, but his
teaching was brand new, they needed to better understand everything they were living.

The disciples were truly afraid, but a very important event turned them from fearful to brave,
after having received the Holy Spirit, they had a courage that did not come from their own
human nature. The fire of God flooded their hearts so that they could go out freely to
announce the Good News, what Jesus had done, who He really was, his friend and teacher.
Let us listen to what the text of the Acts of the Apostles says:

Acts 2, 1-8

1
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And
suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled
all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared to them tongues as of
fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance. 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every
nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they
were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own
language. 7And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who
are speaking Galileans“? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native
language?

Reflection:

We meet as the Disciples many times. It seems that no one can understand what we feel, what
we are going through. Especially you, in this period of adolescence when you feel that no
one can understand you. The fears and difficulties that they face, it seems that it is not easy
to understand, their parents, teachers, catechists, adults in general seem to be far away in their
own world and it is very difficult to communicate with them.

I invite you to think for a moment about your own life, about what really matters to you, what
you want most, and I also invite you to think about your own fears, about what prevents you
from being what you have dreamed of.

God has deposited in you many gifts; within you is the Goodness of the wonders that He has
given you. And He does not abandon us. He does not abandon you. He sends you the Holy
Spirit to give you that light of knowledge about yourself and about others.
The Holy Spirit touches our hearts and makes our fears and insecurities disappear because
he gives us strength, a great confidence to feel loved by God. He makes known to us all the
gifts we have received from His love.

Now in a moment of silence we will carry out the following activity:

Activity:

They will be given some sheets where they can write the following:

What are your main interests? What personal qualities do you have? What are your fears?

Some questions to help answer the following statements:

- My favorite games:
- My favorite readings:
- The way of dressing:
- My friends:

I am not free from:

- What idea do I have of myself?
- How is the relationship with my parents?
- My body: Do I like it? What relationship do I have with my body today?
- What do you think of your future, do you have a project or a dream that you would like to
see come true?
- Which one or what are they?
- What worries you most when you think about your tomorrow?

After this moment of reflection, the catechist invites the children to share what they have
written, and after about 4 or 5 kids participate, everyone will be invited to stick their sheets
on the blackboard where the image of Jesus is.

12:15 – 12:30 PM Break Responsible: ALL

12:30 – 01:35 PM Second reflection: LAMPS ON to illuminate others
Responsible: NOEMI

• Orientation

All people can be "creative." This term is often confused to identify someone witty or novel.
However, we can all create and recreate. There are many things that can be new, it is enough
that we appeal to our inner treasure, to what we keep of history, taste, sensitivity, ideals, so that
we find new possibilities outside. Creating confirms us in our vocation as children of God, binds
us to his impulse of life given to everything that exists. Our world does not need creatives from
an external pose, but people capable of manifesting the depth they carry inside with the desire
to transform what surrounds us.

• Materials

Cardboard sheets n° 5
Colored papers
Scissors
Vinyl glue
Markers
Tape
Magazines
One candle per participant

• Activity Advancement

Motivation

Each of us has the possibility to create. We are the image and likeness of God the Creator
who wants the human person to participate in his work. We have not only our hands, but our
sensitivity that gives us the ability to find infinite possibilities of combinations and
recreations from moods, needs or desires that we carry inside and in some way, we want to
express others. Let's think to everyone about the qualities that God has given us, let's
contemplate our blackboard where you have just pasted that sheet where you wrote what your
greatest dreams are, what your fears and what your worries are. Thinking about all this now
we will begin to carry out this activity.

Activity
Each participant will assemble a lantern for a candle lamp. The sheet should be rolled up
like a cylinder and decorated as each one wants, trying as much as possible to express
feelings, desires, affections that keep inside.

It is necessary that in some places it is necessary to try to darken so that the light can be
seen better.

They will have 30 minutes to carry out this work.

Lighting of the Lanterns

Matthew 5: 15-16.

14
You are the light of the world. You can't hide a city located on top of a mountain.
15
And he does not light a lamp to put it under a drawer, but he puts it on the
lampstand to illuminate all who are in the house. 16 So must the light that is in you
shine before the eyes of men, that they may see your good works and glorify the
Father in heaven.

A lamp is not lit to be hidden. Our interior is an enclosure of a sensibility capable of capturing
elements of the world that do not only belong to the material plane. As the Little Prince said:
the essential is invisible to the eye. The heart seems to have another capacity for vision that
discovers values, beauty, and the presence of God. That is why the interior of the human
being is a temple, with the capacity to host the celebration of life. This inner experience is
called to manifest itself. Many situations would be different if, instead of being silent, we try
to draw that light from the depths of the soul to see more clearly what is presented to us.

CONCLUSION

Some kids will be invited (preferably the ones who can) to show and explain how and why
he made their lanterns that way. The catechist will highlight the difference between each of
the lanterns since each of them is unique since they reflect the interior of each one.

01:40 – 02:00 PM Prayer in Church Responsible: DENISE

Now the kids are invited to go to church, each one will take their own lantern, and they will
be invited to place it in front of the altar.

There will be a moment of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Each kid will be invited to
make a pledge of their lives to the Lord, truly present in the Eucharist, and this will be
manifested by lighting their own lamp.

They will be given a small candle so that with reverence they can go to light their lamps and
return to their places.

In community we thank God that we recognize that he has made us unique, has filled us with
many goods, qualities, and gifts, and we ask for the grace of his Holy Spirit, so that we can
bear witness to his love to our friends and family.