Important video to start this conversation:
YOU’VE BEEN ASKED.
And by two of the cutest cats around, I might add.
And one had a ukelele.
I care about you guys, is what I’m saying.
Anyway, the question that remains is:
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR’S EVE?
Things I printed today:
Registration form.
On dinosaur paper (I LOVE DINOSAURS. Fun fact.)
With the St. Maximilian Kolbe mug in the background. (Crazy-intense man right there, praying for me.)
What’s this for? Oh, you know, the retreat I go on which I tend to talk about and about and about all year since I learn great things, meet wonderful people, and unwind with Jesus.
Marytown. The retreat is over New Year’s, but I’m signing up this weekend thanks to the peer pressure of my dear friends (including Father Pio Maria).
And then I decorated the envelope, too.
I recently discovered a new love for this form of decoration, where I essentially write things out in giant letters and then decorate between the letters.
So. I just wanted to open this up to you guys, too, in case you’re free and looking to kick-start your 2014 with wonder and awe and intensity.
Here are some highlights:
- Holy, well-educated speakers who encourage, inform and tell it like it is.
- Awesome, awesome young adults from across Canada and the U.S. Some of these I seriously count as my dearest friends…even if I haven’t seen them in years (coughFatherRyancough). They’re all awesome. Christine and I always say when we’re leaving, “Man, I would love to hang out with any of them for long amounts of time.” Saints are friends with saints, guys, you should meet these people.
- There’s a dance on New Year’s Eve. Party.
- Beautiful facility. And the memorial for St. Maximilian Kolbe is simple but powerful.
But, my favorite parts:
- Perpetual adoration. Jesus 24/7. You can pray in the beautiful, beautiful chapel ANY TIME of the day or night.
- The New Year’s Eve/ New Year’s candle’d-belled’tapestry’ed mass where, at one point, the priests and altar servers process down the long aisle with the monstrance, open wide the doors (and we, in our New Year’s dresses, shiver) and bless the entire world as the New Year arrives. And then I receive the Eucharist at midnight. Tell me you have a better way to ring in the new year.
- In popular culture, Christmas starts the DAY AFTER Halloween, ends December 24th and is only important because: presents/ money/ nostalgia. At Marytown, Christmas starts on December 25th and stretches the prescribed twelve days (that song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” actually starts on the 25th, friends). I love that. I love the decorated chapel, full of poinsettias and the creches at every turn. I love praying the Liturgy of the Hours every morning with the young-and-old Franciscan brothers, singing the ancient Christmas songs. Sweet, sweet bambino Gesu.
- I love realigning my priorities for the new year. I love stopping, reflecting and being able to say, “No, this is the most important thing to me: Jesus.” It’s a great joy and blessing in my life.
- At this point, Marytown has become a home of sorts. And everyone else is family.
SO!
Lest you think I’m here to keep all of this goodness to my self, false! Here’s a link to the registration. You can go snail mail like this girl, but there’s an option for online registration, too.
If you’re a young adult looking for something extraordinary to do for New Year’s…I throw this into your personal pile of possibilities.
🙂
To close, one of the St. Maximilian Kolbe quotes I wrote on that envelope:
What we can do and should do is seek truth and serve it when we have found it.
Consider yourself invited because I would feel guilty if I kept this information all to myself. 🙂
(Also, I know some of you readers have attended in the past. Feel free to comment your favorite parts as well).