For the past two summers, I’ve had the opportunity to serve multiple parishes throughout the Diocese of Madison as a missionary for Totus Tuus, a youth catechetical program that seeks to guide children to Christ through Our Blessed Mother.
The program includes daily prayers and the sacraments, teachings about the Rosary, and witness testimonies with fun activities such as songs and skits scattered throughout the day.
More than being just another summer job, like the ones I worked before graduating from high school, my work as a missionary has been an opportunity to serve Christ and His Church, and through Totus Tuus, God has allowed me to answer His call to serve, to evangelize, and to bring Christ to the world.
My mother [Therese Milbrath] also works for the Diocese of Madison as the assistant superintendent for Catholic schools; so during my senior year of high school, she offered to connect me to the coordinator of Totu Tuus and have me serve on the team after graduating.
This meant giving up my whole summer — literally leaving two days after I graduated — to serve and teach at different parishes.
I currently attend the University of Dallas, where I am studying math and theology, so I partially figured that working for the Church would help me to prepare for a career in theology.
Though I was hesitant at first, I ultimately chose to serve as a Totus Tuus missionary, which has borne fruit for myself and for those whom God has allowed me and my teams to serve.
On Totus Tuus, we are trained to teach children about the Mysteries of the Rosary and different aspects of the Catholic faith, such as the Apostles Creed or salvation history.
Additionally, we help the kids practice their own faith by going to daily Mass and praying the Rosary with them throughout the week.
One of the greatest ways in which we serve on Totus Tuus is as models.
As missionaries, we get to model Christ as we evangelize and bring families into deeper relationships with Jesus and Mary.
With the teens, we model how Christ has worked in our own lives as we share personal testimony.
In particular, we get to model the joy which Christ radiates in our own lives.
Part of the program involves fun activities, including songs, games, and skits. It is true that watching an adult tie a banana around his head because he misheard “bandana” entertains the kids and keeps them wanting to return each day.
Being able to get messy and have fun with the kids also reveals the deep, liberating joy that Christ inspires in us.
Being able to experience that joy and share it with the youth has been one of my favorite parts about serving on Totus Tuus.
This is not to say that missionary work has not been challenging at times. I began my first summer with almost no teaching experience.
While I have grown over the past two summers, formally teaching children was one of the more difficult aspects of Totus Tuus starting out.
Furthermore, spending the whole summer on a team of four or five people teaches everyone how to navigate personal conflicts.
In bearing these little crosses, Christ has brought greater fruit in my own life and my work, and He has allowed me to grow through the challenges of Totus Tuus.
Furthermore, God has allowed me to witness and appreciate the beauty of His Church and its members through the people and families we have ministered to.
The same families whom we serve have also supported our ministry as they have provided homes, meals, and volunteers each week.
As we have gotten to know and serve alongside these families, God has worked to unify the members of His Church with each other and with Himself.
As I’ve often taught my classes, St. Athanasius wrote that “God became man so that man might become God.”
Christ calls each of us to follow His example, which means proclaiming the good news and leading others to God.
Christ asks us to do more than simply go to Mass every week and pray daily. He wants us to give ourselves completely in service of Himself and His Church, and for my team, Totus Tuus has allowed us to answer His call.
This summer, I was blessed to serve alongside Cade Sullivan, Clara Weiss, and Chloe Timm.
Each of us has come from and is returning to vastly different lives, but God united us in answering the call to minister to His flock, the Church.
As I’ve served with people who are on fire with Christ’s love, God has inspired my own heart to bring His love to the world, which is what God wants from each of us through our own lives.