(Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)
MONROE — “We are missionaries who work with passion, knowing we can bring God’s love to our brothers and sisters who hunger. Love, in order to survive, must be nourished by its sacrifices, especially the sacrifice of self.”
The proceeding words are part of the Love Begins Here (LBH) “manifesto,” new for the 2014 summer sessions based on the words of St. John Paul II, Pope Francis, and Blessed Mother Teresa.
Every day, before the middle schoolers or high schoolers, known as “missionaries,” went out to begin their work with their car groups — a group of kids and teens assigned together for the week under the leadership of an adult leader — they and the car leaders recited the manifesto.
“It’s beautiful, it’s short, it’s succinct, and it really gets to the point of what this mission is,” said Lindsay Becher, LBH mission director and coordinator of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Madison.
“One of the things we hope it does is articulate the mission when they go home or just even to the people that they are serving, that they’re able to explain what they’re all about.”
Love Begins Here works to provide the youth in the diocese with an opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ in a life changing way through weeklong, local mission trips where they live in Catholic community and continue his work on earth.
This summer was the sixth season of LBH, and the combined efforts of the missionaries helped to reach a few milestones.
Since the program began in 2009, LBH missionaries have given more than 10,000 hours of service to communities in the diocese. This year also saw the largest group ever as 119 middle schoolers took part in the Lancaster week in mid-July. Almost 400 kids served as missionaries this summer, along with more than 50 adults who served on the core team and as chaperones.
The sacrifice of work
LBH headed to Monroe for its last week of the summer. For more than 80 high school teens and their leaders, St. Clare of Assisi Parish was their home.
Most of the volunteer work was done in the Monroe area, but on Wednesday of that week, the group headed to Darlington for the first time at the insistence of some missionaries from there.
The week’s work ranged from helping elderly or non-able bodied people with housework, sorting and pricing items at St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores, volunteering at the humane societies, visiting the elderly in group homes, and even picking tobacco at a local Amish farm.
Toward the end of the Monroe week, one group went to the home of Edith, a 90-year-old woman who needed help with work around the house.
They spent a couple hours washing her outside windows.
“It’s really amazing; it’s so rewarding. I can’t even say how happy it makes me personally to see this work being done in such a short amount of time with all these people helping,” said Gwen Miller, a senior at Edgewood High School in Madison.
“[My faith has] grown a lot through the work just being out here and experiencing what it’s like to volunteer,” said Jacob Bausch, a senior at Stoughton High School.
“Every day here is just the best day because you get to serve the lord and you get to love these kids, these people,” said car leader Nicky Kaehler. “You get to do little things with great love which is what we’re all about.”
Growing in faith
Before heading out for their day’s work, the missionaries and their leaders all attended daily Mass.
The Monroe group also got a chance to pray the Rosary at the end of their Darlington day at Holy Rosary Church. With the doors open and the sound of praying carrying outside heard by passers-by, two women walking past the church came inside to pray with the group as they were concluding the Rosary.
When the missionaries returned to St. Clare for the evening, they continued a nightly custom of sharing the best moments of the day, including happy events, funny events, and where they saw God during the day.
For the LBH teens, God was present in the leader who asked a teen “what’s on your mind?’ when he looked visibly stressed over a personal issue; God was present in the elderly residents teens visited at a nursing home as they played games with them and sang songs; and God was even present in the owner of a local “toy train attraction” who let them all come in and see the exhibits for free.
An anticipated highlight of the nightly sharing time is hearing one of the leaders give his or her own faith story.
One of the leaders, not deterred by microphone issues, and letting the Holy Spirit amplify her words, told her story of “love.”
She told the teens how during her high school years, she felt she made some choices in behaviors and actions that rejected God’s love.
She went on to talk about her renewal of faith and rediscovery of God’s love when she got to college and began to realize how “shallow” her life was.
A combination of daily Mass, a desire to learn more about the faith, an emotional confession, and talking with a woman in church she feels God placed in her life helped her finally understand what true love — God’s love — is.
Through tears of joy during her recollections, she repeatedly reminded the teens, “He died for me!”
“I was so unworthy and he died for me so that I could be free of that guilt, and he didn’t expect anything in return,” she added. “He continues to die for me every single day so that I can live life abundantly. That love is the same type of love that we have the ability to share with others when we open ourselves up to his love.”
Other activities
Each day, one group stayed behind at the parish site to prepare meals for everyone or help out with other LBH-related work including writing thank you cards to “shareholders” — people who financially support Love Begins Here.
When the work was done for the day, there was plenty of time for fun. During the week, everyone had a chance to take part in capture the flag with water balloons, swimming, and zumba dancing.
Whether in their car group or as one large group, all of the activities are a chance to bond and grow in faith.
“You get to know your group so well because you spend your whole day with them, it’s so instant that you get to know them so well, and you just want to get up and go places with them,” said John Rottier, a senior a La Follette High School in Madison. Rottier has been an LBH missionary for every year since the program’s inception.
Looking ahead
Becher said the goal of LBH is to “do small things with great love” in every county in the diocese. She added Rock County is in the horizon for the first time next summer.
Becher said she is also proud of the missionaries who return to LBH year after year and will more than likely be back again next year. The Monroe group averaged about two and a half years of experience per teen.
“It just creates an energy, and they’re so much fun,” she said.
“It’s incredible. Love Begins Here is incredible. It’s so awesome to be part of this mission,” added Kaehler.
For more information on Love Begins Here, visit www.madisoncatholicyouth.com/lbh/