The teens walk into a jungle but there are obstacles everywhere! Rocks, walls, and yes even tempation and the devil! The teens suddenly see jungle explorers who are in search of the Tree of Life but they encounter danger and obstacles along the way. They soon discover that it is through prayer that obstacles are overcome! This is how the explorers discover the Tree of Life: The Cross! Praise and thanksgiving follow in the chapel!

Los jovenes entran a una jungla pero el problema es que hay obstaculos por toda parte: Rocas, muros y si, tambien tentacion y el demonio! Los jovenes pronto ven varios exploradores en la jungla que estan en busca del Arbol de la Vida pero estos se enfrentan con peligro y obstaculos en el camino. Los exploradores descubren que es atravez de la oracion que los obstaculos se vecen! Es por esta via que los exploradores logran descubrir el Arbol de la Vida-La Cruz! Accion de gracia y alabanzas se manifiesta en la capilla!

The Lifenight Choir plays an important part in worship and praise. Through their enthusiasm, praise, and singing, they lead the other teens to praise God. The Music Ministry rehearses every other Saturday for two hours under Donis and Fr. Wilfredo's leadership. If you wish to join, contact us at diosesamorlifeteen@hotmail.com.

El Coro de los Lifenights juega un papel importante en las alabanzas. Por medio del entusiasmo del coro, la alabanzas, y el cantar, el Coro dirige a los demas jovenes a alabar a Dios. El Coro ensaya cada otro sabado por dos horas baja la direcion de Donis Rivera y el Padre Wilfredo. Si deseas formar parte del coro, escribanos al diosesamorlifeteen@hotmail.com.

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While Lifeteen is fun and exciting, we try to ensure that our teens value prayer and praise. For this reason, once a month we have a Prayer and Praise Lifenight where teens are taught to pray. In the send portion of the evening, we go down to the chapel and have praise and worship in front of the Blessed Sacrament! These nights are very powerful!

Mientras que Lifeteen es divertido, nosotros tratamos de asegurar que los jovenes valoren la oracion y la alabanza en su vidas. Por este motivo, una vez al mes tenemos una noche de Oracion y Alabanza adonde los jovenes aprenden a orar. In la porcion del Envio del Lifenight, bajamos a la capilla para tener un noche de alabanza en presencia del Santisimo. Estas noches son poderosas!

When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, we dialogue with him in the same manner you would with your friend. You can speak to Jesus, place him all your cares and concerns, your worries, your joys, your thoughts, and so on. As we get older however, temptations and evil things take root in our hearts. We must let Jesus in ALWAYS. Never the Evil One!! At times, we do block out Jesus in our lives and the result is sadness, emptiness, and a restless heart. In this Lifenight, we teach that Jesus is our true friend who never lets us down. We need to establish a deep relationship with Him so that he can grace us in our struggles. Our earthly friends can let us down and even betray us. Jesus never will!

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The teens enter the room and see a road that leads to one of two directions. One direction shows a kneeler with the symbol of the marriage rings interlinked. Ah! It means marriage! The other direction shows a pillar with a priestly stole, a chalice and a host. Hmm…priesthood! We all must choose our life vocation as we journey in our faith world. Whether it be marriage or priesthood, God is present in both sacraments. They are called Sacraments of service because unlike the other sacraments that focus on the self, these two sacraments focus on serving others. This Lifenight featured a spirited discussion about the life as a Priest and Life as a married father. We invited Sr. Marta Maria and Sr. Laura from the community of the Siervas de los Corazones Traspasados de Jesus y Maria to give a presentation on Religious Life. Afterwards we prayed for all the young men and women who are pursuing a call to some kind of commitment with the Church. If God is knocking on the door of your heart to serve him, be sure to talk to a priest!

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One guy and one girl have received from God the gift of a rose (symbol of purity). God instructed the guy and girl to conserve it until marriage. Meanwhile, the girl meets guys and goes out with a few of them. The guy goes out too and meets girls along the way. Then they both meet that special some. The girl's boyfriend desires her rose, the girl at first refuses but after thinking it over and feeling tempted, she gives her boyfriend the rose (meaning they had sex). Meanwhile, the guy and his girlfriend date and one day the girl asks the guy for his rose. He, feeling tempted but remembering that the rose is only to be given in marriage, refuses the girl. She gets upset and leaves him for good!  The guy only gave his rose to his special girlfriend within the context of marriage!

This is the Lifenight on How Far is too Far? The teens learned that boundaries needs to be set when dating. If boundaries are not set, moral dangers follows. The teens learn to ensure that one should never be by themselves when one is attracted to someone. Never invite the opposite sex to one's house where a responsible adults is not present, and to forge friendships with the same sex to avoid sexual intimacy.

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The objective of this Lifenight was to make the teens understand the timeless nature of the Eucharist. God is outside of our understanding of space and time. Although the Last Supper occurred 2000 years ago, in God’s mind (and ultimately ours), the Last Supper occurs each time we celebrate Mass.

The night began with a skit of a professor who invented a time machine. Two teens were transported in time and ended up witnessing the Last Supper. They come back to report to the professor and to the audience what the Last Supper was like. They even brought back a video given to them by Jesus!

After the small group share, we all went to the chapel for an enactment of the Last Supper. All the teens lined up with palms as the Holy was sung. Then the Last Supper was re-enacted musically with Fr. Wilfredo singing the Eucharistic Prayers. The awesome nite ended with praise and worship before the Blessed Sacrament!

In this memorable Lifenight, the teens were taught to identify themselves not with worldly figures like movie stars and famous singers but with Jesus Christ. The nite began with a video spoof on group of  guys who want to become a famous boy band like Backstreet Boys. It turns out that their personalities are not in line with what they would like to become. The teens were treated a Backstreet Boys rendition from the male Core members and the teens were pleasantly surprised to find out who the lead singer…none other than Fr. Wilfredo! What an act! They performed to the Backstreet Boys, “Larger than Life.” After it was over, the teens screamed for more! We gave it to them at the Anniversary Celebration when we performed it again. See the Anniversary tab on this website. We must avoid imitating stars that can only lead us to sin and instead model ourselves after our Lord and Savior Jesus!

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We all know how hard our Core Team works to pull off a LIFEnight! Hours of meetings, planning, delegating, rehearsing, putting up with Father…it is quite a demanding job. But the Core does it all for Love of Christ, the Church and the teens. That’s why we pulled out this surprise LIFEnight for the Core! Father tricked them into believing that the LIFEnight was titled, “Nite with Father” and that it would be night of discussion on the meaning of Spiritual Direction. NOT! That was all a cover up to trick them. Once they arrived into the Youth Hall, they were blindfolded and led out to another room where they ate pizza. Meanwhile, everyone sprung into action and decorated the Youth Hall. Thirty minutes later they were brought back blindfolded and SURPRISE!! The fun began!  The Core was treated to a skit on a typical Lifenight planning session. Eight different teens represented each Core member’s personality. It was hilarious! After the skit, the Core Teens gave a bio on the Core member they represented while their picture was projected on the wall. It was very moving for some members of the Core. After the bio, several teens went up to honor the Core with words of love and appreciation. This was followed by a candle led procession into the chapel where all the teens prayed for the Core as they stood near the altar with their candles. We headed back up to the Youth Hall where we awarded prizes to teens who could correctly guess baby pics of the Core! The rest of the night was a social with cake and sweets. Thank you Victor Reyes, Wilfredo Reyes, Franklin Reyes, Isaura Valverde, Danilo Garica, Donis Rivera, Maylin Ruiz, and Hugo Muralles  for all you do for the teens!!

Special thanks to all the teens that helped us set up and prepare for the Lifenight especially to Maria Jose Espinoza who got us the bio of the Core secretly and the cast of  "Core Teens", Esbin Cali as Hugo, Esteban Diaz as Victor, Rony Alvarado as Danilo, Miriam Valverde as Isaura, Oscar Corea as Wilfredo, Daniela Escobar as Maylin, Armando Hernandez as Franklin, Alex Berroteran as Yamil, and Oscar Alvarez as Donis Rivera.

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The teens entered the Youth Hall, they had the feeling that they were in a stadium as banners were everywhere. Some banners said, “Go Jesus Go!” others said, “Jesus #1!”

The goal for this night was to help the teens understand that the Liturgy (the public worship of the Mass) celebrates Jesus’ victory over sin and death and that thanks to Christ's death and resurrection, we participate in the new life that he now offers us. The night began with our “Lifeteen Newsteam” reporting the events of the past Sunday’s Lifeteen Mass. As a video presentation was shown on the screen, our reporters Hugo and Miriam were detailing each moment of the Mass while the teens listened and observed the screen. Then the newsteam transitioned to newsreporter Victor who commented on the spiritual and theological significance of the Mass. It is a celebration of Jesus’ victory of Satan (sin and death). We are all called to relive and memorialize this victory through Christ’s Last Supper with his Apostles. All members of the Church are called to full, active, and conscious participation in this victory. We cannot just sit idle at Mass and watch and observe. Christ makes himself present in each and every Mass celebration done by a Priest. It is also a time for adoration!  

The teens then divided up into three workshops.  Each group had a presenter who discussed the following topics related to the Liturgy: the Liturgy of the Word, The role of Music in Liturgy, and the Signs and Symbols found in the Liturgy.

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The teens enter the Youth Hall as they enter the dark staircase that leads to the second floor, there is smoke and strobe lights. Suddenly, a long haired junkie offers a bag of cocaine, “Hey you wanna try some? This is good stuff man!”, the teens in shock move on to the next level of the staircase and amidst garbage, another guy who is obviously drunk offers beer and lots of it to the teens, “Oye! Toma conmigo! Te vas a sentir bien!!”. The wild-eyed teens move to the final level of the staircase and there they found another guy offering marijuana for cheap. “You wanna buy some marijuana? It is cheap!...Whaddya mean you never tried it?? All the better to try it now! I’m selling it cheap!” This Lifenight focused on the ill effects on drug and alcohol abuse on the health, mind, and spiritual life of the teens.

The night began with a video where teens who tried drugs testified to the reasons why they did it and the consequences. This was followed by a survey on the teens to determine how frequent drug and alcohol was used among the teens. Victor, the Youth Minister, led an interesting and spirited rap session/discussion on the problem of alcohol and drug use. Then a skit followed which showed what happens spiritually when a teen uses drugs and alcohol-spiritual death to the soul! Teens were asked to hold themselves accountable to Core Members they trusted so they could guage themselves and be freed from the ill effects.

 “No saben que sus cuerpos son parte de Cristo?...No saben que su cuerpo es templo del Espiritu Santo, que Dios mismo puso en ustedes? Ustedes ya no se pertenecen a si mismos; sabiendo que fueron comprados a un gran precio, procuren que sus cuerpos sirvan para glorida de Dios.”

 1 Cor. 15, 19-20.

Our bodies belong to the Church and the Holy Spirit. It follows then that our bodies belong to God and it must be taken care. Drug and alcohol abuse are grave sins that affect our body and soul. We need to take care of ourselves. If you think you have a drug or alcohol problem. Talk to us. Let us know. We’ll get you some help.  Diosesamorlifeteen@hotmail.com.

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