‘Gotcha!’
By Steven Polley
Director, Offices of Youth Ministry and Adult Education
The words to the song are short but
powerful: “With open arms I come to you, you give me strength to see it
through. When I’m down, you pick me up,
you place my feet on solid rock. Because
you care, you gave your life, so I could live and never die. To you I give my heart and soul, to you I
give, I give it all. I give it all.”
I begin with these
lyrics, “Give It All,” by Danny Langdon, based on the Diocesan Youth Council
Leadership weekend that took place at
One of the things that seemed to keep
coming up during this time together with the youth council was their response
to God’s call to ministry, how they had each said “yes,” and how through this
“yes” they were being called to be strong witnesses and role models in their
parishes and communities. They were each
being asked to be ministers to the youth of their parish, and they were
representing the Church of southwest
So, here I was leading the morning prayer for Sunday.
I was using this song as part of the reflection, along with a reflection
on our diocesan youth council prayer.
Much of this prayer was adapted from a section of a book, “Faith
Moments” by Cindy Molini and Diane Garlock, of Sheed and Ward
Publishing in
“Loving God, you know the secrets of our
heart, come now and fill us with the spirit of sincerity as we pledge ourselves
to you. As young Catholic Christians, we
have given you all, but it’s hard, Lord.
“It’s hard to love everyone and claim no
one. It’s hard to shake a hand, to
embrace someone, and not want to retain it.
It’s hard to inspire affection, only to give it to you. It’s hard to be nothing to oneself in order
to be everything to others. It’s hard
always to give without trying to receive.
It’s hard to seek out others and to be, oneself unsought. It’s hard to be told secrets, and be unable
to share them. It’s hard to sustain the
feeble, and never be able to lean on one who is strong. It’s hard to be alone, alone before everyone,
alone before the world.
“My children, you are not alone, I am with
you; I am you. For I needed another
human instrument to continue my incarnation and my Redemption. Out of all eternity, I chose you, I need
you. I need your hands to continue to
bless, I need your lips to continue to speak, I need your body to continue to
suffer, I need your heart to continue to love, I need
you to continue to save. Stay with me.”
At some point during the playing of the
song and this reflection, I began to smile.
I was drawn to the part of the prayer that says, “As young Catholic
Christians, we have given you all, but it’s hard, Lord.” With this, I could only envision God smiling
too, and saying to each of the youth council representatives, “Gotcha”. When the prayer was over, I shared this with
the youth council. I said to each of
them again that God has called them and they have responded. God is smiling about who you are and what you
are doing to help build the Kingdom here on earth.
So, as we begin another school year and
year of ministry, I
invite you to help each of these young men and women. For each of them, there will be times that
their ministry will be easy, but also, there will be times when they will be
saying, “It’s hard, Lord.” So I
encourage you as always, to walk this journey with them. Help them continue to respond “yes” to God’s
calling, and maybe through it all, in the times of quiet that you will find
during this year, you too will hear God whisper in your ear, “Gotcha”.