Anicka is originally from the Czech Republic, and spent a year working at our retreat centre before joining the youth team. She's hoping to go on to study Psychology or Primary School Teaching.
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It is the 31st December, 23:59, everyone is impatiently waiting for the sound of the bell announcing: “Let‘s make a fresh step in this adventure called life“. New year, new opportunities, new people. 2015 is past. 2016 is a secret soon to be discovered. New year is like a new page in a book, blank paper waiting for a us to write a story. How exciting!
Everyone wants to be happy, that‘s why we‘re making new years resolutions. Eat healthy, run at least once per week, pray every day, stop looking on facebook. It‘s easy to make a decision. But how long does it last?
My decision was to pray every evening before I go to sleep. First day was great! I was so proud of myself. Next few days went well too. But then after a week things started getting harder.  Sometimes I didn‘t pray because I was so tired, another time because I forgot. Little by little I turned back to my old ways.

Why is it soooo hard???

Most of the time I relied on will power... But I forgot how easy it is to forget. St. Ignatius said: “pray as if everything depends on God, work as if everything depends on you.“ OK. I want to pray and I think I can pray. But how do I accomplish the part about doing my best?
And so I looked up on the internet to find some help.    

1. Be simple and specific
Choose your goal, be simple but concrete.
 
2. Change the environment around you
I decided to pray a decade of the rosary, but because I forget so often I put my rosary next to my bed so it‘s the first thing I see when I go to bed and reminds me to pray.
 
3. Be real
Don‘t try to run marathon if you can‘t run for 10 mins. Sometimes we want to feel so holy, so we set big goals like: read a chapter in the Bible, meditate on it for an hour, then pray a rosary Impossible, isn‘t it?! I started just with a little decade of the rosary. Simple, but enough of a challenge for me to persevere.. And it works!
 
4. Start immediately
When I lived in a boarding school, on our door hung a poster of a lazy looking camel saying: Leave your tasks for the day after tomorrow and tomorrow you are free. Not the best motivation to study. But a good excuse not to.
 
5. Accept the responsibility of your decision and tell others about it
It might feel awkward telling other people, but it really help. Maybe they are also struggling. Once my friends and I decided to meet every evening and pray for our A- levels, but many times we forgot or we were too busy. So we asked other girls to join us. Many of them were really excited about this idea! We started to pray every evening for 10 mins. It was great... AND all of us passed our exams!
 
6. It may not be comfortable, but it is worth it.
One day I was really tired, my bed was so comfortable, but I realized that I forgot to pray. There are two very good things…. Sleep or prayer? … So I made a compromise. I stayed in bed and picked up my rosary and prayed. Next time I might be able to turn my light on. Other time I might even sit or kneel. It just takes time to build up to your full goal.
 
There’s a Czech saying – Patience brings roses. We want everything now and without any work if possible. But let us be patient and wait for roses (and all the other great things that come with time and commitment)!
 
“Pray as if everything depends on God, work as if everything depends on you.“ St. Ignatius

Ondrej came over from the Czech Republic to serve at our retreat centre in Essex for one year... That was 7 years ago! Since then he's joined the Sion Youth team, is in his 5th year of doing missions, and is now our mission team leader.
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What is the most exciting thing for you about Christmas? What are you looking forward to most? Presents, family, Christmas dinner… ?
 
            We are in Advent, and Advent is a very special time for me and my family. The atmosphere is very different.  We would change loud music for something quieter and peaceful, we would not dance nor have big parties.
            The reason was not fasting, but quietening ourselves. It was always time to stop and think about the way we live our lives. Even in nature when snow comes down everything becomes so still and peaceful. It is like the whole creation is expecting the birth of its Saviour. And we can join in.
            Advent is a time of preparation. We are preparing ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus into this world. But we are also preparing our hearts to receive Jesus in a special way. And that is the most exciting thing about Christmas. Jesus wants to be born in our hearts and we should be expectant for this to happen.
           
“It is now time to wake from sleep, the salvation is nearer to us now than we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand.” Rom. 13:11-12
 
“The time is now!!!”
Let us awaken our hearts for Jesus to come in. Often most of our preparation falls into shopping, cleaning and other things that stress us. And yes, it is important to clean our house so we can invite people in and we can celebrate, but it is even more important to clean the house of our hearts so we can invite Jesus in. Let us awake from sleep, sleep of business and routine. Let us awake our faith.
            It is so easy to get lost in shopping and buying presents and forget the reason why we give gifts to each other. It is because God gave us the greatest gift of all, His only son, Jesus. And we can share in that generosity by being generous ourselves.
 
“The salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The kingdom of God is here.”
“The night is far gone, the day is at hand.”
 
Jesus came as a light into our darkness and brought us light. Jesus came and became as vulnerable as a little child to lead us from the darkness of the night into the light of the day, the light of His love. And through His passion and resurrection, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit we can become light for others and lead them into freedom which comes through Jesus.
            Jesus has become like us so we can be like Him. We are children of God.
 
So let us quiet ourselves and wait with expectancy for our Lord to be born.
Let us reflect on that light shining in the midst of darkness, light that cannot be quenched.
Let us clean our hearts of all mess and make space for Jesus to be born in them.
Let us become gifts for others and share in that way in the generosity of God.
And let us rejoice in the Lord always.

Esther is in her second year on the team, and runs our pre- and post-mission days with staff and students to help the mission spirit continue in schools long after mission week is over. She first met Sion Youth as a D Weekend participant aged 11, and went on to attend our Summer Camps before joining the team after university.

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‘Community life is both the best and the hardest thing I’ve ever done!’
 
I heard this from a couple of existing community members, in whole-hearted agreement with each other, around a week after I moved into community last year. Having sailed through 7 whirlwind days of getting to know my new brothers and sisters, hearing about the excitement I had to look forward to on mission, and settling in to my new home (all of which I absolutely loved!), I couldn’t understand what they meant.

“This is amazing!” I thought. “Maybe they found it difficult somehow, but this is going to be the best year of my life – I’m not sure how it could also be the hardest!”

What I failed to grasp back then was that the beauty and joy of community life are often found in overcoming challenges. When you live with 13 other people, each of whom have distinct ideas and opinions about how life should or would work best, and none of whom you’ve chosen yourself, you have to adapt pretty quickly. You have to face newly discovered and often uncomfortable aspects of your own character on a regular basis, you have to admit your faults and apologise – a LOT! – and you have to learn to accept people as they are, because that’s the only way you can receive the gift they can be in your life. In community life there’s no escape from difficulties which may arise: you simply have to keep going, keep praying, and keep finding ways to overcome them.

But if you’re truly open to the gift of community, you also can’t help but find yourself growing in virtue, humility, patience, gentleness, kindness, understanding, and above all love! For all our faults and failures, we all have a common goal: Jesus. Realising that enables each of us to see the bigger reality of our life together rather than getting caught up in the small details and struggles of each day.

Matt is in his third year on the Sion Youth Team, and serves as our Mission Co-ordinator - working tirelessly behind the scenes with schools to make sure all our missions run smoothly and enable each school to get the most out of mission week.

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On the 10th October we embarked on our first Mission of the new school year, with the new team for 2015/16! We went to St George Catholic College in Southampton, which was previously an all-boys comprehensive but has been having girls slowly phased in for the past three years, so for us it was an excitingly unique mix of single-sex (which is still the case for Years 10 & 11) and co-ed atmospheres.

The first mission of the year always presents challenges – specifically that of new team members getting to grips with mission – but also for me I suddenly realised that even the things that I have done so many times over the past few years I hadn't done at all for several months, so jumping straight back into it was a bit of a wake up call! However, I have found over my time with Sion Youth that two of the main things I'm passionate about are working with young people and sharing Jesus, so it didn't take long to get back into the swing of things.

As a whole we had a great reception from staff and students alike. I remember standing at the front of the assembly hall during the final Pre-Mission day and seeing teachers getting involved with the games we were playing with the students, which is always great to see! What’s more, I was blown away when on the first day of mission a young guy quoted the Letter to the Hebrews to me, telling me that 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for' which completely astounded me!

Participation in the week by the whole school was great, with many students coming to Lightfever, to light a candle in the presence of Jesus in the school chapel, and many more coming to receive prayer from the team & fellow students. The week was capped off with an amazing Mission Showcase with incredible performances from the students including a whole variety of singing, dancing, music and drama, as well as the Liturgies where the school entered into a time of prayer to finish the week involving some Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

For me it was a really great mission week, and as first missions go it was one of the best I have experienced! I believe it will set us up well as a team for the coming year. This term we have 3 more to come, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us as a team and for the young people we meet!

Want to find out if we're coming to a school near you, or support us in prayer while we're on mission? Check out the Sion Youth Diary for more info!
 

Kimi is currently in her third year of serving with Sion Community, and this year she has taken over the role of Events Coordinator for Sion Youth. She recently headed up an exciting venture for the community - our 24/7 prayer novena to intercede for the work of both Sion Community and evangelisation around the world.

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In September as a community we had a 24/7 Novena in our house, leading up to the feast day of our patron, St Michael the Archangel. This means that we had ongoing adoration for nine days, day and night, and members of our community (along with other people) were able to sign up for hour-long slots as and when we wanted, to ensure that there was always a 'watchman' present with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. That was our nine day journey into the heart of the Father God and what he wants for our community. But let’s start at the beginning.

There are two questions in my life that I constantly need to go back to.  ‘Why pray?’ and ‘How to pray?’

Why pray?

There are a lot of answers to that one. We pray because God is present and he is listening and because it is good to be in his presence. We pray because the heartbeat of relationship is conversation and all he wants is an ongoing, living and loving relationship with each of us. We pray because the world is broken and we believe that our words can change it and that we can make a difference. We pray because Jesus said “Pray and don’t give up.”

How to pray?

I don’t know. Of course there are methods and ways and saints that can help us and will help us, but at the end of the day we need to discover it for ourselves. And at different times in our lives different things work. In the letter to the Romans, Paul says that the Holy Spirit comes to our help and teaches us how to pray. That is the how! Every time we pray, we can ask once again: ‘Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray in this time?’

You might be wondering what this has to do with our 24/7 Novena. Everything! Because we set out to intercede for the work that we do and for the world. We set out to hear from God and to speak words that will change our world. And we set out to pray and to not give up.

I can only speak for myself but every time we dare to do this I encounter God in a different way, in a surprising way. And He is so good to us all the time. So good.

Morgan is currently on the Sion Youth Foundation Year, and is a much-loved new member of our team. She first met Sion Youth when they went on mission to her school back in 2013, and is looking forward to embarking on her first mission in just over a week!!
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“We’re not in Kansas anymore...”

It’s true. You don’t have to be crazy to live here, but it helps. Living in community is a far cry from the London living that I am used to, but that might be everything I love about it in a crazily cool, exciting and loveable way – and I’ve only been here a month! It is even more crazy and incredible to think that my journey with the Sion Community began only just over two years ago when my own school had a mission. It still hasn’t sunk in that from that point onwards my faith has grown and developed so much that I’ve never looked back. Never did I think that God’s plan would include becoming part of the community or that I’d be sat here preparing to go out on mission myself. One thing is for sure though: you can take the girl out of East London but you can’t take East London out of the girl! Still, after a month of being immersed into community life, my ‘terrible’ London accent continues to both confuse and amuse. Yet I find myself pushing away the idea of grabbing my ruby slippers and clicking off back home to familiarity and my creature comforts.

This past month has been filled with such genuine and authentic laughter, bonding with my brothers and sisters, and a contentment that I didn’t think I would find until I entered into community living. We’ve had a whirlwind four weeks of Bible study and teaching from a range of speakers who have opened up inspiring parts of the Catholic faith. Our first task was to tackle ‘Spirituality of Communion’ with Sister Mary Paul (originally from Texas but now living as a religious sister in Austria; kind of an expert in this field) which revealed such a rich and textured history of the faith I didn’t even know we had.

Then came Rob Clarke with his challenging discipleship series which helped me to think about the gifts God has given me and how I can apply them to my job on the Youth Team; more importantly it has showed me just how valuable each of my brothers and sisters  and the gifts they bring are. As well as this, Rob is an amazing guy - we had many a football match filled with such joy outside of our teaching time!

The last part of teaching came in the form of ‘Pass It On’ centred on equipping us to be evangelists and preparing us for evangelisation on mission in secondary schools over this next year. All of this packaged together has made me realise just how important God’s plan for me as a youth missionary is, and how privileged I am to be able to spread the joy and truth that is the Gospel message with young people all over the country.

Doesn’t look like I’ll be needing those ruby slippers after all!

When I joined in August I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as the year unfolded I found more and more things that reassured me that I had made a great decision. I appreciate so many things about this year, but here are the most important ones:

#1 JESUS

This year so far has given me a great opportunity to experience more of God’s immense and endless love for me. I found that praying together as a community and being able to spend time on my own in prayer has helped me to be grounded even more in the promises of God for me and for my life. Community prayer always helps me to keep my eyes on what is most important, that being Jesus, and it also challenges me to go further and deeper in my personal relationship with Him.

#2 YOURSELF

This past few months have definitely changed who I am and how I see myself. In this time I have discovered more and more about how God sees me. I have learned more about myself through the encouragements of my sisters and brothers and through the challenges of mission, realizing that I am capable to do more than I could possibly imagine through the One that strengthens me.

#3 OTHERS

By choosing to do the Sion Youth Foundation Year I choose to live with other people in community. This not only means that we work as a team, but also that we live and share life together. I love living in community. I marvel how God can bring us together as brothers and sisters, how He teaches us to love, trust and honor each other. I love the values that we are trying to live by, values like: honour, encouragement, generosity, joy, openness and the culture that these create in our home.

#4 ADVENTURE

If I had to choose one word to describe the past few months then I would definitely choose the word: adventure. I choose adventure because it is amazing to have the opportunity to go out on mission and talk about God’s love to young people, and then see these young people touched and transformed by Love. It is an adventure because I am constantly called to do more, to give more and to be more.

#5 FUN

The year has brought me so much joy. I learned to rejoice in the little daily things and routine and to rejoice in the big things, like lives being changed and miracles happening. There hasn’t been a dull moment. And the good news is that there is MORE!


Kimi is currently on a Sion Youth Foundation Year. For more information or to apply click here. 

Kathleen Swift shares her highlights of the Sion Youth Foundation Year...

1)      Learnin’ ma roots

The Sion Youth foundation year really does have amazing formation. There is interesting and engaging teaching on the Catholic faith and the beauty in the scripture, doctrine, and practice of the Church we are part of. I’ve kept my brain muscles working and there’s so much I’ve learnt that’s given me more passion and awe at the incredible complexity and simplicity in what we believe and why. There’s also formation on useful and practical lessons for Youth ministry, community life, and just life in general.  

I never knew how much I didn’t know, and it’s brilliant!

2)      Growin’ ma roots

I have grown more in this year than I thought possible. I’ve achieved things I never thought I would or could. I’ve pushed myself and tried and then fallen, and learned to rely on God’s strength because I simply can’t do it on my own. If I was a plant then this community is a greenhouse with a Divine Gardener. I’ve been watered with formation, given the sunlight from God, and been rooted in the soil of prayer and community. There is an inhaling of prayer and praise and an exhaling of mission and service, and I’ve learned to breathe deeply. The routine and security of daily prayer times has been such a gift for someone who just never found enough time in the day for God. I’ve learnt to root myself in more than an occasional spiritual conference, by growing my roots into books, prayer, people, scripture, and the mass – all of which are far more reliable and steady than ‘Jesus camp buzz’. I’ve also somehow found myself doing things I would have bet against myself ever doing, and most people I know would have bet against me too. The last time I was on a stage before Sion Youth, I was 11 years old and half way through the performance, I ran off the stage because I was just too scared to continue. 8 years later, I found myself facing something much scarier. On our first mission, on the first day I shared my life and my failures in six different assemblies in front of about 1500 young people and teachers. I didn’t run off the stage and I didn’t fall off or fall apart. I was so unbelievably amazed by the grace God gave me to get through that. Now I know I can do things that I wouldn’t have even tried before. It’s awesome.

3)      Meeting the Yoot (Community and Family)

I have to be careful hear not to be too gushy or the team may read this and think I like them! (I’m kidding I love them really)

I have learnt to relate better to other people and myself during this year, and I just couldn’t believe how wonderful the unity is in our diversity. Our team is made up of young people from different places, with different backgrounds, different views and most wonderfully – different gifts. I LOVE seeing the different skills and perspectives and talents we all bring to the team, and it’s SO clear to see God’s plan in putting this team together. And even more than what they all bring to mission, I just really like them as people. I have so much fun here, and I genuinely enjoy spending time with each person and laughing with them and continually learning about them. But also in the wider community and in our house, we have a great dynamic and I get wisdom and love from the whole ‘family’. I can’t express how grateful I am for the support and patience they have given me this year, I just love ‘em!

4)      Seeing the Fruit

Doing missions can be hard work, it’s early mornings and the day will include constant energy and hardly any time to rest until the end of the day. But as with most challenging tasks, the rewards are great, and with missions they’re even greater.

By Thursday or Friday, we usually have a few students giving testimony about what the mission has meant to them. At this point in the week you’ve put in so much, and there is so much power in hearing students stand up in courage in front of their peers and talking about their experiences of God. I feel deeply honoured and privileged to have even played a part in their faith journey, especially having started my personal faith journey from a school mission myself.

5)      Having a Hoot (JOY)

I’ve spoken of the fun and happiness I have in the house and with the team, but as I’ve learnt this year:  happiness isn’t the same as joy. I’ve grown in my understanding and therefore my ability to choose joy in all situations. I’ve learnt about the depth of joy, and the necessity to trust God and rely on God in order to really experience joy. All of the things I’ve mentioned have helped me develop in my ability to respond to God’s daily call to ‘rejoice for this is the day that He has made’. Even having the knowledge that I can choose joy is a thousand miles from where I was a couple of years ago, and now I try (and admittedly often fail) to choose to see the wonder in life and in God, and it’s an amazing choice to have! PTL!

Kathleen Swift is currently on the Sion Youth Foundation Year. For more information or to apply please click here. 

Five reasons to join Sion Youth according to Hanz...

It’s the ultimate ‘super fruit smoothie for the soul’


On the foundation year you feed your self with the gooood stuff. This isn’t only the gorgeous cooking talents of your fellow team mates, its the teaching, formation and prayer. Our year started with around six weeks of solid formation, with teaching from some fabulously talented, knowledgeable and gifted speakers who passed nuggets of their knowledge on to us. And this formation didn’t stop there. We are continually getting teaching throughout the year which helps us learn and grow more in our faith, forming us as members of Christ body, and preparing us to be our best when we are out on Mission.

The Prayer life here is incredible. The best way I can think of describing it is that there is a CULTURE of prayer. From the moment we arrived, the formation year has been formed on prayer; it is the start and end of every day. We get the fabulous opportunity of spending hours together each day, praying, worshiping, adoring the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and celebrating Mass. It is so incredible. It makes us as a team so much stronger. Personally, it is incredible for your prayer life; spending more time with Jesus means I have come to know Him so much more. When I started I wasn't sure about the amount of praying, but it has been such a blessing for me, enabling my prayer life, and my relationship with Jesus to simply blossom. Now I can’t imagine life without it!

Exercising those ‘muscles you never knew you had’
So just to confirm I’m not talking about physical exercise - although two of my ‘arkie siblings’ did run the half marathon so who knows! No, what I mean by this is that in the Sion Youth Foundation Year you find yourself being challenged to do things that you never imagined yourself doing - I mean here I am writing a blog, definitely not my forte! Some of these challenges are simply situations you just wouldn't have found yourself in before; things you've always wanted to do but never had the chance; and things you’ve tried to avoid! However, being challenged to do things you wouldn’t normally do is something I have felt has really helped me as a person. For one thing it teaches you A LOT about obedience, one of those beautiful evangelical counsels I know I for one struggle with heaps! It also helps you discover more about yourself - speaking of which:

 (Starting to) Set the world on fire
Yes, I am referring to that awesome quote from St. Catherine of Siena: ‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire’. Now I’m not saying that in one year of foundation with Sion you’re sorted, you find the inner you, and become the full person God has created you to be - of course not! However, you make sooooo much progress. I have found that, in this one year (or at least the 7 months I’ve had so far), I have grown so much more in to the person God created me to be. I have discovered things about myself that, before joining, I had no idea about. Through the challenges, the times of prayer, the community life (etc.......) I have learnt so much more about my God given gifts and talents, and this knowledge is helping me grow in those areas. It is mega exciting looking back at how much I have learnt, and thinking that there is still a good 4 months of growing left - bring it on!!

We’re all in this together
One of the best things about this year is that you are not in it alone. Of course, Jesus is with ya all the way, and, on top of that, you have the most incredible people learning and leading you. I started this year surrounded by a group of people I knew nothing about - or as much about as Facebook stalking would permit(!) It took a matter of hours for these strangers to become siblings; siblings with whom I can laugh, cry, learn and most importantly, be completely myself with. It is incredible how well we all get along, and I know that this year is made by the incredible relationships that you form and grow in whilst in it. With your siblings you have the great joy of sharing similar interests and discovering new ones. From these people I have learnt so many knew things, from each of their deep wells of knowledge and their witness; from being introduced to the legend that is Dolly Parton to learning more about how gals (and guys) of my age live and breathe their faith. It is hilarious and I love them all to bits! BFFL!

Joy spreading!
So obviously one of the major things we do on the foundation year as the Sion Youth Team is Mission; spreading the joy that I have found in Jesus with the youth of the UK. It is the most incredibly challenging, intense and rewarding experience. Before I started the year, one of the things pushing me to do it was the fact that I wanted to share the joy I had experienced from Jesus with people - and that is exactly what we do! On Thursday’s and Friday’s on mission there is the opportunity for students to share their testimony, how they have experienced God in the week, with the rest of the school. It is the most powerful thing, students witnessing such truth and such joy to fellow students; every time it reminds me of Gods power working through us, and just how completely incredible He is!


Hannah Wood is currently on a Sion Youth Foundation Year. For more information or to apply please click here. 

Joining Sion Community was one of the most spontaneous things I’ve ever done (let’s face it, pretty much the only spontaneous thing!). Aside from trusting that it was where God wanted me, applying for the foundation year (very!) late on in my final year of uni was a risk for me, as it went against my usual approach of planning every detail of my life months in advance. But that risk hasn't let me down, and has proved to be the best decision I’ve ever made! I could list an infinite number of reasons to apply, but here are just a few of the things I’ve appreciated the most about the year…

1.       Meet ‘you’.
I’m pretty sure I’ve learned more about myself in the last 6 months than I had in the previous 21 years! I’ve discovered gifts and passions that I didn’t know I had. I’ve also discovered struggles I didn’t know I faced, but I’ve realised there’s no better place to deal with them than in community, surrounded by people that love me.

2.      Surprise yourself.
Living this crazy life for Jesus is thrilling, but unpredictable. Every mission is different from the last, which often means pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones, but there’s never a moment that we don’t have the rest of the team as a safety net. The great thing about that is being able to look back at the end of the week with the satisfaction of realising you’ve actually done things you thought were physically impossible. The year is intense, without a doubt, but the key is to embrace the challenge, let go of fear and see where Jesus takes you.

3.      Be part of the family.
One of my favourite things about living in community is that we see each other as brothers and sisters. Having grown up with one sister and no brothers I absolutely love being part of a bigger family in Sion – and as we’ve got to know each other better it’s felt more and more like that’s exactly what we are! I love that there is such a noticeable effort to make sure everyone is valued and included, and that time is set aside specifically to share our thoughts, our hearts and our lives with each other in an atmosphere that makes us feel completely comfortable to do so (especially within our smaller ‘sisterhood’ or ‘brotherhood’).

4.      Feed your mind.
Did you know that Dolly Parton’s birthday is the 19th January? Nope, me neither! Living with such a diverse group of people means we pick up new random, fun facts every single day. WIN! But joking aside, the formation and teaching that the foundation year offers is absolutely fascinating! There are a huge variety of speakers, topics and teaching styles which will give you a far better understanding of your faith, as well as enabling you to grow in spiritual, intellectual and emotional maturity.

5.       God!!
On mission God moves, and when God moves nothing stays the same: not the school, not the students, not us! The transformation we see in the lives of the students and teachers we meet is incredible, but what’s even more incredible is the transformation I see God work in my own life every single day. The youth foundation year is an opportunity to encounter God even more deeply, and to grow infinitely in your relationship with Him. 


Esther Rich is currently on a Sion Youth Foundation Year. For more information or to apply please click here.