Carols, Cooking, and Charity

The Amigos de Jesus youth group met for its regular session on Friday, December 10 in the Hope Room at Annunciation Catholic Church. They were pleased to welcome five new members into their ranks on Friday. The Lord keeps adding more and more to our numbers! The large gathering began by rehearshing "Silent Night," one of the Christmas hymns they will sing as they go caroling next week. Although they began a bit rusty, by the time they were done rehearsing everyone was impressed with how good they sounded.

Following the rehearsal, the youth headed over to the Loretto House for an annual tradition - baking Christmas cookies. From approximately 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm, the youth kneaded, pressed, greased, baked, iced, and sprinkled over two hundred colorful cookies. It was a lot of hard work, but everyone had a great time hanging out with friends and listening to Christmas music playing in the background. By the end of the evening, some of the youth were covered in so much flour that they resembled the Pilsbury Dough Boy.

Saturday was also jam-packed with activity for the youth group members. Many of the youth showed up at 11:30 am to help Br. Anthony, Br. Joseph, and Alejandra with two important activities. First, the youth prepared nearly 175 sack lunches for the homeless in downtown Denver. Br. Anthony and many of the youth group members spent hours making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, baking brownies, and preparing the meals that would be handed out later that afternoon.

At the same time, Alejandra and others members of the youth group decorated the pick-up truck which would carry a live re-enactment of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Juan Diego, and other cast members in the parish procession the following day.

Fr. Francisco joined the youth at 3:00 pm to bless the many sack lunches they had put together before the youth departed to make their deliveries. Br. Joseph and Br. Anthony accompanied the youth to "the triangle" across the street from Samaritan House, a place where many of the city's homeless take up residence. The large group delivered the sandwiches to the homeless people they met in the streets and left the remainders for Samaritan House to hand-out to the overflow residents that evening.

On Sunday, December 12, following the 11:30 am Mass, members of the youth group were on hand to help in the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The procession through the streets was beautiful and there was great food in the school cafeteria afterward.

Thanks so much to all of the youth who gave so selflessly of their time, talents, and energy to make this weekend such a success. I am continually edified and overwhelmed by the generosity and dedication of our youth.

God's peace,
Br. Joseph