JusticeworX: High School Students Meet Jesus!

No, really! Through their service of the poor and abandoned in Trenton, NJ, USA, and lead by their LeaderworX (young adult) formators, 45 high school “rising” juniors and seniors are meeting Christ and getting to know Vincent, Louise, Frederic, Catherine Laboure, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Catherine Spalding, Tom Judge, and host of other champions of the powerless, in a week-long experience based in the Vincentian Youth Ministry Center at St. Joseph’s in Princeton.The Spirit-led “WORX” process — Work, Organization, Relationship, and eXamination — is a new user-friendly packaging of the spiritual way of our founders, the way that led Vincent from a life of preoccupation with self to a life of practical and effective holiness. Every day, the teens are out the door after prayer and breakfast to their service sites: soup kitchens and thrift stores, housing organizations, immigrant welcome centers, homes for the elderly, and women’s empowerment projects. They return to us mid-afternoon at St. Joseph’s in Princeton for some recreation and rest. Then, after supper, an interactive formation session on an aspect of Catholic Social Teaching — tonight was on the transformative power of seeking the common good and building community and living in solidarity. Twenty-two year old Annie shared her life’s journey in building community and relationships accross perceived social, cultural and economic divides. The teens sat in rapt silence as she shared her story of “holding God in her arms” in the person of a poor Bolivian child. What she found was the power of Christ shaping and reshaping her life as she seeks to uncover her vocation in relationship to those who are poor and marginalized. Right now (Monday night, 8:30PM, New Jersey time) the teens are busy analyzing and sharing, witnessing and praying in small groups: “Was the work centered on the needs of the poor?” “Was it well organized and effective?” “Were mutual relationships built and fostered?” “What happened in my heart? my spirit? Was I humble? Was I simple?” The evening’s not even half over! Awesome!