Hi!
Recently I turned 16! It was on Sunday, December 8th. On Saturday my mom and I went to Holy Hill for one of their First Saturdays Days of Recollection. Earlier in the year we saw that they had these and that there was one on the day before my birthday. It said the topic was “Our Lady of Silence,” taught by a priest I had seen a few videos from on Ascension Presents, one of my favorite YouTube channels! The topic intrigued me and I was interested in hearing this priest who I’d seen online before! I LOVE Holy Hill, it’s an amazing place! I decided I wanted to do this for my birthday weekend! I’ll be sharing some more about this day below.
My actual birthday was really nice. I made some beautiful connections with St. Therese the day before, so early on my birthday Mom went out and bought some roses for my spot at the table! That was a nice surprise! I felt like St. Therese was a huge part of my birthday this year, both on and surrounding it. That morning we went to Mass at 7:30.
For breakfast we had a new family favorite recipe from Andrew Peterson (a Christian singer-songwriter), sausage bread, with scrambled eggs filled with ham and veggies and then blueberries on the side. I opened presents, hung out, went on a little walk with some of my family, and then we went to Olive Garden for lunch… one of my favorite restaurants! I got my favorite, chicken Alfredo, salad and, of course, breadsticks. The waiter found out it was my birthday and because of that, I was able to pick out a dessert for free! I got the chocolate lasagna… I had never had it before and it was so delicious!!! I’m such a huge chocolate fan, that was a nice surprise and treat!
After that we hung out more at home, I was working a bit on my Christmas card project. Then we went out to Starbucks and I got an Oreo drink without coffee which was super yummy. My mom, Ben, Ro and I watched some of our new favorite show called “When Calls the Heart,” they were the Christmas episodes which was really fun! For dinner I chose chicken and dumplings, my dad has an amazing recipe for that, it’s so good! We did our classic interview that we’ve been doing on our birthdays for years and we ate a store-bought cookie cake with brownie moose tracks ice cream for dessert! I’ve had a cookie cake for my birthday dessert for many years! That night we watched some old videos of me and the new St. Joan of Arc episode of the “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints” series.
My parents got me some cool gifts that I’ve been excited about! A big set of Catholic stickers, the “Cooking with the Saints” cookbook, the “3,000 Questions About Me” book, a cool t-shirt with the hearts of the Holy Family and the Ascension Press planner! I’ve enjoyed looking at and doing stuff with the gifts so far! Ben and Ro also made me some things, Ro made me St. Francis out of a popsicle stick, she’s been making lots of these cute saints! Ben made me two bookmarks, a Sacred Heart of Jesus one and an Immaculate Heart of Mary one, they are really cool!
I’d like to share about our day at Holy Hill. I absolutely loved it, it was so amazing! There were so many blessings and graces from God!
Firstly, the priest who was giving the talks was amazing. His name is Fr. Micheal Joseph-Paris, and he is a member of the Carmelite Friars that lives there at Holy Hill. He is just so passionate and joyful and it was easy to follow along. I learned and got so much from the talks. He was talking about Our Lady of Silence, and talked about developing this interior silence. He also talked about St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux, as those are the big Carmelite saints, and a little on St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. There was just so much inspiration that I received from the talks and I could really feel God speaking. This was all in the Chapel of St. Therese! It’s so beautiful in there and I felt close to my new friend! She just keeps popping up!
I had a good time in Adoration and Mass. I just absolutely love Holy Hill. I get really inspired when in spaces like that- beautiful churches with unique and gorgeous artwork, stained glass and mosaics… and especially there with the stunning views! It all inspires me and helps me feel close to God. I love each of the main spaces, the Basilica, the Shrine Chapel and the Chapel of St. Therese! We started Adoration in the Shrine Chapel which was beautiful. Then it got moved to the main Basilica which was where Mass was. I’m learning that I really like the traditional style of Mass and Catholicism versus more of the modern, contemporary side so here at Holy Hill, especially in the Mass and art… I was loving it!!
As for another big gift that came out of it… after Mass some of the brothers were giving a short talk about the Brown Scapular and then enrolling people into it. My mom and I decided to sit in on it. I have heard about the brown scapular before, ironically some of what I knew was from an Ascension video of that same priest who was giving the talks that day! I wasn’t super sure about it. After the brothers talked about it, they started to transition into the enrollment and I asked my mom if she was going to do it, she said yes, and I decided to do it as well.
So that was the day we both got enrolled in the Brown Scapular! What a gift!
My mom and I had a nice lunch at their cafe- we had never been in there before! The food was delicious and it had a cool vibe. I loved all of the Catholic artwork and design. During lunch my mom said that getting enrolled in the Scapular was like a pretty amazing birthday present from St. Therese! And all the time we were sitting down for lunch, there’s this big painting of St. Therese staring at me! It just so happened that I chose that table and chose to sit on that side!
I reflected on some of this afterward in our free hour, we ended up spending most of it in the Basilica. Again, just being in there was so inspiring! I reflected on all the connections with St. Therese and how she gave me the BEST birthday present ever… this special gift of Mary’s promise and protection.
I reflected on how all of this was totally the Holy Spirit… I had watched a video on the Brown Scapular on Ascension Press from this priest and I figured out he was from Holy Hill. I still had quite a few questions about the Scapular. When we were at Holy Hill in the fall we saw the poster for these First Saturdays Days of Recollection and made the connection with the one before my birthday and that it was the same priest. For St. Therese’s feast day, he did another video on Ascension that I watched. I finally decided I wanted to go to this for my birthday. While we were there I saw this thing about a Catechesis and enrollment of the Brown Scapular that was happening that day. I mainly felt resistance to it, I had been wanting to and thought I should but I figured I’d just leave it for today, there were still things I wasn’t sure about. Eventually, it turns out they were having this after Mass and they talked about it there. I dismissed it again but we had time and Mom wanted to. So we went in, listened to the talk… and we ended up getting enrolled. I still felt unsure after the talk but I leaned over and asked if she was going to and she said yes, so I decided to do it too.
There was a reason we were meant to be there that day. And I think St. Therese had a lot to do with it. We were in her chapel for the talks! The priest said how she’s such a friend to him and that when you read “Story of a Soul” and ask for her prayers, she has a way of showing up for people. I hadn’t read the book yet but she was certainly showing up for me. St. Therese was a part of this wonderful birthday present! I can’t think of a better present on this 16th birthday. Therese was so a part of it. Mary was so a apart of it. Jesus made it all happen! He is so good!
St. Therese has been such a good friend to me. And I’ve only been getting to know her for a few months! I know there’s a reason she chose me or that God chose us to connect. The whole time at Holy Hill was amazing and I really felt close to God and could feel lots of God’s graces.
I enjoyed looking through the gift shop and ended up getting a couple books! We love that gift shop, each time we’ve gone to Holy Hill this year we’ve walked away with several things. This time, Mom got some gift stuff and she surprised me with this holy card that has a second class relic of St. Therese! Mom also let me pick out a keychain since I’ll be getting my license soon so I picked out a pretty blue Miraculous Medal one. I got two books (they have an amazing book section!)… “Spiritual Lightning” by Deacon Richard Eason, it seemed like it had some neat things in it! And this one was totally from the Holy Spirit, right before we were going to leave, I think it was when I was putting some books back and while Mom was checking out, a book caught my eye. It’s called “The Little Way of Living with Less” by Laraine Bennett. It’s about detaching and focusing on what’s really important, guided by St. Therese of Lisieux! It’s great timing for me right now because I’ve been really been getting into St. Therese, and just on the way up to Holy Hill I was talking with Mom about how I feel like I need to detach from things of this world more, I’ve realized this and it’s been on my heart.
My mom and I had some good conversations on the way home and it was a beautiful drive, seeing all these homes and barns out in the country with all their Christmas lights and decorations! We also ended up listening to an Abiding Together podcast which was really nice.
I was still super fired up when we got home and enjoyed telling the rest of the family about our time. That night we watched “Fatima,” which was our first time seeing that! It was really good. It was very well produced and I loved the actors. I got super inspired by it and we watched some YouTube videos afterward about the Miracle of the Sun and different things. One we watched was the transcript of a part of Sr. Lucia’s last public interview and there were several things in there that really got me thinking.
That night I was in such consolation. I wrote in my journal about some of the convictions I was feeling and stuff, but also asking for God to make me pure, little and humble. I felt like I unlocked several keys for my future, some of which I already knew I had a desire for but it was nice to feel the desire so intensely that day.
The next day I had wrote in my journal, “It really planted in my heart the desire to work on my interior life and achieve this inner stillness. I also really loved being there, I loved the joy of the guys and when I was home, I longed to pray, to be with God and to go back to Holy Hill. That place just helps me feel so close to God.” It’s true that when we got back home… I wanted to pray. I wanted to be with God. And ever since we’ve left, even now, I long to go back to Holy Hill!
I need to do better at reviewing some of what I learned that day from my notes and that interview with Sr. Lucia. But I do think I was reminded of some key areas where God might be calling me to.
The highlight of the whole weekend was definitely our day at Holy Hill, all of God’s graces and blessings and connecting with St. Therese!
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? I’ve already shared many things I liked about this weekend! One that I haven’t mentioned yet was how I enjoyed spending that Saturday with my mom. We rarely get full days together! It was really nice because I loved sharing that time, those cool faith experiences, and also a nice lunch with her! I’m so grateful for all of her time, support and prayers! ❤️
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I wish I would have gotten into more on my birthday and not put so much emphasis on the food. I wasn’t super motivated to do much, I think I was struggling with some of the messages from the day before, especially that interview with Sr. Lucia. I knew I should probably do some more with all of that but I didn’t want to so I was procrastinating. I made the food and treats into the main parts of my day. I did work on my Christmas cards which was fun and another little project. But other than that I wish I would have gotten into something fun and not made the food such a big deal because it just didn’t fulfill me, I felt unmotivated and bored which is not fun, I felt like I was procrastinating and then bad that I was doing that and not doing things that would fulfill me.
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? My biggest takeaway was the experience of feeling God’s consolation, presence and grace. It’s like a foretaste of Heaven! It’s such a gift to get a glimpse of that here on earth.
There were certainly lots of big lessons in the talks from the priest. There were so many great lines, things I learned and tools for the future, I don’t know how to pick one! I learned how Mary embodies the perfect contemplative state. If you’re seeking the Beloved, He is seeking you so much more (a quote from St. John of the Cross, or something similar). Mary’s goal, and your goal should be, inner stillness and trying to be present to the One you know loves you. The other big takeaway was learning more about the Carmelite Order. And then between that, some conversations with Mom, and just my desires in the consolation, God may have planted some seeds for my future!
And of course, getting enrolled in the brown scapular was a huge takeaway!
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? The priest who gave the talk got me inspired to learn more about the Carmelite saints! He talked a lot about them and is very passionate about them. In particular I’m hoping to learn more about St. Teresa of Avila! I’d also like to read and learn more about the teachings of the Carmelites and the Order’s spirituality.
It was a great Sweet 16! Thanks for reading!
Lucy
