Posts

  • Community Night – July

    Community Night – July

    Community night is continuing for the month of July at the Emprayil’s house.

  • Justina: Fulltimer send off

    Justina: Fulltimer send off

    At the last community night before Justina, one of our youth, left for her fulltimership, the region came together in a beautiful time of prayer and sharing of memories and graces. Many shared memories and stories with Justina in a beautiful time of experiencing the strength and love of a Christian community. This was followed…

  • KCA – The Sky’s the Limit

    KCA – The Sky’s the Limit

    KCA organized a fantastic time at Sky Zone (trampoline park) for many kids, young adults, and parents. It was an incredible opportunity to build relationships between different generations and age groups. I’m sure many cherished memories were made as the kids jumped alongside their older brothers and sisters in the movement. Since the event was…

  • Community Night – June

    Community Night – June

    Community Nights, the social gathering where ‘no plans are the best plans’ started back up again for the summer. We started off the first month of community night at the Bijoy’s house and every week we had between 60 to 80 people gathering for BBQ, hanging out, playing hoops, relaxing, playing avalon, etc. Many came…

  • Damascus – Middle School Camp

    Damascus – Middle School Camp

    Our Middle School ministry took some of our middle schoolers to the summer camp organized by Damascus in June. This summer camp focuses on high-adventure activities leading to high-adventure faith. Many of the kids came back sharing experiences where they had to push past their fears and in the process learning to trust in God…

  • Recommitment Day – 2025

    Recommitment Day – 2025

    Jesus Youth of the region came together to celebrate Pentecost and to commit/recommit to the Jesus Youth movement. As we went through the recommitment liturgy, lead by Fr. Joel Pius, we prayed for baptism in the Holy Spirit and prayed over each other, adored Jesus in the Eucharist, and took the pledge of Jesus Youth…

  • Common Grounds – May

    Common Grounds – May

    “Common Grounds” is a basement-turned-coffee-shop, open every Tuesday for an evening of fellowship. It’s been continuing for the second month and has become a fun and productive coffee shop. Many start off the evening getting some work done while sharing some coffee, matcha, water etc. Work time slowly switches to fun and games as dinner…

  • May Household

    May Household

    Household (the gathering of all JY’s in the region) for May happened at Jithin and Anjitha’s house. We started off with an action song, bringing back the spirit of JY from 2 decades ago. Angela lead us in the monthly reflection. She used creative ways to help us think of the impact our actions will…

  • Walk to Mary pilgrimage

    Walk to Mary pilgrimage

    A group of about 20 JY’s from Chicago drove up to Wisconsin to take part in the Walk to Mary pilgrimage. We start with St. Joseph (at the National Shrine of St. Joseph) and walk to Mary (at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion) to get to Jesus.  Our annual pilgrimage has impacted…

  • Common Grounds – April

    Common Grounds – April

    This month saw the beginning of a new initiative. “Common Grounds” is a basement-turned-coffee-shop, open once a  week for an evening of fellowship. The coffee shop ambiance allows for 2 hours of “work together” time during which attendees can bring their todo lists, personal projects, or projects to work on with others. The time can…

  • Pathways

    Pathways

    The spring semester, the Midwest ran its first batch of the National Campus Pathways program. The program included in person meetups of 6-8 college age students who committed to 6 sessions with 2 facilitators. The sessions included topics on Friendship that dove into how to identify good friendships, opening up oneself to deeper relationship with…

  • Saturday Soup Kitchen

    Saturday Soup Kitchen

    The regular Saturday Soup Kitchen group went again this Saturday to serve at the Missionaries of Charity Soup Kitchen. They attended the morning mass at Immaculate Conception in Elmhurst and then made the trip out to the city to serve at the Soup Kitchen. If anyone is interested in joining on Saturday, please reach out…

  • Source and Summit – Weekly Intercessory Adoration

    Source and Summit – Weekly Intercessory Adoration

    All are invited to our weekly intercessory adoration at Syro Malabar Cathedral, Bellwood, IL. As JY Midwest, we rely on the grace received during intercession to continue the mission of being a missionary movement in the region. We come together for Qurbana (Divine Liturgy) at 5:30 PM every Monday followed by an hour of intercession…

  • March Household

    March Household

    March Household was held at Jijo and Jiji’s house. It was awesome to have many of our college students who were back home for Spring Break. Bennett Kannana lead us in the reflection on ‘Waiting for the Lord‘. Many shared about their experiences of different periods of waiting. It is good that one should wait…

  • Teens Gathering

    Teens Gathering

    March monthly Teens Gathering happened at the Jacob house.

  • KCA – Seniors

    KCA – Seniors

    Today we had our KCA seniors gathering. We talked about Shield of Faith & Helmet of Salvation. The kids enjoyed some fresh air and worked on their Armor of God dioramas.

  • Boys Adventure Club

    Boys Adventure Club

    For the March Boys Adventure Club, we flew kites and reflected on the theme of spirituality based on this fun activity. We had 15 middle school aged boys at the gathering.

  • Damascus Worship Conference

    Damascus Worship Conference

    We had few people from our region go to Damascus Worship Conference in Columbus, OH. Here’s how Damascus explained what this conference was, ‘For lovers and leaders of worship- whether you are leading on stage or from the crowd, join us for a 3-day conference that will (re-)ignite your love for the Lord and equip…

  • Pukatawagan Mission: Feb – Mar 2025

    Pukatawagan Mission: Feb – Mar 2025

    On the drive to Pukatawagan, we met with Bishop Cozzens and picked up Fr. Tom from Minnesota. We then drove to Winnipeg and had a fun game night with the youth. Then, we stopped at The Pas to meet with Archbishop Murray. We were blessed to see the Northern Lights as we followed Fr. Dhana…

  • Pathways – Service Project

    Pathways – Service Project

    The Pathways campus group did our service project by taking a trip together to the Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg. We worked together to pack food to be sent to other countries to feed children who are less fortunate. Following this we spent time in fellowship enjoying some brunch together.

  • Teens Gathering

    Teens Gathering

    JY Teens saw a lot of new faces in February! They got a chance to meet and talk about the value of fasting, abstinence and almsgiving in preparation for Lent. In all that they do, they offer their sacrifices as a way of trusting in God!

  • February Household

    February Household

    For February Household, we met together at the Bijoys house to spend time in prayer, reflection and fellowship. Edwin shared the reflections on working hard in the kingdom of the Lord and we spent time sharing personal reflections and discussing some questions on how we pray, what songs or bible verses that we use in…

  • Super Bowl Party 2025

    Super Bowl Party 2025

    The Jesus Youth Young Adults organized a Super Bowl party for all the youth in the region including High Schoolers. They used this as an outreach opportunity to invite friends and share in fellowship and fun. While enjoying the game, everyone spent a lot of time talking to each other, enjoying the different dishes everyone…

  • Pathways – First Gathering

    Pathways – First Gathering

    The first gathering of Pathways, a campus program, took place on Feb 1st, at Jonathan and Joel’s house. Seven students who have committed to attending 6 sessions over the next 3 months will journey together with the two facilitators, Jonathan and Theresa, as they meet every two weeks and reflect on various topics and pray…

  • Girls Adventure Club

    Girls Adventure Club

    Middle School Girls Adventure Club went out bowling to celebrate their time together and to enjoy a time of fellowship and to celebrate Valentine’s day. After this, they met at Jijo and Jiji house for a time of discussion, prayer and fellowship. The discussion was around seeing God as a lover and soul mate and…

  • Boys Adventure Club

    Boys Adventure Club

    The middle school boys Adventure Club met this month and in the spirit of the football season, they had a game of football despite the cold and later gathered at the Antony household to watch the movie, When The Game Stands Tall. Following the movie they had discussions around the themes of the movie which…

  • Formation Weekend

    Formation Weekend

    We had the first formation weekend of 2025 from January 24-26 at the Jacob house in Elmhurst, where we had a group of our youth and young adults take part in Emmaus and Stewardship course. These formation weekends are always a great time of learning, praying and growing together while also spending plenty of time…

  • KCA – Juniors

    KCA – Juniors

    KCA for Juniors (5-8yrs) happened at the Antony house in January. They talked about God’s infinite love for us and about the story of the prodigal son. They took part in an activity to further solidify the meaning of God’s love. If you are interested in joining a future KCA gathering, please reach out.

  • January Household

    January Household

    January household, the monthly gathering of all JY’s in the area, happened at the Emprayil house on January 18th. Jonathan Cyriac shared the reflection for the month, reflecting on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the question of ‘Do I have a heart?’, i.e. to examine our capacity for compassion, selflessness, and solidarity in an…

  • Road From Zion

    Road From Zion

    We had a post-Zion gathering on January 16th at the Abraham House. We spent time in fellowship, sharing the graces from the Zion conference, praying together and eating dinner together. It was a beautiful time to listen to how each person’s unique experience of grace at the conference.