Youth Spotlight: Clark Frisby

Over the summer, our Youth Ministry team accompanied 47 highschoolers to

Corpus Christi, TX to serve the locals for a week. Clark Frisby, a rising freshman

in high school had beautiful experiences of the community that is to be found

in the Body of Christ.

Why was mission your favorite event from the summer?

We got to meet so many people, and to help out the community. The sisters

and so many others.

Was there a particular experience from mission that struck you?

Yes! We went to the sisters’ home and the chapel was so beautiful. It had

statues in the back, so when the priest would elevate the Eucharist, he could

see Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Was seeing the sisters your favorite day?

That, and also taking care of the Rosary garden with Fr. Rudy, and then I got

to be in his glory story! That day, I took him to the church with the beautiful

Tabernacle beautiful altar that surrounds it (Our Lady of Corpus Christi) and.

That church was really cool. It was interesting because actually the first day of

mission I was like ‘ahh, I don’t really wanna do this’ but the second day it got a

lot better!

Clark was particularly happy to be helping at the nursing home as well. Here, we

all practiced a ministry of presence, that is, simply being with others in order

to love them well. The beauty of this ministry is that it allows us to both be the

hands and eyes of Christ, but perhaps even more importantly, encounter Him in

their persons and receive Him through their eyes! What struck me from Clark’s

testimony is that, in each of his stories, he consistently spoke of the community

and the encounters he was able to experience through the community, whether

it was in the persons of the sisters, the homeless, the elderly, or his fellow

peers. Paul speaks of this, saying, “You are the body of Christ and individually

members of it” 1 Cor 12:27. In living and working and praying with the Church,

the Body, Clark also witnessed to several fruits. We had Eucharistic Adoration

every night, and confession available as well which he attended three times

during the week! Afterwards, he did not let these fruits lay dormant either.

Rather like the mission Christ Himself gives us, he went out and brought friends

from school to our youth group Bible study, one of whom was a non-practicing

Catholic and another of whom was an atheist! This is a powerful witness to the

fact that ‘mission’ should not be left in the place of Corpus Christi, but rather

extend into each moment of our lives, lived in our particular way of upbuilding

and edifying the true Body of Christ, the Church.