Totus Tuus

Hello and welcome to the first Saturday in August here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is August 2nd.

So, looking at the title, you're probably wondering what Totus Tuus is. This phrase can mean two different things. First, in Latin, Saint Pope John Paul II said, "Totus tuus," which means "totally yours." It also means an awesome bible camp which was held at St. Mary's Catholic Church last week in Warroad, Minnesota.

There were two camps: one for big kids and one for small kids. I was in the small kids camp and ours was Monday through Friday. There were four people who were missionaries who led the camp and each one of them was awesome. Like, really amazing. And I learned so much about the sacraments, the Joyful Mysteries, and some of the saints.

Let's talk about the Sacraments. For context, there are seven sacraments. Each sacrament has its own meaning and each sacrament allows you to talk to God in some way. The first sacrament you receive in the Catholic church is Baptism. You receive Baptism when you are an infant/baby. The second one you receive in the old times is Confirmation, but then it changed some time ago, so now you have the Eucharist and that's what you get next. It basically is when you get the ability to eat Jesus Christ. Then there are the sacraments of healing which are Reconciliation, aka Confession, and Anointing of the Sick. 

Oh, I have a joke for you. What did Darth Vader ask the priest when he was going to get surgery for his new arm? "I need you to give me Anointing of the Sith!"

Then there are the sacraments of service which are Holy Matrimony, aka Marriage, and Holy Orders when you get accepted into the church. Those are all the seven sacraments.

There are five known Joyful Mysteries. Each Joyful Mystery has its own purpose with Jesus. The first Joyful Mystery is the Annunciation. That's when God sends down the angel named Gabriel to tell Mary that she was going to have a baby and that she would have to name the baby Jesus.

The second one is the Visitation when Mary goes to visit her very old, heavily pregnant cousin Elizabeth, who later has a son named John the Baptist. So, technically John the Baptist and Jesus are second cousins. And that's pretty cool.

The third Joyful Mystery is the Nativity. This is basically talking about what it means for Jesus during Christmas; how the Savior is born and stuff like that.

The fourth Joyful Mystery is the Presentation of Jesus. I forgot what that one's about. I know that he was found in a temple.

And the fifth Joyful Mystery is finding Jesus in the temple.

We learned about four saints: St. Elizabeth (the patron saint of helping the poor), St. Lawrence (the patron saint of comedians), St. Maximillian Kolbe ( the saint of sacrifice from WWII), and St. Cecilia (patron saint of music).

Overall, I think I'd like to go to Totus Tuus again because we actually learned something. The teachers there were funny, nice and awesome. My favorite activity was the team four square because it's basically four square but it's two people in each square. We sang fun songs and we had mass every day. I think it was the first time I had the Eucharist every day of the week. I received the Eucharist six times this week. I felt happier. I could feel it, like, "This is gonna be a good day."

Have a good week and goodbye!