Speaker says prayer helps surrender our lives to God

MIDVALE — "Prayer helps us surrender our lives to God so that our very existence is pleasing to him. Sometimes we pray through music and song," said Al Barbarino, guest singer and speaker at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, Midvale April 28-30. Barbarino enriched the parish with his weekend concerts, spiritual reflections, and down-to-earth talk with the teenagers.

Barbarino is a lay associate of the Padre Pio Shelter in New York, and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He has sung throughout the United States and abroad for the past 15 years, and has recorded eight CDs and cassette tapes to help raise money for the poor and homeless, the war victims of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Padre Pio Shelter, which is a homeless shelter for men in the South Bronx of New York run by Franciscan friars. He was the emcee for the Our Lady of Fatima Conference held in Salt Lake City in May of 2004 and 2005.

Barbarino is a counselor for incarcerated youth age 9 to 18 in the Department of Juvenile Justice in New York City. He attended St. John University where he studied special education and counseling.

Barbarino said he has been married to his wife, Mary Ann, for 40 years, and they have three children, and two grandchildren. He is proud of his children because they always went to Mass before they were married and continue to go to Mass now.

"I know it pains parents when their children do not want to go to church," said Barbarino. "We are all St. Monica’s in varying degrees. We have to keep praying because one day they will see the light, but we must turn it over to God with total surrender."

Barbarino said if we were to sit down with the children he counsels in prison and listen to their stories, we would know how they ended up in prison. They did not stand a chance. So many of them live in the streets, live in cardboard boxes, and under bridges. Their parents do not want them, some do not even know their parents. Some of them were sold into prostitution by their parents for drug money, or raised in families with alcohol and drug abuse, or they were dealing drugs themselves.

"As a result in many instances, whether or not these kids want to, they have no choice but to join gangs," said Barbarino. "Without belonging to a gang, these kids have no identity, no support, no friends, and no safeguard. They cannot survive on their own. They are like lost puppies in the wilderness waiting for a pack of wolves to attack. These gangs are growing, and they are even here in Utah.

"The sad part is, our children go to school, and they know what is going on. But they are too intimidated to share these stories with their parents because they do not want their parents to worry. Gangs are affecting good and bad neighborhoods. No place is really safe."

Barbarino said a lot of the influence comes from television and music videos. The dynamics of the family as a unit has changed. We now have step-families and one-parent families. In some families grandparents are raising their grandchildren because the parents either do not want their children, or they are in prison. Entertainment on television and video games is violent, and children do not realize death is final.

"I talk with the children about their feelings of rejection, and building their self- esteem so they are strong enough to survive in the world. The biggest issue is the transition from prison to the real world. Most of them do not want to leave prison because there is a sense of security there and they do not have anywhere else to go.

"While they are in detention, they must continue their education," said Barbarino. "Fortunately the teachers have so much vibrancy and energy, and they care about these children. They try 100 percent of the time to focus on the positive, and often come in on weekends.

Barbarino is also an evangelist for the Catholic faith. He said the goal of his mission is to draw each one of us a little bit closer to God. Sometimes we become closer to God through speaking with each other, through hearing the Word of God at Mass and in the scriptures, or in the words of a song. He said most of us like to sing but for some reason he has found Catholics shy away from singing.

Barbarino said the song, "Christ Be Our Light," is significant because we wait in darkness and long for the light of God. We long for food because many are hungry.

"I am a very positive person even with all the darkness in our world," said Barbarino. "What keeps me afloat is that Jesus said ‘Do not despair.’ Jesus can be a personal friend to us. Even if we have friends around us, we must always turn to Jesus. Sometimes we turn our back on Jesus, but he is always there for us.

"We each perceive God differently," said Barbarino. "Some of us see God as a merciful, just, and loving God, while others fear God. Because there is a profound absence of love in the world, we need a personal relationship with God. Through this relationship, we become a better and more holy person."

"We have to say, ‘Yes, God, I come to do your will,’" said Barbarino. "We go to Mass, pray the rosary, pray novenas, and go to retreats and conferences because we are preparing ourselves for life eternally. No one knows when his or her time will be up. We were all taken by surprise when 9-11 and the tsunami happened. I make the sign of the cross before I answer the telephone because your life can change in an instant with one phone call. Teenagers do not want to hear about eternal life because they are never going to get old.

"We just came out of the season of Lent, which is a time to think about our relationship with God," said Barbarino. "Mass on Sunday alone is not enough. We have to live our faith. The more mindful and holy we are, the closer we will be to God. We have to make time to pray. Each one of us is busy, but we often spend two or three hours a day watching television.

"In the Eucharist, we have the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ," said Barbarino. "People do not get charged up or fulfilled going to work or shopping, but they do sitting before the Blessed Sacrament. We all have a cross to carry whether it is light or heavy, but we cannot let our hearts be troubled or anxious. Each moment is the most important. Do not worry about tomorrow until it comes. As Our Lady said at Fatima, ‘Return to my son, and pray, pray, pray.’ With Jesus we have everything, without him we have nothing."