Tonight, before Adoration, Katie challenged each of us to respond to Jesus’ question to each of us:  “What do you want me to do for you?”

Jesus first posed that question to Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was a blind man without a future, sitting on the side of the road, when he heard that Jesus would be passing by. He had the courage to abandon any fear of judgment and simply cried out to Jesus. He begged the Lord to come to him, to help him see. When Jesus came to Bartimaeus, He asked the blind man what he wanted.  Bartimaeus’ response was simple: “Master, I want to see.” Immediately, Jesus healed him.

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As technology expands and grows, many of us are almost constantly plugged into at least one form of social media. In one of this afternoon’s workshops, Kyle Heimann encouraged all of us to elevate social media.

While social media can be a tool for great good, Kyle explained early on that it can also be destructive. When social media begins to replace our social interactions and relationships rather than improve them, we need to start examining the amount of time we are investing.

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The women spent their morning together sharing and praying about how to be “women in love.”

During the women’s session, Katie Hartfiel shared her own experience of learning to live as a woman in love with the Lord.  She explains that to do that, our answer to Jesus must always be “yes.”  That simple “yes” to Jesus that changes everything.  He dwells within us, and we are called to radiate that love to everyone we encounter.  Katie shared the example of a friend who was able to be a witness of her faith simply through her love of the Lord.  When at a party, her friend was asked what it was that made her look so radiantly in love.  She was single, but radiated the joy of a woman deeply in love.  What followed was a long conversation about her love of Jesus- the source of her joy.

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Dozens of priests distribute Communion to thousands of people during every Steubenville conference weekend. If you’ve ever wondered how that manages to go so smoothly, talk to Father Schumer and Father Sullivan. Both priests spend their conference weekends helping the seminarians to coordinate all of the Masses, Processions, and Confessions.

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Some of the unsung heroes of SteubySTL are the interns of the Office of Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. They dedicate a majority of their summers to making sure that our conferences go as planned. One of these awesome humans should be a familiar face by now: meet Drew.

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