Our world is hurting. We all need healing, yet many of us are separated from the very source of our strength. Jesus Christ invites us to return to — or encounter for the first time — the very source and summit of our faith — His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist (National Eucharistic Revival).

As we did tonight during Adoration, let us bravely approach Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament anytime we need His strength, peace, joy, and love. “There is no place He’d rather be. He’s for us. He’s for you. He delights in you. We believe in Your love for us, Jesus,” Fr. Joe Freedy reassures us.

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Being a member of God’s family is more than just belonging; it’s also an adventure of learning to love each other the way God loves. Fr. Joe Freedy explained this during our first workshop of the afternoon.

For Fr. Joe, that adventure began with learning to love himself. As a young adult, he battled with addiction and anxiety. The different ways in which he was struggling, and also the ways he was trying to prove himself in sports, were really a result of a fundamental need that we all share: the need to be fully seen, fully known, and fully loved.

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What does it mean to be an ideal woman? How do we courageously live out that ideal while also building holy, lasting friendships with other women?

According to the world’s changing standards, during the last 60 years, the definition of woman has encompassed a wide range. From the “domestic goddess” of the ’50s, to the “anything goes/hippy” stereotype of the ’60s/’70s, and including the more recent, “be like a man,” message of the ’80s /’90s, it is difficult to discern a woman’s purpose. During this morning’s women’s session, Lisa Cotter explains how trying to keep up with these shifting ideals is exhausting at best and impossible at worst.

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This morning, nearly 90 volunteers throughout Missouri started Steubenville Week 1 off right with an opening Mass celebrated by Bishop Edward Rice. The O’Reilly Catholic Student Center at Missouri State University was filled with the call – in Scripture, the homily, and hymns – to leave fear at the door as we serve teens and help them grow closer to Jesus.

“Straight are the paths of the Lord, in them the just walk.” True service always starts with examining our own hearts. The first reading from Hosea and Psalm 51 ask us to courageously seek forgiveness in the areas of our lives that we haven’t fully given over to God. The Gospel reading from Matthew calls us to live out radical dependence on the Holy Spirit, especially when it’s not easy.

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