Maria is proud to be a cradle Catholic from St. Simon Parish in St. Louis where she attends youth group, and goes to Mass every Sunday with her family.

But, after being made fun of for being Catholic, she put her faith into a box, becoming somebody she had never intended to be.

Then, on a Saturday night during Adoration at Steubenville, she realized she needed to face up to God and what she had done – and once again take pride in her Catholic identity.

Quotable

“I am not going to hide my light under a bushel basket to appease other people’s opinions.”

Tonight, Bishop Rice talked about the best Confession he ever made in his life – when he was one week shy of his 50^th birthday. The penance was especially extraordinary for him; he was told to go into the chapel and “just thank God that you are His son, that you are a child of God.”

This truth can easily go in one ear and out the other, but it is important that we claim it in our hearts. This is our greatest identity: we are children of God.

We were blessed to have Bishop Rice lead us in a prayer that, for some of the teens here tonight, might be the most important prayer of their lives: a prayer of commitment to Christ.

Quotables

“You make Him smile.”

“The greatest dignity that we have is to be a child of God.”

“God is fascinated by each one of us.”

“He never ceases to draw us to Himself.”

After giving a brief and humorous history of men’s sessions at Steubenville throughout the years, Mike Gormley launched right into speaking to us about what it means to be man.

Throughout the history of civilization, the definition of what it means to be a man has undergone significant changes and shifts. In some cultures, manhood has been associated with initiation rituals, and in some cultures the definition of manhood has been conveyed to younger men by their fathers.

Sadly, legitimate initiation rituals and role modeling are often lacking in American culture; therefore, some of us are struggling, and many of us don’t really know who we are. When we don’t know who we are, we can easily become passive and weak. But this is not God’s plan for us.

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Listen as Rissy, a teenager, shares about how she experienced God’s love through Eucharistic Adoration and how her life has been changed forever.

“All I could feel was calm and peace, and I started to sob tears of joy…genuine joy.”

“My need for God is satisfied through the Eucharist.”

Please pray for this weekend’s ministry team!