This morning, we were blessed to have three of our shepherds here to celebrate Mass with us: Archbishop Carlson from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Bishop Rice from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Bishop Kemme from the Diocese of Wichita.

Archbishop Carlson began his homily by reminding us that the God who has invited us here for the Eucharist is the same God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the saints. That same God most likely touched many of our hearts and souls this weekend. He also placed prayers and goals on our hearts, but we are not able to achieve those goals alone. We need each other. We need to be bold and inspire hope in one another by how we live our lives because none of us need to walk alone.

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Jim Walsh is a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Valley Park, MO where he served as a youth ministry core team member for nine years, and where he has been serving as the sacristan for the 5:30 pm Mass for the past nineteen years. He has been attending our Steubenville conferences since the year 2000.

He first began attending these conferences as a core team member with his parish, and since 2010 has been volunteering with production.

Jim’s role with production is quite a commitment. He and two other folks drive from St. Louis to Springfield on the Wednesday before our first conference to begin setting up the arena, and they stay long after the second conference has ended to tear down the stage and bring the Office of Youth Ministry’s equipment back to St. Louis. And if you ask anyone at all, our stage setup keeps getting better and better, so we all really appreciate it!

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Nic woke up the teens this morning with a very interactive reading of 1 Corinthians 12. He had them respond with a specific action for key words in the scripture. They would stand, clap, stomp and yell out as they heard the scripture and responded to their cues. After the lively reading of the scripture, Nic reminded the kids that they all have a part to play as members of the Body of Christ.  And then he asked, “Are you willing to finish what you started this weekend?”

“I know what God started, He is going to finish. But some of us are great starters but we aren’t great finishers,” Nic admitted. We can have a great momentum coming out of a weekend like this, with a lot of good intentions, and then we gradually lose our excitement. When things get rough, we tend to abandon our plan.

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Deacon David Schaefer and his wife Patty are members of Assumption Parish in South St. Louis County, where Deacon David serves as a Pastoral Associate. Patty is a nurse at Washington University in The Department of Neurology.  At our conferences, Deacon David is a videographer and Patti is a nurse who volunteers in First Aid.

They have been attending SteubySTL conferences for twelve years. The first two years they volunteered as chaperones with their parish youth group, and then became involved with the Office of Youth Ministry volunteer crew.

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Saturday night Adoration – easily considered by many to be the “culminating” event of each Steubenville conference. The time when Christ speaks directly into our hearts; all of our wounds, our fears, our struggles, along with our joys, celebrations and hopes. God is good. He moves in big ways and does big things. But what if you don’t feel Him moving? What if you don’t feel Him doing big things? Is He still there? Do I still belong to Him?

Fr. Martin processed in with Jesus and knelt before Him on the altar. He led us in praying the Litany of Trust and one line stood out to me, “From the lie that I don’t belong, deliver me Jesus.” As I sat and adored our Lord, I found myself repeating this line over and over and offering up all of you as I did. “From the lie that I don’t belong…from the lie that I don’t belong… Lord, help your children know they are loved. Help them to know they belong!”

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