We all have that instinct to want to impress others and maintain our ego; it is simply human nature. We tend to define our worth by our outward appearances or our achievements. In his homily this morning, Fr. Chris Martin challenged us to think differently about our worth. He establishes two very significant points that apply to our approach to sin.
To be featured as one of our “Humans of SteubySTL”, you don’t necessarily need to be a human. Just ask Cardboard Pope Francis. We’d like to introduce you to another interesting character that we found at this conference, Steuby Baby Groot.
There’s one problem that arises pretty quickly in interviewing Steuby Baby Groot – he has a fairly limited vocabulary. He is only capable of saying three words: “I am Groot.” Unless, of course, you press a button on his back, allowing him to sing, “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5. So, he is tough to interview. Fortunately, there were two girls from his parish ready to translate for us.
As Christians, many of us have questioned or been questioned about our faith, especially regarding God’s existence. Those of us who have “come out of the womb with a Rosary in my hand” like Mike Gormley have been taught about the Bible for years and perhaps have not gone to great lengths to question anything. In his case, Mike says, “I was never really taught how to pray, I was taught how to repeat.”
God: the Uncaused Cause
With his love for science, he describes how he began to question his faith in high school as a result of not feeling intellectually honest when saying the Creed in Mass. Mike desired the truth; he wanted to know WHERE evil comes from. He even turned to researching Islam, Judaism, Atheism, and several other philosophies.
If you’ve ever been in the bookstore at Steubenville, you’ve probably noticed Francie Gosser. She is one of the many bookstore volunteers; this year will be her fourth time working there. Francie is a lifelong member of St. Peter’s Parish in Kirkwood, Missouri.
She loves working in the Steubenville bookstore as a cashier. She gets to encourage today’s teens to be fearless in their Catholic identity. Francie says it is a grace from God to help the teenagers in the checkout line of the bookstore as a form of evangelization. She loves being able to compliment a teenage girl on the choice of religious jewelry that she picked out, or encourage a teenage guy to buy a book he is interested in. Francie has many favorite items in the bookstore; she loves everything from certain t-shirts, to religious bracelets and medals, to the foam kneeling pads (which you better buy quickly, before they run out!)
The dorms and hotels sit empty, expecting many high energy teens and chaperones.
The Student Union smells of hot food in preparation for its crowd of exhausted and hungry late night visitors.
The “Q” Arena remains still; awaiting the passionate singing of worship song lyrics, hearts to be touched by the ministry team, countless repetitions of the “Cross Clap” and of course, the pattering of the stadium seats proclaiming “You are My Joy”.
It is the calm before the storm.
This morning at 10am, the excited group of conference staff happily gathered together for the Volunteer Mass to pray for the fourth thousand anxious and faith-filled teens seeking to encounter God in a new way this weekend.
