If you want to see joy, look no further than the members of religious life.  You will find them in many areas of ministry here at our conferences, from ushers to working the bookstore.  Although they are great at these tasks, they are also a gift simply by their presence here. Continue reading

Katie Prejean started the women’s session with a Hail Mary and a simple prayer to call upon God’s truth, especially when it comes to our roles as His beloved daughters.

Katie shared that the fundamental part of who we are is that we are loved; it’s our greatest identity. We are wanted by the very God who forged us in his sacred image. This means that, even in our mess, when our breath smells and our hair is bedraggled, we are Jesus’ chosen image to represent beautiful, selfless love. We are love incarnate! It’s also our greatest purpose. We were created specifically to love others and to be loved by Him.

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“The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” — Pope Benedict XVI

Matt Regitz started his talk at this morning’s men session with an encouraging thought that spoke to the heart of every man in attendance, “When I’m done speaking, you will be able to eat lunch!” which was, of course, was greeted by outrageous applause.

But Matt didn’t spend too much time on silliness. He immediately began sharing some personal stories of recent struggles from his life and the lives of his loved ones – which caused me (and I suspect everyone in attendance) to reflect on our past and present personal struggles. This was important, because when we struggle, we can be tempted to believe that we aren’t where we are supposed to be…but that thought is a lie. God has us right where He wants us to be at this very moment; our challenge is to trust that!

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We all long for peace. Yet we often times look for peace in the wrong places and in the wrong ways. We think that we can quench our thirsts in other people and other things. Fr. Chris Martin called us to recognize the ways in which we forget that God really is the one who brings us peace and can quench our thirst. He encouraged us to identify these ways that we have fallen short of loving God, our family and friends, and ourselves and to ask for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

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Meet Judi Buncher

If you’ve noticed a flurry of bright smiles, blonde hair, and a positive attitude bubbling around Missouri State University, you might have strolled by Judi, everyone’s favorite book store coordinator- for 15 years running!

When she’s not laying out cute Catholic attire, or organizing epic displays of prayer bracelets and ‘I Love Papa Francis’ campaign buttons, you can usually find Judi rushing around the Jesuit mission office of St. Louis University, wrangling in her family for big home cooked meals, or leading a Catholic women’s book club with her equally energetic friends.

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