“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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Wisdom is to despise the perishable things of this world and to aspire to what is eternal. – St. Francis de Sales

Bishop Edward Rice, bishop of the Diocese of Springfield – Cape Girardeau, reflected on this quote from St. Francis de Sales at Mass this morning. He challenged the 4,200+ teens to truly be wise by seeking the eternal things and not becoming caught up in the things of this world.

While he acknowledged that things of this earth are good and necessary, Bishop Rice said that our identities can become wrapped up in the latest trends and what other people think. It is then that the things of the earth become an obstacle to the ultimate purpose of our lives: Heaven. The things of this world are to help us reach eternity.

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Tonight, Bennett from LEAD gave a powerful personal testimony on the transformational power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Quotables

“Throughout high school I would put on a false front because I didn’t want them to know what was really going on.”

“In the rock bottom state I was in, God used that to help me realize this isn’t who I am supposed to be, who I can be, or who I should be. I thank the sacrament of Confession for that.”

“I was thinking that my past may be who I am and measured me, but my sins don’t measure me.” 

“Every day I have to choose – do I want to stay with God or turn away from God?”

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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“God is thirsting for YOU. God thirsts for your thirst. He thirsts to quench your thirst.”

These are some of the powerful words Matt Maher spoke to an arena full of teens tonight as he shared his thoughts on this year’s theme, interwoven with moving outbursts of worship music. Matt explained in his talk that our very need for God’s presence is shown through our natural and physical need for water. God designed our bodies to rely on outside nourishment as a way to remind us of a much greater thirst in our lives– a thirst for something so intangible, it is not even from this world. Within that thirst is the reminder from God that he desires to be a part of our most desperate and secret wants.

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