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!”
If you’ve ever been to Eucharistic Adoration, you know that it’s an intensely personal experience; it’s an encounter that’s hard to put into words. It’s an opportunity to pour out your heart to Jesus as He pours His love into yours. It’s a chance to reflect, to listen, to praise, to honor, and – most of all – a chance to simply be with the One who loves you the most.
There is something uniquely special that happens when this intensely personal experience happens in community, especially when that community is over 5000 people who approach the opportunity full of hope and expectant faith.
As Jesus entered the arena, everyone knelt. And when the monstrance was placed on the altar, we all knelt in silence, which was stunning – considering that most of our participants are teenagers. It’s the part of the conference that blesses me the most…thousands of teenagers in silent prayer. It was a silence that spoke volumes. Love, honor, faith, reverence. Adoration.
“Jesus in the Stairwell”- that was my immediate caption to this picture that my sister Lisa took during Saturday night Adoration. At first I thought the stairwell wasn’t the most becoming location for a photo op. I mean, stairwells are those places with no décor, full of brick and concrete. They are more out of purpose and less about “show”. Maybe I also kind of think of creepy stuff happening in stairwells. I’m sure that’s because I’ve seen too many movies where people are trying to escape some evil in places like that. When I’m in a stairwell, I usually want to get out of it as soon as possible and get to my destination.
My other thought about the picture was that there was no one around Him adoring him. Doesn’t he deserve a picture with at least some hands raised up towards Him? Some reverent faces gazing up at Him? He’s all alone! But then I thought again. How like Jesus to turn His back from the spotlight and to seek out the person at the bottom of the stairwell. How like Him to prefer this humble spot to reveal His glory. After all, He came to us from the womb of a humble virgin. And when he was laid in a manger, did you know that it is actually a feeding trough for animals?
