Fr. Dave began his talk this afternoon by reminding us that God has a plan for our lives, our lives are not random and that every individual matters.

You are more than your body

Fr. Dave reminded us that you are more than just a body. Your body is only a part of you. You are flesh and soul, and that’s what makes you human. They are important because your body and soul make you who you are. You have a body and a soul and Jesus Christ delights in that. He referenced Chris Pratt’s recent MTV awards speech last month when Pratt said “you have a soul, take care of it.”

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What is life after high school like?

Brian Kissinger had the opportunity to chat with the graduated seniors of the conference. He asked about what they were excited about, as well as some worries they had about this next chapter in their lives.  He reflected on the different types of soils in the parable in Matthew 13. He asked the seniors to reflect on the question, “What is the soil of my heart like?” Is it ready to receive the seeds of the good news of Christ, or is it thorny and not a suitable place for the Word to grow and flourish? In order to prepare their hearts for the good news, so that they are able to defend their faith and be a witness in college, Kissinger offered “Five Ways to Stay Rooted”. They are:

1. Mass and Confession regularly
2. Daily personal prayer, encounter with Christ
3. Faith Community and Accountability
4. Carve out time to serve others
5. Sharing your faith, thrive not just survive, bring others to thriving

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This morning, Rachel Leininger spoke at our women’s session about how our identity as a women is revealed by God.

She began with reminding us that we are tempted to find our identity in other places and things that give us our worth, whether that be our place on a sports team, the role that we play in our family, our spot in a group with friends, or our grades in school. But every time, those things that we let define us are going to fall short of telling the whole story of who we are. The world is really good at reducing our identity.

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Jimmy Mitchell kicked off Steubenville 2018 with the first talk, The Father’s Love Revealed. He encouraged everyone to embrace what it means to be a child of God through vulnerability and our weaknesses.

Mitchell discussed the feeling of being small and broken. He experienced these feelings visiting the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. After a day of adventuring, he was covered in mud and scratches and felt small approaching this holy grotto. But, once he began to enter the healing water at Lourdes, those feelings of being small, dirty, and broken were “overshadowed by the vulnerability.” In the grotto in prayer he said he was, “feeling little, feeling vulnerable in many ways feeling all of my brokenness but specifically feeling it in light of God’s merciful infinite love.” We are imperfect, small, and vulnerable, but God continues to love us unconditionally and recklessly.

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One of the things that I enjoy more than anything else is travel. Visiting new places and experiencing things for the first time seems to never get old. Whether I’m getting in my car and driving a few hours to just get out of town for a day or getting on a plane and flying half way around the world, the new sights, sounds, smells, and flavors are a sure way to break up the monotony of daily life.

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