Listen to the audio from Jake, a teenage participant in Franciscan LEAD.

Jake shares his testimony about a profound experience he had in Confession, when a priest shared with him a story about St. Teresa of Calcutta.

We don’t go to Confession because God doesn’t know our sins, we go to Confession so that He may forget them.

It happens to all of us. We come home from an amazing Steubenville weekend and life starts fading back to normal.

If the feelings go away, was it all for nothing?

Not at all!

How we react and internalize the message of Steubenville relates to the parable of the sower. Ask yourself “Where am I spiritually after this conference? How did the experiences of Steubenville impact me?”
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That burning in your heart right now? Don’t worry it’s not heart burn. You are experiencing the post Steubenville fire! Your heart is filled with the love of Christ and the joy that He gives to those who follow Him. You sang. You prayed. You danced. You listened to the Holy Spirit speak truth into your heart through some amazing speakers. You took way too many selfies and maybe even a picture with Mama Bear. You experienced the mercy of God in confession. You witnessed Christ truly present in the Eucharist. Now that we’re reminiscing, don’t you kind of wish you could stay forever? I hate to break it to you, Peter, but you have to come down from the mountaintop!
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Today’s Gospel was about Martha, Mary, and the Lord. Bishop Rice began the homily discussing how we, at different times in life, can find ourselves feeling more like Martha or Mary. When we are like Martha, life is busy and we are pulled in opposite directions. Sometimes we look at the world and feel swamped or overwhelmed. But, there are times when we are at the feet of Jesus like Mary. Some of us feel that we have to struggle to find this balance between Martha and Mary.

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Our final session of the morning, before our closing Mass, was about calling down the power of the Holy Spirit to change our lives. And as we prayed, not just for ourselves, but also for our brothers and sisters, our host Dan Harms challenged us to appreciate the power that’s already within us, by virtue of our Confirmation.

“I never appreciated Confirmation until after I was in my vocation,” he said. “When I don’t have the strength to be the friend, husband, brother, that I am called to be, the Holy Spirit comes and gives me peace.”
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