“Is it easy to be a woman?”

No. Women are a tremendous gift to the world, and so often we don’t realize the value and power of our dignity.

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“With courage…there is freedom from a future full of fear.”

Fr. Mike Schmitz opened our weekend with a keynote focused on having the courage to put our trust in Christ. Drawing from the second book of Kings and the Gospel of Mark, Fr. Mike highlighted the stories of those who risked everything on the possibility that the Lord would show up.

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Fr. Chris Martin reminded everyone that when Jesus called His disciples, He then spent time with them. “The first step in following any vocation is friendship with Jesus… Seek holiness. Seek virtue. Continue to grow in intimacy with Jesus and everything else will be revealed.”

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The Steubenville Mid-America 2022 conference concluded with Sunday Mass. This is our greatest form of worship and a fitting way to end this weekend together. We were blessed, not only to have so many priests with us, but also to have three Bishops present to concelebrate the Mass. Main celebrant, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanksi of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, was joined by current Bishop Edward Rice, and retired Bishop John Leibrecht, both from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

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During our Sunday morning session, Cooper Ray shared a childhood story about his group of friends at recess. They invented a game where they linked arms and walked around chanting, “We never stop! We never stop!” Cooper used this story as a starting point for his message about how to take the experience of this conference into our daily lives at home.

“The Lord is not going to stop.” Philippians 1:6 tells us that God will complete the work He has begun in us this weekend. Our experience is not over. Even though we don’t get to stay here forever, the work that God is doing does go with us. “The Father is not done with you yet, but it doesn’t mean you get to stay here,” Cooper explained. Leaving this conference, we might miss the feelings, the atmosphere, the big experience, but we have to trust that God is still working.

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