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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In the women’s session, Rachel Leininger shared that she believes in authentic friendship and that we as women are made in God’s image. As God is in community with the Trinity, women also need community with one another in holy friendship.

Rachel has had many different seasons of friendship in her life. When she was young, they were easy and uncomplicated. As she grew older, friendships began to encompass more “girl drama” as concern over popularity, relationships with boys, and competition began to infiltrate them.

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This morning’s Holy Mass, celebrated by Fr. Chris Martin, honored Mary: Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We are truly grateful for the 50+ priests who joined Fr. Martin, as well as the Carmelite religious sisters who have a special devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

The Homily

Like Mary, we need to be courageous and fearless in the face of the challenges in our lives and world, as Fr. Martin reminded us. When you get to the heart of every problem, the ultimate answer is Jesus Christ – the One who created us so that we may have life and have it to the full. In Mary, we have the perfect model of ultimate trust in God’s plan and love for her.

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St. Therese of Lisieux wrote, “Prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

So, let’s get one thing out of the way. God is never over ‘there’ because ‘there’ implies distance. And He is never distant from us. He is here.  Therefore, we begin with a reality check that prayer is not us speaking into a void and hoping God is close enough to hear. Prayer is a response to our ever present Father who is paying attention and listening even before we begin to speak.

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