3,859 participants.

100 volunteers.

60 priests celebrating Mass and hearing confessions.

2,688 confessions heard.

God has incredible plans for each and every one of us, and it is our job to discern what those plans entail.

Matt Maher says it best, in a song that we sang early this morning:

“This is the first day of the rest of your life. ‘Cause even in the dark you can still see the light, it’s gonna be all right.”

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In the Gospel today, we hear Jesus speak of the wheat and the weeds growing together in the fields (Matthew 13:24-30). Bishop Edward Rice’s homily focused on how this image is very similar to what we are heading into as we prepare to leave the Steubenville Conference to return to our homes, parishes, and schools. Though we live in a culture thick with weeds, we must stand strong and engage the culture, sharing the Gospel message.

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Paul began his talk with a story about his first honest prayer to God. It happened at a Steubenville Conference when the host invited the teens to pray. At first he didn’t want to. He was used to being the jokester, not the serious guy. But when he saw his friends around him praying, he eventually offered up his own awkward prayer. He joked about how different girls are from guys when it comes to crying. Like most guys, he did not want to cry. But the tears flowed that day, after saying his first honest prayer to God.

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“We are amazed, we stand in awe, for we have been changed by the power of the Cross.”

These lyrics are what constantly go through my head the second I hear anyone reference “Saturday Night Adoration.” Even years in the future, I have no doubt that I will still be able to vividly imagine myself singing the lyrics to “How Great Is Your Love!” by Passion at the top of my lungs along with 3,859 of my closest friends in the Q.

I will never cease to get chills every time Adam Bitter would pause from singing in the middle of songs such as Lord, I Need You, Great I Am, Closer, and Overwhelmed so we could hear everyone’s voices echoing in the arena with such passion and joy.

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