Pictures

Check out this sweet video of Sister Consolata inviting young women who have heard God's call to discern the religious life forward to receive the prayer support of 3,000 people and a blessing from Bishop Rice. See footage of Fr. Chris Martin, vocations director of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, making the same invitation to young men discerning the priesthood here.

In our final segment of J Walking, we hear what conference participants thought of this experience, and how they hope to continue on this journey.

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Eucharistic Adoration this evening was a beautiful opportunity for 3100 people to look at Jesus, and let Jesus look at them. Here's some footage. And we've attached some sweet audio of Tantum Ergo & The Divine Praises.

God is so, so good.

Earlier today we had men's & women's sessions.  We interviewed teens coming out of these sessions and they shared what they think the opposite sex needs to know.

Group Leaders and Chaperones:

When I tell people that I have spent my entire adult life working with teenagers in either counseling or ministry settings, they check my temperature. They look at me like I am completely insane and I often get asked when I’m going to get a “real job.” Sometimes people tell me that there is a special place for me in heaven. I happen to agree with that statement - not because of anything great that I have done, but because teens give me great hope in my journey with God. To see them surrender to the love of Jesus, as they often do at these conferences, challenges me to be as courageous as they are.

If you are reading this, you know what an awesome and humbling privilege it is to serve God by serving teens. On this weekend, we have the incredible task of emptying ourselves completely so that we can be there for teens. Whether that means to provide an ear for listening, a shoulder to cry on, or an inside joke for an abundance of laughter, your task is to serve the teenagers in your group. Here are a few things that have helped me during conferences in years past: Read more »

First-time attendees were welcomed into the Juanita K. Hammons Theater this morning, where Christ Padgett spoke of the importance of taking the momentum of this weekend, the radical love of Christ, back into the world. He used the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9) to show these teens that Christ’s Word must take root in their lives in order to maintain the relationship with Christ that they’ve taken to the next level by attending this conference. Some of his key points, and quotable quotes: Read more »

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Fr. Jose Robles-Sanchez presided at Mass this morning and was our homilist. Click on the play button above to listen to the full audio of his homily, which included these powerful points:

We have to learn to prepare ourselves for the most important thing, which is salvation.

Fear is the opposite of belief. Belief eliminates fear.

Since my gifts are from God, I should use them to the maximum, to the best of my ability. He gave me my gifts for a reason.

Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly."

Facebook can help us grow in our relationship with God – bring your wall to Confession!

To be a Christian is not a boring life, because if you pursue Him you have peace and joy.

If you put everything into Mass, you will get everything – Jesus Christ himself!

If you are walking side by side with Jesus, you will be 99% successful in resisting temptation. We cannot resist temptation by ourselves.

He is going to be the one who helps me to overcome all of my temptation & stress.

Eternal life is what I want for myself and for everyone I know. Read more »

Though I never attended a youth conference as a teen, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what the experience might be like for a first-timer, especially on Friday night. In my teen years, I never once walked in to an auditorium full of 3,000-ish peers singing, dancing, shouting… and certainly not praying. I can only imagine that if I had, my first thoughts would have been, “Freaks. Weirdos. Losers.” I would have felt like an outsider and I would have wondered what made everyone else so special. I would have been weirded out beyond compare. Read more »

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Worship tonight, led by Adam Bitter & the band, was awesome.  Here's the playlist, which gives you the ability to listen to these songs online performed by the original artists.

Before you click any of these links, though, you might want to hit the 'play' button above; it is audio of the teens singing "Arms Open Wide" during worship tonight here in Springfield. Read more »