Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Presence of the Lord, peers, elevated my spiritual journey
Presence of the Lord, peers, elevated my spiritual journey
by Katie Hammond special to the Michigan Catholic
Published July 18, 2008
I begin with a question…"Can I get a witness?"
I was recently in the fieldhouse at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and heard about 2,500 high school students respond to that question with an ear-shattering "AMEN!"
I have attended summer Catholic conferences at Steubenville four times before this summer's conference, each year as a student. This year, as a college student, I returned as a chaperone – which gave me the opportunity to not only grow in my own faith, but also to experience the Holy Spirit opening the hearts of the 51 youth that made our group.
I want to share a few powerful moments from the weekend.
The first was on our way when the other chaperones and I led the youth in a rosary. We requested that students take turns leading the decades. To my delight, five volunteers willingly came to lead a decade at the front of the bus. I felt a rush of joy to see the students stand before their peers and move their fingers over their rosary beads as they prayed.
Once we arrived, every event was powerful.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was the strongest time for me. There was a moment when the Sacrament had already processed around the field house and the entire crowd was lost in the Spirit. Eyes were closed, hands were open, heads were bowed, arms raised, tears trickled down cheeks. People were on their knees or sitting, and mouths were either joining in songs of worship or praying.
I was on my knees with my eyes closed when my silent requests for forgiveness and strength moved to a deep feeling of gratefulness and indescribable joy as the band strummed the opening chords to my all-time favorite praise song, "Shout to the Lord."
My spirit was elevated, a smile spread across my face, and I was no longer lost in my own spiritual journey but felt completely aware of the thousands of voices around me singing, yelling the words of the song to God.
Imagine 2,500 young people's voices rising in a chorus of praise before the Blessed Sacrament in a volume and passion so intense that you can feel it empower you.
When the song began to fade, I opened my eyes to see that the entire crowd had risen from their knees and chairs around me and were standing tall with their arms raised up to their Heavenly Father. The sea of arms lifted, the golden monstrance shining from the altar at the front of the room, and the overall energy in the building is something I will never forget.
After adoration that night and the next, our group members shared feelings of happiness they had never experienced, motivation to make changes in their lives, and a greater calling to pursue their relationship with God.
Overall, the things students shared, the verbal and silent commitments to God that were made, and the love and acceptance that filled everyone's voices as they sang praise were indescribably powerful.
The best thing I can do is recommend that everyone "witness" the conference themselves.
Katie Hammond is a 21-year-old member of St. Joseph Parish in Ida. She was a chaperone of more than 50 youths from the Monroe Vicariate who attended this year's Catholic Youth Conference in Steubenville, Ohio.
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