God's Presence at Steubenville

Our high school youth group returned from the Steubenville Youth Conference a week ago at Franciscan University. Most who attend a conference, retreat, camp, or mission trip, similar to the way Steubenville puts on their youth conference, have a very profound experience of God while there. The progression of music, to prayer, to teaching, to worship opens our hearts so that we can be more receptive to God's love. Often I hear, from those who've never attended an event like this, that it's all just good feelings, happy music, and shared fellowship. In other words, there's no substance and no constancy to a faith built at Steubenville.

Here's the misunderstanding. Steubenville is meant to be a beginning or restart of our Catholic faith. For a short time, we are taken out of our everyday world and immersed in a friendly, safe, loving, environment where we can learn about God/Christ/Church, we can doubt and question, we also compare and discuss, and really pray (sometimes for the first time in earnest) for the grace to understand and love God/neighbor better. While there is no doubt that God is a tangible presence to us while on retreat, through prayer, in the Eucharist, and during Adoration, God is not any more present at Steubenville than He is anywhere else. We are simply more aware and present to Him.

The work begins when we get home. It's probable that our families, the church, the music, the people, etc. do not have the same friendly, safe, loving feeling to produce a Godly environment like the one at Steubenville, but God is not any less present. It's up to us to change that.

This brings me to our challenge. Here's the analogy. When standing on the beach looking at the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, we might feel the presence of God. By looking at a map of the shoreline and the Atlantic Ocean, we may not feel the same. We've exchanged real ocean waves for something 'less real;' blue colored paper. Coming home to our memorized prayers, the Creed, the Mass, precepts, doctrines, and dogmas; we might think, "I don't want those things, they are not the 'real' thing. They are not God." The map may be a 2D piece of colored paper, but it's based on what hundreds of thousands of people have found out from sailing the real Atlantic. In that way, it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one we can have on the beach. The difference is that the experience on the beach is a single, isolated glimpse, and the map fits many experiences together. Plus, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as we are content with walks on the beaches, our glimpses are more fun than a map, but the map is going to be more useful than walks on the beach if we want to get someplace new (like Britain).

The experiences and feelings we have on our own will be very elementary. If we want to get further, we will have to rely on the map. Study about God and consistent practices in prayer may be less fun and less 'real' than an experience of God at Steubenville, but Steubenville leads nowhere on its own. Now that we are back from Steubenville, we have to do the work. If we just watch the waves, we'll never get to Britain. We will not get to heaven by simply feeling God's presence at Steubenville. You can also get nowhere by studying maps and never going to sea. You won't be safe if you go to sea without a map.

So, it's time for us to get to work this summer. This is one idea for you to begin. Begin with the first of the Gospels. Start with 10 minutes a day. Read a section of the Gospel, imagine yourself in that story, read that section again, pray about one word that stands out to you. You can do this! Before you know it, you will feel His presence with you each day and throughout your day.

Thanks for the ideas from C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity Book 4