God is SOO good!
Growing up and moving is never fun and it was never fun for my family and I when we moved the summer before my 2nd grade year to Beatrice, Nebraska. Being so far away from family and friends is never fun and it was hard on us. One thing that we found that aided us though was Eucharistic Adoration. Through adoration we grew to develop a love for the Blessed Sacrament which we would later receive for the first time that year. My siblings and I grew to love the Eucharist and I can safely say that without it in my life I would not be the man I am today. Without adoration I would probably not be in Seminary, or at least it would have taken more time rather than just out of High School.
The Eucharist transforms our lives, it makes us who we are as Catholics and reiterates the words of Christ that he would be with us until the end of the age. When Christ at the Last Supper said “This is My Body” he wasn’t joking. It truly is his body, blood, soul, and divinity.
Tonight at Gasper River Catholic Youth Camp & Retreat Center we closed out the day with a Eucharistic Procession and Adoration starting at 10pm.
Earlier this evening we separated the boys and girls and had an excellent talk/discussion about our roles in life and about being good, respectful, and moral men and women of God.
Ben Warrell, Fr. Mike Williams, the other male staffers and friends from WKU know how to drive home points about authentic masculinity and I could tell that it was going to be a powerful night for all of our campers.
During adoration we would sing a few songs and then pause for Lectio Divina. My Faith EX group had practiced Lectio with everyone yesterday so it was really powerful to put it into practice before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
The room was pitch black, only lit by candle light as we read the story from John’s Gospel of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Katy read it the first time I knew we would touch people as I could hear the sobs breaking through. With my reading of it, I had jotted down a reflection that I added to it at different points. I will try to publish it on here when I have time. With that the tears started to come even more and after Kaylee read it the third time, we all needed a lot of kleenex.
Seeing the campers so humble, so pious, and so open with what they were feeling and experiencing with Christ was amazing and it filled me with such great joy. As I knelt and looked out and saw 12-14 year olds sobbing, laying prostrate, making themselves as small as possible, kneeling and just so full of love not only warmed my heart but brought tears to my eyes as well. I grew up with the Eucharist, so many don’t. I am forever thankful to my family for instilling in me the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Seeing all of our campers in adoration made me reminisce back to the days when I first started going to adoration.
This is what our goal is with the New Evangelization; to bring souls to Christ, present in the Eucharist and let him work on their hearts. God is so great and so beautiful, and he is doing marvelous things in our Diocese here at Gasper River. Please pray for all of us, we are counting on your prayers and praying for you!
+In His Mercy,
Corey
(BTW, sorry for any typos, it is 12:30 am and I need to head to bed.)
Walking The Way of Beauty 