EASTER JOY: Marianist Musings

This is the fourth in a series of student reflections from the Life Teen Leadership Conference this past summer. Over 500 young men and women gathered together to learn and express their faith.

“I have to admit I knew very little about what I was getting into when I arrived Sunday morning. I had no idea who the Kellenberg students were let alone what they were like and except for a few, I only vaguely knew the rest of the Chaminade students.

When we arrived at the Life Teen Conference I was awestruck by the size of the campus. I was also amazed by the student-run Mass and that in the middle of the summer the students still went to Mass in pants and collared shirts. To be perfectly honest I was freaked out by the next day when we arrived at the lecture hall with Matt Maher playing. It seemed eerily familiar to a video I had watched in Sodality. We all adjusted to the music and style of worship. I also felt that as the week went on I got to know all the Chaminade and Kellenberg students and developed some new friendships that have carried into the new school year. My favorite day of the retreat was Wednesday when Mark Hart gave a talk on Theology of the Body, and we also heard a talk on Male Empowerment. The part of the day that moved me the most was confession because it was the first time a priest took a considerable amount time to talk me during Confession. Sadly the week came to an end and I did feel myself falling off of a retreat high. Of course I am only human and fell back into the midst of sin but with a more aware mindset that hopefully causes me to sin less and in a less severe manner."

Pat McGonigle

"God has placed the treasury of graces procured by his blood into the hands of Mary, who, as the mother of a great family, distributes them according to our needs, our circumstances, and our fidelity. Thus nothing comes to us from heaven except through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin. She is the channel that receives and transmits to us the beneficent waters of divine grace."
Blessed William Joseph Chaminade