There is a lot to write about but I won’t overwhelm everyone in one post. But this weekend was exhausting (in a good way). We took our candidates for Confirmation to Franciscan University for the their retreat and overall the experience was great. It gave us a chance to take the students out of their comfort zone and put them in an area that is new for most of them. Franciscan University is one of those Catholic University that really encourages their students to dive deeper into their faith and once a month they hold a festival of praise in which they invite high schools to join. The set-up is pretty big with a couple of hundred people gathering in the field house for 2 hours worship service. The worship was composed of music from Contemporary Christian artist like Hillsong and David Crowder, then there was a witness testimony from a college student and after that a priest came up and lead a healing prayer. It was a great chance for people who had a lot going on in their lives to just give it up to God.
When we sat down and reflected as a group you could tell they were a little overwhelmed, and they eluded to the fact that it was really long. (This is after a day of small group discussion and other activity) And they are right it is a little overwhelming, when was the last time any of us had gone to a 2 hour worship service where we were asked to release ourselves into the hands of God? Spending time with God is something that takes practice…start with 5 mins…and one day you may have 2 hours or more.
On the bus ride home I had a chance to talk to most of them about the evening and the ones I talked to said that they got a lot out of it. I know Ohio is a long trip, but I think it’s important to help them take a step out of their comfort zone and into God’s hands.