What a blessed and lovely day I spent this past Saturday with John and Justin, my two oldest sons, and our friends from church, Steve, Jessie and Cody. We had the great privilege of attending the Wisconsin Catholic Youth Rally, a twelve hour day of praise and worship. The theme of the day was "Fearless." There were nearly 1000 fearless teens packed into the large gymnasium that served as a church for the day. Contemporary Christian Worship music by Sonar was played throughout the day and two wonderful guest speakers, Jim Beckman and Sr. Terese Marie Iglesisas TOR provided great inspiration.
Some highlights of the day were: Mass with Archbishop Listecki, confession lines that stretched down long hallways and around corners, Christian music by Sonar, laying on of hands for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, thirty youth who stood up for an altar call to receive a special blessing from the Archbishop as they witnessed to the fact that they were all considering a vocation of service to the Church, and best of all, Eucharistic Adoration. During Adoration, Deacon Matt Widder who will be ordained to the priesthood this May (prayers for him please!), carried the monstrance in a procession throughout the gym and blessed everyone. The room was dark, with a spotlight on the monstrance. The smoke from the incense hovered over the monstrance casting a purple shadow upon it and as the spotlight touched the golden monstrance, they reflected out in beams throughout the room. Simply beautiful and moving. (The picture is Fr. Luke Strand from the 2009 Youth Rally.)
