Steubenville Northwest 2016

I just got back on Sunday from an awesome weekend retreat called Steubenville Northwest. It was in Spokane, WA. There are 1200+ Catholic teens that go and we all stayed in the Gonzaga University dorms. The first day, Thursday, our church went to Silverwood, a theme park about a half-hour from Gonzaga. I took on Aftershock five times and went on SpinCycle for the first time. They were both awesome. The actual retreat started on Friday night with Mass and a 30-minute Adoration, along with a speaker. The talks at Steubenville were inspiring and fun. A speaker there named Fr. Leo Patalinghug was everyone's favorite. He is a chef, breakdancer, and priest. Not very common qualities in the same person. He beat Bobby Flay on his TV show. Fr. Leo has a story he likes to tell.
"I con-celebrated Mass with Pope Francis last year. I called up my mom to tell her. Here's the conversation."
Fr. Leo- "Hey mom, guess who I had Mass with? The Pope. He drank off my chalice. I'm not trying to brag, but kinda...(brushes off shoulder) I am."

Mom- "That's wonderful, son. Guess who I had Mass with? Jesus."

"She won."

Saturday is the biggest day. We were at the convention center all day. There is praise and worship, reconciliation, talks, workshops, and small groups. But none of this compares to Saturday night. It started with a great inspiring talk by Ennie Hickman, this year's host. It got us fired up for our faith. Then two hour Adoration started. Fr. Leo processed through every three rows with the monstrance. Everyone had different responses to being face to face with Jesus. Some were weeping, some were staring in awe, some unworthily lowered their heads. For me it was a mix of all three. One minute I was racked with sobs, next minute I couldn't bring myself to look at him because of my sinfulness. Saturday was awesome.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast, packed our bags, went back to the convention center for one last talk, Mass, and worship. Then we left. But I will never forget the wonderful feeling of being in God's presence like on Sunday night.


What now?

I think the real question is, How far is the fire going to spread? Watch out, cause it's coming.