As February and March roll around every year, STA Youth prepares for two of our most exciting and fruitful high school school events. This year, 15 of our teens attended the Diocesean Youth Conference in Richmond over a weekend in the middle of February. I always find this event to be particularly inspiring as an adult since I get the chance to see hundreds of young people from all over our Diocese come together with the shared goal of growing in their faith. Just a few weeks later, 24 teens and 6 adults gathered in Scottsville for our annual high school retreat. Even as the rain came down on our opening night, spirits were high as our teens spent an entire weekend stepping back from the chaos of daily life and re-focusing on God. The highlight of the retreat was on Saturday night when every single teen signed up to keep vigil with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament at various times throughout the night. Watching a group of young men and women wake up at 2 AM, walk across a cold and damp campground, and pray together never fails to move me. In total, our group aggregated over 54 hours of all-night Eucharistic adoration!

The theme of our year at STA Youth has been “Presence.” From our Core Team of volunteers who volunteer their time to multiple opportunities for adoration, this idea has permeated almost all of our events and nights this year. As you read on, you will hear from Peter Mierzejewski and Maddie Parham, two students who attended these events and serve as student leaders. Having had the pleasure of knowing both of these teens for multiple years now, I think their consistent example to their peers underscores this year’s theme and I could not be happier to introduce both of them to you (nor more proud of how they bravely live out their faiths). I hope that you draw as much as I have from their insights about DYC and Winter Retreat.

JMJ,

Reed Golomb 

Hello! My name is Peter Mierzejewski and I am a 17-year-old high school student who has been a part of the leadership program at Saint Thomas for two years now. This has been my third year going to the Diocesan Youth Conference (DYC) and I can not speak more highly of it. If you don’t know what DYC is, here is a brief overview. DYC is a youth conference, where over 700 high schoolers from all across the Richmond Diocese get together to grow in their faith and have fun doing it. DYC has had a tangible impact on my faith year to year. Every year I go I get to participate in several fun activities from inflatables to Olympic-themed games.

    But besides the inflatables, why do I return year after year? In essence, the faith formation component of the event follows a different theme each year. This year's theme was Courage. We were given many different examples and ways to be courageous about our faith via talks and small group conversations. One talk that stuck out to me was from Michael Gormley who spoke about a run-in with a Jehovah's Witness. The way he blended compassionate evangelization with knowledge of the faith struck me as an area in which I want to grow.

What is the source and summit of our faith? The Eucharist. So Saturday and Sunday we got to receive the Holy Sacrament in the Mass. I can’t think of a better way to live this out than to be in a community with 700 other teens all kindled with the faith ablaze. But we did not only go to Mass but prayed with the Bishop in eucharistic adoration on Saturday night. I have never seen anything like it. We went from screaming our heads off while playing a game to dead silence in anticipation of our Lord. As the band plays worship music and as the Eucharist passes before me each year, I have the same thought, this is a true glimpse of heaven. 

    So what are my big takeaways? First, never back down from your faith, and don’t let others tell you otherwise. Secondly, I attended a talk on how to avoid stress. One takeaway from that is sometimes it's not how much stuff we allow ourselves to do, it's more about how we manage our time. Finally, on Saturday morning a religious sister gave a morning prayer talk on Saint John Paul II. After she was introduced by two St.Thomas Aquinas teens, she got up on a chair, unplugged the microphone, and said “I think you all can hear me okay.” At that moment I thought to myself, that’s courage. Since that talk (to this day) an alarm goes off on my phone every day at 3 pm which reminds me to say five short, yet powerful words: Jesus, I trust in you.

- Peter Mierzejewski

Hello! I am Maddie Parham and I am a rising college freshman. I am also a member of the Lifeteen Discipleship Team here at St. Thomas Aquinas. Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to go on my last-ever high school retreat with Lifeteen at Watermarks Camp. The weekend was filled with a variety of games, talks, and engagement with the sacraments. When I first arrived at the camp, I was taken aback at how gray the weather was. Rain was drizzling, the sky was cloudy, and I thought to myself, “This won’t be good However, my pessimistic thoughts were quickly shattered as I stepped into the makeshift chapel and began to help set up. Everyone was so cheery and filled with energy as we got ready that I couldn’t help but feel my spirits lift. Soon, more people were pouring in and getting settled in the cabins. The next thing I knew, we were all at dinner in the dining hall and I was chatting away with my small group. I am really thankful for that first meal as a group because it helped me become more comfortable with my peers before jumping into a discussion. Afterward, everyone on retreat went upstairs and we dove into a series of mini-games that all required team effort. At the end of each game, there would be questions tying what we had done back to the faith. Following these would be a student-led discussion as we all chimed in with our thoughts. I think this really great activity because each time we completed a challenge I felt like we as a group loosened up a bit more and became more relaxed with each other. This time seemed crucial to me as it set the tone for the rest of the retreat and when we eventually left we did so feeling closer than before and ready to engage in our first talk. 

From this point on retreat was fantastic! During Reed’s various talks, I felt inspired as he explained to us how important authenticity with ourselves was and how we need to self-reflect and see ourselves the way that God sees us. This was really eye-opening for me as I thought about my strengths and weaknesses through that lens. It aided me in seeing what good I have to offer God and what I need to surrender to Him. It was also cool for me to learn about the three degrees of humility which resulted in Reed helping us understand how, as we grow in our faith, we should desire dishonor, poverty, and even seeming like a fool if it’s for God because that’s the way Christ was. I was able to take all this in during the powerful silent time we were given on the second day to go to confession and walk around the forest and lake in quiet reflection. I think this was by far the most beneficial time for me during the retreat. I spent the first thirty minutes in prayer as I strolled around the water and then journaled during the wait in the confession line. After some great advice from Fr. Walter, I spent the rest of the time in solitude as I walked around. With all the silence and prayer I felt much closer to God than I have in a while. 

The whole experience helped me discover that I feel God’s presence very strongly in nature. The experience concluded with all-night adoration, Mass, and a final talk. I was struck by how grateful I was to have been able to attend. My last high school retreat was phenomenal and I hope it will continue to be for others.

    - Maddie Parham