photo courtesy of John Caulfie Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston – Houston addresses teens assembled in the Sprint Center.

Angrisano sang and talked until it was time for the keynote address, delivered by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of the Diocese of Galveston –Houston, and Brian Johnson, his Director of Youth Ministry. 

Cardinal DiNardo asked the teens, “Where does Jesus live? He doesn’t answer to an address on San Jacinto Drive in Houston. Jesus abides with his Abba, his daddy, his Father. There are many houses in his home, and he wants all of you, and me, to be branches of the vine.”

He repeated the Gospel story of the loaves and the fishes, commenting that when Jesus asked the disciples to feed the multitude, they whined that all they had were a few loaves of bread and some fish a boy had in a basket.

“The disciples had the right to whine, and Jesus answered that whine: Just give me what you have and I’ll do the rest.

To us, the cardinal said, “Jesus is the Bread of Life. He said it himself, ‘The Bread that I will give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world.’

The words Jesus used were graphic Greek, Cardinal DiNardo said. Translated literally, they meant, “eating flesh,” an idea that was intolerable to the people of his time. So, they left him.

“Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Will you leave me, too?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord you have the words of everlasting life. Where would we go?’”

The cardinal urged the teens to intimacy with God through the Eucharist. Abiding with God by attending the Eucharistic table of the Lord. There is no intimacy like it, he said. “In the Eucharist, we become one with Jesus.”

He suggested they go to confession frequently, and talk to God, asking forgiveness often. “Two words melt the Father,” he said. “Those two words are ‘I’m sorry.’”

Following Cardinal DiNardo, Brian Johnson told a story about a stay in the hospital during Hurricane Ike, “Who came roaring in looking for Tina.” He was overlooked in the general melee of evacuation, so he got out of bed, grabbed his IV stand and went on his own.

“The Christ in us call for us to get up and do something, not just lie there waiting for someone else to do it for us,” he said. “Our God is a God of second chances, over and over and over again.

“It’s not enough to come to this weekend and act crazy and go ‘Wooooooooooo!’” he said. “We need to be the hands of Christ in our world.”

The Young Church in the United States knows how to put Christ in action, he said. “You have to walk the walk. It’s not enough just to talk it. As Bishop Finn said, we’re called to adore at all times. Don’t hold Christ in. Share him; give Christ to others. That is the Eucharist.”

He suggested, “Sit and be still, and know Christ reigns.”

He then began to sing, “Veni Creator Spiritus, slowly encouraging 21,000 teens to join him. Dressed in gold and burgundy vestments, Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan, the two host dioceses, climbed the ramp to the stage, accompanied by several priests, deacons and seminarians. Deacon Justin McMenamy read the Road to Emmaus, from the Gospel of Luke: “’Were not our hearts burning within us … he was made known to us in the breaking of the bread.’” The Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the altar, the monstrance gleaming and flashing in the flickering light of the candles. Images of the monstrance filled the video screens hanging from the ceiling and the floor level TV monitors. While the prelates, priests and deacons knelt in prayer before the altar, teenagers bowed their heads or knelt on the floor, if they had room to. Within a few moments, the huge arena was silent, except for muted singing from the “animators.”  After a time of silent prayer, the prelates rose and Archbishop Naumann lifted the monstrance. The Knights of Columbus led the clergy off the stage; Bishop Finn in burgundy and gold, Archbishop Naumann wearing similar vestments with a gold humeral veil covering his surplice and mantle, holding the Blessed Sacrament in the flashing gold monstrance followed them.

With the prelates and priests in the forefront, a procession formed. Teens and adults left the Sprint Center, still quiet. The weather was beautiful, cool with misty sunshine. As they walked, arms waved in the air; kids began singing and praying as they took photos of the first ever NCYC Eucharistic procession. A girl talked on her cell phone: “It’s awesome. I love you, Mom.”

Groups of teens prayed, swaying as they walked. Bystanders watched, smiling. Many of the teenage delegates wore silly hats: cows, lambs, crowns and cheese, denoting something about their home diocese.

Bishop Finn and Archbishop Naumann led the procession of priests, seminarians, religious and teenagers out of the arena, around the rear of the Sprint Center and onto 14th Street. More than 21,000 people walked from the Sprint Center on Grand Avenue to the H. Roe Bartle Convention Center on Wyandotte, where an adoration chapel had been set up. Teens sang and prayed, holding hands. Bystanders smiled. The weather was beautiful: misty sunshine and pleasantly cool.

Bishop Finn and Archbishop Naumann entered the convention center while teenagers were still exiting Sprint Center. Getting into the convention center was difficult due to the crowds; getting into the adoration chapel was next to impossible. But, as Bishop Finn had told the teenagers during the opening liturgy the night before, “We’re called to adore all the time.”

END