Ordo Praedicatorum

Tennesses Register Article by Catherine Spears

Christ was present to the youth of the Nashville Diocese in the form of the Blessed Sacrament, and the youth of the diocese were present to Christ in adoration this past weekend at the Teens With Christ Conference held on the Dominican Campus.
The conference, themed “Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet and a Light Unto My Path,” focused on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. More than 150 youth in attendance spent time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in small group discussions, listening to speakers and attending the two Masses celebrated by Bishop David Choby. “The Holy Spirit is going to run wild through this place,” Brother James Cuddy, O.P., from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C., told the youth. “You are not here by accident. Why are you here though? I don’t know. The reason is different for each and every one of you but Christ himself invites you. He calls you.”

“If we really knew how much God
loves us all, we would literally die of
joy,” Cuddy said in his second speech,
“We can never love Jesus enough, but
even the desire to desire to love Him
more is a gift from God.”
“I hate to break this to you, but God
does not need you,” Cuddy said, “God
is not sitting up there in heaven thinking,
I am so lonely with Jesus and
the Holy Spirit that I will create this
person. It is out of sheer love that God
created us all.”
Cuddy encouraged the youth to
regain the sense of wonder over the
miracle of the Eucharist that can so
easily be lost in the monotony of daily
life. He asked the youth to concentrate
on the consecration and the actual
transformation that occurs when Jesus
gives us His body, blood, soul and divinity
in the Eucharist.
Teens also had the opportunity to
share in small groups and to receive
the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The
night concluded with the procession
of the Blessed Sacrament. The youth
then had the opportunity to attend all
night adoration.
“It was an awesome conference,” said
Carmen Kornau, an eighth grader from
St. Ignatius Church in Antioch. “When
they brought the Eucharist around,
that was amazing. I’ve never felt that
way before and I really feel like I came
closer to God this weekend.”
“It was amazing to see this many
youth turn out for the weekend of adoration,”
diocesan seminarian Buddy
Shea said. “It is an amazing response.”
“This retreat is a great gift to the
youth because it reminds them of the
great gift of the Eucharist,” said Sister
Thomas Aquinas, O.P., president
of Aquinas College and one of the
sponsors of the overnight retreat for
eighth, ninth and 10th graders. “But
it is also a gift to all of us who put together
the retreat because it reminds
us what a great gift the youth are to all
of us and to the Church.”
“I thought it was a wonderful weekend,”
Bishop Choby said. “I was there
for both Masses and it seemed like the
teen-agers really enjoyed the weekend
and got a lot out of it.”
Teens With Christ is an annual retreat
held in October hosted by the Dominican
Campus and the Diocese of Nashville
and is open to all eighth through
10th graders in the Diocese.

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