I love country music and I love Nashville. I love my Catholic faith and I loved hanging out with 10,000 other people who share the same beliefs. I loved getting lost in a hotel that is bigger than most Nebraskan towns. I loved Seek and here are 4 rambling, disconnected lessons I learned in the process.
1. Nebraskans do it better.
Nebraska really is The Good Life. I have 2 reasons why.
First of all, Nebraskans know how to swing dance. When you show up in Nashville, it’s pretty safe to bet that country music will be playing, guitars will appear, and that line dances will occur. Word to the wise, New York and California students are great, but Nebraskans know how to dance.
Secondly, Nebraskans are so blessed with great bishops and strong dioceses. Having Bishop Conley say the opening mass and having UNL bring the biggest group to Nashville was something I took for granted until I began meeting other students from other schools. We don’t really know big of a deal 7 buses full of students is. The Newman Center, the Lincoln diocese, and Nebraska in general is something special.
2. Sometimes waiting in line can change your life.
One of my favorite parts of the conference was actually one of the parts I thought I would dread the most. The eternal confession line. On one side of a large black curtain sat hundred of priests, and on the other side was a winding line of thousands of college students in preparation. I’ll be completely honest in saying that I felt like I was in line for a much-awaited ride at an amusement park. There was so much excitement, fear, nervousness, and emotion in the line, yet as each student left… There was complete peace and happiness.
Just a few hours before confession and adoration started one of my close friends turned to me and said, “Marie, do you realize how many souls are going to change tonight? The fate of someone’s eternal life could be completely altered.” That hit me. We weren’t standing in line for an hour to finally get into the lunch room, to meet our favorite artist, or catch a ride in Disney World. We were waiting to change, to purify, and to improve the state of our eternal souls.
Yet this sacrament is something that I completely take as no big deal. I came into Seek with the impression that the talks would rock my world, but that adoration and confession would be nothing new. Yet every person who I heard asked the question of what their favorite part was had the same response of “Oh yeah, definitely adoration and confession.” Isn’t it weird that something that is available to us every day is what hits us the hardest? You don’t need to wait until Seek 2017, you can change your heart tomorrow.
3. Jesus can answer any and every question.
The theme of Seek 2015 was “What moves you?” That question can be broken down even further into “What do you desire?” “What do you want in life?” and “What gets you through the day?” Those questions all seem super different, super deep, and worst of all, super complicated… but they all can be summed up in one word. Jesus.
We need to stop running and searching and instead let ourselves be found. Christ is seeking for each person. He doesn’t want to steal your desires, dreams, and wishes, he wants to fulfill them through complete happiness. Crazy enough, but He knows the best plans and the most fulfilling design. Find where your heart rests, for this is the cause of your true joy. If these desires are from Christ, ask Him to make them stronger. If these are desires are internal and come from yourself, ask Christ to transform them to a more promising request.
4. Avoid the models and the restrictions. Just live.
The only downfall of living in a big Catholic family, Catholic school, and very Catholic diocese is I see how other people respond to Christ’s love and feel the need to fit the same model. This couldn’t be more of a lie and SEEK was the proof to this lie. We all go through different struggles and have different personalities and therefore are able to bring different people to Christ. There is no mold that a good Catholic has to fit. Catholicism is a religion, a belief, and a truth, it certainly is not a personality.
If you are to become authentically Catholic, then you are becoming authentically yourself. Avoids the molds, models, restrictions, and what the world tells you to fit your personality into. C.S. Lewis said, "How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints.” The saints came from every background, personality, livelihood, and had every talent and trouble in the book. Catholics aren’t meant to be conforming individuals, we are meant to be alive. Stop looking, and start living.
1. Nebraskans do it better.
Nebraska really is The Good Life. I have 2 reasons why.
First of all, Nebraskans know how to swing dance. When you show up in Nashville, it’s pretty safe to bet that country music will be playing, guitars will appear, and that line dances will occur. Word to the wise, New York and California students are great, but Nebraskans know how to dance.
Secondly, Nebraskans are so blessed with great bishops and strong dioceses. Having Bishop Conley say the opening mass and having UNL bring the biggest group to Nashville was something I took for granted until I began meeting other students from other schools. We don’t really know big of a deal 7 buses full of students is. The Newman Center, the Lincoln diocese, and Nebraska in general is something special.
2. Sometimes waiting in line can change your life.
One of my favorite parts of the conference was actually one of the parts I thought I would dread the most. The eternal confession line. On one side of a large black curtain sat hundred of priests, and on the other side was a winding line of thousands of college students in preparation. I’ll be completely honest in saying that I felt like I was in line for a much-awaited ride at an amusement park. There was so much excitement, fear, nervousness, and emotion in the line, yet as each student left… There was complete peace and happiness.
Just a few hours before confession and adoration started one of my close friends turned to me and said, “Marie, do you realize how many souls are going to change tonight? The fate of someone’s eternal life could be completely altered.” That hit me. We weren’t standing in line for an hour to finally get into the lunch room, to meet our favorite artist, or catch a ride in Disney World. We were waiting to change, to purify, and to improve the state of our eternal souls.
Yet this sacrament is something that I completely take as no big deal. I came into Seek with the impression that the talks would rock my world, but that adoration and confession would be nothing new. Yet every person who I heard asked the question of what their favorite part was had the same response of “Oh yeah, definitely adoration and confession.” Isn’t it weird that something that is available to us every day is what hits us the hardest? You don’t need to wait until Seek 2017, you can change your heart tomorrow.
3. Jesus can answer any and every question.
The theme of Seek 2015 was “What moves you?” That question can be broken down even further into “What do you desire?” “What do you want in life?” and “What gets you through the day?” Those questions all seem super different, super deep, and worst of all, super complicated… but they all can be summed up in one word. Jesus.
We need to stop running and searching and instead let ourselves be found. Christ is seeking for each person. He doesn’t want to steal your desires, dreams, and wishes, he wants to fulfill them through complete happiness. Crazy enough, but He knows the best plans and the most fulfilling design. Find where your heart rests, for this is the cause of your true joy. If these desires are from Christ, ask Him to make them stronger. If these are desires are internal and come from yourself, ask Christ to transform them to a more promising request.
4. Avoid the models and the restrictions. Just live.
The only downfall of living in a big Catholic family, Catholic school, and very Catholic diocese is I see how other people respond to Christ’s love and feel the need to fit the same model. This couldn’t be more of a lie and SEEK was the proof to this lie. We all go through different struggles and have different personalities and therefore are able to bring different people to Christ. There is no mold that a good Catholic has to fit. Catholicism is a religion, a belief, and a truth, it certainly is not a personality.
If you are to become authentically Catholic, then you are becoming authentically yourself. Avoids the molds, models, restrictions, and what the world tells you to fit your personality into. C.S. Lewis said, "How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints.” The saints came from every background, personality, livelihood, and had every talent and trouble in the book. Catholics aren’t meant to be conforming individuals, we are meant to be alive. Stop looking, and start living.