CHRISTpower Manifesto

This summer I went on my third CHRISTpower retreat, a week-long service retreat for high school students in our diocese. We stay at the local high school and each day we attend a different service site, reflect on a different theme, and look for Christ in sometimes unexpected places. This year’s overall theme was Mercy in Action, in conjunction with the Year of Mercy. Each day at Mass while on the retreat one member from each group would describe where they saw Christ that day. As a tribute to everyone I have met through this amazing experience these past few years, especially those I met this year, I have written a manifesto of sorts:

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A Holy Pilgrimage, Part 3

I am at a loss for words over what I have experienced this past week. The president of my high school, Father Jones, told us many times that this was a mission trip of witness rather than service, and that it is just as important. Our main contributions were physical presence and prayer, and though it may not seem like much, I feel in my heart that it was. 

A Holy Pilgrimage, Part 2

Wednesday we traveled to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The purpose of the group going there was to be reminded that all human life is sacred, and that man has power to commit horrible atrocities to fellow man. The museum itself is a beautiful remembrance of something that is so prevalent in human history, but to me it represented so much more.