June 2018 SPECIAL EDITION January 2016 Issue | Seite 6

JANUARY 2016

Here I Am Lord
By Danny Laurent
rd

November 2015 marked my 3 time taking
the pilgrimage to the National Catholic Youth
Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Visitation of Our Lady had 11 participants ranging
from 8th graders to 12th graders, and 4 chaperones.
We departed New Orleans at 8pm and drove all
night to arrive in Indianapolis around 2pm the
following day. It was a fantastic trip!!! Probably
my favorite, even though it was the first time I have
gone to NCYC without my oldest daughter, Haley.
I missed her and, of course, the rest of my family,
but I got to hang out with my kids, my chaperones,
and 25,000 other Catholics. One of the ladies from
the CYO Office commented that she thought it was
the best NCYC she had ever been to in terms of
programming. Since she's been going far longer
than me, I'll take her word for it. It certainly was
the best one I had been to. My favorite part was the
adoration for the general session. I've never been to
an adoration with 25,000 people before, but the
absolute silence was just glorious. I've never
experienced anything like it.
The theme for NCYC this year was “Here I
Am Lord,” which was appropriate for this particular
event. I mean, think about it. When you travel
somewhere. Anywhere. Say you are going to

Disney World. What do you do when you get
there?? Well, if you are staying in a hotel, you
go up to the counter and you say “Hello, we are
here to check in.” In other words, “Here I Am.”
If you are going to family's house and you walk
in, what do you say. Something like “We are
here,” right? Once again, “Here I Am.” We
announce our presence. Not in a boastful way,
but just to let people know that “I am here.”
So 25,000 people at NCYC were saying
“Here I Am, Lord.” But the important thing to
remember is that it's not enough just to say,
“Here I Am, Lord.” We must listen to what God
says after that. All of us left NCYC with
something in our hearts that God put there after
we said “Here I Am.” If we leave Indianapolis
and don't practice what we learned or what God
was trying to teach us, then it was just a long bus
ride. We must act. We must not only say “Here
I Am Lord,” we must also say “Your servant is
listening.”
Really, whether you went to NCYC or
not, it's the same for all of us. We must
constantly be listening for God's will in our
lives. What does God want from us? When you
boil it down to it's bare essence, life is all about
finding what God's will is for us. So w e all must
say “Here I Am Lord. Your servant is
listening.”

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