NOLA Youth Conference: ‘Trust in the Lord’

by Peter Finney Jr.

By Peter Finney Jr.

Fear is a normal part of a teen’s life, but Katie Prejean McGrady, the keynote speaker at the Sept. 28 NOLA Catholic Youth Conference, told more than 1,000 teens from 60 schools and parish youth groups in the Archdiocese of New Orleans that if they fully place their trust in Christ, they can overcome their anxieties, confusion and past mistakes.

Speaking on the theme of the conference – “Be Not Afraid” – Prejean McGrady, a Catholic radio evangelist from Lake Charles, Louisiana, said St. Peter’s example of walking on the water toward Jesus only to sink when he recognized the power of the wind and the waves is an important lesson for followers of Christ.

Get out of the boat

“If I get to the heart of it, you and I aren’t going to get out of the boat because we don’t fully trust that that’s Jesus standing in front of us,” she said. “How do I not know that it’s not a trick of the eyes? How do I know that Jesus would come to my boat in the middle of this storm? Aren’t there other boats and other storms that he would pay attention to?

“At the root of most of our fears is a lack of trust that Jesus Christ has our good in mind. If there’s one crisis facing your generation right now, it’s not addiction to phones. It’s not the lack of truth in the public square. It’s not that you’re overextended and exhausted by your busy schedules. The thing that’s plaguing your generation is that you don’t feel that you are worthy of love for its own sake.”

Trying to earn God’s love and attention by performing good deeds is a misguided approach, Prejean McGrady said, because when a person inevitably falls short or sins in some area of life, there is the assumption that God might withhold his love, mercy and compassion.

“So many of us think that the only way that anybody would pay attention to us, the only way that anybody says ‘I love you,’ is if I do good things, if I make good grades, if I make my mom and dad proud, if I work really hard in school and my extracurriculars, if I go to the Jesus thing in the gym on Saturday so that people think I’m awesome,” she said. “We think love is conditional – that we have to earn the affection of the creator of the universe. You are lovable simply because you exist.”

Paralysis of guilt

Teens often dwell on their doubts and mistakes and feel ashamed, isolating themselves from Christ.

“Jesus is a big boy – he can take it,” Prejean McGrady said. “He can take that doubt. He can handle that fear. He has something good for you, even if you don’t know it. Sometimes we’re more concerned about the storm than we are about the Jesus Christ who’s able to walk on water to show us the impossible because it is impossible. He’s fully God, so he can do it, but he’s fully man, so he’s defying physics.”

Ultimately, Prejean McGrady said, all believers must place their trust in a God who has been proven trustworthy.

“It’s the lack of trust in the one who’s running toward us,” she said. “This is something you’re going to have to eventually come to understand in your own life. Jesus is not going anywhere! He had a chance to pull himself off that cross. He had the chance to stay in that tomb. He had a chance to avoid that Last Supper. He could have run away from every person who needed healing. But he didn’t. Jesus Christ would do it all again if you were the only person who ever existed.”

Running the wrong way

Prejean McGrady told a story about her 6-year-old daughter Rose, who played soccer for the first time but was upset with herself for not being a better player. She announced to her mother at the end of the season that she didn’t want to play next year.

When pressed for an explanation, Rose said, “Because I haven’t scored a goal. Nobody’s going to want me on the team.”

“My heart broke because, at 6 years old, she really did think the only way she could be on the team again was if she did something to earn a spot,” Prejean McGrady said. “Sure, that eventually comes, when you have to earn a spot, but at 6, everybody gets a chance to play.”

In the final game, the ball popped free and Rose began kicking the ball – toward the wrong goal. When her own goalie told her she was going in the wrong direction, Rose dropped her head.

“My heart was broken and sank into my stomach,” Prejean McGrady said. “And then I got really scared. Were the other kids going to laugh out loud? Finally, (her friend) Mary Katherine walks up to Rose and pulls her into a hug. And then she lets go of Rose, turns her around and says, ‘Run, Rose, run!’ And all those kids, who the entire season have been fighting for the ball like it’s their job, get out of the way and let Rose run to the other side and score a goal.”

Realizing God’s plan

Prejean McGrady said that story illustrates how Catholics can face the human emotion of fear.

“I want you to think about this,” she said. “We’re running. We’re headed toward something in our lives, and sometimes we don’t know in what direction we’re running, and we just go as fast as we can. But part of growing up is realizing that God has a plan for your life, knowing that you are beloved, running hopefully in the right direction toward Jesus.

“Remember that you are loved, that Jesus knows your name and every hair on your head, everything you’ve done – good, bad, ugly and in between – and still loves you. If you’re afraid of his love, your fear is likely rooted in your lack of trust in God.”

Prejean McGrady said her own journey in the Catholic faith began when she had regular discussions with a deacon about things she didn’t understand, and she went on to be confirmed. Then, without having signed up for a Steubenville South youth conference in Alexandria, her grandfather took her to the gathering because he was serving jambalaya to the 3,000 youth who were attending.

Prejean McGrady recalled getting “dropped off” with a youth group from Oakdale, and they listened to a speaker talk about his “friend Jesus.” At the end of the talk, music began and a priest carried in a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament.

“And, the Lord just blew the door down,” Prejean McGrady said. “That was the day I realized Jesus is not an idea or a concept or a cartoon figure or a historical figure. He’s my savior and all those other things. He’s personal, and so dear to my heart.”

Three faith tips

Prejean McGrady suggested three things for teens to do to strengthen their faith: pray; read Scripture, starting with St. Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles; and attend Mass every Sunday.

“Fall in love with Jesus and then go watch the early church before you’ve got yourself the full story,” she said. “Many people have begun to believe that Sunday Mass is optional. It is literally a commandment to complete the Sabbath. It is literally the way we pray by going and receiving the Word of God and receiving the Eucharist in community.”

The day included talks by campus ministry coordinator Colin MacIver of St. Scholastica Academy, confession, adoration and Mass with Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

MacIver said when Pope John Paul II finally returned to Poland for the first time since his election as pope, he greeted thousands by saying, “You are not who they say you are. Let me remind you of who you really are.”

MacIver said it was important for the pope to address that because “we live life with amnesia. We forget who the heck we are and what the heck we’re really doing.”

“You have an identity as a son or daughter of God, and he is calling you to a quest and an adventure that is more real than (fictional) stories,” MacIver said.

[email protected]