By the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

Praised be Jesus Christ! We had the joy of attending the youth Mass, which was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the USCCB. We returned to our volunteering stations, ready for another day of blessings and graces.

The morning session began with a panel of 4 lay men speaking about how to step into this new apostolic age by investing in relationships with lay Catholics and strengthening them to go into the world to make disciples. The panel was immediately followed by a very moving reflection from Bishop Cozzens about the difference between fruitfulness and effectiveness. Through his own personal testimony, he emphasized the truth that it is precisely where we fall short of the ideal we are striving after that Christ’s Paschal Mystery becomes a reality in our lives. When we acknowledge and surrender our poverty and brokenness to the Lord, then God begins to bear the fruit he desires. Bishop Barron spoke beautifully on his relationship with the Lord in the Eucharist followed by a holy hour for priests.

Also, the designated adoration chapel has remained full since the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on Wednesday. On Friday, Sister Mary Joseph and sisters lead the adorers in a holy hour with reflections. God reward you, Sisters for this beautiful service! Along with the adoration chapel being standing room only, the lines for confession are very, very long. The confession lines were non-stop all day with penitents standing in line for over an hour. 72 confessional stations were set up and these were all filled with priests. Our team helped direct penitents to open stations with airline traffic control wands and helped to keep the line cued and moving. The sisters passed out examination of conscience cards and advertising confession.

The spirit of everyone is filled with joy. The convention center has been a place of PRAYER and GRACE. One employee shared that he had never seen 50,000 people at the convention center for a non-sporting event. His duties allow him to listen to the talks. He commented on Fr. Mike Schmitz’ conference, “I really liked the guy who spoke last night, he was really good!” We continued meeting friends and new people throughout the day! Sister Carmen Therese visited with St. Teresa of Avila: “You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.” In our adventures for dinner, we were in line for dinner at Fr. Leo’s food truck. He was so popular that he ran out of food.

We ended the evening at the Lucas Oil Stadium with was praise and worship, and testimonies of people who powerfully experienced healing graces from Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Afterwards, Sr. Josephine, from the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth also shared about her own struggles and woundedness which continues to lead her to rely on Jesus and his steadfast promises. There was a strong theme in the talks of the last two nights: a revival involves a love for the Eucharist AND our personal repentance for losing our “first love.” Sister Josephine exhorted each of us- bishops, priests, religious, families, and single people- to repent in the spirit of joy and hope because God is a good Father who keeps his promises. The evening ended with a procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament throughout the stadium and music by Vigil Project.