ST. LOUIS – As nearly 24,000 young men and women prepared to depart from the SEEK24 conference earlier this month, they were reminded that the world needs them.
The conference, put on by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) from Jan. 1 to Jan. 5, concluded with keynote speeches and a closing Mass. Thousands were sent forth to share their light and spread the good news of Jesus Christ with each person they encounter.
“We are so grateful and humbled to have welcomed nearly 24,000 men and women to SEEK24 in St. Louis,” said Tom Bruner, vice president of formative enterprises at FOCUS. “It was incredible to witness the transformative power of prayer, learning and fellowship rooted in Christ with people from all across the country in this new year.”
“Be the light,” the theme of SEEK24, included a series of keynote speeches, daily Mass, confession, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, fellowship and entertainment. Keynote speeches were broken into five parts: relationship with God, rebellion, reconciliation with Him, re-creation and response.
Forty-four Catholic bishops attended the conference, including Bishop Earl Fernandes. That number was twice as many as last year, and there were hundreds of priests and 450 seminarians on hand.
On the final day of the conference, Catholic evangelist Chris Stefanick spoke about the need for the Gospel. He offered ways to respond to God’s invitation to follow Him by bearing witness to the Gospel.
“God is sending you to remind this world of who they are,” he said.
Stefanick said people often present many reasons for why they feel they cannot speak about Christ with others. He countered their “buts,” or reasons why they feel they cannot share their faith, with a series of reasons why the world needs them to.
Stefanick explained that the Gospel shows people who they are and their purpose, and everyone needs a sense of purpose to be happy. God created each person for eternal joy, he said.
Stefanick reminded the audience that the SEEK conference is not the central event of FOCUS.
“The central event for FOCUS is a Bible study with five kids at it,” he said.
Stefanick said ministry does not take place on a stage, and people often think they need a stage or a platform to share the Gospel with other people.
However, ministry takes place in close proximity. Each person should strive to share Christ’s love with the people closest to them: in their families, with their friends or to students on their campus.
“The stage is wherever you are,” Stefanick said.
He used the example of St. Paul preaching to the prison guards while he was imprisoned. Stefanick said St. Paul probably had dreams of preaching to thousands of people in Roman coliseums, but he was imprisoned.
Regardless, the prison cell was a platform for St. Paul to preach and share the joy of Christ with the prison guards. St. Paul did not let his circumstances prevent him from sharing the Gospel with the people around him.
Many people have a “reverential fear of all the wrong things,” Stefanick said. People fear being judged for sharing their faith or are afraid of how they will appear to others.
Instead, “fear the idea of someone going to Hell and looking at you and saying, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’” Stefanick urged the audience.
He asked those gathered to consider the outcome if they do not share Christ with others.
“What if you don’t say something?” he asked.
Stefanick recognized that many people do not know what to say, or they feel they do not have the right words. He encouraged the audience not to let that fear hold them back. Stefanick said God will show them what to say.
He used the example of his wife’s grandmother, who thought she would go to Hell. As she was dying, Stefanick said he did not know the right words to share the Gospel with her, but he knew he had to say something. He used the story of the good thief in the Gospel of Luke.
“There was a thief crucified next to Jesus,” he said. “He never did anything good, but at the end of his life he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,’ and Jesus said, ‘Today you will be with Me in paradise.’
“I said, ‘That guy went to heaven that day not because of the good he had done but because of what Jesus did for him on the cross. That thief can be you.’”
Stefanick said she was baptized and brought into the Catholic Church the next day. The following day, she died.
Many people do not believe in God or question his existence. They have no hope, and they need to know they were created for a purpose.
“You’re the one with the hope the world needs,” Stefanick said.
He encouraged young men and women to be holy and live their Catholic faith authentically because the world needs that. He offered practical ways to bear witness to the Gospel.
Sharing the faith can be done simply by saying “God bless you” to a cashier at the grocery store, or if someone asks, “How are you?” by saying “blessed” instead of “good.” Stefanick said sharing the faith can also be done by randomly texting a person, “The Lord loves you,” because they likely need to hear it.
“Sharing your faith is not for the elite,” he said.
Holding a crucifix, Stefanick explained that the story of God the Father sending His only Son to die to save people from their sins so they can spend eternity with Him is not a “nice story;” it gives meaning to everything.
“This is not a nice story that fits into our life – this is life,” Stefanick said. “This is what shows us that life is good. This is what shows us who we are. This is what shows us what we are worth.”
He sent the audience forth, urging them to take action and go forth to spread the Gospel, saying, “Two-thirds of God’s name is ‘go.’”
Annie Giovannucci, a student at Ohio State University who attended the SEEK24 conference, said she enjoyed Stefanick’s keynote.
“It’s so true that our stage is wherever we are put in our life, and we don’t necessarily have to have a platform to impact others,” she said.
Evangelizing as a college student on campus can be difficult sometimes, Giovannucci said, but it is worth it.
She said she appreciated the amount of time she had to spend in prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the SEEK conference. She also took advantage of listening to many of the speakers.
Katie Castaneda, who is from Dayton and is a recent college graduate, enjoyed the SEEK24 conference. She said the experience was “very rewarding” for her.
“It really brought me closer to the Lord through different inspirational speakers, and having Mass with 22,000 other people was really moving,” she said.
“It definitely gives a great testament (for) other people outside of SEEK – for me to be able to share what I’ve learned from the different talks and use those tools that I’ve learned through the conference in my everyday life.”
Castaneda said she especially enjoyed the women’s talks. The speakers highlighted the importance of women learning to recognize their identity as a daughter of God and not in their accomplishments or area of work.
At SEEK, Castaneda said she learned how to better lead a Bible study and invite people in, and how she can lead people closer to Christ.
Jacob Daulton, who recently began his role as a FOCUS missionary at Ohio State University, said he enjoyed Stefanick’s talk about witnessing to Christ. He appreciated Stefanick’s “boldness,” which, he said, is encouraging as a missionary.
“Sometimes we get overwhelmed and think we need to be theologians and think that we need to have the Catechism memorized front to back,” he said. “We really just need a witness of love. The only thing, as far as I’m aware, Jesus asked us to be perfect in is love.”
Daulton said SEEK24, his fourth SEEK conference, was transformative for him this year.
“You just feel Jesus working in so many different ways through the people, through the new students, through the talks, through the men’s sessions and even in the uncomfort, just meeting Him there,” he said. “It’s been really good. I couldn’t ask for a better experience.”
As a FOCUS missionary at Ohio State, Daulton said he will primarily work with athletes on campus. He will minister to students on the field, which, he said, can be a place to learn and practice virtue.
Daulton plans to share with athletes how he was transformed at SEEK and continue encountering Christ in the sacraments and Adoration. For students who did not make the trip, he wants them to know they can encounter Jesus, too.
“To be able to share that with them – some of the things I’ll take: the Mass is beautiful here, the liturgy is beautiful, Adoration is beautiful,” he said. “Just to continue to encounter the Lord in Adoration, that’s the plan. It’s the same Jesus back home.”