Inspiration & Apathy

* Note: This was part of a blog I wrote for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2008 *

            Apathy can be one of the most discouraging things that we face as priests and seminarians. Our hearts are so consumed with the love of God that we don’t understand why the rest of the world isn’t inflamed with the same madness. And yet, the desire is there…the desire to know and love the Lord, if only we know where to look and how to approach it…

            I just got back from a week-long Work Camp in Binghamton, NY. It was a great week – the weather was beautiful, the job was interesting and challenging, and our accommodations were, well, stinky (in fact they stank so much that one night some of the boys thought it would be a good idea to put an entire bottle of baby powder in a fan and turn it on, to improve the smell…of course as we were hacking and coughing as our lungs dried out (for baby powder was never meant to be airborne) and a thin layer of white dust settled over everything, we began to think that perhaps that wasn’t the greatest idea ever).

            And yet the best part of that week was seeing how grace was moving in the hearts of these teens. A few examples:

            We had a “prayer wall” where people wrote down their prayers on a big sheet of paper that covered the wall. Usually people would walk right by it, maybe say a quick prayer, but usually ignore it. Well, one of our boys decided that every night he would say a Hail Mary, on his knees, for each of the prayers on the prayer wall. So there he was, for forty-five minutes, kneeling in front of the prayer wall, praying a Hail Mary for every single intention on the wall. He didn’t care what everyone else was thinking – he had a heart after the Heart of Christ.

            On the first night, I was going to pray the Rosary while walking, so I decided to invite anyone who wanted to come and join me. We had six people that night. Not bad, I thought. Good to see that at least a few of these kids enjoyed the Rosary. Well, the next night that number doubled…and then tripled the night after that. By the final evening, we had thirty of our high-school teens walking in a huge group in the dark on an empty football field, praying the Rosary. How cool is that!

            We also had Mass offered twice while we were there. While it was completely optional, ten kids showed up, along with all of the adult chaperones! I was blown away! Wow, what a hunger for God.

            Every night we would have late-night discussions in our room (which held about 25 guys – hence, the stink). What do you think teenage guys would want to discuss – girls, or sports, or cars? How about theology and philosophy? Every night we would have these deep discussions about whether or not God exists, how can we prove that there is a Heaven, who our favorite saints were, what God’s grace was doing in our lives, and the like. I’ve never seen so many teens so longing for truth! It was inspiring and really cool.

            I had been a little bit bummed coming into that week, frustrated at the apathy that was so present in the parish, feeling like nothing could be done to set hearts ablaze. But I left that week with renewed vigor, realizing that these teens really did care about God and about eternal realities. How good God’s grace is!