‘Supernatural’ heroes inspire youths to become saints

A participant at the March 3-4 Archdiocesan Youth Rally held at Our Lady of Providence Jr./Sr. High School in Clarksville raises his hands in prayer while joining others in eucharistic adoration. See more photos here

By Katie Berger (Special to The Criterion)

CLARKSVILLE—Just as comic books have superheroes to inspire their readers, so, too, does the Catholic Church have its own “supernatural” heroes to encourage the faithful to stay on course.

These real-life heroes took a path to holiness, but like people of today, stumbled along the way.

That was the main message shared with more than 400 young people who gathered at Our Lady of Providence Jr./Sr. High School in Clarksville on March 3-4 for the annual Archdiocesan High School Youth Rally. (See a photo gallery)

This year’s theme, “The Fantastic Four and Countless Other Supernatural Heroes,” helped teens discover that they, too, could become saints—but only with the help of God.

In addition to the ‘fantastic four” evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—the event also drew the young people to other holy people the Church recognizes. From Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to the archdiocese’s own St. Theodora Guérin, youths were shown examples of real people who were not so different from themselves.

Keynote speaker Matt Smith told the teens that they had to be “uncomfortable” for their faith. Smith, a former MTV star and now spokesman for Life Teen, emphasized through stories from his experiences on MTV shows that the road to sainthood is “messy,” requires being uncomfortable for the sake of Jesus and is only achieved with God’s help.

“So many times in life you want to think you can be bold on your own account,” Smith said. “It is God who inspires us to be bold.

“I’m a very small person with a big God.”

The overnight event gave the youths an opportunity to meet other high school students through socials, speakers and breakout sessions. The teens chose from sessions that ranged from defending the Church through Scripture to Catholic dating to the canonization process of St. Theodora. The sacrament of reconciliation was available to them and they came together for Mass.

In his homily, Father Jonathan Meyer, archdiocesan director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, focused on the transfiguration of Jesus and told the young people that ongoing conversion is necessary to become a saint. There is the recognition that all will fall along the way, he said.

“The transfiguration,” Father Meyer said, “is a daily opportunity to say, ‘God I want to be changed again.’ ”

Like Smith, he emphasized that everyone needs to ask God for this transformation to occur. It will not happen for anyone without the help of God.

“The only way to do it is by his grace and his power and his love,” Father Meyer said.

“We do bold things for faith, and we’re left standing there wondering why things didn’t work out,” Smith said. “And there are other moments when God does things in spite of our stupidity, in spite of our weaknesses, in spite of our sinfulness.”

“It is possible to be a saint here on Earth,” Father Meyer said. “We constantly need to realize that God wants to change us, and he will change us. And we can do it now.” †