Youth shares a soulful, vulnerable thank-you based on an unlikely set of principles
Nolan McCracken shares a moment of joy with his mother Becca and sister Ruby—two of the people that Nolan, in his talk before 15,000 people at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis on Nov. 20, credited with bringing him closer to God. (Submitted photo)
By John Shaughnessy
Getting ready to speak before more than 15,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, 18-year-old Nolan McCracken admitted he was “very nervous” and “humbled” to share what was essentially a soulful, vulnerable and unusual thank-you at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) on Nov. 20.
Yet as he shared his journey of faith with his fellow teenagers from across the country, the senior at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis displayed a steady confidence in thanking God, his mother, his sister, his grandmother and his friends—a thank-you that he tied to the three laws of motion of Sir Isaac Newton, a 17th-century mathematician and physicist.
“My journey with God so far can be understood by using Newton’s three laws of motion,” Nolan told the audience. “Newton’s first law explains that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force. And during middle school and my freshman year of high school, I was most certainly an object at rest—not physically or mentally, but spiritually. I had this desire to be great. However, I wanted to be great for my own sake; to be ranked number one in GPA, to be in the most extracurriculars.
“This required taking time away from religion. I mean, how exactly would God improve my grades or increase my odds of success? My mom and sister went to church every Sunday. And every Sunday when mom asked if I wanted to go, I said no, that I had important work to do. At the same time, my grandma challenged me—to get me to accept or even recognize a perspective other than my own. She attempted to be that external force I needed most. Yet I rejected it, confident in my own ability and pride.”
Then he made a switch to Cathedral High School for his sophomore year “to further develop my academics”—a change that also gradually and dramatically impacted his relationship with God.
“Newton’s second law dictates ‘force equals mass times acceleration,’ ” Nolan continued. “In this new school, I attempted to increase my success—my acceleration—by letting go of what I thought was holding me back: friends, family and a relationship with a God whose face I no longer recognized. But in this new environment, I found faces that mirrored God’s own. There were lives grounded in something, or rather someone, other than themselves.”
‘I began to see that I could rely on God’
Nolan also told his peers he was touched and influenced by watching The Case for Christ in a religion class, a film that captures the faith path of investigative journalist Lee Strobel—“the true story of a man whose wife finds Jesus while he remains confident in his atheism.”
“He decides that he would prove that Christ never existed,” Nolan noted. “However, through all of this investigation and doubt, he discovers the truth and beauty of Christ. Like this man, I began to see the truth and beauty of Christ as reflected in my family and friends. And seeing the power God could have, how he could be an infinite force where mass no longer mattered, I began to accept him.
“I began to attend church with my mom and sister and began to understand where my grandma was coming from. In every all-school Mass, I was able to see the unity of the Mass, of the people, of everything. By participating, I could be a part of a community, a part of a collective witness to love, drawing me in further. However, I was still unsure. Unsure if I could ever accept this external force fully.”
Nolan shared that his full acceptance came during a junior retreat that Cathedral held at the University of Notre Dame in northern Indiana.
“I got to know people whom I had never spoken to nor accepted, thinking myself superior to them,” he recalled. “But when I became open to hearing about the external force God had in their lives, I began to see that I could rely on God—to see that accepting his love wasn’t weakness, it was strength.
“That night, we visited the Grotto, and I lit a candle, humbly asking for God’s external force in my life, knowing that the emotions of a tear-filled happiness and a full, heavy heart were the only signs I needed.”
In his acceptance of “God’s loving and powerful external force,” Nolan saw Newton’s third law of motion come into play in his life.
A life-changing revelation
“Newton’s third law explains that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” he told his fellow teenagers.
“This internal force that I had attempted to maximize was meaningless because the sum of all internal forces is always zero. Now in a beautiful community, I received the most meaningful external force: God, revealed in the hearts of those around me.
“When I was most inert, an object at rest, living each day blind to God’s presence, he remained. He remained in the people that loved me, despite my stubbornness and pride. He remained in my grandma, my religion teacher and my friends. Innumerable people were there for me, acting as extensions of God’s external force. All I needed was to close my eyes and know that I was held.”
That revelation has led him to join the youth group at St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis and to take part in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults program to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter next year.
His journey of faith also led him to take part in the Preach All Ways Initiative at Marian University in Indianapolis, a program designed to help youths and lay adults share their journeys of faith with others, which led him to be chosen to speak at NCYC.
Nolan shared one last message with his fellow teenagers at NCYC, a message he hopes they’ll set in motion in their lives. It’s also a reminder for people of all ages.
“No matter how much or how little you recognize God’s presence in your life, he remains. There. In the background. Waiting for you. No matter how many times you feel that you abandoned God, he remains—the unmovable force fixed on you and happy to welcome you home.
“If you feel you are an object at rest or even moving in the wrong direction, Jesus is there for you. I invite you to accept him, to close your eyes and know that you are held.” †
See more stories from the National Catholic Youth Conference here
