Day of Encounter for College Students

About

Join us for worship, fellowship, service, Mass with Bishop Caggiano, and more!

Keynote Speaker

Sister Susan Francis Graham, ASCJ
“Do not be afraid to let Christ into your life- for He takes nothing from you, but instead gives you everything “ Benedict XVI’s words at his inaugural Mass as Pope in 2005 were meant for me as I began to hear God’s invitation to “leave all and follow Him” as a consecrated religious. I was in college, happy, on the road to success, my life carefully planned out. Friends, my career in pharmacy, and hope for marriage, and a family of my own shaped my future. Faith was central too-my Catholic parents had given me the huge gift of an authentic relationship with God, and a desire to serve Him with the talents He had given me. My family even talked about “discerning your vocation.” But, I had already checked that box-what I knew about “being a nun” came from stories of the saints living the contemplative cloistered life, and I was not interested. As I did not personally know any nuns or sisters, I had stereotyped the religious vocation as a kind of “running away from the world.”

As for myself, I wanted to be engaged with the world, living life to the fullest, so clearly I did not have a vocation. But then I met the Jesuit priests at Creighton University where I was studying pharmacy. The Jesuits witnessed for me how a religious vocation is a gift to the world-their availability to service, their spirituality that grounded the scattered pressures of daily life, their fraternity of supporting each other in prayer and mission-this was a life for others. Now I had ears to hear God’s persistent call, but there were still the things I feared so much to give up-my careful plans for my future, my dreams for marriage, my ideas about how my life would go. Still, God kept calling-in spring flowers and songs on the radio and moments of Eucharistic Adoration. “Do you trust Me? Then give Me your life, and see what plans I have for you." I heard Him say.

Finally, I gave in and searched online for religious communities, started visiting, and realized what joy was waiting for me in belonging totally to Jesus. I came across the website of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and immediately felt my heart stir at the motto from St. Paul: “the Love of Christ Urges Us On!” Yes, this was the love that I had experienced and that was propelling me to a life dedicated to love. By a huge outpouring of grace, my heart refused to settle for less. So, I left my plans, quit the pharmacy program, and entered the Apostles in 2006. God is faithful, and as Pope Benedict said, Christ actually asked me for nothing in comparison with what He continues to give me. With a joy and peace I could only have imagined, I professed perpetual vows as an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2014. God’s ways are not our ways-but they are even better!

Schedule

1 PM: Catechesis & small group discussion
2:30 PM: Service project
3:30 PM: Catechesis & small group discussion
5 PM: Vigil Mass with Bishop Caggiano
6 PM: Dinner with Bishop Caggiano
7:30 PM: Adoration and Confession

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