Defining Moments

“Great moments are born from great opportunities.” - Herb Brooks

Everyone has moments in their life that they choose to let define them.  For a baseball player it might be the first time they pick up a bat, for a chef it might be the first time Emeril says “BAM!” really it could be anything.  No one has a single defining moment, as we are multifaceted beings, but for me personally I can think of a very specific moment that changed my life and still impacts me to this day.  

I was a very average Catholic growing up, I went to Mass, got my Sacraments done and went to youth group.  My faith was very shallow, but it was what my family did and believed, so that was good enough for me.  There was an opportunity to go on retreat during my junior year of high school and I was very reluctant to go.  It took some convincing from one of the Core team members but I ended up going.  We got there Friday evening and it was mostly social which was fine, I knew most of the people there and we had a good time.  Saturday was when we really dove into the talks and the small group discussions which were good, it just felt like a day long Life Teen night.  We had Mass Saturday evening and were told that there would be an opportunity for Exposition of the Eucharist throughout the night.  I had never really spent much time in adoration and I was still at the place in my life where my Faith felt like I was going through the motions, but it wasn’t really mine and I had my doubts as many people do.  But I decided that I would be an extra kind of guy and volunteered to stay up all night before the altar instead of just picking an hour or two like most people.  I’m not entirely sure why I did it, but the point of the matter is that I did. It was this opportunity that was given to me that gave me one of my defining moments.

It was about 1:30 AM and almost everyone else was asleep. I was sitting in a chair to the left of the altar.  I didn’t really know what I should do in front of the altar or during adoration so I pulled out the Bible my Uncle Dave had given to me many years ago.  When I was in second grade I was going through a bit of a crisis of faith and after my parents had talked to me, my Uncle Dave gave me a study Bible with a note inside.  I was reading the note and got to the lines that he wrote “You’re asking some really great questions about your faith and I’m so proud of you, and you’ve got a God that smiles when he thinks about his boy Drew.”  It was at that point where I looked up to the monstrance holding the Eucharist and I heard very clearly “I am so proud of you, my beloved son.” Everything changed for me at that moment.  I fully believed that this was the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus under the accidents of bread.  This became one of the cornerstones upon which my faith was built.  Throughout high school and college I would seek out time in adoration as a way to calm my nerves and seek time with Christ.  It formed a foundation that allowed me to get through some of the worst times in my life because I could think back to that moment and remember about my God and how He smiles down at me when He thinks about me.  

I bring this particular memory up for two reasons.  The first being the weekend that I write this is the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis where all across the country Catholics are gathering to celebrate this great gift that God has given to us.  The second is during my first session of spiritual direction, I was challenged by my formator to return to this memory that had such a deep impact on me in my school days.  It has been a while since I’ve taken time to go to adoration except in times of turmoil in my life.  He reminded me that we need to look to Christ in both the good times and the bad, to spend time with Him and above all else remember that I am beloved by Him.  

So thank you Uncle Dave for that Bible and message, and thank you to all the Life Teen members for helping make that retreat so memorable.  Please take some time to pray about a defining moment in your life, thank the people who gave you that opportunity and feel free to share in the comments!  

God Bless,

Andrew Kurt