"I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6
The bustling streets of Baltimore greeted us as we rolled into the East-coast harbor city, bleary-eyed from an 18-hour bus ride across much of the Midwest. From my seat near the front of the bus, I looked back at our eight Winona State students and fifteen Minnesota State- Mankato students (who made the journey with us) peering out the windows at the tall buildings and shops, gathering their pillows and blankets from a nights' sleep on stiff seats and cold floors, and excitedly chatting with the new friends they made on the journey.
As we pulled up to the coastal Hyatt Regency hotel, unloaded our bags, and walked through the doors, the sound of nearly 1,000 Catholic college students, missionaries, priests, religious sisters and brothers, and benefactors greeted our ears. What followed was weekend full of inspirational and educational talks, time for prayer, catching up with old friends, building new friendships, and (most importantly) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Our eight WSU students grew immensely over the three days in confidence, zeal, and strength in their faith and the passion to share it with others. The Student Leadership Summit deeply planted roots in our students (and the 1,000 others that were there from the 60 FOCUS campuses across the country) that will continue to grow and flourish throughout this semester and beyond. Our hope and prayer is that our students will allow God to complete the good work He has begun in them and truly set our campus and FOCUS campuses across the country on fire with love for Him.
The Summit concluded last Monday, January 23rd with an hour's journey up to our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life, which strives to bring peace, prayers, and change to the legislature in our country that is against all forms of respecting life. The March was very peaceful and powerful for our students and missionaries alike. It was a rainy day as we marched up Capitol Hill, but any discomfort we had was offered up for the millions of lives lost due to abortion and for the women and men suffering from the pain of past abortions.
16 hours later, we arrived back in Winona, and though tired from the full weekend, we all definitely had a renewed zeal, passion, and love for Christ and His people. Below are some pictures from the weekend.
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| Sunday Mass at the Summit-- with Cardinal George (from Chicago), Bishop Quinn (from Winona), and Bishop Cody (from Connecticut) as celebrants |
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| Some of our WSU students with our new FOCUS missionary, Aaron |
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WSU students and Mankato students sharing stories with Bishop Quinn from Winona
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| Out at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore one night |
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| Winona State University- FOCUS Summit 2012 and March for Life (our whole group) |
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Marching for the beauty, dignity, and sanctity of life
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