Hello, my name is Maria McDowell. I am 16 years old and I attend Ursuline Academy for high school. I attended IHM all throughout elementary and middle school, as well as being my parish.
This summer I attended Damascus summer camp in Maryland, at Summit Lake campground. Though, I have been attending these camps for a total of five years now it was my first at Damascus and truly the most life changing thus far. I want to encourage others to attend, therefore I would like to share my spiritual encounters.
It has become increasingly difficult for the youth of the church to find peace amidst the worldly temptations put at our fingertips.
Places like retreats and camps provide an opportunity to step away from the pressures of society and have a quiet place to encounter the Lord in a new way. That being said, we truly never know when God and the Holy Spirit will enter our hearts but engaging in such a large community of faithful followers saying, “come Holy Spirit,” it is evident that we have opened our hearts to his presence.
I can confidently say that my personal experience at Camp Damascus has been life changing in ways that are unfathomable.
For starters, confession was something that I never fully understood. I knew the importance, but I did not understand the interaction that I was having with the Lord. As everybody does, I carried burdens that needed to be brought before him, because I discovered that even the smallest sins going unaddressed can become the heaviest weight.
During my confession, I felt an overwhelming wave of feelings, something more than I’d ever known. In that moment I saw the Lord reach out, grab my hands and smile. To be embraced by the Lord in such a personal way, was beyond comfort. After that, it became increasingly easy for me to visually see the works that the Lord had instilled into people and the strengths that they carry given from him.
As I said, you truly never know when the Holy Spirit will enter your life and change it. As a 16-year-old in the church I have been veiling for almost a year, receive on the tongue and make an effort to attend adoration or daily Mass, whenever I am able.
This opportunity at Damascus, reinforces the truth of the love and presence of God that are ever so present, therefore being a constant reminder of the calling that the Lord sends to us constantly. To bring us to his feet, so that he may heal us.
