Reality

"Hello! Here's our binder."
I gently pushed our paperwork across the counter.
"Saint Peter's?"
"Yes, and we need to register one more."

The receptionist smiled at me briefly and started to flip through the pages.
I quickly sent another prayer up.
Our iSPY youth was in the lobby's far corner, anxious for their T-shirts and eager to join the hundreds of youth from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area milling in the hallways.

The reality was some of these forms were hard to read.
The reality was some of us may not make it through the gate because the paperwork was complex. The reality was it was our group's first participation in a diocesan youth-only event and all of us adults were nervous.

"Saint Peter's?... Here is your bag with the T-shirts, wristbands for dinner, and you can pay for the extra person down that way."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
We were in!

Seven hours later, none of us could say we didn't know the reality of HPV (the most common STD and the most invisible).
Seven hours later, none of us wanted to destroy the purity and mystery of our body because "everyone else was doing it."
Seven hours later, none of us could deny the reality that we were exhausted (we caught one adult chaperone and two youth sleeping during closing Mass on camera)!!!

Like Jason Evert, our keynote speaker shared, purity is the fire that proves love.
If both can stay pure throughout the relationship, it's real love.
Hard to believe, real in its fruits as stats show that those who remain chaste during courting will have a lower 92% of divorce.

Just in case, we forgot this reality, there is a website.
http://www.chastity.com/

And there is God.
And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9)

Purity is a gift.
Why not ask God?

It's Valentine Day.
Wishing you all the gift that opens the Gift.
Purity.

photo: Our iSPY youth group.
Dedicated to all our adult volunteers. It was definitely worth the "craziness"!