Story and photos by Anthony Richards
Lent is a time of reflection and discovering oneself by growing a deeper relationship with God.
For the many of the youth in the Diocese of St. Augustine, they were able to take a large step toward doing just that during the 2026 Diocesan Youth Conference Feb. 20-22.
The weekend-long retreat called DYC XI “Arise” featured an array of outlets in which the God could be felt whether it was listening to inspiring talks from the keynote speakers, hearing praise and worship music from Stella, or working as a team to complete the obstacle course challenges during the recreation block, God’s presence was evident.
“My whole life, I’ve really felt God the most either when I’m surrounded by nature or when I’m singing, which are two of the major things at this retreat, which has been great,” Emma with St. Michael Catholic Church in Fernandina Beach.
Prayer and taking time to be one-on-one with God was a common theme during the retreat.
“I’ve always struggled with prayer in general, so having someone present a structure for how to approach it, really opened my eyes to the fact that it doesn’t have to be complicated,” said Alyssa with San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church in St. Johns. “It’s simple and doesn’t have to be a lot either, as long as it’s just a conversation between you and God.”
One of the speakers was Ali Hoffman, a Catholic evangelist from the Diocese of Dallas, who dove into prayer and its importance in everyday life.
“I think that young people are stronger than they know and they have more influence than they realize,” Hoffman said. “It’s all about getting them to lean into that through the Holy Spirit and God.”
She presented a 30-day walk with Jesus with Bible scriptures to read each day to help kick off that day’s prayer reflection.
“Whenever I was trying to read the Bible before, I never knew where to start, but I feel like this way I’ll know more about what I’m reading, and it can kind of build from there,” Alyssa said.
It was Alyssa’s second time at DYC after taking part last year as well. Her favorite part of the weekend is the time she got to spend in adoration.
“I like the Catholic community the retreat brings together, because everyone wants to be here and be a part of it,” she said.
For Camille with San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church, she had already discovered so much about herself just one day into the weekend.
“The retreat has made me think a lot about my mistakes and how sometimes I end up idolizing and worshipping them in a way, because I focus so much on them and find it hard to let them go and instead just trust in God, which in turn is a way of me putting them before God,” Camille said. “It is something that I will continue to work on with God’s help.”
No matter what age, consistency in one’s prayer life is key so that God remains at the forefront of our decision-making process and so that the strength is there to confront life’s tough times.
However, the chaotic nature of everything going on in the world around us can create busy schedules and make it difficult to pull away to spend time with God, which means establishing consistency with prayer can make all the difference.
“It’s hard because I’m a fulltime student and I’m getting ready to go to college, so I constantly have something going on,” Camille said. “It’s nice to have a guide to prayer and it can go a long way in eventually making it a habit.”
