Serra Club Vocations Essay

Family, school and parish nurture student’s love of the Eucharist

(Editor’s note: The Indianapolis Serra Club’s annual John D. Kelley Vocations Essay Contest ordinarily awards prizes each spring to winning essayists in grades 7-12 in the archdiocese. This week, have the winning entry in the 11th grade.)
 

By Maya Skartvedt (Special to The Criterion)

Having a parish, school and family life that demonstrates the importance of the Eucharist is necessary for young people to understand the true presence of Jesus.

A family that encourages this importance helps set a good example for young people to see how knowing Jesus in his true presence leads to a holy and successful life. At school, seeing other classmates and teachers experiencing the Eucharist encourages young people to explore the true presence in their own lives. A strong parish that urges their members to further their faith through time with the Eucharist shows people how their call to holiness is simple and right in front of their faces.

I have benefited in many ways thanks to my family, school and parish to be able to hear God calling me to holiness. For me, my parish, school and family have all had a part in helping me learn of the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and how important it is to my call to holiness.

In my family, we receive the Eucharist together weekly. Being able to see my parents act so reverently toward the Eucharist encourages me to do the same. I have even felt so called to become an extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

At school, we have the opportunity to receive the true presence of Jesus bi-weekly all together. Seeing each of my classmates, teachers and faculty in such awe of the Eucharist helps me to know that I am called to holiness.

Most of all, I have benefited from my participation in parishes in being able to experience God’s love so personally. On a parish retreat, I had the most incredible night of my life as I spent time kneeling and crying in the presence of Christ in the holy Eucharist. It was a feeling I had never felt before. I felt so close to God as if he was a centimeter away from me, calling me to him.

I felt so loved by all 40 of the high school students in the church that night. Although I had just met a few of them the night before, I felt so close to them since we got to share this experience together. It was one of those moments where you are crying, but you are not exactly sure why.

One moment I could tell they were tears of joy, but the next moment they were tears of sadness that it had taken me so long to realize how Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist. It was truly a life-changing experience that is very difficult to find in this world.

I will be forever grateful for this experience. It has made me so much stronger in my faith. I have been renewed in my faith through the true presence. It has made me understand that, through the Eucharist, God is not far away. He is right before me, wanting me to realize his love for me.

As I have been so blessed by my family, parish and school to deepen my faith through the Eucharist, I hope that I can have the opportunity to help others in the same way.
 

(Maya and her parents, Kevin and Erin Skartvedt, are members of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis. She recently completed the 11th grade at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis and is the 11th-grade division winner in the Indianapolis Serra Club’s 2024 John D. Kelley Vocations Essay Contest.) †