Nearly 200 young adults from across the diocese gathered to celebrate the Easter octave, or first week of Easter, at EXALT at the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria April 9.
EXALT is a night of praise and worship adoration, organized by the diocesan Office of Youth Campus and Young Adult Ministries, and held regularly throughout the year. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge joined the young adults for the April 9 adoration, and urged them to pray for peace. Amid recent violent events, including the war in Iran, “Pope Leo has asked all of us throughout these sacred days to make that a special intention, that the Lord will bring an end to war and violence, so that we may live in harmony together,” he said. “So, dear friends, in the time that we have this evening, let’s be united in that special prayer intention.”
He quoted St. Augustine, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you,” and encouraged the young adults to open their hearts to God. Whenever we turn to God in this way, “there is never a void. The Lord always enters. We give him that space,” he said.
But Bishop Burbidge gave young adults a charge: Never compromise your faith. “Let others see and hear the joy that is yours in loving and serving the Lord and having an intimate relationship with him. You are his witnesses when you never compromise those baptismal promises renewed on Easter,” he said. “Even when others, maybe at work or even in our own families, make it difficult to speak about our faith and to live our faith — don’t compromise. Be his witnesses.”
Following an hour of praise and worship music, intermingled with periods of silence, young adults made their way to the Basilica Lyceum for a reception.
Young adults came from near and far. “I’ve always wanted to go to an EXALT event, and I felt like if there was one to go to, it would be this one, since the bishop was here,” said Emmanuel Vergez, a parishioner in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. “In the modern day and age, it’s just hard to find other Catholics our age, since everything’s been so (secularized). So, with events like these, it makes it a lot easier to meet other people, new friends.”
A large group of young adults traveled from St. Thomas à Becket Church in Reston. “We thought it would be a great way to celebrate Easter and meet a bunch of young people,” said Alexandra Dauchess. “I’ve been reading all week stories in The New York Times about the big revival happening in the church right now. There’s so many young people coming back to the faith, back to God. And I think it’s no more apparent than in our diocese, and there’s so many young people.”
The event attracted Catholics new to the region as well. Carly Moran moved to Alexandria three months ago and attends the Basilica of St. Mary. “It’s just been a great outlet for me to find community,” she said. As a young working adult, she said it’s become harder for young adults to find “third spaces” to meet and mingle outside of home and work. “Especially as work becomes more digitized and a lot of us as young adults live alone or just with a roommate or two, it’s really hard to find new people,” she said. “Events like this are really needed to bring us together.”
Donofrio can be reached at [email protected].
