I have been to many youth events throughout my life. I think part of me was not having expectations. I probably assumed I wasn’t going to see anything I hadn’t seen. However, I was genuinely impressed. It was a new experience for me.

The general sessions were captivating, and the liturgies were beautiful. At the last session, a friend of mine who has been a youth minister and a teacher for many years turned to me and said, “This is the Church!” She read my mind.

I don’t know at what point the event started to speak to the adults, but they, too, became ” like children…” That was unexpected.

As an artist… I was a bit unsure of what I was invited to do. Honestly, I was left with many questions when Robert asked me to do the 2023 illustrations. I wasn’t able to go last year, so this year, I was still unsure what the role of the artwork was.

As an illustrator, my work never impresses me, mostly because of the long process behind each illustration; my mind is constantly revising them. My eyes get used, and eventually, they become very familiar. Hearing people’s compliments is quite odd; they see what the artist cannot see. However, the Stations of the Cross caught me off guard. I think I saw my work the way others see it. The mariachi, the prayers, the environment, and the simplified postures of Jesus through the stations touched me. The display of the transfiguration was amusing, too. I think this illustration became my favorite after NCYC. The funny thing is that I spotted a mistake I made… How was that possible? I had to laugh at it.