[Forty kids and twenty adults went camping in June for the annual Knights Summer Vacation. The Knights are middle school students who share life following the charism of CL. Below, a father who went with his daughter shares what he saw.]

What is a promise?
Who is the promise with?
How is a promise made?

Unsure of the answers to these salient life questions? Then ask the kids who attended this year’s Knights Summer Camping Trip near Oakland, Maryland. They’ll probably confuse you at first, relating the concept to trees. Yes, that’s right, trees.

What is a tree?
When is a tree a tree?
How is a tree made?

But then they might connect it to who we are. More than just a camping trip with friends in a beautiful forest. More than great songs and meals prepared by others who love and care for us. More than oak, pine, and elm trees that didn’t plant themselves or the forest they live in. That it doesn’t really matter exactly when a seed or a sapling becomes a tree - we couldn’t agree on that point anyways - but that God recognizes exactly who and what we are.

Sure, we went on a beautiful hike through the woods in silence amongst friends, but was that it?

Fr. Roberto continuously challenged all of us, especially the kids, to ask these questions during our short three days together. Helping us to go beyond the surface to see the true reality before us. For example, Father asked the kids, “what does God have to do with us?” The answer that emerged: “He lights our path so we can recognize it!”

All of this was to help each of us recognize and know something about ourselves. To realize and see that an answer lies in the heart of every one of us. Because, as Fr. Roberto said, “There is a battle ahead. And this camping trip is the beginning of a relationship to help you figure this out. Then you will have a bit of certainty.”

Dustin, Greenville, SC