By Jeff Siedlecki • Posted November 5, 2026

I have spent enough time in Catholic ministry to know that some of the most meaningful things begin with a simple thought. In this case, it began after AbbeyFest 2025.

I attended AbbeyFest the previous year and later found myself looking again at photographs from that day, especially the images of thousands of people gathered in eucharistic adoration. Archbishop Nelson Pérez had celebrated Mass with us and helped lead this gathering into the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

I remember wondering how we might capture something of what that day felt like. More than that, I wondered whether we could somehow return the gift to Archbishop Pérez, giving him something that represented the eucharistic encounter he had helped give to all of us.

That wondering led us to a young artist named Alexander Hauer.

Through my work with Live Vertical, I am blessed to spend a great deal of time with young people in eucharistic adoration.

Our mission is to help young people encounter Jesus Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, and begin a relationship with Him that continues after we leave their school or parish. We use music, Scripture, guided prayer and silence, but ultimately our job is to point toward Jesus and get out of the way.

When we shared the idea with Alex, he began creating what would become “The Flame of Eucharistic Encounter.” At the center is the Eucharist exposed in a monstrance. Below are young people gathered in prayer, holding candles as light falls across their faces.

Alex captured what so many of us have witnessed in adoration, young people becoming still long enough to recognize that they are in the presence of Christ.

As Alex worked, we began bringing the painting into several archdiocesan Catholic high schools that Live Vertical serves, inviting students to add their fingerprints around the frame. We called them “prayer prints.” Students would place a finger in paint, add their print and offer a prayer. Before long there were hundreds.

Some fingerprints were perfect. Some had too much paint. Some were crooked, and others barely showed up. In a funny way, that seemed just about right. None of us arrives before the Lord perfectly either.

I loved watching young people find their print later and show it to their friends. Alex had created the painting, but now hundreds of people had quite literally left their mark on it. Yet through all those fingerprints and individual stories, the center never changed. Jesus remained at the center.

When we returned to AbbeyFest 2026, we brought the painting and had intended to present it to Archbishop Pérez as a personal gift, our way of returning something of the eucharistic experience he had given us the year before.

He met Alex, received the painting and said, “This isn’t just for me. It’s a gift for the whole Archdiocese.” He then suggested that Alex bring the painting to him on stage during his homily so the thousands gathered at AbbeyFest could see it.

Watching Alex standing beside the Archbishop, I realized something had happened that none of us had planned. We had set out to create a gift. Instead, I think we were watching a young man’s gift being recognized by the Church.

That moment came back to me when Pope Leo XIV recently spoke to artists at the Vatican. Reflecting on human creativity in an age increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, he told those gathered that “the Church needs you.” His words made me think immediately of Alex and of all the young people whose fingerprints surround his painting.

There is something special about watching someone create something with their own hands. There are choices and mistakes, frustration and inspiration. There are moments when everything seems to come together and probably plenty when it does not. Behind every brushstroke is a person trying to express something that can be difficult to put into words.

Sacred art has always served the Church in this way. Painting cannot replace prayer or the sacraments. But sacred art can point. It can cause us to stop, look again and turn our attention toward the mystery it represents.

That may be what I love most about Alex’s painting. Ultimately, it does not point toward Alex or Live Vertical. Everyone in the painting is looking in the same direction. We hope every young person we serve will eventually look toward Jesus.

I originally wondered how we might give something back to Archbishop Pérez for the eucharistic experience at AbbeyFest. Looking at the finished painting now, I realize the gift became much larger than I imagined.

It carries the work of a young artist, the prayers of hundreds of people and a reminder that when we encourage the gifts God has placed in young people, beautiful things can happen.

Sometimes all we have to do is give them the canvas.

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Jeff Siedlecki is Area Director for Live Vertical, based in Springfield, Delaware County.