Hi Readers!

 I am pretty new to the whole blogging scene but I feel that the internet has so many opportunities that I am not taking advantage of.  SO I have decided to start this blog just to share some of my thoughts on life and some of my personal stories.

I wanted this blog to be a testimony to living a Christian (specifically a Catholic) lifestyle as a young adult in today’s world.  What better place to start than with my personal testimony! And away we go:

I am fortunate enough to be a cradle catholic.  For those of you who don’t know what that is, it means that I was born and raised as a catholic along with my 5 siblings.  My mom is catholic and my dad is not, although he attends mass with our family and supports my catholic faith.  I went to catholic school for grades 1-5 and then switched to public education. This transition was the first step in my conscious faith journey.

Growing up in a catholic family and going to a catholic school the only people I knew were catholic; public school was the first time I entered into a world of mixed faiths.  Entering middle school I thought that Catholics and other Christian denominations were basically the same thing, that scientists didn’t believe in God, and as far as Judaism was concerned all I knew is that it existed.  That was it.  I had never encountered differences; I had never examined what it really meant to be catholic or how to defend my beliefs.  Middle school was when I started to question what Catholicism is.

 Like I said my dad isn’t catholic, so I got to ask him what it was in Catholicism that he didn’t believe.  He talked about Catholics’ devotion to Mary and the Saints, the Eucharist, Purgatory etc.  I started thinking about what he said and what I had picked up at school and in the media.  I decided my dad was right about Mary and the saints and purgatory.  The one thing I could not deny myself was the Eucharist.  I knew that Jesus is present in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist kept me catholic. 

Fast-forward to the joys of high school *mild sarcasm*.  Ninth grade is the year that my parish celebrates the sacrament of confirmation.  I did NOT want to be confirmed.  I was still catholic but I wasn’t ready to take responsibility for my faith, I was still unsure.  But, I didn’t want my grandma to have a heart attack.  That was my actual reasoning. I thought, “Yeah I could tell mom and dad I am not ready, I am not getting confirmed” but I could not imagine my grandma’s reaction.  So I figured if I am doing this, I might as well get my answers.  I figured wrong, I had some very well intentioned confirmation class teachers whose answers only drove me further from my faith.  I remember venting to my dad that my teachers didn’t “get it” they didn’t know what Jesus was about.  I know now that they were just women trying to help teens learn about our faith, even if they didn’t have all the answers (who does?). 

With my grandma’s sanity on the line I went ahead with the confirmation and with a final act of rebellion against the church I chose a male saint’s name (Joseph) against the urging of my female teachers.  I still remember the smirk that snuck across the bishop’s face when I announced my name to him at the altar.

 I was blessed in high school with a good group of Christ minded friends.  Yes, we were stupid teenage girls who talked about and thought about things we shouldn’t have but our slumber party conversations always seemed to end with a discussion about God.  Yeah people thought I was cool *sarcasm again*.  I could deal with being seen as a goody goody, in fact it only reinforced my feelings that I was doing the right thing.  I wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t doing drugs, I wasn’t having sex.  That to me was an accomplishment to be proud of, in fact that was the essence of my Facebook status when I had finally finished my last day of high school.  I went to mass every week I followed the rules.  I was a good Christian, so I thought.

 Finally, I got to college after a tear filled car ride.  I was at University of Maryland! I was alone.  I was panicking! Luckily, I was for some reason placed in the College Park Scholars program which housed me in the dorm room right next to my angel, Lisa.  She found out I was catholic and I told her I wanted to get involved with the Catholic Terps on campus.  That was all she needed to know.  She took me under her overly eager wing and ushered me to the “welcome barbeque” put on at the Catholic Student Center.  The Catholic Student Center (CSC) at the University of Maryland has free weekly dinner and mass on Wednesday nights, but welcome nights are actually code for sign-up for our committee nights.  I am pretty sure that Lisa signed every clipboard lining the halls that night, and I followed suit because I had no idea how to say no.

We ended up in a committee meeting THAT night.   Lisa and I sat by while Amy and Zach, the committee chairs, bickered back and forth about something I don’t remember and a whole cast of characters paraded in and out of the room (these characters would end up being some of my best friends).  I was officially on the social committee and that Friday I showed up to help decorate for a dance and ended up bonding with Amy while doing makeup in the Center’s bathroom.

 After that I was hooked on the CSC.  I started showing up to all the events I could and followed Amy around like a lost puppy.  This is where my transformation started to take place.  I joined a bible study which was fun but the real turning point came with a tragedy.  One of my friends from high school, a boy who I quite honestly idolized, passed away.  I had never experienced heartbreak like that before, I decided to attend daily mass the next day for the first time in my life.  I just felt like I had to be with Jesus and I had to pray for my friend’s soul.  I told my brother, Kevin, and to my surprise he and my sister showed up to comfort and support me.

 I had never been to a daily mass before and I didn’t know all of the prayers but that day changed me.  Jesus called me to him.  After that I got serious about getting serious about my faith.  I made an appointment with my Priest Fr.Rob aka Frob.  I had to get answers and he is basically awesome.  We met up after daily mass (which I was now regularly attending) and we walked together as I asked my questions, he gave his answers.  He presented things in a way I had never before encountered.  I understood what he was trying to say, I saw truths in his responses.  His normally goofy demeanor transformed and he was a sensitive, caring, informed, and intelligent source of information and inspiration.  I finally saw that the church did care and did posses truths.  Frob made me feel God’s desire for me in a way I hadn’t experienced before.  I am not just pursuing God, he is pursuing me.  What a revelation.  I started to open myself to things I didn’t understand.  I didn’t have to have all of the answers to believe.  That is what faith is after all.  That was the first in a long line of “God moments” that continue to convert me.  The journey has just begun and I am so excited to share it with you!