Anyone who knows me, knows I grew up Catholic. I went to church every Sunday with my family and attended Catholic grade school and high school. I was always pretty invested in my faith and had a desire to grow in it. However, I was the typical kid that didn’t quite understand why we had to go to church every weekend and I didn’t pay attention very often. When I got to high school, I questioned my faith even more. My brothers were in college by this time and weren’t going to church when they were home, however, I still had to because I was living in my parents house full time and wasn’t an adult. I started questioning why I was doing this and started to get frustrated when I had to go to mass on Sundays. So I started going by myself. It was the most “rebellious” thing I could think to do without getting in trouble. It started out as an act of rebellion because I wouldn’t go with my parents. Instead, I would go to 4:30p.m. Mass by myself. It made me feel like I was choosing to go myself instead of my parents telling me to go.

Something started to change over time. When I would sit there in church by myself I would just be in awe of its beauty. The stain glass windows, the statue St. Francis, Mary, and Joseph, the high ceilings, the flowers on the altar. I think the thing that was so special about it was the memories that would come back to me, as I would sit alone in the church. The memories of going to all school mass with my friends, or serving mass with a friend on the altar, or when the priests of the parish would come to our classrooms and answer questions about faith and teach us about the church. I didn’t look at my parish like that until I had time to sit by myself, alone with my thoughts. I started to see things differently. It was almost like that act of “rebellion” was God’s way of revealing Himself to me. I began to want to go to church and invited my friends to go with me as well. It was my conversion in a way. A very small, subtle conversion. Nothing flashy, nothing dramatic. Just a few weeks of sitting alone with my thoughts and receiving the Eucharist.

I have my parish back home to thank for that. I have been going there since I was born. I have received Baptism, First Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation there and I plan to be married in that church one day. I look forward to going to mass with my parents when I am home visiting because my view has changed. Sure, it is still nice to go to mass by myself, but now that I have had the opportunity to see the true meaning of the Eucharist and the little and big things God can do in my life, I want to share in that with others. I didn’t realize it back then but my parish has done nothing but good things for me and my family. The priests there have always been so kind, they are always doing things for others in need, I received my K-8 education there, they are involved in all the retreats the school hosts, and they are so welcoming to anyone who walks in. My family has done a lot through that parish as well. My brothers and I served mass there, my dad currently serves mass there, my mom has been involved in a parish renewal retreat program and has helped out on retreats and has also gone on retreats, and has been a sponsor for a friend that has gone through RCIA (The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), my dad coached several sports through our parish and my mom does children’s liturgy there as well. That parish is where all the huge milestones have happened in my life so far. It is the reason I have met people in Kindergarten that I am still best friends with today. It is the reason I received a Catholic education. It is the parish/school that I played several sports for. It is the place that I absolutely love going to when I come home to visit. Most importantly, it is the place that I truly found God and felt a love that I had never felt before. So I would like to thank my parents for dragging me to church because without their persistency, I don’t know if I would have ever understood the importance of mass. And thank you to my parish because without their consistent love and support, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I have the friends I have now in college because of my involvement with the Catholic Newman Center here at Mizzou. I would not have gotten involved in the Newman Center as much as I am now without the help of my parish and God. Who would have thought that the small act of rebellion would turn in to the greatest thing to ever happen in my life. God has a sense of humor and most importantly, a plan.