After a year spent in the company of so many peers who cherish and nurture their faith, I realized I had forgotten something. I had forgotten how lonely the journey of faith can be at times.
It is often unpopular amongst our peers to take faith seriously. I wonder if this aversion stems from the discipline required to grow. How easy is it to avoid responsibility when you never claim it or nurture a relationship if you don’t even know it exists? Originally, upon reflection, I didn’t believe I had the ability to answer the aforementioned questions, but as time has passed it has been made apparent to me that I was quite mistaken.
Although I have never denied the truth at the heart of faith, I too have had my doubts and lapses in practice. It is true I do not know what it is like to call yourself an atheist or agnostic, but I do have some understanding, however small, of what it means to be Catholic. It is the choice to accept and nurture a relationship with God, Our Father, in spite of inconvenience or doubt. There is no doubt that this road is challenging, and, the further you travel, the more you learn that its difficulty and depth lies in its simplicity.
We are presented with a crucial choice at many points in our life; we come to the fork in the road and must decide which path to take. It may be easier to follow the path that is smoothly paved and well worn by those who walk in the footsteps of the world, but if the rocky road dotted with rivers and forests holds even the smallest shred of God’s true joy and happiness it is most certainly worthwhile.
Despite its challenges it is a life filled with surprises and radiating with a joy that lifts your heart to such heights that you cannot keep from smiling. It is with the hope of this joy that I can certainly say I am looking forward to life. Although it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows on the rocky road, after the rattling winds of a storm the clouds part and a rainbow always seems to come shining through. By that I mean even when you walk the path of faith alone and are barraged with a never-ending onslaught of worry, anxiety, and uncertainty, look to God, to the sunlight, and He will lead the way.
So if you are ever feeling discouraged on the road to Heaven, have hope in the choice you made to believe and take heart each time you renew and nurture your faith when the priest offers you the Body of Christ and you respond “Amen.” For it is that word that captures the promise you make to God, a lifelong choice to have faith and to trust Him in all things. Even if at times you are uncertain, lift a simple prayer to Christ: “Jesus, I long to believe, please help my unbelief.”
Julia Danehy is a Sophomore in the William F. Connell School of Nursing a hop, skip, and a jump away from her home town of Fort Myers, FL. With the variety of her interests spanning about a million miles long, in her spare time she can be found exploring history, painting, spending time outdoors, whipping up some form of baked good, or reading anything to do with The Theology of the Body/philosophy in general.
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