Changing My Outlook

I was born into a Catholic family. We went to mass every Sunday, religious art brightened the hall ways and prayer was always part of our daily routine. I grew up with two very close friends who understood the faith as I did: it was part of our families. However, it wasn't quite the love of our lives just yet. Of course we knew all of our prayers, went to confession, were friends with our priest, but something was missing. As it should be, our faith was never challenged when we were young. Life was easy, but as we drifted into public school it became harder to live my faith. It was challenged and I didn't think much of defending it or clinging to it. I slowly became less present at Mass, I stopped listening to saint stories and I thought of my faith as something that wasn't personalized. It was only something that my parents had molded for me, but I didn't want to fit into that mold. I just didn't care about it. Two more good friends came into our lives and we had a crew of 5. One morning after a sleepover with the tribe of five, I woke up to see my new friends reading the bible. It was such a simple gesture but it made me realize that practicing my faith would promote me to be more gracious, loving, and caring. I remember waking up and immediately thinking "goody two shoes" and " losers," but I soon stopped. I realized saying those things was my way of defending the lousy way I was living. I just watched them take turns doing random openings. That was the first time I realized I needed to change my outlook. Luckily one of those girls was living with us for a while and she truly inspired me to read the daily reading. She often invited me to pray the rosary with her. As I accepted those invitations I realized how natural it became. It felt good and beautiful. I began finding my true identity as a young catholic woman and it was something I was proud of. Ever sense then I have had my good weeks and my bad weeks, my joyful days and my miserable days, my faithful Masses and my distracted Masses. However I finally know that the faith is something I WANT in my life even if it is hard and challenging.

Thank you for reading

God bless.-Adjutor