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Do you have an inspirational story to share about your faith journey or an experience with the Catholic Church or St. John Neumann Catholic Church?
Looking for a little inspiration? Read stories about how people like you are growing in their Catholic Christian faith.
As a kid I was raised Catholic. I went through many ups and downs in my life but as I struggled I tried not to lose my faith. I met a wonderful man right out of high school and married him after six years of dating. As I grew older I strayed from the church. However, something kept bringing me back to my faith especially in times when I struggled. As I struggled with being a new wife, working for the first time I continued to have faith and pray. It wasn’t until after the death of my grandmother that I decided to go back to church regularly again. A couple of years down the road I got pregnant, had my first child, moved to another city, had my second child, and then moved back to Austin. I was going through so much change so fast that even though I prayed I realized that I needed to go back to attending church. About a year and a half ago I decided to attend St. John Neumann. God was calling me back. I put my boys in the religious education program because I wanted for them to grow up learning about God and the Catholic Church and I started attending mass regularly but I needed more. I signed up to do a book study once a week in the evenings to meet people and learn about the Bible. I also attended other functions through the church for social interactions. I enjoyed meeting people, helping others, and being part of a community. In 2011 I kept seeing this thing for CRHP popping up everywhere. I also kept telling myself that there was no way I could do it with my husbands’ work schedule and raising two little boys when would I have the time? Well, I did what God was telling me to do and signed up for the Retreat. After attending the retreat my life changed even more. I realized all of the blessings that I have in my life. I am very thankful to God for helping me to see life in a more positive light. I continue to do things at St. John Neumann. I try to stay involved as much as I can because I feel a need to help others. Don’t get me wrong. I still have my ups and downs and I am not perfect as no human is but I have faith in God that whatever I am supposed to go through is for a reason. It is because of this that I believe “I can do all things through Christ, He strengthens me.”
After seeing friends abandon their faith, I realized I not only needed to study my Catholic faith but teach it through Confirmation classes to help build the faith foundation for others. The next generation needs to understand as I did that Catholicism is indeed important and an expression of truth and does not contradict reason.
As a child I remember going to church frequently. I attended Catholic schools my whole life, yet, like most college students, I began to back away from the church my freshman year. My parents never stopped talking to me about God and how important the Catholic faith was or asking if I had attended mass on Sunday’s. As the years went by I slowly started going back to church.
At first, I went back to Catholic churches but was having a difficult time paying attention to the homilies; it started to feel more like an obligation. It was then, against my parents wishes, I decided to try non-denominational churches. I found them more entertaining and it was more in line with what the rest of my friends were doing but I quickly started missing the tradition and structure that one can experience from a Catholic mass.
I had finished college and was going through some struggles in my life when I decided to go back to a Catholic church. This time, I was determined to find a church where I fit in. I began to go to several different Catholic churches within the diocese in search of that.
Somewhere in there, I met my fiance. We had found a priest we enjoyed and would rarely miss mass. The mass that used to feel like an obligation began to feel exciting and important. However, I still lacked that sense of community and my fiance could tell. He decided to look up Catholic young adult groups in Austin. It was that, that brought us to St. John Neumann. We started seeing the same people with similar values and beliefs at different function we would attend and I began to see the community that I had been missing. That community I began to experience became a lot stronger after attending the women’s CRHP retreat where I’ve become very close to several wonderful women.
Through all this I learned a couple of things; 1. Catholicism is very important to me, 2. your faith and your community is what you make of it, and 3. God never leaves you’re side.
In high school, I met this great guy named Mike. We were pretty serious by the time I graduated, and were feeling like marriage might be in our future. So, some of our discussions were pretty important. There were very few things that we disagreed on, but the biggest one was faith. You see, Mike was raised in a family where religion was something to be ridiculed and disdained. People who believed in God were fooling themselves, and relying on other people to tell them what to do. In his family, God was not only a fairy tale, but a dark one that was judgmental, harsh and hypocritical. It wasn’t hard to find data on the news to validate their ideas. My family was very active in the church, and faith was as much a part of our lives as school. My faith may not have been the most developed, but it was there.
Because of his family’s philosophy, Mike had not been raised in any religion. So, when he met me, he knew none of the basics. He would attend mass with me (to get on my good side), and then come out with questions and disagreements. Some of his questions were astounding to me. He knew nothing of the religions his family so disdained. His disagreements challenged me beyond measure. I had never had to defend or explain my faith in such detail, and I had no idea how to do it. I knew that God was present in my life, but it was just something I did, not something I understood. As an engineer, Mike was not happy with that.
Fast forward a bit, and we got married. My faith was strong enough that I told him if I married him, he had to come to church with me. I didn’t want to have to be alone, nor did I want to have to argue with my children about why Dad didn’t have to go and they did. As much as I loved him and felt like he was really the one God had for me, I would have let him go if he didn’t agree. Yes, I did feel like God gave us to each other, although it was hard to see why with this big faith thing in the middle of us. I could share every part of myself with him but that.
To his credit, he did come to mass with only the occasional “project” getting in the way. But, every week, we would walk out and he would start with the questions, complaints and debates. I would get so frustrated because I just couldn’t answer him, and he wouldn’t ask anyone who could. I would pray that God would convert him, just so we wouldn’t have to argue about it anymore. I just wanted to go to church and live my life in this basic faith I had.
Well, God had much better plans for me and for Mike. I started on a journey closer to God in November, 1999. My friends could see it and wondered what was going on with me. I had no idea. I was reading books and my eyes were opening to who God really was, who Jesus really was and how very real and personal they were. Jesus had always been a sort of “story” that I knew, but suddenly, I saw that it was the story of someone who was as real a person as my friend next door. One day in April, I was exercising on my bike and reading a book, when all of a sudden I felt this fog lift off of me and this lightness enter in. As I looked up from my book, I swear to you that my vision had changed and become crisper. It was astounding. My mind opened to see that God was not some big guy in the sky looking down, but he was right next to me, with me, in me, and everywhere I looked, loving me beyond all measure. I had been praying often, but now I could hear him respond to me. It was glorious. All these questions that Mike had been asking were so easy to explain when I realized how very real and personal God was. When we had our debates, I was able to answer him in ways that I never had before, and instead of ending the discussion with, “Well, I guess it takes faith, and I just don’t have it.” He would end with silence or “Hmm.”
I was so filled with joy, but terrified all the same. I was able to answer Mike’s questions, but he still didn’t get it. There was this chasm between us that I didn’t know if we could cross. I couldn’t just live my quiet faith separate from our home anymore. It was simply a part of who I was now. My prayers for Mike changed. Now, I wanted him to have faith, not to stop arguing, but because I wanted this incredible gift for him.
God was so gracious and changed my heart. Now, instead of being frustrated and offended with his questions, I saw that Mike was really searching for the truth, and I saw how it had been twisted for him. I was able to help him start untwisting. I realized that through his questioning and challenging my faith, I had exploded in it. Had God planned him for me? Thank you, Jesus, yes. If I had married someone with my level of faith, I would have been a good Catholic, involved in the church, and happy to have God as a part of my life. But, I would have missed this deeper, more intimate relationship with God that I enjoy today. Mike didn’t come to faith earlier, because I wasn’t ready. God gave me this great leap so that I could be prepared for Mike’s coming to faith. I wouldn’t have been able to help him as he shakily stood on his newfound faith, or keep up once he found his footing. Through his questions I have been given the gift of patience and joy in the faith questions of teenagers. I have been given the gift of knowing that God’s plan is for good, even if it seems a little distant. If I wait, I may be blessed to see a glimpse of it. For all of this and more I am so grateful.