Love Letter to my Catholic Friends

With Valentine's around the corner, I thought I would share my love of some of the most amazing people that I love and who are important to me!

**Of course not all of these are exclusive to just my Catholic friends!**

I have met so many amazing people starting my first day at college, and I have continued to have new friends come into my life since. I don't think I say it enough, but I love each and every one of them for who they are. Each one of them is such a light in my life. I love how unique they all are in their sense of humor, taste in movies, passions, dreams, and thoughts. 

My Catholic friends have taught me so many things, so I wanted to share some things because I am so grateful to have them in my life! 

They have taught me that you don't have to know everything. I have always been ashamed of how little I knew about my faith and religion. My Mormon friends could quote any book of the bible and they knew their faith inside and out. When I started college, I assumed my Catholic friends were the same way because they always had an interesting remark on a theological question. It took me going to bible study and to finally accept that I had a weakness for me to realize that I don’t have to know everything. One of my friends asked me to do a rosary with her in the fall, and we fumbled over some of the mysteries because neither of us were sure of what they were. I learned that no one is an expert. The important thing is that we are continually learning.

It's okay to be broken. You don’t have to happy and put together all of the time. I did the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in the fall, and several of my friends opened up about dealing with depression and how it is hard for them to love themselves all the time. They were so raw and open. Sometimes I have days were I don’t feel good about myself. My friends are always uplifting and make me forget about my problems. I have gone through some bad times in the past, and I had friends reach out and make sure that I was all right.

My Catholic friends have taught me that you don't have to be serious all of the time. I have always been in love of the idea of growing up and going to college. People would be mature and all of my problems would be solved. However, being serious all the time is not very fun. I was called the mom of my friend group from freshman to junior year of college. I was always three steps ahead of any decisions and worried about spontaneity. The last summer before my senior year, I decided to stay in my college town and hang out with my friends. All summer I threw ‘caution to the wind,’ as the young folk say. I remember going to the Farmers’ Market with a couple of my friends, and we spoke in a British accent the whole time. Another time I went on a sunrise hike that turned into an eight-hour adventure where we made a silly nature video and had the best time scaling up rocks and searching for trails.

You can be strong when you're scared. I have learned through many trials that I am more likely to fly than fight. A group of girls and I were finishing up setting up for Halloween late at night. We heard a knocking on the back door of the building. We thought someone was playing a prank on us, so we ignored it. The knocking kept happening. I decided that we should go upstairs and call one of our other friends to check on our situation. Before that happened, the other girls rushed into the kitchen to grab huge knives and go towards the back door. When we were upstairs, we got the okay to come downstairs and then we learned that the culprit was one of our friends who had gotten locked out. I admire the courage and fearlessness of my friends. They inspire me to be able to act courageously.

My Catholic friends taught me that community matters. When I started college, I decided to take on my faith by myself and make sure that I was remaining Catholic because I believed it and not because my friends were doing it. So I remained a part of the Catholic community, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with the community there aside from masses. The last couple of years, I really feel in love with the amazing people at church who have become some of my best friends. My Catholic friends have opened my eyes and helped me grow in my faith and as a person. They push me to be the best version of myself, even if it sucks sometimes. This community has always been there in the rough times, and there to celebrate in the good times.

Love Radiates. In my business capstone class, we did a visualization exercise where you go along your path of life and at the end of it your future self is supposed to give you advice. What I came up with was to lead with love. Love is so critically important in everything you do. Once you start living your life through love, it changes how you go about everything. I have met the most beautiful people through my church involvement. Love literally radiates out of them and infects everyone they come into contact with. You can tell that they are so deep in their faith that they are able to see Christ in every person they come into contact with. It seems like they are able to look into your soul and see you for who you are. A child of God.


Other people can actually help you grow in your faith. My friends, mentors, and spiritual directors have helped me try out different ways of prayer to grow my faith. I was never formally taught how to pray other than the main prayers we are taught in masses (either that or I just never remembered). I'm a cradle Catholic, so it is assumed that you are born with this great ability to pray. The way I prayed for years was like a letter to God, very unstructured and it would usually turn into me rambling on about my day to God. It's not like that is terrible- at least I was trying- but learning about different types of prayer has taken my faith up to the next step and have a better relationship with God.   I love learning how my friends create a relationship with God and how they are able to best connect with Him through different kinds of prayer. Some of my friends love praise and worship music. Some talk with Him as an old friend or father. Some love praying the rosary or novenas. I am still trying to figure out how I should pray because there are several different things that I like to do, but it is actually pretty difficult. My friends help encourage me, and my spiritual director definitely helps keep me on track.

I have learned that adoration by yourself is the best. I never would have done this without one of my friend’s influence. My friend mentioned going to the little adoration chapel in the cathedral once, and I got this ache in my heart to go. It is truly amazing to just sit in the presence of God by yourself and get absorbed in awe. That journey ended with me buzzing around the outside of the cathedral trying to find the place and having to talk to some stranger and then eventually the priest to get into the chapel. I ended up sitting in the chapel for a while trying to get used to it, then a gentleman came in-gave me an odd look- and opened the tabernacle because I didn't even know it opened. 

A coffee date does wonders. My Catholic friends have always been strong advocates for going and getting coffee. In high school, my Catholic friends would have a weekly get together and catch up with what was going on in everyone’s lives because we lived all around the city. Now I go on coffee dates with my friends to take a break from the hectic life of studying to actually see how each other are doing. I have had some amazing conversations and really developed my relationships with my friends in little coffee shops. Life gets busy with school, jobs, projects, and club involvements, so it is good to take a breather and be able to focus on building relationships.

‘There is something here.' I met up with a new friend, who isn't Catholic, in the chapel on campus once. He disclosed to me his life journey and how he was searching for something more. He got to talking about why he had been going to the chapel the prior couple of weeks. He said that there was something there (while looking at the tabernacle) in the Catholic church that he hadn’t noticed in other faiths. This comment really struck me for whatever reason. It made me fall in love with my Catholic faith even more!

The universe is happening inside of each person. I went on a silent retreat and my spiritual director, who is an old friend, told this to me on the last day of the retreat. He said that was one of the reasons he really liked doing spiritual direction because he was able to look inside of someone’s universe and see what is happening inside. I think it was very beautifully put and helped me gain perspective on just interacting with people in general. We get so hung up inside ourselves. The problems in our lives are the most important thing and nothing else matters. However, other people have their own problems that influence everything they do as well. This has helped me realize the importance of listening to others because what they talk about is important to them and they want to share those things with you.

I was talking to one of my friends the other day, and we remarked how there is a different type of bond with your friends who share your faith. Like they understand a deeper part of yourself. I know that no matter what happens or where God takes us, these friends will always have a special part in my heart.

Thank you to my friends who are a part of my life! I am so grateful that you are a part of my journey and that I am able to take part in your journey.