Growing Up Catholic

"Why do you worship Mary?" "What do all the saints mean? Do you worship them too?" "Is it a cult?" "How does confession work?" "Are you even a Christian?" "Oh, you're Catholic?"

These are all questions I've heard, some more than others, growing up in a small Southern town. There was even a time in middle school that I was told I was going to Hell for my beliefs. The area is primarily dominated by multiple Protestant denominations and there are only three small Catholic churches in Lawrence County, two of which share a priest. Let me take a moment to answer the aforementioned questions though. No, we do not "worship" Mother Mary; we do however pray to her often to intercede for us. The saints are all people who lived and died for Christ and led exemplary lives that as Catholics we should try to model seeing as how they modeled Christ's life; no we do not worship them either, simply pray to them for certain things at certain times. While the Catholic Mass varies from Protestant services we are not a cult, and to think so you should probably do a little research. Confession a formal way of confessing your sins to God; think of it as a spiritual cleanse. The feeling you get after confession is fantastic, there is truly nothing else like it. Yes, I absolutely am a Christian. Catholicism has roots back to the days of Jesus. Catholics essentially were the first Christians. Lastly, YES. I am Catholic, so if I say that please do not ask me in a taken-aback tone.

Roots

As many of you know, on my mother's side I am the granddaughter of an Italian immigrant and an American with a good bit of Portuguese and Italian in her blood. They met in Massachusetts before moving down South. Most of this side of my family is Catholic. As a result, I am what they call a "cradle Catholic", or someone born and raised in the Catholic faith. Maybe this has something to do with my strong faith. The Church has always been a major part of my life and my family's life. 

Being Catholic in a Small Town

From kindergarten to fourth grade I was educated in a Catholic school in Lawrenceburg, until my parents moved me to public school. After moving to public school I took Sunday school classes to ensure I was still learning about my faith, and for this I am grateful to my mother for making me go. When I entered high school, I got involved with my youth group at church. Since there were so few of us I knew most of the kids in the group and saw them around school. Through this group I had many opportunities to grow in the Catholic faith. It brought me to Search (for anyone who has/is a junior or senior in high school I highly recommend making Search. It is AMAZING.) and twice to Indianapolis to the National Catholic Youth Conference (which is basically 20,000+ Catholic teenagers in Lucas Oil Stadium for 3-4 days). Those are just the big things, through my church group I got so many opportunities to help other people in our community as well.

My Faith Now

When I went to college, I knew it would be different and that it was up to me to make myself go to Mass every week. It helped that one of my roommates was Catholic and that we could go to Mass together. Anyone that is familiar with UTC's campus knows that there are a dozen churches within a 10 block radius of campus. One of those churches happens to be The Minor Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, and the church that I call home here. It is a beautiful old church right in the heart of downtown Chattanooga with a great set of priests that rotate in saying Mass. Sometimes I go through spells where I can't/don't go for a couple weeks, but lately those have been fewer and fewer. I've come to real understanding of my faith and I am so in love with the Church. I know that I have had wonderful people to help me learn and grow in my faith along the way, and thanks to them I am very proud to be Catholic who is very much obsessed with Pope Francis.

Until next time,
xoxo B + Papa Francesco

The Christmas Story

Hey guys! I know it's a little late to be blogging (especially on Christmas Eve!), but as I was doing my nightly prayers and Bible reading inspiration struck. On Christmas particularly, I always read one of the stories of Jesus' birth from the Bible regardless of the chapter that I'm in the middle of. Tonight I read the account from Luke (Luke 2:1-21). Even though it's a story you've heard a million times probably, and may have even heard tonight as I did, I still love reading it. As I read tonight and let the words really sink in I understood the story more than I ever have, and the significance with it. Guys, God, The God, the One and Only God, Creator of the Universe, sent his one and only son to us. Not only did he send him, but he sent him in the form of an innocent and vulnerable baby. Jesus was sent to be the Savior of all mankind and he came into the world on an ordinary night in a very lowly place and made the extraordinary happen. I know you have all heard this before, and it's a tale as old as time, but this Christmas just stop and take a minute to think about how incredible and powerful the Christmas story really is. People travelled miles to see Him and sit by His manger and watch over Him, from shepherds to angels to eventually some wisemen because they all knew how spectacular this child was. They knew He was the one that would save them. The Christmas story is truly amazing, and if it's been awhile since you've heard it I strongly recommend you go read it because it's the beginning of the greatest love story ever written. It reinforces the humility of Christ and how powerful He is. The meaning of this whole day is to remember the coming of the Lord. There's a whole 4 weeks of preparation for it! A few weeks ago part of my priest's homily talked about how much preparation goes into the visit of a diplomat or celebrity. It takes weeks to months to plan all of the details and make sure everything is in order for the trip. We have a whole four weeks to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Savior on Christmas, so don't forget what it's actually about now that it's here. Luke 2:12-14 says:

"And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God: 'Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased.'"

A baby. In cloths and lying in a manger. A trough. Basically the angels told the shepherds to go look for  a newborn swaddled in whatever blankets and rags Mary and Joseph could find lying in a cow's food bowl. But he was the most important figure to ever walk this Earth. That's what it's all about folks.

Here's my challenge to you: Take a moment today to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas; not the presents and the food, but the real meaning.

I'm going to cut this short, so I can get to sleep now. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to Jesus!

xoxo B

Lions, Tigers, and Random Roommates, Oh My!

Everyone hears the horror stories in high school. How so and so had a random roommate who partied until 3 AM every night or who always had a guy in her room or who never left the room. I've heard the stories from people I know, too and to be honest it can be scary. It can be weird moving away from home to live with strangers, but part of it is what you make it.

What no one tells you though is that random roommates can also be the best. They give you a chance to be yourself and meet new people. They push you outside of your comfort zone. My freshman year at UTC I roomed with a girl named Kelli who I had gone to high school with and played volleyball and softball with, but we had two random roommates as well. I will never forget the day that we got room assignments either. It was the day after my birthday, and Hannah and Briley had taken a picture and tweeted me and Kelli telling us they were our new roommates. At first, I was utterly confused and not sure what to think, but later that day and the next few days we exchanged numbers and began to group message and I thought they were pretty cool. Those three made my freshman year great. I wouldn't trade the nights we moved our mattresses into the living room or the roomie dinners and breakfasts (even when Hannah melted all of the icing for the cinnamon rolls) or the adventures for anything.

In late April, I moved out of my dorm and into a small apartment off campus, and again I had new, random roommates. A few months before I had gotten two emails from my new roommates, one from Mary and one from Dakota. I was informed that Mary was currently studying in France, so I did not meet her until August, but Dakota and I made plans to meet and she brought along Amy who was a possible fourth roommate. After our meeting I thought that they seemed nice and that we wouldn't have any problems, but I was scared because I thought my roommates were so perfect and couldn't imagine not living with them. I was nervous because these girls were older and were all in the same sorority, and I worried they wouldn't like me as much as my other roommates. If you would've asked me then if I thought I'd be best friends with these girls I would've said no.

In reality though, Amy, Dakota, and Mary are some of my best friends and we are in the process of deciding where to live next year. We are all different, but we all get along so well. The thing about random roommates is that more than likely you will have something in common, or multiple things if you're lucky. For example, me and Mary both love Friends, Gossip Girl, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. We all love Harry Potter. Once you find something you all like you figure out other things about each other, and sometimes you discover new things you like together. A few weeks ago Dakota wanted to start building puzzles, and now we all love sitting around building puzzles together.

Random roommates can be scary, but they can also turn out to be your best friends. Roommates help you grow or console you when you have breakdowns or go to Walmart with you when you don't want to go alone. They can drive you crazy and might make you mad sometimes, but in the end the right roommates can make college 1000x better.

So thank you God for great roommates, and if you've had a bad roommate, I am deeply sorry.


xoxo,
B

Finals Recap

Hello people who read this. As of approximately 4:43 EST this evening, I am finished with my third semester of college. While hoping my low A's didn't drop to B's and my high B's went up to A's, and stressing in the meantime until I know, I have been blessed with some time for reflection. This post will be fairly short, but keep reading if you feel inclined.

Looking back at the past seven days I wonder why I pay thousands of dollars that will inevitably lead me to premature wrinkles and a heart attack, but woe is life. I suppose I need a Bachelor's before getting an MD. I realize now that there were times this week I could have studied more. Like Saturday night, when I spent study time building a puzzle and eating Cook-Out rather than studying for my O Chem final. Or Friday night when I left my study room an hour early to go see Christmas lights with Amy, Mary, and Dakota. Or any time I spent watching Friends in the last 7 days which is probably more time than I would like to admit. I had four finals this week and even though they were very spaced out, it was still stressful trying to remember a semester's worth of information for a test that would decide my grade in every class. I would be lying if I said that I didn't consider changing majors at least 5 times this week. Or that I didn't have a mental breakdown before every single one of my exams. This week has been trying, but so has this semester. The grades will be what they are and at the end of the day all I can do is pray about it. Because you know what? Even though I thought so several times this week, my life isn't horrible. There are plenty of people who have it worse, and many things going on in this world that are more important.

Did I lose someone to a radial Islamic couple last week? No. Did I sleep out on the cold street last night? No. Have I had a warm meal in the last 24 hours? Yes, multiple ones in fact. Do I have a job to buy food and clothes? Yes. Is my country in shambles due to war or other factors? No. Do I have to fear every single day that I won't make it home tonight? Not in the sense that many people in other countries do.

And those issues are the tip of the iceberg. My point is that while sometimes we face trials and tribulations, and Lord knows this week has been full of them, it's never as bad as we think. So I'm gonna try to have a  little faith and say a little prayer, and what's meant to be will be. As for right now though, it's time to get ready for church (it's a Holy Day of Obligation for my fellow Catholics, don't forget).

Until next time,
XOXO B