Living your Faith in Higher Education

Our individual faith journey, is the journey of a lifetime. There are times like the sea, that it ebbs and flows. There are times when we may feel euphoric and that faith is easy. But alongside this, there are times that can be challenging, due to life’s circumstances or the events around us. Like the apostles, we may not always understand. We can struggle and wrestle, with God, the church’s teachings and/or our own experience. This is completely normal and part of the human journey.

The church gives markers along the way, that are here to help us - the sacraments. These are visible ways of seeing what we find hard to express. A relationship rooted in love calls us to be the best person we can be, the person God created us to be. This is not always easy. Even when we have the knowledge, it does not always make faith easy to understand. In addition, some people can have lots of knowledge but never receive the gift of faith, and it is a gift, freely given, but not always able to be received.

The important part of any faith journey is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is the one that shows us the way to live a life of love. Being fully human he was like us in all things, but sin, (Hebrews 4:15) but as the Gospels tell us often, he loved the sinner, even if not the sinful behaviour, and that is the important thing to remember. We are loved by God. No matter who we are, regardless of the labels people give us, or we give ourselves, or how we think we do, or do not measure up. As with the disciples, the Lord sees with the eyes of the heart and calls us into a relationship with him.

As in all relationships, in order to live it fully, it needs to be fed and nurtured. Our faith relationship is rooted in love and we need to respond therefore to the love freely given. Each time we pray, attend Mass, reach out to our neighbour, smile authentically, act with kindness in thought, word or deed, we are responding to that love and building God’s reign on earth.

THE AGENCY FOR EVANGELISATION AND CATECHESIS