Something I think communities of faith take for granted is the actual population of the community. When I chose Allegheny College, I was concerned about not finding that community of faith that I was so used to all my life and especially in high school. After all, Allegheny College is a small liberal arts college, so I wasn’t sure I would find friends who shared my faith and Catholic religion. Luckily, I found friends rather quickly as well as found churches in town that I enjoyed exploring. That being said my community at college was very different. In high school, we would attend mass as a school and say prayer every morning on the morning announcements. Now, in college, it was more my individual responsibility to maintain my strong faith and relationship with Christ. Although the change in community was drastic, it was there. I think being part of a Catholic/Christian community is so amazing because of how widespread the community of believers is. No matter where you go, you can always find people to share the faith with.
I recently had an unexpected change of events occur in my life. I suffered an injury from soccer, which resulted in me having to go home for the rest of the semester and finish out online. This news came out of nowhere and I was very sad to have to leave my friends at school, even though it was only a short time. This change in my life also changed my church routine. I was so used to going to mass on campus with a few friends each week, and now I had to find a new mass to attend. Lucky enough, my older sister who goes to college in my hometown invited me to attend her college’s weekly mass. I wasn’t thrilled at first because I was so used to my routine, but it ended up being such an amazing experience. The mass is held at 9pm on Sunday nights, and due to the time I expected maybe a handful of students to attend. To my surprise, the church was actually filled with a large group of people my age, and I was welcomed with open arms. I met some of my sister’s college friends as well as seeing people I knew from highschool. It was a beautiful mass and although this may not seem like a big deal to some , what caught my attention was again the widespread community of the faith. You could be anywhere in the world and find groups of people that are bonded together by their love for Jesus Christ. This universal belief and unity within the church is truly a gift that seems to be taken for granted. If you ever feel alone in your faith, I hope this is a reminder that you are not. If you look for it, the community of faith is all around you. It can be nerve racking to open up and outwardly search for friends in your church community, but if you put in the time, I assure you that you can find it.