A Teenager’s Outlook

Who would have expected anything different as a teenager? I thought Mass was boring and I just wanted to dig into my dinner rather than have to wait to say prayers before eating.

Every Sunday morning bright an early, for a teenager, my mum would come into my bedroom and invite me to go to Mass with her. My response was always a, (hopefully) “no thank you”. I didn’t want to leave my bed to sit in a pew for an hour, especially on a weekend.

At my high school, as lovely as it was, religious education didn’t excite me at all, nor did they support me in my faith in a personal way. I remember vividly receiving feedback for an assignment in year 10 or 11 that had “WRONG POPE! HE IS DEAD!” written in red pen, distracting me from all the other comments. This comment was a bit off putting, especially as it was just for an answer regarding "which Pope said ...". I mean truly, there have been over 250 popes throughout history... many with the same name. Give me a chance.

Even though I wasn’t religious as such, I always did find a solace in meditation and Celtic music. For me, the music always made me think of a more perfect world than the one we were living in, and it drew me closer to God in a way that I can’t describe.

When I was in year 10 I started to attend my parish youth group. Despite not attending church on a regular bases, it interested me to meet young people my age who did go to church. It was the most amazing feeling being with high school and uni aged people who loved God and wanted to share Him with others.

I hadn’t experienced this before, as the people at my Catholic high school who took the faith seriously was the religion coordinator and some of the other staff. So, it was a eye-opener for me to be surrounded by young people who weren’t afraid to speak openly about their faith and to be accepted by others. Stories that I heard about people’s experiences were incredible, not because something always good happened, but because the person had hope for the future. They trusted God in the trials and hardships that they faced; and for me, this was a very moving experience.

Being involved in this youth group gave me excitement with getting involved in the parish, praying with others, writing talks and sharing about my own experiences and going to Mass (even though I still didn’t understand the importance of the Mass). Even though I was only starting out a small relationship with God, I was very fortunate to have Christians around me to support me in my faith.