Friday, October 25, 2013

Finding Room for Faith

From Blog post by MSBA student Laura Caporaletti


Unlike the majority of my peers at Catholic University, I had attended public schools for grades K-12.  All my life, I was accustomed to keeping my faith separate from school; God was something for Sundays only and prayer only took place before bed.  A huge reason that I chose to attend CUA for college was because I wanted my faith to become the cornerstone of everything I did.  I wanted to learn about Catholicism in class, I wanted to walk by crucifixes in the hallways, and I wanted to make friends who shared my passion for Jesus.  CUA proved to offer all of this and more, and over the course of my undergraduate career, my life become centered around my Catholic faith.  I had no idea that this would be a hard lifestyle to maintain while attending CUA as a graduate student.

The name of the game in grad school is stay alive.  Okay...I exaggerate.  However, to describe my life as extremely busy during this nine month Master's program would be accurate.  I am slowly but surely learning how to balance a part-time job and a full-time student work load in a discipline that I am not used to.  I am learning, mostly through trial and error, what I do have time for this year and what I don't.  I have learned that this is going to be a year when my social life takes a hit, my gym card isn't swiped nearly enough, and a full night's sleep is what my naps senior year of college looked like.  But I am okay with all of this, because at the end of it all, I will have earned my Master's degree and will be one step closer to obtaining the career of my dreams.  

What I am not okay with is this becoming a year where my relationship with God is put on the back burner.  Unfortunately, this has been more of a challenge to prevent than I had ever anticipated.  I am no longer taking courses in theology, I am in class or at work during every conceivable mass time, and I fall asleep before I get through one Our Father at bed time. 

Upon realizing this and feeling the difference this lack of God made in my life, I made an appointment to meet with one of my favorite professors here at CUA - Professor Andreas Widmer.  I explained to him that I was struggling to find room for faith in my schedule that seems to become busier everyday.  He told me to begin offering the work that I am doing in this program (the mornings I wake up at five a.m. to finish homework, the late nights working on a group project, the stress and anxiety I feel during midterms) as a prayer.  In offering these moments up to God or as prayers for others, our work life becomes one with our spiritual life.  God would cease to become something that I would need to find room to squeeze into my life, and He would again become the cornerstone of everything that I do.  I was so appreciative for this advice and plan on living it out as best I can for the rest of my time as a grad student at CUA.

Laura Caporaletti
MSBA Class of 2014

4 comments:

  1. Great post! is awesome be with God.
    Thanks

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  2. Laura, thank you so much for sharing, because I know this is a struggle that you're not the only one facing. Professor Widmer's advice is very helpful for my own life, too!
    What I think this really requires is a complete attitude & perspective adjustment. Rather than believing that work is something that takes us away from God, we have to believe it is gift from him, and is something he is actively participating in if we let him. And how should we respond to gifts? With gratitude and joy! Believe me, this is easier said than done sometimes, but I know with the support we have here, we can really make this balance a habit.

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  3. Great post Laura. I am also in the same boat as you and sometimes I struggle to "accommodate" God in my daily life. I'll apply that great piece of advice Andreas Widmer gave you. I will offer everything to God as a prayer: my classes, struggles, high points and low points. Great piece

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  4. Laura, I'm really glad you shared this. Sometimes we really do need to be reminded that God is a constant part of our lives. I know, for me, it becomes too easy to segment my life when I find myself as busy as we are these days. And Jess, I think your suggestion of reevaluating our approach to daily work, including an appreciation for simply having this work and opportunity, is excellent.

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