Journies
James’ faith story: So, at the beginning of my Catholic faith journey, around the age of 12, I was struggling to find the true faith and what it really meant to me. But along the way, I was helped by Nathaniel and my extended family to accomplish my goal of growing closer to God. I was also definitely helped by the quick spreading prayers of faithful friends and family members who believed in me. Around 13, I was dedicated to serving Jesus on the most holy altar, and I helped with community gatherings for the church, but that was about the extent of my “reaching out of my comfort zone” in the Catholic faith. I was an ok Catholic, I loved (and still love) to read, play with siblings, and work. But over a few months, that changed to darkness that I could not have seen coming. For a time, I only thought of God as a religion, not as the source of a faith. Then I went on this life-changing confirmation retreat. At this retreat, there were many new acquaintances and faithful friends to speak with. And one friend was named Nathaniel and had moved from New Mexico and had made his way to North Carolina. Nathaniel and I grew to be spiritual brothers so that we could fight together in the constant fight against the devil. In that bond, we prayed and were to be consecrated to Saint Joseph the Worker. We later did things like Quo Vadis, Totus Tuus, and other spiritual retreats and trips. But the transformation and start of our journey started with the talks from our confirmation retreat. These talks were not shallow or light; they were heavy with faith, courage, and strength. The confirmation speakers talked about the sins of the world and the sins that we would be pulled towards. And they talked about the monstrous struggles they had to face and how they seduced them. After the retreat and my appointment as a knight of God in confirmation, I started to pray the Most Holy Rosary every day. Nathaniel and I became brothers in Christ and supported each other through hard times. We then decided that we wanted to spread our joy and share it with the world. So, they began to work on a devotion where teens could pray the rosary for the intention of something the world was struggling with. We spent months on this, toiling to complete their task by summer. We wrote lists, intentions, prayers, daily tasks, and papers for this devotion. Now we are praying for it to work and hoping that people find that it helps them reach the final goal of heaven.
Nate’s faith story: I have been Catholic most of my life. I was baptized at a young age, and I have always lived in a household that, at the least, went to Holy Mass every Sunday. I have never fallen away from the sacraments, but my faith has definitely been stronger at times and weaker at others. One of the first big steps in my faith journey was my first Holy Communion. At the time, I knew it was a big moment in my faith, but I don’t remember feeling like it was a life-changing moment. The next big thing was me becoming an altar server. But I didn’t altar serve out of a sense of wanting to serve Our Lord as much as it really just being something to relieve the boredom of an hour-long Mass. When I was 13, my family made the long move from New Mexico to North Carolina. Until then, I had only lived in New Mexico, and I viewed this upcoming move with a deal of skepticism. Upon moving to North Carolina, though, my faith life was thrown into overdrive. The first change was meeting the youth at my new parish, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church. The young people at OLG seemed so open, so joyous, so loving. I was hooked, I quickly lost my pessimism about leaving my old friends and realized the opportunity that God had granted me. The next two steps happened simultaneously. I was preparing for my Confirmation, and I found the Traditional Latin Mass. In preparing for my confirmation I one, had to dive deeper into my faith to find the ‘why’ to the Catholic faith, and two I met a young man that would prove to be a spiritual brother of the strongest sort, James H. I had met James at youth group, and our church summer camp earlier in the year, but there had been very little interaction between the two of us. The retreat gave us the interaction that was needed to jumpstart our friendship. We kicked it off over early morning Rosaries and conversation about virtues, vocations, etc. Fast forward two years later, and we have grown to be spiritual brothers, united in the battle against the evil one and his deceptions. Finding the Traditional Latin Mass happened around the same time. Having grown up going to the Novus Ordo exclusively, the TLM was a brand new experience. It opened me to a reverence, a regality, a uniformity that I never knew in the Novus Ordo. The community of the TLM was also a big change. The openness and joyousness that I mentioned earlier were even more evident within this community. I made lasting friendships with many of the young men that I served/serve with name among them, Tommy H, CJ A, Holden M, James H, and many more.
James H’s Biography
Age: 16.
Hobbies: Archery, Piano, Reading, Collecting, Ultimate Frisbee, Reading.
Confirmation Saint: Saint Pier Giorgio (was picked before he was a saint)
Favorite Saint quote: Pier Giorgios saying, “By yourself you will do nothing but if you have God as the center of all your action then you will reach the goal.”
Favorite Prayer: Apostles Creed and the Rosary
+JMJ+
Nate M’s Biography
Age: 15.
Hobbies: Jujitsu, Baseball, Collecting, Ultimate Frisbee, Reading.
Confirmation Saint: Saint Joseph
Favorite Saint quote: Saint Augustine, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you”.
Favorite Prayer: Rosary
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Honorable mentions consist of people who have helped us through the years to become the people that we are today.
Tony, CJ, Fr. Coleman, Fr. Wasswa, Matt, Mr. John, Ms. Liz, Tommy, Holden, Mark, Fabian, and, of course, our parents.