You Know When You Just Know?
By: Victoria Weekley
I’m currently a freshman at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, a little gulf coast town forty-minutes from Alabama. I’m a long way from home, I didn’t quite realize how far until I returned to school from Christmas break. During break, every day I was surrounded by my home, and the comfort that comes along with it. Coming back was heart breaking, even more so than first coming to school, because break was such a short time compared to what I wanted. This has been one of the biggest transitions of my life, and with a transition like this, doubt and fear come with it. Last semester, I had fun and made a few friends, but leaving home and starting completely over is hard. Fortunately, this semester has been everything I needed and more.
I truly believe more than ever that the Holy Spirit is always at work -- every day, in every moment, and in every person who allows it. I think these last seven months have been evidence of that statement. Our Catholic faith is universal; every Catholic Church prays the same prayers and has the same rituals. I never thought that would be a comfort, but it sure has been! I now attend The Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, and I’ve made a home there among the Catholic Campus Ministry program (CCM) —more commonly called “Catholic Argos,” from the UWF mascot the Argos.
I’ve been extremely involved in CCM. I was asked before break to be an assistant director for the three-day spring retreat they hold in February; I couldn’t be happier. I was a peer minister at Immaculata-LaSalle High School, and planning retreats is one of my favorite activities! I was ecstatic (if you couldn’t already tell). It was a six week planning process and those weeks flew by! We had two Dominican sisters from Nashville and two priests from the neighboring diocese join us for the weekend. I was at home at that retreat; I now know I was where I was meant to be, in the right place, waiting for the Lord.
One moment changed everything for me. It was after confession on the Saturday night. I was sitting outside and just needed to get up and sit inside the chapel. I walked in and I saw something I won’t ever forget: Jay, the music minister, was kneeling dead center to the exposed Eucharist in the monstrance. I walked over to pick up my binder on the back table, turned to go sit in Adoration, and there Jay was, prostrating in front of the Lord. My breath was taken away, my eyes were swimming in tears, and my heart was full. I needed to witness that—like Mary Magdalene in the garden thinking her Jesus was gone, I also needed to see! Seeing the love of God pouring through another individual led me to a mini-resurrection. I felt assured that, “Yes, Vicky, you are in the right place.” It was a “you know when you just know…” moment. This major life transition that was full of doubt and fear, and this moment of witnessing another individual’s complete surrender, helped me to see that God’s endless and boundless love never abandoned me. Instead, it has been holding me all along, until I finally found my place, in this new beginning!
I truly believe more than ever that the Holy Spirit is always at work -- every day, in every moment, and in every person who allows it. I think these last seven months have been evidence of that statement. Our Catholic faith is universal; every Catholic Church prays the same prayers and has the same rituals. I never thought that would be a comfort, but it sure has been! I now attend The Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, and I’ve made a home there among the Catholic Campus Ministry program (CCM) —more commonly called “Catholic Argos,” from the UWF mascot the Argos.
I’ve been extremely involved in CCM. I was asked before break to be an assistant director for the three-day spring retreat they hold in February; I couldn’t be happier. I was a peer minister at Immaculata-LaSalle High School, and planning retreats is one of my favorite activities! I was ecstatic (if you couldn’t already tell). It was a six week planning process and those weeks flew by! We had two Dominican sisters from Nashville and two priests from the neighboring diocese join us for the weekend. I was at home at that retreat; I now know I was where I was meant to be, in the right place, waiting for the Lord.
One moment changed everything for me. It was after confession on the Saturday night. I was sitting outside and just needed to get up and sit inside the chapel. I walked in and I saw something I won’t ever forget: Jay, the music minister, was kneeling dead center to the exposed Eucharist in the monstrance. I walked over to pick up my binder on the back table, turned to go sit in Adoration, and there Jay was, prostrating in front of the Lord. My breath was taken away, my eyes were swimming in tears, and my heart was full. I needed to witness that—like Mary Magdalene in the garden thinking her Jesus was gone, I also needed to see! Seeing the love of God pouring through another individual led me to a mini-resurrection. I felt assured that, “Yes, Vicky, you are in the right place.” It was a “you know when you just know…” moment. This major life transition that was full of doubt and fear, and this moment of witnessing another individual’s complete surrender, helped me to see that God’s endless and boundless love never abandoned me. Instead, it has been holding me all along, until I finally found my place, in this new beginning!