Every day while driving us to school, my mom would have us recite the Morning Offering. At the time, I didn’t know it was the Morning Offering, I just thought my mom had a real knack for coming up with good prayers. It wasn’t until much later, during a silent retreat at Demontreville (Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo), that I realized there was much more depth and tradition to this morning prayer ritual.
In many ways, this was a snapshot of my larger faith journey. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for my elementary education. I got all my sacraments and never missed a Sunday Mass. My parents taught me well the actions of the Church, and for the most part, I followed them well. It was a ritual, my duty as a Catholic to complete these actions. Unfortunately, while my actions were seemingly close to God, my heart was in a different place. Just as my younger self might have been daydreaming during the Morning Offering, I would go to Mass but be mentally and spiritually absent. My public actions were aligned with God, but my inner heart was set on myself. I largely continued in this way until the habitual framework for my spiritual life –– the direction and supervision of my parents –– was taken away. This happened when I left for college.
I was an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. Like so many other young Catholics, this provided me an opportunity to live my life as I saw fit, to go my own way. Fortunately, God had other plans for me. I got connected with the St. Lawrence (Catholic Church and Newman Center) on campus, and it was here that my heart began to open to God. I discovered a community of people who genuinely cared for each other and the Lord. People who welcomed me in, even with my faults. People who were different. The four years I spent at college were among my most transformational, and that transformation had nothing to do with midterms or interviews.
As I reflect now upon why I am Catholic, I see a combination of exterior actions and my interior heart. I see how my spiritual deepening at St. Lawrence was really a fulfillment of the catechesis of my parents. God has been at work in my life, slowly transforming my actions and my heart. I am Catholic because that is where God has called me to be
Johnson, 25, attends Mass at St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis with his wife, Meghan, and their 11-month-old daughter, Magdalene. In his free time, Johnson said, he enjoys “chasing my daughter around, reading, and if I’m feeling motivated, woodworking.” The next issue of The Catholic Spirit will feature a “Why I Am Catholic” by Johnson’s wife.
