I cannot tell you the number of times I have walked across the beautiful campus that the University of Minnesota boasts of and seen the same scene. Hundreds of college students with AirPods shoved into their ears, their heads down and a blank look on their faces as they hurriedly walk to class.
This scene plays out on college campuses across the nation and even throughout the professional world. We are so busy getting through the day that we don’t appreciate the gift of what each new day brings.
I started my journey as a Catholic my freshman year. At the time, I loved to party and have a good time when I wasn’t grinding on my schoolwork. I went to Mass every Sunday, but when I wasn’t physically in the church on Sunday mornings, I was living a life completely for myself. But even then, I noticed a pattern: The people who seemed full of life were often the same people who looked miserable during the week. They “lived for the party” but had nothing of true substance to offer when there wasn’t one. They had the same blank look on their faces that mirrored the rest of the campus walking to class in the morning.
When COVID hit halfway through my freshman year, I noticed something strange. I had just gone on a mission trip to Alaska and met a new group of Catholic friends who were unique. They didn’t party like my other friends, but you wouldn’t know it. They laughed and celebrated and talked with such joy and conviction no matter the time or place. And when everyone moved home after COVID hit they were the ones who continued to stay my friends. The people I partied with slowly stopped reaching out. The really fun people at the parties ceded to my new Catholic friends. I stopped craving an occasional crazy night and started craving consistent joy and real friendship.
Yet, their joy was a mystery to me at first. These Catholics weren’t people who were blissfully ignorant. They were people who had lived full lives, made mistakes, encountered real difficulties and suffering, and yet had reason to hope and be truly happy. They were joyful despite all the difficulties of life. And as I grew to know them more, I came to realize that Catholicism is a way of life that brings real joy, whether things are going well or even when they are not.
I’ve grown to understand that “all joy reminds” as C.S. Lewis once said. We remember that we were made for so much more than anything we could possibly conjure up on our own. It reminds us that we will never be happy if we are only living for ourselves. Christ himself says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). I can’t help but wonder how many of us college students crave something more than the walk across campus with AirPods in and heads down.
Thurlow, 22, is a senior at the University of Minnesota studying finance, classics with an emphasis in Latin and business law. Outside of work and school, he says, “I am first and foremost a committed disciple of Jesus Christ.” A member of St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis who grew up in St. John Neumann parish in Eagan, an avid reader and outdoorsman with a goal to visit every national park in the U.S., Thurlow also enjoys playing any number of sports and spending time with friends and family.
