A Little Faith

Tonight's Theology on Tap (our final one for this year...boohoo) topic was, "A Little Faith".  Here is the background information on tonight's speaker that I had posted to the Facebook event page for the Young Adults group:

In the words of our fourth and final speaker for this year, Rita, from IHM:

"Obviously a Catholic from birth, I was the 8th child to 40-something parents who finished having children 6 years before. Through parochial school and private Catholic high school, I wondered that my dad sat out when we received the Eucharist (find out why at ToT). In high school, my mother's emphysema and Mount St. Joseph's prayer community molded me into a vessel capable of being filled with tears, joy and prayer, and ready to spill out the same, plus service.

Engineering at Case Western Reserve was mostly guys, where MSJ was all-girls. Whoo hoo! But the rigorous academics, many clubs and teams made focus hard to maintain. Sunday Mass and choir commitments were an anchor for me, and, oddly, made Mike and me realize our relationship might have longevity-despite his not being a baptized Christian. He's rarely missed Mass with me. (I think it was for brunch afterward!)

Mike and I met the first few weeks of college and married after his medical school, my engineering career, and 8 years. Sarah arrived during fellowship, six years later, and I went from polymer engineer to project and accounting manager. As the 3 children have grown, I've taken on service projects dear to each of our hearts. I'll share some with you at ToT.

Flowing beneath all is a love and hope rooted in my faith. Prayer, Mass, and little ways of saying, "Thanks," to God throughout the week sustain me. The theme of my Theology on Tap discussion is, 'A Little Faith'."

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I had met Rita a couple years ago when the Young Adults group was just getting started at IHM.  While we only chatted for 20 minutes, she had made quite an impression.  I was thrilled to hear that in spite of her busy schedule, she would be our April speaker when I reached out to her last summer.  As luck would have it, she was still available to speak tonight after we had to push ToT back by a week due to a school commitment.

Here are my notes from Rita's talk on living out our faith in the everyday activitities we all participate in...think about it, are there any ways you can bring Jesus into your world throughout your day??

• Sometimes, in life, it takes a little bit of faith to get through...
• The Eucharist is a source of energy.
• There is no one specific way to experience/live out our faith.
• When praying, sometimes words aren't important but rather the prayer is (e.g., the rhythm, the comfort, the peace we gain from saying the prayer).
• What are ways you bring Christ into your world/moment?
• Prayer happens throuhgout the day....it doesn't have to be scheduled or something HUGE.
• Prayer can go elsewhere....let your mind wander as it is happening for a purpose or a reason.
• When feeling spiritual dryness or distance, this can be a result of being too active or busy for God.  Take the time to be silent and to listen.
• In what ways do I take responsibility for my spirtual growth and the growth of others? 
• Prayer doesn't have to be long to be effective...it's a conversation between you and God.

I'm thankful for Rita's message tonight and for the fellowship I shared with David, Jim, John, Kevin, and Greg!  Lubrano's Italian Restaurant on Eastchester in High Point was an excellent establishment that hosted us the four months we had our Theology on Tap sessions there; if you go there to enjoy the delicious food, be sure to ask for Kim.  She's the BEST server and tell them I sent ya!  ;)

We were excited we color coordinated and even had matching earrings (that you can't see in this pic) without planning it....why were we excited?  Guess it's a girl thing!  ;)

On the way home, by the way, I was behind a car with a personalized license plate....that said, "MERCYFUL".  What a nice reminder!!