Experiments in Catholicism: From restless to resting in college

Picture this: it’s 4 p.m. on a Sunday and you’re a sophomore in college. You’ve been chipping away at the absolutely massive stack of assignments that are due this week and you feel like you’re getting nowhere. Your calendar is crammed with deadlines, meetings, and work. You feel like you’re drowning before the sun even dawns on Monday morning. The anxiety in your stomach is bubbling and you are stuck in a cycle of existential dread. How the heck are you going to get through this?

In a few weeks, this will be the reality for many college students across the country. After the fun of syllabus week winds down and midterm projects are assigned precariously close to the start of the semester, college really starts to be a grind.

When I was a student at Lasell University, the situation above occurred just about every week. So how did I tackle the “Sunday Scaries”? I went to Mass.

When I started college, I knew I wanted to continue practicing my faith. My family had gone to Mass every Sunday, so now, it was my responsibility to get myself to church. However, it still just felt like an obligation. Each week, I would wake up way too early for a Sunday and roll out of bed to walk the mile from campus to a local church to check off the “Sunday Mass” box. Church held the same level of importance to me that every other assignment in my planner did.       

When I joined our very small Newman Club, a friend told me about a 7 p.m Mass at a church in the town over. Not having to wake up early and still checking off the box? Sign me up!        

One Sunday night, I drove over to discover this Mass for myself. The Mass was quiet, reverent and lent itself to the deep prayer I didn’t know I needed. For the next hour, I could take all of my stressors and anxiety and give it up to Jesus and ask Him to help me out over the next week. Eventually, I’d come to leave that evening Mass feeling so much better than when I walked in. Mass became more of something I wanted to go to. Eventually, it became the anchor to my week, something to steady me amidst a constant current of restlessness.

St. Augustine of Hippo was a first-century bishop and brilliant scholar who knew a thing or two about restlessness. As a young man, his lifestyle was less than admirable. However, after reading the letters of St. Paul, he found what he was truly searching for – a place for his heart to rest. The first line of his spiritual memoir, “Confessions,” sums up this universal truth.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

College is a time where young people are searching for who they are going to become. Their restless hearts are searching for meaning and purpose in so many places that truly have nothing to offer them. As a student, I equated my value with how busy I was, how little sleep I needed and how far I could push myself before being totally exhausted. I didn’t realize that as a beloved daughter of the Lord, He didn’t want any of this for me. All He wanted was for me to take refuge in His heart. When Mass became the anchor to my week, I had a place where I could actually cure my Sunday Scaries and find true peace.

Experiment of the Week: Do you know a college student going back to class soon? Instead of nagging them to go to church, show them this article and talk about the true peace that can sustain them in college – peace in Christ.