Faith is a subject many students brush aside or simply disregard. School and job opportunities and personal experiences leave little time for spiritual contemplation.
I know this well: UF is the only school I’ve attended that is not religious. Before my time in college, I was part of a strong Catholic community. I went to Mass every Saturday and even helped out at services when needed. I experienced 12 great years in the Catholic education system. But when I came to UF, I pushed faith and that community aside.
I slowly but surely became enticed with the perfect prose of Christopher Hitchens, a member of that one group your atheist friend always quotes to sound smarter: the Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse. Being a person who regarded himself as a highly intelligent young scholar, I took up their banner and professed a life of reason and a life of faith are not compatible. Faith is simply unnecessary and serves no purpose.
But I just recently realized how wrong I was. Faith does have a place. Faith gives us a sense of purpose and a sense of pride. Performed properly, faith stresses the importance of caring for your fellow human being.
I am currently experiencing a bit of a spiritual reawakening. I am taking a more contemplative look at Catholic theology. It’s remarkable how lively and engaging the subject matter is compared to what I was taught during my grade-school days. I am going back to Mass and am brushing up on my Latin again — Catholics will know what I mean. And I started charitable work once more.
While relearning the thoughtful Catholic belief system strengthened my journey back to faith, two events really brought that mission home. The first is obvious: Pope Francis’ visit to America. I won’t dwell on this too much, but I’ll mention seeing a religious man use his faith to improve the lives of others, serve those in need and not dogmatically judge his neighbors is powerful.
The second event was attending Fast-a-Thon here at UF, hosted by Islam on Campus. Students of all religions and even non-religions were invited to fast from sunrise to sunset Tuesday and then partake in a celebratory meal at the end of the day. It was fantastic to see a community of believers work toward improving the lives of others and embrace and champion their faith.
Rashhan Siddique, the vice president of external affairs for IOC, told me fasting accomplishes three things at once: Fasting is inherently spiritual and makes us become God-conscious; fasting cleans and purifies the soul; and fasting makes us realize how blessed we actually are — so many people in need do not have a celebratory meal at the end of the day.
Keynote speaker AbdelRahman Murphy stressed the importance of making private practice public habit. By fasting, this ritual makes us privately aware of our relation to God and publically aware of our relation to our neighbors, effectively boosting a sense of community and a sense of moral purpose.
Fasting not only strengthened the spiritual lives of those in attendance, but the proceeds of the event went toward two worthy causes: Project Downtown Gainesville, a charity close to home that helps the homeless, and Islamic Relief, an international charity that improves the lives of those around the world with a special emphasis placed on Nepal for this event.
Many current and former students who attended stressed how important faith is in their lives. Like me, their faith was tested when they came to UF. But through groups like IOC, their faith blossomed and is put to good use.
My return to faith came not as a result of saying two additional prayers each morning or attending an extra Mass. My faith came back because I realized how truly integral it is to the human experience. Religious life not only benefits the practitioner; it also benefits his or her neighbors as well. I relearned private practice that becomes public habit is faith performed properly.
Michael Beato is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Mondays.
