Religion
by Gabriella Orozco
Creative Works… 99
I’ve always had a hard time connecting myself to spirituality. A part of me is a firm believer in a stronger, greater figure watching over us. Another aspect of me is to believes that the universe itself has planned out my life. The insecure part of myself tells me that I’m fooling myself into believing anything at all. I was always told to believe in God, Jesus, and the Saints when I was younger. I’m not going to say I grew up in a solid Catholic household. We didn’t go to church every Sunday, and we didn’t pray before meals. Yet, my mother was an advocate for doing all my spiritual sacraments. When I started going to communion classes, I felt anxious about having to learn prayers to perfection. I was confused as to why, all of a sudden, we started attending church on Sundays, only to discover it was mandatory attendance to pass these classes. It was hard to hear the priest through the muffled sounds of prayer. I always thought I was doing something wrong when I couldn’t understand the lessons at church that day. When I moved up to Confirmation, we were required to go on a spiritual retreat. The day we left, we got to know each other, interacted with all the other girls, and learned about ourselves. We also ate snacks and prayed. It was a good time, and it was the first time I had an excellent religious experience. The next day, we hiked and talked about God’s creations. We splashed around in a nearby lake and ate some snacks under a shady tree. It was almost a picture-perfect setting. After a long day, we came back and had dinner. We all got in one big circle, and we were to introduce ourselves to everyone in the group. Once we
