Living Out the Catholic Faith Post-College

September 4, 2025August 31, 2025 / chicoinematt

By Clare Marie Burke

College can be a wonderful thing – living in a broad community of people the same age as you experiencing the newfound freedoms that come with adulthood. There is no other time quite like it. It is a time of immense change, for better or for worse. For me, college proved extremely beneficial in nurturing the values my parents had instilled in me. I was blessed to attend Ave Maria University, a small Catholic school in about as far south Florida you can go before you hit the Everglades. Ave Maria roots itself in true devotion to Christ by holding fast to the teachings of the Church as well as building up a strong community of believers.

My four years spent there were saturated with joyful friendships that found common ground in our strive for sainthood. Surrounded by good examples who were all my age, in my state of life, and living out their faith in Christ tremendously aided my spiritual maturation through the ebbs of flows of emerging adulthood. I realize this is not the typical college experience, so I do not write this with the expectation to fully sympathize with my readers. However, I pray that my advice for living the faith out post-college may prove helpful and provide practical inspiration for those finding themselves in this exciting stage of life.

The Analogy of the Current

My campus chaplain used to share an analogy with us that likened the world to a flowing current. The current is very easy to enter and float along with. Yet, where the mainstream leads is destructive to both soul and body. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that “the god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Scripture makes it evident that the evil one has a certain dominion over matters of the flesh. We see this in the direction the world is going. The call of those who wish not to live for this world is to swim against the current.

For anyone who has experience swimming upstream, it is not an easy task. Rather, it requires previously built up strength and a devised game plan to prevent burnout. This is principally why Christians should take their spiritual lives seriously. Our time on this earth is a battle for our souls. Thankfully, we fight on the winning team. Our job is to stay on the victorious front. We do this by living out the faith day in and day out and in doing so, we remain close to Christ.

But what does this look like on the practical level? Especially for someone who is just learning how to live in the world as an adult? Facing reality with all of its responsibilities is intimidating. There is so much talk about what “the real world” is like when you are in college. Once you are in it, you are in it. How does one navigate a new life and remain on the vine? I would like to propose three vital means.

Prayer is Indispensable

Over the centuries, many saints have analogized prayer to the soul as breath is to the lungs. In other words, prayer is the lifeblood of the spirit. It is impossible to live the faith without a steady prayer life. St. Alphonsus Ligouri goes so far to say, “Without prayer we have neither light nor strength to advance in the way which leads to God. He who prays will be saved, but he who does not will be damned.” There is a weight to prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes St. Therese of Lisieux in its definition of prayer stating, “prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (CCC #2558). This meaning simplifies our understanding of prayer.

Prayer can be something intimidating for those seeking to incorporate it in their lives. It can seem complex and unreachable. However, in the same way that God desires all to be with Him, He gives ample grace for us to do so. In the realm of prayer, God is always the initiator. We are always the responders. In moments we feel drawn to commune with God, it is He who first called. This should serve as a great consolation for us and a reminder that He carries the bulk of the load.

As a young adult, there can be a lot of uncertainty- where you will settle down, what career you will have, who you will marry, and so on. Prayer enables us to be rooted in the one thing that is always certain – the love and security of God. Though life is ever-changing, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Praying gives us access to torrents of grace and keeps us grounded in peace.

In my personal experience, going from a college experience that was incredibly stable and exuberant to the unpredictability of life after graduation, I leaned heavily on prayer. I found it to be my steady rock amidst the uncertain. You go from walking along a set, marked trail to now having to trailblaze. Naturally, there is going to be a deeper need for strength and courage as you navigate your new life. Prayer is the perfect way to prepare and sustain oneself through it.

Habits are Powerful

Though prayer is indispensable, it is from here that we order our lives. We shape ourselves and our actions from the foundation of the love for God we have built through prayer. As St. Clare puts it, “We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.” If we are consumed by love for God, it changes who we are.

The second means to live the faith out after college is through our habits. When certain actions become second nature to us, we refer to them as habits. The majority of our earthly lives consists in the routine we have built for ourselves. It is our responsibility to constantly work to reform and perfect these routines. While we are in college, most of our time is mapped out for us. We are given a schedule for classes and various activities. Of course, we still have to choose how we spend the rest of our time, but it can be easier to do so when we have friendships and activities constantly within our scope.

Once you graduate, your time is now your own. The habits you built up remain, but how you live them out now depends on your willingness and your new schedule. For me, I found keeping good habits close very helpful in making a smooth transition.

Just because your life may look very different on the outside does not mean it needs to look different on the inside. In times of transition, I would argue it is more important than ever to hold fast to firm dispositions. Uprooting good habits is never a good idea. Anchor yourself in the routines that lead to your flourishing – daily exercise, prayer, reading, whatever it may be. You will find that consistency in the midst of change will prove very helpful. If you do not have good routines in place, transition is the perfect opportunity for implementing new habits as it poses as a sort of clean slate.

Community is Essential

Lastly, never lose sight of the importance of community. God did not make us to walk alone. A man does not become a saint by himself. I know for me, going from a full, flourishing community in college to ground zero was difficult. College taught me firsthand that who I surrounded myself with impacts me deeply. The saying, “you are your three closest friends” rings very true. Seek out friendships in your adult life with people you would be comfortable trading souls with. Find people that inspire you to become the best version of yourself. Ask God for the grace to find these people but play your part. For me, putting myself in places where the kind of person I wanted to be friends with was most helpful – church, wholesome events, etc.

Closing Thoughts

Trailblazing, though difficult, is the adventure God calls us to and equips us for. While life post-grad can be unpredictable, one thing is for certain, God gives each of us the necessary grace to be the saint He is calling us to be in the present moment. Lean into prayer, shape your habits, and do so with others and you will find that this time of life is full of growth and immense joy. Surrender to God this time and He will shower you with abundant blessings. Know of my prayers for you during this time.

Sources

Living Out Your Catholic Faith After Graduation

Importance of Daily Prayer: A Catholic Mother’s Guide

Catechism of the Catholic Church

About Our Guest Blogger

Clare is wife to John Burke and a 2024 graduate of Ave Maria University with a B.A. in Theology. She has experience teaching K–5 Religion and now lives in Great Falls, Virginia.

Thank you for sharing!

The Fellowship of Suffering: Carrying the Cross Together

June 21, 2025June 19, 2025 / chicoinematt

It’s easy to box Catholicism into a Sunday morning affair. We dress up, sing, shake hands at the sign of peace, and check the Mass off the to-do list. But that kind of compartmentalized faith crumbles the moment suffering shows up unannounced, dragging its baggage into our Monday mornings, our family dinners, and hospital waiting rooms. Catholicism isn’t a weekend religion. It’s a daily, lived reality—especially in suffering. And if we’re honest, suffering isn’t just something we endure individually. It binds us together in a communion deeper than coffee hour after Mass. There is a fellowship of suffering. And it is holy.

When Suffering Isn’t Just Yours

I used to think suffering was something you white-knuckled alone. I imagined Job in isolation, scraping his sores and waiting for God to speak. But as I’ve grown—both in age and in my walk with Christ—I’ve come to see that suffering has a communal dimension. When my son was abused at daycare, I thought the pain would crush me. When my daughter faced medical complications and we walked through miscarriage, it felt like the cross would splinter my soul. But in those dark valleys, I didn’t walk alone. People prayed. Some brought meals. Others sat in silence with us. I received texts that simply said, “Offering my Mass today for your family.” Those gestures weren’t small. They were sacrificial. They were holy.

Catholic camaraderie in suffering is the Church at its best. That’s what the Body of Christ does. When one part aches, the rest compensates. And more than anything, I started praying something strange: “Jesus, send me more suffering if it is a means to glorify You and bring relief to the rest of the Body of Christ.”

The Cross is Communal

Our society prizes self-sufficiency. So it’s no wonder suffering gets treated like a private shame. But Christianity flips that script. Our Lord did not suffer in secret. He suffered publicly, on a hill, before friend and foe alike. He was lifted up—not just to save us individually but to draw all people to Himself.

St. Teresa of Avila once said, “God knows how to draw good from evil. And the good is all the greater in the measure that we diligently strive that He not be offended in anything.”

That striving isn’t done alone. It’s communal. Suffering shared in love becomes redemptive. To love is to suffer. To suffer is to open your heart to the suffering of others. And when we offer up our afflictions—especially those we didn’t choose—for the sake of others, we participate in the apostolate of suffering.

Offering It All

Padre Pio once said, “Love Jesus, love Him very much, but to do this, be ready to love sacrifice more.”

There’s a prayer I’ve started saying more often lately: “Lord, I will offer my present sufferings in atonement for this person’s soul.” It’s not easy. Especially when that person is someone who’s caused harm, someone who’s part of the injustice. But that’s where the Gospel gets real. The Cross wasn’t offered for the righteous. It was for sinners. That includes me. That includes them.

To suffer in union with Christ is not a resignation to pain. It’s an act of rebellion against despair. It is choosing to love in the furnace of affliction. And it is a powerful witness.

When someone embraces suffering with patience, gentleness, and joy, it is undeniable proof that the Holy Spirit is alive in them. That kind of suffering transforms you. It sanctifies. It makes you beautiful when united to the Cross. As I often say, “Suffering is truly sanctifying when you look to Love.”

Job as Our Model

St. Josemaria Escriva put it beautifully: “Those who pray and suffer, leaving action for others, will not shine here on earth; but what a radiant crown they will wear in the kingdom of life! Blessed be the apostolate of suffering!”

Our job as Catholics is to act like Job when faced with suffering. Not to deny the pain. Not to pretend we have all the answers. But to remain faithful. To hold on to God when everything else is stripped away. And to look around and realize: we’re not alone.

There is a fellowship of suffering in the Church. It’s seen in the parishioner who lights a candle for a grieving mother. It’s seen in the teenager fasting for a friend with cancer. And it’s seen in the weary dad kneeling before the crucifix saying, “Jesus, I trust in You.”

The suffering of the Cross is a necessary harbinger of union with God in Heaven. That’s not just theology. That’s lived reality. And while we wait for that final union, we suffer together, in communion, so that the light of Christ is not hidden under a bushel basket but shared with the world.

Suffering is inescapable. But it is not meaningless. In the Body of Christ, suffering becomes a channel of grace—for us, and for others.

So let us embrace it, not as punishment, but as participation. Not as isolation, but as invitation. To love. To serve. Become like Christ.

Together.

3 Way to Help Christians[Really Anyone] Avoid Wandering and to Start Wondering in the Desert of Life

March 6, 2018 / chicoinematt

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The Catechism tells us, “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (CCC 540). This year I already experienced time in the wilderness not only in the spiritual sense, but in a tangible way as well. As a child, I used to think that the desert only referred to geographic areas with intense heat and little rainfall. However, reflecting on the information I learned from high school geography class and confirmed by Dictionary.com, a desert technically speaking is defined as: “any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.” Winter 2018 certainly calls into question about whether the United Stated Midwest could be argued to be categorized as a deserted place!

Along with experiencing a physical harshness of climate and barrenness of life during the wintertime, I undergo periods, especially the last couple weeks, of dryness or barrenness in my spiritual life. Spiritual aridity is a topic that I related started to learn about. Saint including, but not limited to, Teresa of Calcutta, Sister Maria Faustina, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross guided me toward a more mature spirituality and to realize that dryness in prayer is not necessary an indictment on a person instead souls undergo periods of purgation to deepen one’s relationship with God. St. John of the Cross, (whose feast day is actually today!) most recently helped avoid me wandering and oriented me toward a mindset that marvels at the Providence of God despite sojourning in the desert of life. Below I wish to share three specific ways Christians will be able to avoid wandering and to start wondering in the desert of life.

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Omnipotent Oases: The great founding father of America Benjamin Franklin once said, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” Traveling in the desert this insight goes without saying. Quenching of thirst quickly becomes of utmost importance. In a desert certain fertile areas exist that surround a water source—oases. Venturing to an oasis is akin to the 1849 gold rush as water is an invaluable resource in a barren land. I am reminded of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. He promises her the possibility of living water. While it is not speaking of physical water, because humanity still needs that to survive the Christ is referring to the sacraments as being sources of God’s graces.

oasis-in-sahara-libiya-the-most-beautiful-place

These omnipotent oases never dry up. We need only be willing to travel to the wellsprings to receive God’s grace. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 1210,

Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life:¹ they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian’s life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life.

I wish to share an example of a recent encounter at a well of God’s grace–the Sacrament of Confession. At the conclusion of a long and particular tough week, both physically and spiritually, I realized I needed to do something about my anger issues and lack of patience at home. Traveling to a nearby local Catholic Church I confessed my sins to the priest. Standing in Personi Christi [standing in the Person of Christ] the priest had the authority to forgive my sins through the sacrament of Holy Orders. In the New Testament, Jesus conferred this power to his Apostles–the first Catholic priest– in John 20:22-23. After receiving the healing graces from this sacrament, I returned home with a greater defense and ability to encounter the temptation of anger and impatience head-on.

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2. Follow the Caravan: A second tip that I discovered that helped me withstand the sandstorms [no pun intended] and desolation of life is to unite myself with others in community to not only discuss my struggles but to celebrate the joys of life. Sojourning with others assists me in the journey of life. It is not a coincidence that the source and summit of the Christian life involves communal worship in the sacrament of the Eucharist within the Mass. The Church reminds us in CCC number 1369, “The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ.”

Along with weekly attendance of the Mass, smaller forms of community sustain me during periods of desert-like desolation in my spiritual life. A friend of mine actually reached out to me unsolicited to see if I needed assistance. “I know that you are going through a tough time now Matt, I was wondering if you wanted to get together for dinner or a drink sometime. Know that I am hear for you if you need to talk about things.” This was a text message that I received a few days ago. Truly, the Holy Spirit worked in my friend’s heart to reach out to me to seek an opportunity to console me.

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3. Marian Moonlight in the Dark Night: The third means I learned that helped me learn to marvel at God’s majesty instead of aimlessly wander in the desert of life is turn more to the Mother of God for support and comfort. Throughout the history of the Catholic Church, the moon has be a symbol associated with Mary. Oftentimes she is a guide to pilgrims in this earthly existence during a dark night of the soul. Venerable Fulton Sheen spoke this once, “God who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. The Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of men.”

Mary reflects or shines the light of Christ during the darkest of nights. During particularly frustrating nights when my children struggle with going to sleep–I ask the Blessed Virgin for assistance in my time of need. Recently, I started to pray a decade of the rosary when rocking my youngest child to bed. Looking to Mary for help is in no way a circumvention around God. I still worship Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, however, the humanity of Mary appeals to me and her maternal mediation always works on our behalf to bring our prayers to God.

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I will close with a quote from the J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring: During a particularly desolate part of the journey to destroy the ring [which represents sin and corruption] the hobbit-companion to Frodo [the ring-bearer] is Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee. He confidently told Frod, “I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. ‘Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.” Do we possess similar resolve when times get tough? If we are married, do we remember our marital commitment to fidelity in the good times and bad? Do we have the courage and empathy to reach out to friends in need? Let us reflect on the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28:20, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”