Cassandra Rohm

As I read James Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything I find each page
relatable to my own feelings of religion and beliefs, and with that I am also learning more about
my own faith. Martin describes six paths that people often follow in their search for God each
with its own set of benefits and downfalls. When I reviewed the paths that he described after
having initially read for this assignment, I was surprised by what I found. When I first took in
the words that Martin wrote, I felt that I could place myself on just one path, the Path of
Independence. I was surprised when I went over it a second time and discovered that I can place
myself on four of the six that he described.

I found it interesting as I considered my faith journey thus far that I’ve been on multiple
paths at once almost like side streets coming onto a main road that leads to one destination, that
destination being my belief in God. I feel that my original path would have started with the first
one I related to, the Path of Independence. Throughout my life I’ve never stopped believing in
God or some divine power, however, as I got older, I found that there were certain aspects of
Catholicism that my beliefs didn’t align with. Two of those beliefs were that people should be
able to love and marry whoever they please including individuals of the opposite sex and that
women should have the ability to make choices about their body and their life. Although neither
of those beliefs affect me directly, I feel that it is important for people to be able to make choices
for themselves. Further into Martin’s description of the Path of Independence he mentions a
feeling of hypocrisy within the church. I’ve never felt that so much with the Church itself, but
many of the people that call themselves Catholic. I often feel like some people take the role of
judge into their own hands instead of living a life like God and Jesus would have wanted and
loving and forgiving everyone. Seeing so many of those people in church and spending time
around them put a bad taste in my mouth.

The next path that I can find myself on is the Path of Return. I actually feel like this path,
although following the same as the Path of Independence, carries a greater weight with it. In the
book, the Path of Return is described as someone who grew up in religion and then fell away
from it, but now find themselves coming back. I attended a Catholic school from kindergarten
through eighth grade and I recall having religion class every morning and going to Mass on
Wednesdays. Outside of school my family was not very religious and we only attended Mass on
Christmas and Easter. Once I began high school even those traditions faded and I found myself
Cassandra Rohm

not considering God or my faith for months at a time. During this time, I still had a belief that
God was there, but I wasn’t actively seeking Him or worshipping Him. That changed when I left
for Basic Training for the Army. During that short time in my life, I made the choice to go to
Mass every Sunday and I carried with me a cross on my dog tags and a pocket Bible. I also
found myself saying prayers every night before I went to sleep and throughout the day. God was
who got me through those nine, hard weeks.

When I came home from Basic Training, I drifted away from God again because life
wasn’t as hard as it had been. It is because of this that I feel that the Path of Confusion also
joined the main road of my journey. I didn’t find myself on the Path of Return again until a bad
relationship left me turning to God for strength once more. Since then, I have continued on the
Path of Return. I’ve been slowly working towards figuring out my own beliefs as I navigate an
ever-changing life. It was recently that I spent a few steps on the Path of Exploration as well.

About a year ago I had found myself wondering if there was another belief system that I
could find my place in. This pondering led me to explore Wicca. Magic and the idea of energies
influencing various things in life has been something that I have always found to be of interest
even when I was younger. I spent about a year reading books and resisting the pull of the
comfort of my Catholic faith. It was shortly prior to beginning this semester that I was struck
with a sudden understanding of sorts. Wicca focuses on the energies around a person and
focusing to manifest what their goals or desires are. When I really thought about that, I realized
that Wicca is centered on positive thinking. When I made that discovery, I felt that I had found
what I was looking for, a way to follow my Catholic faith in God and believe that I can make a
difference in my own life using the processes that Wicca describes. Of course, there were times
that I nearly fell into the pit of searching for perfectionism that seems to be the downfall of all
these paths, but I have also found roads that are leading me to understanding the faith that I
carry.

That all brings me to where I am now. As I had moved through SLA 150 and now SRT
285, I am discovering more of my faith in God every day. I’m still walking my Path of Return
because I don’t think I’m quite there yet or if I ever will be, but I can find comfort in knowing
that the path that I am following is leading me to the grace of God and the strength and love that
he offers.