August 24, 2007

Making faith a more personal relationship

By John Shaughnessy

After several months as a freshman in college, Logan Cook was trying to make sense of his own changing faith when he experienced a moment that showed him how the belief of others could inspire and enflame his relationship with God.

The moment occurred on Ash Wednesday of this year when the then-Purdue University freshman entered St. Thomas Aquinas Church in West Lafayette, Ind.

“I was expecting maybe 100 people to be there,” recalls Cook, a 2006 graduate of Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis.

“I didn’t think Ash Wednesday would be on many people’s minds. But when I went into Mass that day, it was packed,” he said. “People were standing everywhere. It showed me that even though you are in college, there are a lot of people practicing their faith. That was exciting for me.”

It was one more step in making his faith more personal for him—a development that helped him deal with the challenge of a demanding first year of engineering classes.

“The engineering classes were tough. There’s a lot of stress and frustration,” says Cook, who is also a member of St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis. “I looked at church as a break and a time to relax when I could just look at my faith.” †

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