How many times have you mumbled your way through afternoon prayer or made sure to look bored in religion classes? How many times have you refrained from singing or even responding at Mass because it’s ‘not cool’. Why is this? Why do we feel the need to pretend we are too good for prayer or too cool to worship our God in front of our peers?

You want to know what’s cool, singing to the best of your God-given abilities at Mass because it is the best way to praise the Lord, genuflecting with both knees when you enter into adoration as a sign of respect and getting up early once a week to attend Friday morning liturgy. These are not hard things. If you are at school, if you are given the opportunity to praise the Lord, why not use it? I’m only asking for participation. I understand singing may not be your thing or you may not be good at it, but I’m not asking you to join choir. The Lord doesn’t care how good of a singer you are, so why should you?

Perhaps you’ve been up all night studying for a big test so it may be hard to get up early to go to Mass, but what if you used that time to pray for yourself and all those taking that test? Great opportunities, such as this, may not always be available to you, so take advantage of them while you can. Juniors come back from Kairos with their faith overflowing only to have it slowly drained by people judging them and making them feel like their faith has no place in their friendships. We should support Kairos attendees and encourage the ‘kai-high’, not put them down because they are now ‘too churchy’.

Our teachers and administrators have challenged us this Lenten season to give up complaining. Why spend time complaining about your issues when you can fix them! We can all do with a little less complaining in our own lives, whether we are the ones saying it or hearing it. Will you be the one to complain about this no complaining rule or will you be the one who realizes what this Lenten season is all about? Students should be encouraging those who want to complain less, not knocking on them for being a ‘goody two shoes’ that always follows the rules.

I’ll ask again, why do we feel the need to hide our faith or put others down for theirs? We go to a Catholic school, whose goal is to develop the total person in a Catholic environment. When did we lose sight of what that really means? I challenge you, Saints. This Lenten season, speak up a little louder, sing out a little stronger, complain a little less and get up a little earlier on Fridays. If we spend more time building up others in their faith, we may just find that ours has been strengthened too. Let us come together, support one another and show others we aren’t afraid to speak up for our faith or support our friends in theirs.