25 and Catholic
I’ve been asking myself for weeks—since my 25th birthday on August 30th, to be exact—how I might want to intro this column.
I’ve burned through numerous drafts of intros, all of which I sat on for a few days and later found boring, diluted, wordy, and each emitting an air of self-importance that seemed gross and unlikeable when I read them again.
But there is one thing I can say for sure—every time I went back to the drawing board, I had this single passage in mind: 1 Corinthians 7:32-34.
“But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.”
It’s a little bit yucky, I know. Like, it has the word ‘virgin’ in it, which is about as cringe-worthy as it gets, and using this passage here means jumping straight into the whole “unmarried” element of this “25 & Catholic” thing. Which led me to ask myself: “do I really want to do this so early on, Mary Kate? Am I really going to throw this out there, right here in the intro?”
*sigh* Yeah. Yeah, I think I am.
This is 25 & Catholic. This is the phase of life that’s the “I’m an adult, but I don’t feel like an adult, and I’m not married, but I’d kind of like to be married, and this is supposedly the best time of life, but I’m really just ready for the next time of life” phase. And it’s sort of a sucky place to be.
THIS. This. is 25 & Catholic.
Apologies in advance to my mid-twenties married friends. While I’d love to say that every post I write will be applicable to you all as well, I can’t necessarily do that. The whole married-young thing has not been my experience.
BUT I’ve got an awful lot of unmarried-young experience! So sit tight and buckle up, folks. Girl who loves self-deprecation, dad jokes, and overusing the term “like” in blog posts is in the driver’s seat. Happy to have you along for the ride!
I know I’m not alone in any of this, which is why I’ve wanted so badly to write about it. Being a 20-something single Catholic is really freakin’ hard. And such a headache sometimes. And remarkably frustrating when you feel like you’re doing all the right things—or, rather, trying to do all the right things—but aren’t seeing any results.
But the Good News is here, in 1 Corinthians 7:32-34. It’s the realization that there are superpowers single people have that married people don’t—the power to be “concerned about the things of the Lord,” for starters. And that’s an intriguing suggestion.
Would this be a millennial blog if I didn’t plug my social media? Like my Facebook page here and follow me on Twitter here so I can blow up your feeds every time I post.
And thanks for not thinking I’m nuts, because I’m pumped to be writing this column. It’s an opportunity to air out much of what I write in my personal life, and I can’t wait to finally do that. Our vocations and personal missions are so, so important. For most 25-year-old Catholics, there’s literally not a better time than now to discover them.
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