Finding God on Gannon’s campus: An hour of worship or meditation can center students for the week

October 2, 2019

Every Sunday as I leave Mass, I feel this overwhelming sense of peace.
I come into the worship space often apprehensive and overcome by the anxiety of school, my social life and everything in between.
Some days I don’t even make it to Mass because the world just seems like too much to handle and I tell myself I cannot spare even an hour of my time.
What’s so ironic about telling myself that is that this single hour out of a whole week is usually one of the best.
Because of this, skipping Mass can often end up hindering me more than helping me.
As I’ve noticed this peaceful feeling more and more each week, I’ve pondered why exactly this might be.
After a month or so of this, I realized something: for one hour of the week, Mass takes my mind away from everything.
All of the studying, the homework, the endless tests, all of it is put on pause.
This is my time for God and no one else.
God gives rest to the restless so as a stressed college student, I am definitely one of his top customers.
Something great about this that I also realized is that you do not necessarily need to have some deep-seated religious beliefs to share in this gift of peace.
Meditation is practiced by many today and works for reasons similar to my experiences I just explained.
Taking a moment of time, whether it be 15 minutes or a whole hour, to just be still can really clear your headspace and refresh your soul.
Guided meditations are a great place to start and readily available on YouTube.
I have a go-to one saved to my account for those days where I really just need some more help with stress relief.
If you are interested in using church as your time to yourself and time with God, there are countless options in Erie.
Campus Ministry has a list of the many places of worship where people find peace each week.
Whether you decide to try a new worship space or a guided meditation, inner peace and stillness is always a great tool to have as a busy person.
Keep yourself open to trying new things and remember that even if you may think you do not have the time to dedicate to this, it will likely be more beneficial than you think.