Raised in a Catholic household, my spiritual life felt a bit more handed down than a lived reality for many years. Although I was familiar with the liturgy and recited the prayers, I had yet to experience the profundity of a personal conviction.

This was my conversion, where the scales fell off of my eyes. I had realized I have been living a life of sin. Recalling it now still amazes me how wonderfully God works. From that moment on I stopped living for the world.

I wanted to attend the most Catholic college I could find, so I chose the Catholic University of America, in Washington DC. There I found a vibrant community of students, clergy, religious, and professors who didn't just talk about the faith, they lived it.

Everything changed when I met a girl whose peace and joy seemed to indicate that she had found what I was searching for all those years. I asked if we could talk, and long story short I experienced the love of Christ in a real, tangible authentic way through that friendship.