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WINNING ESSAY<br />
CATEGORY: AGE 19-24 (CO-WINNER)<br />
Finding Beauty in a Broken World<br />
BY MIRANDA KATTULA<br />
Life is full of many big and small moments.<br />
In this lifetime, we may experience<br />
many victories that leave<br />
us feeling accomplished, as well as plenty<br />
of defeats that can leave us feeling lost. As<br />
humans, we can feel alone during these<br />
moments in our lives, but we need to know<br />
and understand that these things never go<br />
unnoticed.<br />
The graces that God has bestowed upon<br />
us have guided me into the choices and decisions<br />
that I make today. In a world filled<br />
with hatred, destruction, and evil, many<br />
souls remain lost, never finding true fulfillment,<br />
and living solely for the material world. However,<br />
within the struggle and hopelessness, God’s<br />
love and mercy shine.<br />
God’s unconditional love defeats evil and brings<br />
peace, hope, redemption, and sanctification. God<br />
knows our deepest struggles, which is why He has<br />
equipped us with the necessary tools to fight in the<br />
spiritual warfare of our lives.<br />
I am incredibly blessed to have been born and<br />
raised in the Chaldean Church. The Church has<br />
been the foundation that has upheld my life. Once<br />
I learned the roots of the Catholic faith, it became<br />
clear to me that the Catholic Church is the One True<br />
Church. The knowledge I have learned regarding<br />
church history and theology has revealed the healing<br />
and love that I have received from Christ. Which,<br />
therefore, has made it impossible for my heart to<br />
ever want to leave the Catholic faith.<br />
The same God that healed the paralyzed man,<br />
that raised Lazarus from the dead, and that was<br />
resurrected from the grave, lives in me today. My<br />
most joyous moments have been spent leading<br />
youth groups, teaching catechism, singing in the<br />
MIRANDA<br />
KATTULA<br />
AGE 22<br />
choir, and serving wherever the Lord has<br />
called me to. My most difficult moments<br />
have been spent in adoration, in the<br />
Mass, and on my knees in prayer.<br />
In this inconsistent world, God has<br />
been the only constant. The Lord’s will<br />
never felt forced upon me; they were divine<br />
callings that kindled a deep desire in my<br />
heart to serve God in any capacity that He<br />
provided. The personal relationship I have<br />
with Jesus has changed every aspect of my<br />
life, and every day, God has graciously provided<br />
me with confirmations of His love, so<br />
that I can live my life as a testimony to Him.<br />
While I did grow up in the Church, many times in<br />
my life I did not always place my identity in Jesus. As<br />
I grew older and began to understand our faith more<br />
deeply and intensely, it only made sense to turn<br />
to Jesus in everything that I do. Once I placed my<br />
identity in Christ, I recognized that all these earthly<br />
things come and go. Things such as the perfect job,<br />
the perfect grades, the perfect house, the perfect<br />
friends, are all temporary and will never satisfy the<br />
deepest desire of my heart. Everything in this world<br />
will pass away, but God will not pass away (Matthew<br />
24:35). The Chaldean Catholic Church has taught me<br />
to place everything about myself and everything in<br />
my life at the foot of the cross.<br />
The Church as an institution is vastly different<br />
from what my parents, and especially grandparents,<br />
describe. They describe church as somewhere you<br />
go on Sundays for Mass, Saturdays for Catechism/<br />
Communion, and when you need the priest’s assistance<br />
for his sacramental duties.<br />
Today, our churches are busy and thriving. At<br />
each church on any given day, there are adult bible<br />
studies (in both English and Arabic), youth groups<br />
for both middle and high school students, men’s<br />
and women’s groups and conferences, summer and<br />
winter camps, catechism and communion, special<br />
events held by different groups, charity organizations,<br />
prayer groups, and retreats.<br />
My parents and grandparents have also described<br />
that there was not always an emphasis on<br />
the importance of partaking in the sacraments, especially<br />
confession. Today, confession is widely encouraged<br />
and talked about with all age groups.<br />
While our Chaldean Church has been doing an<br />
amazing job at making improvements within the<br />
institution, we still have a lot of work to do. For<br />
one, I believe that Chaldean programs need to address<br />
the mental health stigma effectively. While I<br />
see major strides to make that happen, I have noticed<br />
that many Chaldeans still do not understand<br />
mental health. Conversations about mental health<br />
should be more prominent within homilies and different<br />
groups. Placing a greater emphasis on the<br />
topic of mental health and providing resources for<br />
the individuals struggling, can also help reduce<br />
the amount of drug abuse, self-harm, suicide, and<br />
eating disorders within our community.<br />
I think important things that need to be addressed<br />
when it comes to mental health are how<br />
children can speak to their parents about it, early<br />
signs to watch out for in oneself, red flags to look<br />
for in family and friends, medication, therapy, and<br />
hospitalization.<br />
What I see as the role of the church in 2050 is<br />
to be unapologetically Catholic and help evangelize<br />
to more people. Now that many families have been<br />
here for generations and have established roots, we<br />
can begin to reach out to more people who are not<br />
Catholic within our communities.<br />
I believe that if the Church properly prepares its<br />
parishioners, we can help all people of all different<br />
religions and nationalities. I pray that people will<br />
see Jesus shine through our people, even with the<br />
simplest interaction. What the world needs more of<br />
is radical Catholics who will speak the truth with<br />
love and conviction, and not back down from the<br />
good fight.<br />
HONORABLE MENTIONS<br />
“The older generation<br />
must encourage the<br />
younger generation to do<br />
what they love…we will see<br />
an abundance of Chaldean<br />
artists, journalists and musicians,<br />
because passion<br />
is what will help keep our<br />
values of hard work alive.”<br />
– Christine Sharrak<br />
“The true heart and backbone<br />
of our community<br />
is our women…Although<br />
I will never know the<br />
struggle they knew, I feel<br />
so privileged to have been<br />
raised in the presence of<br />
their determination.”<br />
– Jenna Elise-Hussam Abroo<br />
“My people have been<br />
starving for representation.<br />
When I stare into<br />
the pages of a book or the<br />
bright TV screen, I don’t<br />
see my reflection staring<br />
back at me…Where are our<br />
stories?”<br />
– Sophia Snell<br />
“We are lucky to have such<br />
a defined culture…It feels<br />
like yesterday when my<br />
grandma babysat me, and<br />
we would go on walks to a<br />
nearby park to pick grape<br />
leaves for Sunday dinner.”<br />
– Grant Foumia<br />
38 CHALDEAN NEWS <strong>DECEMBER</strong> <strong>2023</strong>