Elephants and Tea - March 2022 - 22

Examining Your Faith REDEFINING FAITH
Finding Faith
in Foundation
BY AILEEN BURKE
I
was at a birthday party in Rochester,
New York when a woman I had just
connected with started asking Muggle
Questions. Normally, Muggle Questions
run the same gamut after I so
much as reveal the finer details of my
health history: how did you find the
mole? (It was smack mid-line in the
center of my chin). What was treatment
like for you? How have you had to
adjust your life post-treatment? The list
goes on. I understand how scary it can
be for people to ask those questions, so
for those who are brave enough to try, I
attempt to make whatever answer I give as
compelling and human as possible. Amid a
fit of giggles after one funny answer to her
question, this woman gleefully and simply
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MARCH 2022
asked, " Was your faith significant to you?
You know, in your coping? "
I had to ask myself. Was it? I had spent
over a year at this point dissecting the
difference between words like " faith " and
" spirituality " in graduate school. As a
social work student, you learn one of the
most imperative questions you can ask
an individual in an intake is about their
faith. If someone ascribes to a faith tradition,
there is a more significant chance of
that person having access to a supportive
community with some extra resources to
share with whoever is in need.
But in my own chal lenges, I never
stopped to consider what might have
been the largest influence in my ability
to cope. I knew that faith and spirituality
had both played their part, but to what
extent I was truly unsure at that moment.
It took me a second to wrap my head
around the levity of the question that
this woman posed, let alone develop any
sort of salient answer. I was raised Irish
Catholic, which means I was just raised
plain old Roman Catholic but somehow
feel more guilty for my behavior than
everyone else does in civilization. I say
sorry like it's my full-time job. I knew
faith had played some role in how I approached
my experience with cancer. My
Great Aunt sent me prayer cards, and my
grandmother would pray the rosary on
scan days, and she still does.
After considering this, I told the woman
questioning me, " Sure! "
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