When people outside of the faith first learn that I am Catholic, they typically ask the same basic question. Namely, they ask me how I can possibly be Catholic, given certain facets of my identity that, in their minds, are incompatible with Catholicism. My interlocutors view my Catholicism as contradictory to my personhood as a whole. The story of Lazarus addresses this question remarkably well.

Lazarus’s rise from the dead is one of the most iconic and memorable miracles performed by Jesus in the Gospels. His story is also one that is laden with facts that seem contradictory to rational thought. It seems irrational, for example, to believe that anyone can raise another person from the dead. Jesus is able to perform this miracle, however, in part because he himself embodies an apparent contradiction: He is both fully man and fully God.

When I reflect on my apparent incompatibility with Catholicism, I cannot do so without also reflecting on the miracles that I have experienced during my lifetime. It is true that I have never seen a man come back to life, but it is also true that I have been blessed enough to witness many other miracles less obvious than that of Lazarus.

Every time I speak with my family, I find myself astounded by their unconditional love and support. All the times when I have hurt the people whom I love the most, they have shocked me with their radical forgiveness—with the constructiveness of their care in the face of my destruction. After the first Mass that I attended at STM, I tried to slip away as quietly as I could. My attempt to abscond was interrupted, however, by a community of friends and mentors more welcoming than any other that I had ever encountered before. It was the spiritual guidance of our community that eventually led me to my confirmation last spring. Without this warmth and acceptance, I would never have found myself kneeling before the tabernacle during Easter Vigil Mass, accepting St. Thomas More as my confirmation name.

During this Lenten season, it has been impossible for me to ignore the miracles that have, in effect, raised me from spiritual death. To me, the love of my family and friends has been as unbelievable—as contradictory to rational thought—as the resurrection of Lazarus. The next time when someone asks me how I can possibly be Catholic, I might respond with a question of my own: How possibly could I not?