St. Augustine's Confessions has caused me to look at the decisions that I have made in the past, and reflect on whether or not I have developed a sense of purpose in my life.  Since I was a child, my mother has always been very religious. Much like St Augustine's own mother, my mother found Catholicism to be a very integral aspect required in both the lives of my sister and I. She enrolled us in Sunday school during my early youth, hoping that it would be a huge influence on our lives. However, as soon as I completed my First Communion, I did not find it necessary to go back. In my perspective, it was just another thing to mark off of my checklist. It was not for another eleven years that I began to feel a need to return to the Church.

I find it very problematic when parents try to force their children to believe in something that they don't understand fully. I am not accusing my own mother of doing this, for when I decided to stop going to Church, she never tried to make me go against my will. She merely introduced me to the faith, and let me follow the course of my own beliefs. I think that I was not ready for a religious commitment in the same manner that St. Augustine was not ready for it either. I finally reached a point in my life where I found that religion was essential to my identity. To understand my humanity and my relation to others and to God has enriched my perspective on what I am meant to be doing. Therefore, I have realized that there has been a complete reorientation of the manner in which I make decisions. 

Sometimes it’s difficult because I am aware of how young people my age are, and I hear so many people say "We're only young once". However I disagree with this motto to a degree where the severity of our mistakes is disregarded. There comes a point in our lives when you have to stop making decisions only in relation to yourself, and think about it in perspective to the world that you live in.  My faith has allowed me to realize that I live in a community of people and that we are all united in that we share the same life. After reading Confessions, I am glad to have discovered this early in my youth as opposed to so much later in my life like St. Augustine. He realizes the amount of time that he has lost indulging in the immediate pleasure of his youth in comparison to the joy which his relationship to God has given him. I have definitely found this realization to have come at a great time in my life, and therefore St. Augustine’s reflection has allowed me that it is important for me to have this sense of purpose now, rather than later in my life. It ultimately makes every decision of mine much more significant to myself and my developing identity as a Catholic.