Incomprehensible Gift
By: David Neal, B.S. in Environmental Science ‘26
Written on: October 24, 2025
As my last year at Georgia Tech continues, I am reminded of the journey that has been my college experience, of which the GT Catholic Center has been indispensable. During my first two years of college, I believed that the CC would be a good place to fulfill my Sunday Mass obligation– that’s about it. But in making my faith simply an extracurricular, one hour a week in my calendar, I quickly got swept into what the secular college culture told me would fulfill me. It never occurred that an incomprehensible gift awaited me off 4th Street at the CC.
Fortunately, I was invited into a bible study my first year, led by an older Catholic student named Jack. I simply showed up for the first two years– my faith was not high enough on my priorities list. I wanted to make good grades, be well-liked, attend the popular functions, but I was not fully alive. However, going into Lent of my second year, Jack challenged me to go to Adoration in the CC Adoration Chapel for a few minutes every week. Growing up in Catholic education, I had actually never experienced Adoration, but I was obedient to this Lenten commitment.
What followed after that Lent was a deep thirst for something more. Something in me was drawn out of the shallow life I was living as a 20 year old and yearned not for a mere concept of the God I acknowledge in Mass once a week, but for union with the God who became man, died for me, rose for me, and wants an intimate relationship with me, His child. I now somberly remember the many days that I walked past the CC on my way to class, meetings, and parties, unaware of the unfathomable reality that I know now– in His humility, Jesus is moved to present Himself as a gift in the Blessed Sacrament, available for me to adore in Adoration and to receive in Mass nearly every day on my college campus.
The CC has since become the very heartbeat of my college experience. Growing in community with my peers at the CC continues to inspire me, as I now lead my own bible study for first year guys, praying and walking with them to grow in their sacramental life. Having the availability of such nourishing opportunities for growing in my faith has led me to now discern a future within the very heart of the Church.
I am confident that it is not the millions of dollars of research funding, acclaimed faculty, or famous alumni that keeps Georgia Tech alive; it is the prayers and liturgical life of the devoted students, FOCUS missionaries, staff, and priests at the Catholic Center. I pray for the conversion of this campus, that those at the Georgia Tech Catholic Center can continue to be living tabernacles in helping those on this campus come to know the gift of the Christian life.
