Naemi is one of the newest additions to the team at the John Paul II. Center, joining the P28 team in September with her sense of beauty in the field of interior design. In addition to a pursuit of, and a gift for, beauty, Naemi also brings a moving story – Naemi was baptized at the Easter Vigil this year and tells us her story of how she went from a system-rejecting attitude to yoga and finally to Jesus.

“I grew up in a family where there was a strong aversion to the Church. The Church tax was one of the main reasons for this. I wasn’t baptized and went to a difficult school as a child. When my parents realized that this was not good for me, I went to a Catholic school. The religious instruction there wasn’t bad, but it was dry and simply didn’t interest me – except in one situation – I can’t even remember what was said there. I just knew that something clicked back then.”

“I was seven and then I started talking to God and told my parents that I wanted to be baptized.”

“My parents were very open to it, but thought it was just the influence of my Catholic school and my classmates. They thought I could do it when I was older.”

“But that faded out very quickly, and then everything ended with the new religious education class.”

“As a teenager, I had a real hatred of the church. The Catholic school with its rules was certainly a decisive reason for this. My attitude was fundamentally against any system or hierarchy. In hindsight, that time in my youth, when I was lost, was a really difficult time.”

“I then had a real crisis and didn’t know who I was”.

After my A-levels, when I really had nothing to do for a year, I became very interested in self-discovery. I put a lot of effort into personal development because I just didn’t know where to put all the pain. I was also able to find some healing through things like dream processing – but when you deal with the big questions in life, sooner or later you end up in spiritual spheres. That’s where I started to turn to Buddhism and yoga, among other things – not from a sporting point of view, but actually spiritual yoga. Before that, I simply hadn’t found this spiritual fulfillment here in the Catholic faith.

“For me, the Catholic faith was purely cultural and had nothing spiritual about it.”

“I now understand why people devote themselves to things like New Age. It was there that I first learned to open up spiritually… but unfortunately I was missing God, who I already knew was there when I was seven years old – but unfortunately not a personal God, but in the form of a great power.

At university, I then met one of my best friends, who is now also my godparent, with whom I had a really deep conversation for the first time, also about God and the Bible – and it all made sense. But he wasn’t incredibly deep in the faith himself, so after these conversations we decided to set out together in search of the truth.”

Naemi then moved to a district where she was very touched by the community that existed there and started going to Church regularly.

“I then started going to Church regularly, even though I had no idea what was going on at mass. I just had this feeling in Church. Later I was in Krakow, a very Catholic city, where I had a strong spiritual experience for the first time in a church – I went in there and immediately felt at home. That was the first time I cried in a church and I didn’t know why.”

I came away from that experience so moved that I then realized in another deep conversation with my best friend that there must be something to it. From then on, I really did go to mass every Sunday, and somehow had feelings that I couldn’t explain.

“Everything changed in the Easter Vigil. Before, I always said: ‚Let’s see if it’s all true‘. But after the Easter Vigil, I just knew that everything was right.”

One of the most touching moments for me, however, was that I wanted to go to Church because I was simply going through a very turbulent time in my life that was very challenging. But I was very intimidated because the congregation that was already there was standing outside the door and talking. I wanted to go to Church though, so I walked through the crowd scared and with my head down. As I entered the church, I heard and felt a voice so clearly.

“Lift up your head and don’t be afraid”.

I knew it was Jesus. It was a deep, masculine voice, full of authority, but still so loving. I thought I was crazy – it was a full body experience. I didn’t just hear Him, I really felt Him. Then when I was in Eucharistic Adoration for the first time, I could just feel a peace emanating from the Eucharistic Host, and I felt God so intensely – like a fire that unites us all – it was somehow a baptism of the Holy Spirit for me.

Naemi then spent a year preparing for baptism. During this time, she often realized how embattled she was and that there were many things from which she still needed to be healed and freed. But her love and devotion to God then led her to the point where the Lord gave her a richly blessed baptism.

“It was as if God was standing next to me every second during my baptism. Since my baptism, my perception of God is also much more stable – He is simply always with me and I get to experience Him.”

“Baptism was an incredible moment. (…) I really felt that God was there and that everything had changed. (…) After the baptism, everything was calmer, but I felt a constant, that Jesus is always there.”

“The baptism was an incredible moment. I really felt that God was there and that everything had changed. After the baptism, everything was calmer, but I felt a constant, that Jesus is always there.”