Our ever-growing Church and my new title

A week ago, I was asked to be a sponsor for a friend that has been attending RCIA with me this past year. I was honored and thrilled that she wanted to enter the Church! Although she couldn’t make it to the Rite of Election this past Saturday, I went, along with others from our parish, to Montgomery, where Archbishop Rodi celebrated it. It was unbelievable. There were very few other times in my life that I have felt so privileged to witness something this profound and significant. It kind of puts your life into perspective when you see what you are an integral part of. I’m so glad I went.

While there, I also learned something surprising. My friend, Brittany, hasn’t been baptized. This officially makes her a catechumen and part of the Elect. This also would make me her godmother. AHHH!!! I was a bit thrown off by that. But after meeting with her to go over what she missed, and discussing the godmother thing with our priest, it looks like I will, in fact, be her godmother. Please pray that I won’t be an utter failure for her sake!

In just the short amount of time in RCIA, and more specifically, with Brittany, I have gained more than I ever thought I would. Just knowing that she desires to become Catholic is a true joy. This week, I explained that she has been called by God and now she is responding to God. I explained what it meant to enter the Church and join in the Communion of Saints. I explained to her that the entire Church, past, present and future, was praying for her and all those on their journey towards the Easter sacraments. Our Church is deeply personal and is deeply communal. Our Church is truly amazing and beautiful.

Please pray for all those, baptized or not, that wish to enter into the life of the Church. How exciting!

The Power of the Cross

Some people make fun and see it as a weakness that Jesus, who claimed, and who many many people believe, to be God, was nailed to a cross and died. On the surface they seem right to think so. After all, isn’t God all-powerful and He wouldn’t possibly allow Himself to be humiliated like that? And surely, God couldn’t die. However, after thinking about it at all, it is easily recognized just how great this is. If God really became a man, and really allowed himself to go through all that, then there must be a reason. That reason is for us. Then the truth is easy to see. This was no small, weak event. This was huge. This act, which humbled God and exposed Him to all of us, His creation, proves that He is God and that He loves us, more than we will ever know. God is so powerful that He can be weak, so wise that He can seem foolish by doing something like this. No other god or religion has claimed anything like this. This God, my God, is not weak, but has proven His love, and thus has proven His self. What dignity God has placed is us that He would do that for us! That is the God that I love!

Still lost

I’ve been constantly disappointed this semester. It’s not that things aren't going well, they are. It's that something vital seems to be missing. I am lonely. Recently, I’ve made some big steps to being totally fulfilled by God, but it seems to be for naught because then I backtrack and still feel like I’m missing out on something. It’s hard to be patient, and even harder to be content. When a door closes or you see something you were excited for dwindle away, it’s sad. It’s not that I don’t think something else great will take it’s place, but that that opportunity is dead. It will never come to existence, it was a fantasy, an option, that I now have to move on from. I’ve felt all that I’ve done recently is accept things. Accepting means I won’t try to make it into something greater or different than the reality. My world seems duller. People don’t seem as interesting. I realize just how inadequate and lonely I am. And while my first reaction is to run back to my fantasies, I know that causes more pain overall, and I would rather live in the truth, even if it’s not all exciting.

After reading this, I feel that I seem to have no hope for the future, but I think it’s just because I would rather have the future I want, that I’ve imagined. How do I change my mindset from being sad at my thwarted plans and excited again for life, right now? Every time I try to have hope for the future, I begin to fantasize again, and the cycle repeats. I think I expect way to much from everyone and everything. No wonder I’m always disappointed. I know the stock answer, but what do I do if that isn’t working?

Among the Billion

I read this, and couldn't help myself from reposting it here. Please read it, if you don't already read Fr. Longenecker's blog. The tsunami is coming, and has already started to break.

"The Catholic Church teaches that."

I heard this phrase again tonight, only it struck me a different way. We shouldn’t look at the Catholic Church as something outside us, that we come into contact with every so often. Instead, if we are members, the ones actually making up the Church, then when we say, “the Catholic Church teaches …”, we should be thinking also, "and that’s what I believe". Because if we don’t agree or even oppose the teachings of the Church, then we aren’t fulfilling our role as members of the Mystical Body of Christ. This is more than symbolic. In our baptism, we really enter into the Church, and therefore are joined to it. By working against Catholic teaching, we are then, in a way, working against our very selves. It’s not so much to say we should blindly follow these teachings, but instead recognize them as truth and learn more. It’s as if the stomach growls, we instinctively know that our body is hungry. But we can learn further that it’s because we haven’t eaten, and we may learn exactly how the stomach makes the growling noise. Listening to our body, and being good to it, and living in truth with it, will make our body healthy. The same goes for the Church.

Over Here

My mom is back in the United States! She made it back Saturday night and I was finally able to talk to her. She sounds even better than the last time we spoke.

Although I haven't been so good with the gratitude on here, I think this is a great thing to be thankful for. Thanks to St. Rita and St. Michael for their constant prayers and protection and to God who kept her safe and happy too. I thank Him for this absurd twist that has brought much growth to our family and much needed perspective. She is debriefing in Washington State and should be back home by the end of the month! Thanks to everyone who also prayed for her. It really meant a lot.