Moments

Well, I just got back from "class" number two and I'm still really excited. We had a nice prayer time and talked about 9-11 for a few minutes. Then we talked about who had been to Mass that week and anything they noticed or any questions they had a such.

Then the pastor of our parish came and we all introduced ourselves to him, and everyone else. That was interesting to hear a little bit about everyone's background. It seems we are about half and half baptized and unbaptized. I think all the other people who had been baptized were baptized Catholic and just missed out on the rest of the sacraments somehow. And there were a lot of people there because their spouse was Catholic or they wanted their children brought up Catholic. But there seems to be a pretty wide variety of experiences.

Then we went over a couple of the questions people had from Mass (colors of the vestments and music) and then spent a couple of minutes talking with the person next to us about what we had read. I feel kind of silly because I'm on Chapter 7 already, but they said read it at your own pace, and well, I like to read!

Then we went over to the main church and had a tour. That was really nice. Some stuff I had kind of figured out as I went along, but there was plenty of new stuff too. We saw the sacristy, where the priests get ready and such, and the special drain into the ground. We talked about the candles where you can pray, the altar, and saw the marble slab that has a saints relics in it. We saw the baptismal fount.

We also peeked in the confessional booths. That was an interesting moment for me. I was a tiny bit nervous thinking about my first confession, but also really excited listening to the director talk about what a special sacrament it is. I really am getting more and more excited when I think about when I will finally be able to participate in the sacraments!

The other really powerful moment was when we were over next to the tabernacle and talking about it. She was explaining about genuflecting when we pass it and how we believe that Jesus is really truly present there. Then she pretty much just told us to do whatever we were comfortable with for now, but that Jesus was really just SOO excited that we were even there! The director was just so excited when she said this, that you could just feel God seeping out of her and really did believe that Jesus was that excited that we were even there!

We also stayed for the reposition of the Blessed Sacrament and that was really powerful too. Just that there Jesus is, right in front of us, right there with us! Again, it made me really excited for the day when I can fully participate in the sacraments!