Welcome Home!

I've seen this link at a couple of blogs recently. It is from a guy in Georgia who has a talk radio show and was the pastor of one of the largest United Methodist Churches in the world. But now he is coming home to the Catholic Church! Anyone coming home is exciting, but this is even more exciting since I used to be Methodist!

And on a related note, yesterday began the octave of prayer for Christian Unity. Here is the prayer I'm praying:

Jesus Christ, our Lord and our brother,
you have called us to be your one Church.
Make us one in our faith and hope,
and one in our loving service.
Make us one in worship and in daily living.

Lord Jesus,
send your Spirit to make us one
as you want us to be.

We ask this, Jesus,
for you are our Lord and our saviour for ever.

Amen.

Our Father...Hail Mary...

I've been reading On Being Catholic by Thomas Howard and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite books! I just finished the chapter on "Tradition in Prayer" at a number of things struck me. It talked about how prayers like the Our Father wrap up everything that we pray for, "that the seven petitions place upon our very tongues all that a mortal should be saying on the long itinerary from his conception, stained by original sin, to the fruition of his journey in the Beatific Vision."

I like that. Often when I want to pray, but don't have anything particular that I want to say, I will pray the Our Father. I love the idea that everything I could possibly want and need to say is wrapped up in it.

The other familiar prayer he talks about is the Hail Mary. He says that the point of praying it is that "one's lips are continually forming words acutely appropriate for any believer in any possible situation, and this assists one's mind to tarry in this place, along with the one, namely the Virgin Mary, who among us mortals, exhibited the perfect response to the will of God."

This is a helpful idea for me. I have found myself praying the Hail Mary in much the same way as the Our Father, but that seemed weird because usually when it is discussed, it is within the context of the Rosary and the meditations. This idea, however, makes it a more "useful" prayer in a broader sense. As I pray Hail Mary, full of grace, I am saying, along with Mary, may it be done according to thy will. And that is a prayer that is appropriate for every moment of the day!

Baptism

Since today we celebrate the Baptism of Our Lord, I've been thinking about my own baptism in the few spare moments I've had.

I was just baptized nearly three years ago in a United Methodist Church, the one I was a part of before I became Catholic. Since I had been in many different types of churches, I had heard a lot of different opinions on baptism and wasn't really sure what my thoughts were. Finally I came to the point that for some reason baptism was important, even if I wasn't entirely sure. So I had a nice little chat with my pastor and we decided I would be baptized on the evening (that is when I usually actually went to church) of Easter.

This is another thing that really shows me the power of the Sacraments, of having this physical thing attached to the grace. I have very vivid memories of kneeling there at the front of the church as my pastor cups her hands together and scoops up the water and lets it fall over my head and run down my back. And then as she placed her hands on my head and prayed for me.

Even though I didn't totally realize it at the time, I see how powerful a moment that was. Not only was all my sin washed away, I was truly and visibly a member of the Body of Christ. It wasn't solely based on my feelings of being a Christian, it is based on this specific moment in time.

The Devil Acts Like Kids

I was listening to a podcast from Father John Riccardo. He was talking about the devil and said this:

The evil one knows he's lost the battle and he's just trying to reek havoc and he lost definitively at calvary, which is when his power was robbed. His game now is just to seduce and to frustrate, and to eternally frustrate if he can, us from reaching the goal, which is communion with God and union with each other.

It struck me as interesting because that sounds just like a bunch of the kids where I work!

All my kids will be playing some game together and be having a great time, but then someone gets mad, usually for some silly little reason. So she quits and stomps off and pout for a bit. Then instead of just getting over it and joining in the fun, she goes over and tries and drag her friends, and anyone else she can, away from the game they were enjoying. She isn't content with making her point by just quitting and pouting, no that isn't big enough. She wants as many people as she can get to side with her!

It drives me crazy when one of my kids does this!

So this is what the devil is trying to do to me. He has lost, God has won! Now the devil won't be content with just accepting this, he is trying to get me, and everyone else, to quit playing with God. If he can't, then no one else should either! So instead of getting dragged away from the fun I'm already having, I need to just stay in the game!

Continuing the Journey

It has now been a little over a month since I became Catholic and I'm quite certain that being Catholic is the coolest thing ever! Every night as I sit down and pray a “Catholic” prayer, I'm more of it. Every time I get a chance to talk about it, I'm more sure of it. Most of all, every time I go to Mass, I'm more sure of it. I'm so incredibly thankful for this amazing privilege and blessing.

Some days I am totally in shock that this is where I ended up. I have no idea how I got here. Other days, I feel like I've been Catholic forever. Either way, I love it! I can't even begin to find words to express how much I love being Catholic and how much peace it has brought.

I'm now inside this great Cathedral and there is so much to explore and look at and learn. I'll never see it all, but I love discovering all of the new things!

I'm Catholic!