Catholic - And Loving It

I've been Catholic for almost two months now! A few days ago a mentor (of sorts) of mine said to me: You really ARE Catholic!!! In response to a concern I had about the Eucharist. It made me smile. I have conformed, haven't I?

I approach my faith in a way that would have seemed foreign and alarming to me in my younger days. In my youth I used to sneer at Lutheran's and Catholics because they seemed to blindly follow authority with no thought of their own.

My how things have changed.

My attitude these days is: If the Church teaches it, I will obey it. Period. I have accepted that this is THE Church Christ established. I have accepted that Christ appoints His ministers within the Church (although, even after they are appointed they can stray from His will) and I have made a conscious decision to obey my Lord on earth as well as in heaven.

How can I go wrong listening to what the Church teaches and deferring to the judgment of Church fathers? Who am I to think that I can pick up the Bible and correctly interpret it's meaning? I am like the man in the boat; "Do you know what you are reading?" Peter asked. The man answered, "How can I, if no one explains it to me."

I AM that man (well, woman!). I'm happy to be that man because in this faith, in this Church, there is someone whom I can trust to teach me. The Successor to the Apostles, the Traditions of the Church carried on for 2000 years, the Magesterium protected by God Himself. These things were put here by God so that I could have someone to teach me these things that I don't understand. And BOY am I thankful.

In my Protestant faith I had to rely on my own limited knowledge and as much as I read and studied the Bible it just never clicked. I always had doubts and questions and there was no definitive answer. I had to rely on my own understanding and that was a huge cause of concern for me.

Now, I don't have to rely on me. Now I read the bible and I pray to God and when a question arises that my own understanding cannot explain I can rely on the Church. Ah, how nice it is to have a family that I can trust, knowing that God has given them to me. :)

If you're wondering what prompted this one, I just had a dilemma in my daily life that I was having a difficult time thinking through. I sought the advice of a Catholic Apologist and when I received his answer I said: All right. If that's what the Church teaches, that is what I will do. :)

Sorry for all the rambling!!! Have a blessed day.

Dreams don't mean anything - but I can't help but to wonder...

I had a dream last night. It is, of course, a little hazy and a little faded now that I'm awake but a few things I remember clearly. In the dream I was, for some unknown reason, serving as a Eucharistic Minister but I kept messing things up. I wasn't saying the right words when I distributed the Blessed Sacrament, I nearly dropped our Lord twice, and I had a mixture of feelings... when I'd mess up my initial reaction was; It doesn't matter. and then this deep sense of guilt would overcome me. This is THE LORD, I'd say to myself and immediately I would try to correct my mistakes.

I was still serving when I woke up and the first thought that popped into my head was: I am NEVER serving as a Eucharistic Minister.

Dreams don't mean anything - but I can't help but wonder if this one has some underlying meaning. I have been struggling a little bit with the Eucharist. I'm not sure I fully understand it. I try to believe it, when I doubt I pull myself up just like I did in the dream. I'm not even sure if I should be receiving in this state of mentality but at the same hand doesn't everybody have some small measure of difficult accepting this particular doctrine at some time?

Anyway, that's my story.

Karl Keating vs. Dave Hunt

I just listened to a debate between Karl Keating and Dave Hunt. They were discussing Early Christianity. Mr. Hunt's position was that Catholicism is NOT the early church, and Mr. Keating argued the opposite.

I found Mr. Hunt completely obnoxious. His arguments were weak at best and he spent more time bashing Catholicism then he did supporting his own position. Mr. Keating seemed slightly worked up (and who can blame him!) and I think it was hard for him to figure out which accusations and lies to respond to.

I think what angered me the most was that Mr. Hunt was spouting tons of misinformation and outright lies and it was frustrating to listen to. Not only that but he was twisting history and doing the typical Protestant 'prooftexting' move that I find particularly vile.

Mr. Hunt approached everything like the usual Protestant, appealing to emotion and little else.

Anyway, listening to this one debate has made me quite convinced that I do not like Mr. Hunt. What an arrogant, angry man.

Mr. Keating threw in a few pot shots of his own, and honestly I can't blame him. The gauntlet was thrown down and he picked it up but with as much grace as he could.

Ugh. Protestants. When do they stop 'feeling' religion and start 'thinking'?

Christ has died. Christ is Risen! Christ will come again.

We (my roommate and I) were received into full communion with the Catholic Church last night. My roommate was also baptized. I've had approximately 10 hours of sleep in the last two days and let me tell you that's not nearly enough, and yet I can't wipe the grin off my face.

For all the troubles we've had in RCIA the people of this parish are extraordinarily welcoming and loving and that was like an extra bonus on top of finding home. It's great to come home, even better when your brothers and sisters welcome you with open arms (literally!) !

Anyway, it's Easter and I have people to visit and food to eat. ;)

Have a great day! God be with you!

An Update

Sometimes I think I might be losing my mind. This Sunday was one of those times.

After Mass everyone gathered for a potluck. As we stood in line to get our food I glanced up and noticed a young man ahead of us. He immediately caught my eye because he appeared to be wearing super thick black eyeliner. How odd, I thought to myself. A strange, uncomfortable sensation settled inside me but I didn't think much of it. I thought I was just getting sick from not eating properly or something.

We took our seat and I glanced down the table to see the same young man from earlier... only now his eyes weren't lined with black.

I stared and stared and stared because it just felt like something was seriously wrong.

I don't know, I passed by him a little later and that sensation of wrongness intensified. Boy was I relieved when it was time to leave the building!

So really, what the heck is up with that? Am I going crazy? Was I just imagining things (although that 'eyeliner' was pretty intense and I have a hard time thinking what trick of the eye could have caused that effect)? I imagine the sensation of wrongness could just be a reaction to the startling visual differences between first glance and second?

I just don't know, but I do know I'll be saying a little prayer for that one.

He made me think of my cousin... who used to be a Satanist. I remember the last time we met and he inspired the same reaction in me (a general sense that something is wrong).

I am finally meeting with the Father to validate my baptism. He said as soon as my Baptism is validated I can go to confession anytime... I'm really excited about that!

Why the Catholic Church?

I had another one of those; "Why bother with the Catholic Church then?" moments at RCIA last night again. It seems to me these people are so concerned with ecumenism that they have no real joy in their own church... or at least that's how they're coming across.

It seems to me they're so concerned with Christian unity that they've completely lost sight of what makes the Catholic Church special, and unique. Last night we heard about how we're all the same, and all worshiping the same God...

Well, it's true that we worship the same God, it's not true that we're the same. If we were then explain to me why my Baptist friends are working so hard to save me from the clutches of the Catholic Church? I can tell you for SURE that other churches do NOT see the Catholic Church as 'the same'. Maybe a few do, but in my experience the majority of Protestant denominations see the Catholic Church as lacking salvation and quite frankly now I'm thinking they lack the fullness of truth (not salvation, just truth).

Anyway, I'm so on fire for the Church right now that this 'oh, all the churches are the same and if you decide not to join the Catholic Church and instead go to the Baptist then that's fine!' attitude of the people in RCIA is annoying me. She even told us a story about someone who had done just that and praised the woman for leaving! I was pretty blown away.

We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves, Christians that is, but neither should we be compromising what we know is truth just to bring other Christians into communion with us. There is a fine line between Charity and Love and becoming Canada (compromising our own traditions to suit the needs of new immigrants - and yes, surprisingly Canada DOES have it's own traditions - maybe not the best analogy but for me it works :) ).

Ugh. Just needed a rant there guys.

Difficulty Breathing

Christmas is over. I loved Midnight Mass even though I was a bit silly and forgot if it starts at midnight that means it ends around 1AM! Haha. I am NOT a late night/early morning kind of person. Still, it was beautiful. They had a full choir, a trumpet, and the low lighting created this awesome mood. It was just... yeah, awesome.

I would like to take this moment to complain a little bit, if that's all right? I'm getting a little bit frustrated.

For the past few months I've been struggling at Mass with some pretty odd physical symptoms. My family suspects it's allergies but I've never had allergies act this way so I just don't know.

When I come to Mass I usually feel all right. Then when Mass begins I start to develop a headache, which is followed by dizziness and then finally when we kneel for the preparation of the Host I have difficult breathing. The headache and dizziness persist throughout but the heavy breathing only occurs when I kneel. It's really annoying, because I love kneeling at Mass. It's probably my favorite part, just being in prayer in God's house...

The headache and dizziness are symptoms that distract me from the homily BUT they are symptoms that only occur at Mass.  The heavy breathing however happens whenever I try to kneel and pray (even at home).

So, anyway, I'm not quite sure what to think or what to do but I just keep pushing through and I stay kneeling as long as I can, then take a break, then kneel some more. Which means a pretty interrupted and distracted prayer period but I really pray best when I'm on my knees so I'm determined to press on through.

Right, now that I'm done complaining... haha, maybe I should just try taking some allergy meds before Mass? I suppose that would be the first step to diagnosis!

Have a fantastic day!