Familiar Nerves

So, this weekend was a HUGE deal for myself and fellow Catechumens and Candidates as both the Rite of Election & Rite of Enrollment took place. This was definitely a step, or maybe even a leap forward in my faith journey. As amazing as it was to be surrounded by fellow RCIA members and family and friends, I had this familiar nervous feeling. I compared these "familiar nerves" to those I felt on my wedding day and the day I graduated from college-obviously, two of the most important days of my life (aside from my daughter being born).  On Saturday, as I walked up to the altar to sign the Book of the Elect, I could barely hold the pen steady, and then on Sunday when I walked up to shake Bishop Stika's hand, I almost forgot where I lived when he asked me.. On a side note, he asked me where I was from because he didn't think I had Southern accent. It must have been the nerves talking, because I usually speak with a pretty pronounced southern drawl. I quickly realized that I wasn't alone as I overheard the young woman in front of me talking about how she forgot where she went to school when the Bishop asked. Despite the nerves, it was a truly awesome experience for everyone involved, including my sponsor, along with my husband and daughter who were there supporting me. The cherry on top was having my picture made with my daughter and Bishop Stika! My daughter also quickly made friends with some sisters at the reception that followed, and they even invited her to come visit them some time. I'm pretty sure this was her favorite part.:)

 For those of you who are like "what in the world is Rite of Election and Rite of Enrollment?" This link is for you: Rite of Election



And as always, I like to add a little bit of tunage to my posts. For some reason, this song popped into my head following tonight's Rite of Election:

I Adopted a Priest!

I know, I know, the concept of "adopting" a priest probably seems strange to most. How did I manage to "adopt" a priest you ask? I just happened to be searching online for ideas of things to do for Lent, and came across the idea of adopting a priest. What does adopting a priest entail? I've committed myself to praying daily for the priest assigned to me. I had been waiting a couple of weeks or more to receive the information on my assigned priest, so I was so happy to wake up to the email this morning! I did a bit of research on the priest assigned to me and learned that he is a cancer survivor! This is just another step in my faith journey, and thus far the most important lesson I'm learning is that it's not all about me. :)

Seeing Beyond Life's Clouds

Last week during mass, Father Chris used the metaphor of the clouds blocking the sun, to God and the things in our life blocking our view of Him. Just like the sun is always there, God is always there, but sometimes life's clouds get in the way, especially during the storms of life. 

This made me ask myself, what are the "clouds" in my life that are keeping me from being as close to God as I would like to be? I realized that I have several "clouds" in my daily life. I'm often "too busy" to stop and pray or to go out of my way to help another. Another "cloud" is my past that often makes me feel inadequate and undeserving of God's love.  There's also the "cloud" of doubt that continues to hang over me, doubting God's love for me and His promise of eternal life. It's that little mustard seed of faith (Mt 17:20) that helps clear those clouds and bring me closer to God. It's that mustard seed that has brought me to where I am today, or I might not otherwise be sitting here typing this. My life was once a storm, but thanks to God's grace, it's now just an overcast day. I feel that this is an appropriate topic as we've had numerous overcast days here in Tennessee as of late. Also, I know I was all over the place with this post, but I have the worst case of writer's block. Thanks for reading anyway!

RCIA

I've been an amateur blogger for quite some time, aside from my recent year long sabbatical. As a blogger, I could never really find one topic of focus, so my My Old Blog was all over the place. Finally, I have one point of focus,  which is my spiritual journey through RCIA at my church. At first, I thought about starting from the beginning, but there really wouldn't be a lot to tell, as religion and spirituality did not become a part of my life until my thirties and I'm only 32. This is my first post on my new blog so go easy on me...

So, what is RCIA you ask? Honestly, I didn't know what RCIA stood for until my first class back in September. It stands for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Basically, if one desires to convert to Catholicism, or in my case be baptized and become Catholic, RCIA is the way to do so. Because I have not been baptized, I'm considered a Catechumen, hence my blog title. I really dig this name.;) The bigger question is how did I end up in RCIA as a Catechumen? Unfortunately, it took me having the worst year of my life to find my lil' mustard seed of faith. My dad died by suicide on April 7, 2011 catapulting me into a very deep depression that pretty much took the rest of that year to come out of.  One day in January 2012, I was on my way to a meeting, which was an hour away, and I was flipping through radio stations when I heard a song (not sure exactly what the song was) that resonated with me. I continued to listen to the station which was (K-Love), and at that time they were sponsoring their 30 day challenge. The DJ's claimed that if you listened for 30 days, it would change your life. At this point in my life, I was willing to try anything. Okay, so I'm already going off on a tangent-I could write an entire post on how Christian music has changed me. Anyway, after taking the 30 day challenge, my life DID begin to change and I started attending mass at the church where my daughter was baptized. I couldn't wait to start RCIA classes in the fall. I really enjoyed my first class and was intrigued by the wide variety of people in the class. Some were catechumens like myself, others came from Baptist upbringings and one even came from a Buddhist background. We all had ONE thing in common however-we all desired to know more about the Catholic faith. Why Catholicism, you ask? I've been mesmerized by the Catholic faith for as long as I can remember, making the sign of the cross long before I ever stepped foot in a Catholic church. I was blessed to marry into a Catholic family and my daughter attends a Catholic school, so not only is it something I want, but it's also a practical decision. I know, yada...yada...yada...to make a long story short, I've created this blog to share my faith journey with others.

As a bonus, here's a video for one of the songs I heard on K-Love that helped start my faith journey: