We are in the middle of our octave of Easter. This is the eight days following Easter Sunday. It is celebrated in the Catholic Church. Today’s readings were about the crippled man by the beautiful gate. He had been crippled from birth. He sat there every day of his life begging for help. Peter and John were still shaking from the events of Passover. Jesus had just been crucified. They felt all was lost. The man by the gate begged them for an offering. They said the only thing we will give you is what we have and that is Faith in Jesus Christ our Risen Lord. They told him to rise and walk into the temple. He did. These stories intrigue me. There are many times that I want to just rise and walk but that is not part of my life plan and I have accepted it. Instead I zip around in my scoot. I trust that there is more.
Today made me think about my journey of faith. My whole life I went to several different churches with family and friends. I never quite felt as if I fit in anywhere. After my first child, I told my husband that we needed to find a church home. I had taken my child to several churches and Bible schools and after school Christian programs on Wednesdays but never quite felt at home. My husband told me he would go if I would just go to the Catholic church. He had fallen away from the Catholic Church and was attending a nondenominational Church before we met. When I went to the Catholic church for the first time I had a feeling of reverence and peace. It was different. There were rituals and of course the kneeling and standing but there was just something about it that felt real. I remember communion and everyone streaming to the front to receive it. My husband and I could not receive communion yet because I was not Catholic and our marriage was not blessed by the church yet. It took a while for me to come into the Catholic faith. I went through the RCIA program and waited patiently for our marriage to be blessed and his other marriages to be absolved. It was a long journey. There were times when I didn’t think I would ever be able to join my Parish in the Lord’s Supper. After two years, I was able to come into the church. At one point I almost gave up. But I am so glad that I didn’t. You know they tell you that good things are worth waiting for and that’s exactly how I feel about my faith.
Have you ever been to a Catholic Church? It is very different in that we are focused on worship at the altar. We are focused on connecting with God not so much our neighbors. What you wear is not important. It is all about the Eucharist, communion. Many people who visit don’t understand how powerful the Eucharist is. If you are visiting a Catholic Church and not able to take communion you may feel slighted, but don’t. Observe and follow along in the back of the hymnal. It doesn’t matter which Catholic Church you attend each one follows the same readings and patterns. I also find comfort in this. No matter where I go in the world I can meet Jesus on Sunday at Mass.To Catholics it is a very sacred, serious ordeal. I read the Bible verses from Corinthians today that explains exactly why we do not take communion lightly. You have to be informed in our faith before you take the bread and wine. We Believe at every Mass we are sitting at the Last Supper and our offerings are turned into the body and blood of Christ. If you don’t believe this and take the communion the Bible verse says it is very dangerous. You are placing judgment on yourself. That is why only those who learn about the faith and become Catholic are to take communion. Something in my Heart told me to explain this to you students. Being a Catholic it’s not a Secret Club but more like a Sacred Club. This is the one big difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. Other than that Christians regardless of their membership are very similar. We really have so much in common and arguing the bits just makes the devil happy. Students, I hope you find a church home. It is such a good place to be and it should be a place of acceptance and love. If it isn’t, then keep searching.
Sal the Catholic Gal
Sarah Anderson Alley
Quotes of the day:
“When another church can offer me the body and blood of Christ each Sunday, I may consider attending. No other Church can do that so that is why I choose to be a Catholic.”
Rachel Abigail Alley aka Chuck
“the very last thing I want to do is to unsettle in the mind of any Christian, whatever his denomination, the concepts — for him traditional — by which he finds it profitable to represent to himself what is happening when he receives the bread and wine. I could wish that no definitions had ever been felt to be necessary; and, still more, that none had been allowed to make divisions between churches.”
C.S. Lewis
1 Corinthians 11:26-29
A]s often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
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