Stories of the Easter Vigil…and Living as a Catholic

What an amazing testimony about the culmination of Christian initiation! This woman made her way from an anti-Christian atheist to a devout Catholic in just a few years. I urge you to read her story and, if you feel led, to give her an abundance of encouragement that she did make the right decision to come home (something I'm sure she already knows).

As I read her story, I was reminded of my own reception into the Catholic Church just over three years ago. I, too, remember feeling that I was home. I also remember what it was like to begin living my Catholic life over the next several months. So, I would like to share a letter that I wrote to several friends during the summer of 2004. It was entitled "My First Hundred Days."

To all who are interested, this is another edition of my thoughts on
faith and spirituality. This one is particularly special to me; and I
hope that some of you might learn something that you did not know
before.

As the subject line of this email indicates, it has to do with my first one hundred days. Although I am not old enough, and most of you are not old enough, to personally remember, I assume that you know this to be a reference to one of our greatest American presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After he was inaugurated, he began his term with "The First Hundred Days," during which time he helped the
national banking system to recouperate and introduced numerous pieces of legislation that served as the first phase of his famous New Deal.

But, I digress. This is no history lesson. This is about my first one hundred days as a Catholic. (Okay, I know that it has been 112 days, but I needed some time to think about this.) My one hundredth day of being a Catholic fell on July 20. Just over three months is the time period I am considering; and I will not be bound to just those one hundred days.

I don't know how it is for the "cradle Catholics," but so much has happened in the three months since my amazing Easter Vigil on April 10. Actually, it began well before that, as various signs and feelings began to point me toward Catholicism. Here, I'll take a little bit of time to tell you about those.

First, is the faith and love exhibited by my closest and favorite Catholic family--the Albonetti-Pieri-Gruber-Hellen-Connelly-Grisanti (am I leaving anyone out?) family. The example that was set for me just by being around this wonderful group of people could not have been better. And the seed was planted. Next, but certainly not less close or less favorite (just further away), would have to be the faith
and love exhibited by my aunt and uncle, Lyn and John--again, a wonderful model after which to pattern myself.

Then come the inward signs. If you couldn't tell by my introduction, I love history. I look to history for guidelines; and sometimes for answers. Well, the history of the Catholic Church offers a wonderful guideline. It is the church that Jesus started; it has two thousand years of history. And, the doctrines of revealed truth have remained unchanged, despite attempts to the contrary, through the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The history alone is enough of an answer for me. The next sign was my comfort in the place of worship. I felt at home in the Mass, even though I could not fully participate. Not simply because I had been in an Anglican Church where 90% of the liturgy is identical; but rather because of the reverence, solemness and the,
here it is again, tradition! I felt a part of it because people have been worshiping that way for two thousand years. (Ah, it has to do with history again.) Lastly, and certainly equal to all three of these, is the man who would become my confirmation saint; and who is a guiding light to me each and every day--St. Augustine. That is
another story in and of itself. Suffice it to say that he was working on me when I didn't even realize it. Now I look to his wisdom in many situations. He was a man on a personal search for truth; and he found it in the Catholic Church! Not to mention he is one of the greatest thinkers in HISTORY!

Now, to the meat. I know, you are thinking this is going to be really long. Not so. I hope I can keep this brief.

In the amount of time that I have officially been a Catholic, a number of amazing things have happened, both internally and externally. I will focus on two of each.

First externally. The Sunday after Easter was an almost surreal experience. Khira and I were sitting in the pew at Holy Rosary. After kneeling to pray for a few short moments, one of the ushers approached us and asked if we would participate in the Mass by bringing the gifts to the altar. Not allowing me time to think, Khira
quickly answered to the affirmative. I didn't know what was going on. I kept asking her questions about what to do when we were walking and when we got to the altar, etc. She told me to relax; and I said that I would just follow her. I followed something, because it seemed like I wasn't in control of my body. It was as though I could see myself walking down that aisle. Once we started walking, I wasn't
even nervous about dropping the wine as I had been before. Everything went according to plan--no malfunctions. I wondered what this meant. Bringing the gifts that are to become the body and blood of our Lord on the first week of being Catholic was a huge honor to me. Then I realized that God was telling me that I was a part of this Church; that he would use me; and that I would serve a purpose. From the very
first week he told me that. AMAZING!

The second event is one that happened just recently--near the end of my first one hundred days. We were in St. Louis for our anual three days of baseball, Italian food, and general fun (Budweiser, the Arch that I won't ascend, etc.). The previous year, Khira took me inside the Cathedral Basilica. I was absolutely in awe of the beauty and magnificance of the structure. But, we did not go to a mass because we weren't there over a weekend and I wasn't Catholic yet. This year, we were there over a weekend; and I am Catholic. I decided that I wanted to go to Mass at the Basilica. We entered the Church, knelt and prayed, and I began to read the bulletin for that morning. Toward the back, I noticed a box labeled "Special Events." "Today-July 11: Mass with the Archbishop" is what it read. In case you don't know, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis is the person leading the charge against Catholic politicians taking communion if the support abortion. I realized who he was; and I immediately had a special feeling. Here was a man who had the guts to stand up for what he believes and what his Church teaches--the same things I believe. How happy do you think I was when I stretched out my hand and he gave me
the body of my Lord and Savior. Communion from an Archbishop!! Probably something that many Catholics never experience in their whole lives, I got before had been in the Church for three months. WOW!!

The internal things, while maybe not as cool to others, are certainly more important to me. They serve as the foundation of my growth in and toward Christ. First, is the realization and galvanization of beliefs. There were things that I believed in, at least inwardly, but either was in denial or didn't know how to express them. Now I know what I believe, I profess to believe it, and I am not backing down from that position. Take for example abortion. (This is not a political tyrade, so please don't take it that way. Insert another issue if you like, because they are all the same for my point.) I always knew in the back of my mind that abortion was wrong. There was something inherently wrong with killing something that was growing inside of a woman. However, for whatever reason, I actually said at times that abortion was okay. Maybe a "live-and-let-live" philosophy on life? Well, I assure you that I no longer feel
that way. The gut feeling I always had has come out stronger than ever thanks to the Church's teaching on the dignity of human life (see Pope Paul VI's
Humanae Vitae for a better understanding). Now I can put my finger on why I believe it is wrong; and, better yet, I can explain it to others. Discovering objective truth, such as the dignity of human life, is the first part. The second part is explaining that objective truth and not being swayed by fallacies that seem to take hold of American society.

That leads me to my second internal happening in the last three months. A continual conversion to Christ. As Martha said during my RCIA program, this is what we Catholics are searching for. I assure you that I have a long way to go; but I try on a daily basis to make sure that I stay on that path to total conversion. It is doubtful that most of us will ever reach that point; but I think that the journey can be a destination in and of itself. God will have mercy on our souls so long as we never stop trying to reach him by living sacramental lives. Just like St. Augustine, he realized the error of his ways; and he spent every day of the remainder of his life converting himself to God through the sacraments.

This brings me to the end of my spiritual musing. I know, you probably stopped reading long ago. Last thing. It has been an amazing 112 days. But, even if nothing so amazing as has happened externally ever happens again, it will not affect my internal growth and salvation as I will continually look for God's grace. I look
forward to the next one hundred years as a Catholic with as much zeal and fervor as has been in me for the past several months. I hope that this will reach as many people as possible; and that it will help someone who might no longer be in love with the Church or someone who might be searching for a spirtiual home as I was. In either case, the Church is always there waiting with open arms, just like Christ it's founder.

I wish all of you peace and joy until I talk to or speak with each of you again. I ask God's blessings upon you that you may all live and love to the fullest extent.

In Christ,
Derek

Let us pray for the neophytes of our Church. Let us also pray for those who doubt God's existence or may be afraid to take the next step toward a relationship with Him.

God Bless.