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Several years ago (I’ve been here that long?), I wrote a feature story on a young woman who was in her parish’s RCIA program and was on the path to being a full member of the Catholic Church come Easter Vigil.
During my interview with her, she remarked, with a huge smile of anticipation, that she couldn’t wait to receive the Eucharist for the first time.
It made me pause and wonder if I ever felt that excited about Holy Communion.
I don’t think I felt that way at age eight when I received for the first time, and any sort of pumped up and glowy feeling probably lessened after that.Her mood was no exception. I’ve met many converts to the Catholic faith over the years who had similar emotions of “can’t wait”.
Following coming fully into the Church on Easter Vigil, both because of their radiance, and the oil, my friends and I sometimes say these people have that “new Catholic smell”.
Even many people I don’t know post on Twitter things like: “Hey guys! I’m going to be Catholic!!” as they begin RCIA.
Facebook and Twitter weren’t around in October of 2001 when I was Confirmed, but I don’t think I’d have posted “Totes getting Confirmed tonight!!!” on any social media at that time.
For my fellow cradle Catholics out there, those who have been in the faith for a while, or anyone who is feeling as if you’re in a spiritual desert, maybe we can take some inspiration from our convert brethren.
I’m not saying deny ourselves Holy Communion from now until Easter in order to build up anticipation, but perhaps we can steal some less extreme ideas.
A spiritual restart
We’re about three weeks from the start of Lent, so maybe this is a good time to give our faith a good kick.
During this time of the year, RCIA candidates and catechumens are spending their time learning about the faith and what exactly they are getting themselves into.
Maybe some of us need a refresher course presented with the gentleness of that which is meant and designed for those new Catholics.
“Huh?”
I’m suggesting we re-enter our faith as if we were new.
I’m suggesting we re-examine and re-learn the basics.
I’m suggesting that if some of us has fallen away, gotten lazy, are going through the motions, or just need to fall in love with Christ and his Church again, that we need to . . . convert.
“But we’re already Catholic.”
Yes, I’m fully aware of this. But how joyful (or glorious?) have we’ve been about that lately?
Why not see if we can recapture some of that radiance or that “new Catholic smell” or maybe we can have a spiritual brightness we’ve never had.
A Catholic refresher course
How do we go about doing this?
Books, or other wordy resources, are always a good place to start.
While I don’t like to promote one specific product over another, mostly because there are so many, I’d say the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or some easier-to-manage version of it, is a good resource.
There is the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults which is divided into a lesson-per-chapter format and is designed to be a study tool.
A quick Google search, or even a call to your parish, will yield a few reading lists for our RCIA brothers and sisters. Why not make this your reading list too.
As you’re going through these materials, you can be comforted and feel blessed by the fact that you don’t have to be impatient and wait to make the most of what the Catholic Church has to offer.
My hope is that if we do this, we’ll all find a renewed energy for our faith that we haven’t felt in a while.
Married couples have marriage encounter weekends to rediscover that “spark” and why they fell in love, who is to say Catholics in our faith can’t do the same thing?
If we can find that glow again when it comes to our faith, we can unite ourselves to our new Church members on Easter Vigil and all go forward together as one radiant, energetic, excited, and ready to dive in people of faith.