One of the most common questions I hear, is why don't Catholics know their faith? Why aren't they on fire for it?
I can only speak for myself.
For most of my life, I too wondered the same thing.
I went to Catholic school from grades 2-8 during the late 60's and early 70's.
The teaching of catechises seemed to be in transition.
I didn't witness the love for God or for the Church from my lay teachers or even from the few nuns that taught there.
The Church was going through changes.
The secular world was on fire with materialism, feminism, the introduction of birth control, and legalized abortion.
College education was on the rise.
Education is great for learning to think outside of the box but it can also make someone less dependent on God.
People believe that they are the master of their own lives. You're able to purchase more things because of your education.
This era gave way to a "It's all about me" society.
I believed only what I chose to believe because God wouldn't make up rules. Catholics are out of touch and old school.
It was all about my happiness.
I was part of this new age.
Poor human reason when it trusts in itself substitutes the strange absurdities for the highest divine concepts.
~St. John Chrysostom
An accumulation of events occurred in my life, since those days of elementary school.
Through the grace of God, those events enabled me to seek Him and my faith.
The fire started to burn in me and I didn't even realize it.
Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart. But when God's grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, His word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.
~St. Isidore of Seville
I had taken it upon myself to learn about my Catholic faith.
The Church that Christ gave us is deserving of this from me.
I wanted to understand the core beliefs of His Church.
The Eucharist
The Papacy and Peter
Confession
Salvation
The Virgin Mary
The Communion of Saints
Sacred Tradition
Authority
Purgatory
Baptism
The Bible
After studying the above, I sensed an urgency to learn more.
Yes, I was on fire.
"Ask and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Anyone who seeks finds. If only you will knock the door will open."
~Matthew 7:7-8
I keep the embers burning through scripture reading, the catechism, books, movies, the EWTN cable network, the Internet, blogging, reading up on the saints, and by seeking counsel from our priest.
I love to hear and read about reversion and conversion stories.
I learn so much from them.
What would prompt a non Catholic to choose to be Catholic?
What would draw an atheist to Catholicism?
I try to talk about God more and more with my husband and daughters.
I would like to be a part of their spiritual journey.
I pray to God so that I know Him more, so I can love Him more.
Occupy your minds with good thoughts, or the enemy will find the bad ones. Unoccupied they cannot be.
~St. Thomas More
God loves us so much that He gave us His Church for guidance, so He could always be with us. He didn't leave us to fend for ourselves.
I can only speak for myself.
For most of my life, I too wondered the same thing.
I went to Catholic school from grades 2-8 during the late 60's and early 70's.
The teaching of catechises seemed to be in transition.
I didn't witness the love for God or for the Church from my lay teachers or even from the few nuns that taught there.
The Church was going through changes.
The secular world was on fire with materialism, feminism, the introduction of birth control, and legalized abortion.
College education was on the rise.
Education is great for learning to think outside of the box but it can also make someone less dependent on God.
People believe that they are the master of their own lives. You're able to purchase more things because of your education.
This era gave way to a "It's all about me" society.
I believed only what I chose to believe because God wouldn't make up rules. Catholics are out of touch and old school.
It was all about my happiness.
I was part of this new age.
Poor human reason when it trusts in itself substitutes the strange absurdities for the highest divine concepts.
~St. John Chrysostom
An accumulation of events occurred in my life, since those days of elementary school.
Through the grace of God, those events enabled me to seek Him and my faith.
The fire started to burn in me and I didn't even realize it.
Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart. But when God's grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, His word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.
~St. Isidore of Seville
I had taken it upon myself to learn about my Catholic faith.
The Church that Christ gave us is deserving of this from me.
I wanted to understand the core beliefs of His Church.
The Eucharist
The Papacy and Peter
Confession
Salvation
The Virgin Mary
The Communion of Saints
Sacred Tradition
Authority
Purgatory
Baptism
The Bible
After studying the above, I sensed an urgency to learn more.
Yes, I was on fire.
"Ask and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Anyone who seeks finds. If only you will knock the door will open."
~Matthew 7:7-8
I keep the embers burning through scripture reading, the catechism, books, movies, the EWTN cable network, the Internet, blogging, reading up on the saints, and by seeking counsel from our priest.
I love to hear and read about reversion and conversion stories.
I learn so much from them.
What would prompt a non Catholic to choose to be Catholic?
What would draw an atheist to Catholicism?
I try to talk about God more and more with my husband and daughters.
I would like to be a part of their spiritual journey.
I pray to God so that I know Him more, so I can love Him more.
Occupy your minds with good thoughts, or the enemy will find the bad ones. Unoccupied they cannot be.
~St. Thomas More
God loves us so much that He gave us His Church for guidance, so He could always be with us. He didn't leave us to fend for ourselves.
3 comments:
Thanks for this post! Somewhere I think we have the Cathechism...I should ask my husband as I have been looking for something with substance to read. I have my own Reversion story, but I've never told anyone I don't think. I have pondered whether to tell it.
Hope you are doing well :-)
so beautiful for you!!! keep that fire burning!!!! today in our Bible class we studied sloth...interesting. to learn it is not mere laziness but indifference to things of God, and relativism and secularism contribute to this demise of all zeal for what is holy....
I don't know how I missed this post, but things have been a bit stressful of late.
I am reading the catechism in this year of faith, and started a second blog to record my thoughts and key readings. But the book I recently recommended, The One Thing is Three, is an excellent supplement. The catechism answers the "what's" of our faith, this other book answers the "why's" in what amounts to simple parables. I worried that it was only me who saw this in this book, but the dozen or so I have given it to, including the cloistered nuns in London, have all praised it.
If you are ever looking for good reading of the thousands of books I've read, I've got a top 25 (or so), and I've got Fr. John Riccardo's top 100 (actually about 150 now).
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