The Kid Sister of Blessed Imelda

RCIA tonight… I ended up sailing in a lovely ten minutes late.  Poor scheduling on my part as Joe had a reception associated with the hospital tonight which I also was to attend.  45 minutes there, a wild 20 minute drive, and a wet run into the church saved the evening.  As badly as I wanted to stay for the reception, no way was I going to miss an RCIA class.  Just not worth it. 

Tonight we covered The Liturgical Year.  I already knew quite a bit about it anyway, but what really got me was the description given by the team of the way each different portion of the year is celebrated.

 I am looking forward to celebrating my first Advent as a Catholic (ok, unofficial Catholic of the heart), and the New Year will bring rare sweetness as the girls and I complete the Sacraments of Initiation by receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion (as well as Seraiah’s Baptism).  I have so long been looking forward to full reception into the Catholic Church and after at least 15 years of background learning and experiences in which God ‘set me up’ as another convert said, it has taken at least a year and a half of intense spiritual study and some MAJOR movement by God in my life to get me here.  What a fantastic journey it has been and I have to admit that as this journey has been winding to a close, I am not without spiritual exercise as the Lord is having me reevaluate my daily life in the light of The Mother’s Rule and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It is hardly light fare, and yet after the past year and a half it seems light and I will admit to questioning… isn’t there something more?  Is it already time for a winter of the soul?  It seems time, and yet even as I’ve feasted so greatly upon things of the Lord, even now I hunger for more.  Which brings me back to my original point… and perhaps explains my feelings… 

The real treasure in tonight’s class was not The Liturgical Calendar, but how the events in the Liturgical Year are celebrated… at least in our parish.  As the ladies began to tell us about the special events of the year, and how they are celebrated.  My anticipation grew as we discussed Advent, then Christmas, then the small bit of Ordinary Time, on to Lent, and when we reached the Easter Triduum, it burst over me.  Such an incredible desire to worship the Lord in this cycle culminating in the Easter Triduum, the incredible urge to pay homage to the empty cross myself… and suddenly my perspective transformed…  The completion of the Sacraments of Initiation are both an ending and a beginning. I knew this of course, but it isn’t the same, head knowledge compared to real VISION is like gestation compared to life.  A whole new vista has burst on the horizon, a vision of the new life God has called me to and has been preparing me for.  My anticipation of Confirmation and First Communion has only increased as I long for the fullness and richness of what lies “further up and further in”.

 We have RCIA on Sundays now that it is fall and the regular catechism classes have resumed.  Classes are more frequent than they were in the summer, which I very much enjoy.  My eldest daughter and I go to RCIA together, as she is mature enough to be able to benefit from the adult class and, if she weren’t so reserved, contribute appropriately.  Every week I go to class with great anticipation.  I really enjoy the discussion and fellowship, but so far not much has really been new.  It has mostly been a review of what I have already learned… which is fine, I still look forward to it and wish we could be meeting more frequently and covering more material. 

Yesterday’s class on the history of the church proved very similar, but it was interesting for other reasons.  For one thing, Father Joe led which is unusual and a treat, but also because I thought this class had even more likelihood of having some new tidbit which I hadn’t known before.  As Father led us through about ten of the most important events in the history of the church, I began to realize that we had covered all this in our schoolwork!  I use a Classical Christian curriculum which is produced by a protestant company (not that I cared one way or another when I purchased it), and have used it since well before I felt the call into the Catholic Church.  In fact, as we studied through it I remarked several times on how odd it was how much we were learning about the Catholic Church and how if I didn’t know better I would think it was a Catholic curriculum.  Either way I loved it and still plan to use it as it is for the most part very pro-Catholic.  But I digress, point being just how wonderful it was to sit and enjoy hearing about it all from Father Joe’s perspective and to know that Kenna had background knowledge and understanding of what he was talking about.  It was so rewarding to know that we are doing well in educating the children.  So often we work and work but have no idea really how well we are doing until something happens like this, something that we can write in our ‘success story file’ to encourage us when all the homeschool days seem dark and we feel like rats on a wheel.

I know the week will go quickly and while I want to make the most of the time I have and not wish it away, I can’t help but look forward to next weeks class… as usual.