Interior Catholic

  • Preparing for Lent

    “We are called not just to abstain from sin during Lent, but to true conversion of our hearts and minds as followers of Christ. We recall those waters in which we were baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.” —US Conference of Catholic Bishops

    One of the first things I learned about Lent is that it’s not necessarily about giving something up. That’s relatively easy: We vow to abstain from alcohol. Or cookies. We won’t use profanity. While these are admirable goals (but… cookies…), Lent can, and should, be about doing more.

    When I started my journey, I absorbed anything and everything I could get my hands on. I won’t say I’ve been slacking off (not directly), but I’ll admit my studies aren’t what they once were. But Lent is an ideal time to get back into gear, to live out that new life in Christ he blessed me with. Thus, I mapped out a weekly “God schedule” for Lent, in which I do something for Him each day—whether it’s study, worship, or simply being in His presence.

    Sunday – Mass (clearly)
    Monday – RCIA (or Bible study, if there’s no class)
    Tuesday – Readings on the saints
    Wednesday – Adoration
    Thursday – Visio divina study
    Friday – Daily Mass
    Saturday – Public declaration – i.e., update this blog

    Each day will also consist of Bible reading (I will get through the apocrypha!) and prayer time with the little black book for Lent. During the week, I’ll learn more of Jesus and his devoted. I’ll read of the saints (finally getting to those writings of St. Augustine I bought months ago). I’ll study Mary. And at the end of the week, on Saturday, I’ll tie it all together. I’ll share it with you. Because it’s great to learn, but it’s more important to spread that knowledge.

    That “public declaration” isn’t simply online, either. It’s talking with others. It’s (finally) telling my family of this journey I’ve been taking. If there’s opportunity to volunteer, and to help others, it’s taking it. So often I get stuck in this rut of “I don’t know what I’m doing,” but I don’t have to understand two thousand years of Catholic teachings. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” Jesus said (Mark 16:15).

    And, fine, maybe I’ll cut back on the cookies as well.

  • Fellow Workers

    Rather than have class last night, the RCIA team helped with a service project. This included entertaining an 11-year-old girl—who wound up entertaining us more—but in the midst of our treasure hunt, there was also prime opportunity for bonding between the volunteers.

    I try not to discuss my commute to the parish much, especially around people I don’t know, but inevitably someone will bring it up. “You come from where?” they ask, and I simply shrug away my one-hour trip, saying I started the program when I lived closer and would prefer to finish it there.

    But last night, my teacher laughed at that response. “She didn’t even live here before,” he said, which isn’t false—I was still a half-hour away, even before I moved.
    One of the other volunteers turned to me and asked, “How did you end up at this parish?!”
    I paused for a moment. My hesitation made the others chuckle. I had to come up with a quick answer, so I offered the easiest excuse—I blamed my sponsor. (Sorry, friend.) “Although,” I added, “he doesn’t go here, either.”

    On my hour-drive home, which is completely silent now that my car’s radio is broken, I considered the question further. How did I end up there? My sponsor is the easy reply, but it’s not completely true. (Hey, you can’t get all the credit.) It could’ve also been the friend whose advice I sought in beginning who, when she couldn’t answer my questions, provided the names of priests I could talk to. It could’ve also been that one priest I ended up consulting, which makes the most sense because it is his parish. But that doesn’t fully answer the question, either, because I didn’t come to him on my own.

    Ultimately, it was a joint effort. It was my sponsor, who first invited me to a Catholic event. It was that friend, who freely admitted she couldn’t help and sent me to someone who could. It was that priest, who talked with me for three hours one afternoon and said I was “basically already Catholic.”

    It was all of you. That’s how it’s done—all of us, working together, for His sake.

    Beloved, it is a loyal thing you do when you render any service to the brethren, especially to strangers, who have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey as befits God’s service. For they have set out for his sake and have accepted nothing from the heathen. So we ought to support such men, that we may be fellow workers in the truth. —3 John 1:5–8

    ,

And they said to him, “Inquire of God, we pray thee, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.”

And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the LORD.”

—Judges 18:5–6

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