Introduced to the Church

After months of learning about the faith and attending classes, I was presented to the community on Sunday.

As a group, we stood side-by-side with our sponsors behind us, their hand on our shoulder to comfort us.

All eyes were on us. It was intimidating to stand in front of the church with all eyes of the congregation on us as we were introduced by our RCIA leader and our sponsor.

Father Mark asked us what we asked of the Church.

Our response: "A deeper relationship with the Lord and full communion with the Church."

He again turned to us asking how the local church could help.

Our response: "With encouragement and spiritual guidance."

After having our eyes, lips, ears, shoulders, hands and feet signed with the cross, we were each presented with a Bible.

It seems like all of my life I've been studying the Bible. When my parents were no active in the Church, I attended Sunday school every week, reading scripture and discussing the message it is teaching us. After we broke away from the Church, I began attending Catholic school, studying almost every book of the Bible, memorizing them and writing term papers on the different Gospels, etc.

After years of studying the Bible, when we were discussing the readings from mass in our regular class period, I could not for the life of me find the books of Acts. In Sunday school I learned songs that helped us to memorize the books of the Bible in order. As I searched my new Bible, I recited these songs in my head, trying to at least figure out if Acts was in the Old Testament or the New Testament.

In this moment I realized that as much as I thought I had known about Catholicism from my eight years of schooling, just like the books of the Bible, I had forgotten parts to it and in many ways the meaning behind the scriptures.

Having given up on the scripture from Acts, I turned to the second reading from the Letter of John. As a read over the scripture one particular phrase stuck out in my mind.

And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

No matter what happens with my relationship or the number of people that don't understand why I'm converting, my faith in Christ will keep me on the right track.