I have wanted for a while now to share, somehow, the story of how I fell in love with and gave my life to Christ by surrendering it to His Bride, the Catholic Church.
This blog will seek to chronicle my "journey to Rome," as they call it. I hope the posts will be diverse in their content; some will be theological, some simply stories from my experience, some merely posing honest questions that I continue to wrestle with. I do not want to attempt to answer every question ever posed to religious man; I cannot do this and do not think the Catholic Church can either. I don't think the Catholic Church has all the answers, I simply believe she has the most answers as Christ has revealed Himself to her more fully than to any other body on earth. That said, I will share the questions I have asked over the last few years and the answers I have found, but I will also be honest about questions that yet go unanswered.
Feel free to comment; if you have a question or would like clarification on something I've written, let me know and I will respond to it. However, I do not want to engage in any sort of internet debate (because I am known to become consumed by that sort of thing :-) ), so if you have an in-depth question or would like to discuss something at length, e-mail me and maybe we can find a time to talk either over the phone or in person. I will do my best to not write anything inflammatory or intentionally offensive; my goal is not to argue but simply to share what I truly believe is the fullest manifestation of the Gospel.
If you would like to follow along, then thank you. Thank you for listening to my story. I will try to update on Mondays and keep my posts to 500 words or less. And let us all pray along the way that the Holy Spirit will make us sensitive to the truth, and help us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fulness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.” Blessed Pope John Paul II
I am inspired to suggest that you visit a working monestary near your home. The Benedictines especially are known for their liturgical beauty as they utilize Gregorian Chant to sing the Divine Office. Go there and spend part of your day praying with the monks. I have always been impressed by how manly, truly manly these guys are, in general, and particularly all I've known personally in my life. If you can't get to a monestary easily, then at least watch "Of Gods and Men." If you're near Conception, MO, go to Conception Abbey; it will be well worth your effort! Somehow Job 38-40 comes to mind now, so I offer that as text which in a sense captures the best spirit of what a life of someone who has fallen in love with God looks like as it is lived. In Christ! God bless.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to hear your testimony. I recently reverted to my Catholic roots- "came home," as it were- and it's a sincere joy to read about another young person's passion not just for Christ but for his Bride.
ReplyDeletePace tua,
Sarah