"The Catholic Church is God's romance. If the Bible is God's love letter to us, then the Catholic Church is the box of chocolates, the roses and the jewelry."
This is lifted from another blog, but I agree with the sentiment. Since I have become Catholic, I feel like Jesus has opened up a treasure chest for me every day! Mary and the other Saints and their writings, the power and grace of the Sacraments particularly the Eucharist and Confession and the knowledge that I am able to embrace the early church and worship as they did. Thank you God for revealing this to me so late in my life. When I was young, I found you but lost your Church. Now you let me have both. That's the spiritual equivalent to having your cake and eating it too!
I agree. It's wonderful to be home in the Church. I still can't believe I left the Church..now..it seems almost like.. a dream.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, it's not a dream. I miss the warmth of my evangelical friend's fellowship. They were the ones who introduced me to having a personal relationship with Christ - and that was a magnificent experience of 27 long years. Nevertheless, I would never want to go back learning under evangelical pastors. I just wish they could see what we see and experience the holiness in receiving the most Holy Eucharst and the fellowship of our Universal family ...
God bless. -Cyndi
Thanks for the post Cyndi. You were away almost as long as I was!
ReplyDeleteI agree, that there is an initial sense of loss of friends and even sometimes family that can be disheartening. The evangelical churches have really been great at loving one another and some of them really understand biblcal community better than some catholics. That being said though, the Church is so large and diverse , one can find a Catholic Church with cell groups, prayer groups, breakfast clubs, praise groups etc. I live 2 minutes from a rather "dry" traditional Catholic Church. However, the priest brings me Jesus there every day and I am not going to go looking for a "warmer fellowship" elsewhere. That's what we all used to do!
I think that Catholics sometimes focus on the vertical relationship particularly since the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. The need for after church conversations , etc is often eclipsed by the beauty of just having received the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist.
Personally, I prefer the quiet of the pre-Mass prayers, being surrounded by folks kneeling and praying.
Very well stated. I agree. God bless you. -Cyndi
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