A concern about Easter Vigil?-help

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MaeganFlinchum1

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I have studied Catholicism for a longish time. I gave up something for Lent last year and thats when I started studying Catholicism. And when I recieved the call to become a Catholic. I am 110% percent sure I want to be A catholic! šŸ™‚ i believe all the Church teaches and wish to fully submit myself to it. (Although im nervous) but now that i am 3 (tomorrow makes 2) days away from my Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist i am nervous that i did not prepare myself fully enough. I know in my mind i am prepared (i know) and in the fact that i believe it along side knowing it. (Although im nervous i sound prideful even saying that-becayse what if i dont know it as well as i think i do)

The problem is: for.lent i did quite a bit. But now i am looking back and realizing i did not do it with much love at all. I was intensing to really spend Lent preparing for the sacrements. And i did much complaining and i rushed through a lot of my devotionsā€¦i still prayed everydayā€¦but it really makes me sad to see i didnt do as wel as expected. I also went through a great spiritual dryness during Lent. And now lately i have felt much more excitement, joy,.and consolation from God. Urghhh this sounds soo confusing. Long story short. I ruined my lent to some extent and now i feel terribly unwotlrthy to be welcomed into the Church this saturday.

Im just so excited though, i kinda feel bad for that too. I am truly contrite for what i ahve done and i want to do so much better.

Thoughts? What.can i do? šŸ˜¦ Sorry for any spelling errors im on my phone.
 
You are just doing great. It is normal to be a little anxious before the big event. Do not be too hard on yourself. The Lord is pleased to have you into the Church and the evil one will try to distract and worry you. You have done your best and will have opportunities to do better after becoming a Catholic. Relax and be at peace. Congratulations! Welcome to the Church! May God bless you abundantly!!
 
No worries ā€¦in a way this has a good side to it šŸ™‚

At baptism one becomes a new creation!

One is then ā€œin Christā€ as Paul puts it.

In him is true life!
 
Totally normal! I had the same feelings when I went through RCIA and then Holy Week. Relax - you are going to be a full-fledged Catholic and you get to work on each Lent, Advent, novena, confession and try to make it your best ever. And you will sometimes fail, and sometimes get distracted, and if you are like me, you will often bite off more than you can chew and spend a lot of time castigating yourself. The liturgical seasons will begin to take on a satisfying feeling as the rotate around and its all simply wonderful!!!

Welcome to the family and have a terrific Easter Vigil. There is a very special grace attached to converting as an adult.
 
A bit to meditate on as you approach your giving your great Yes at baptism --and I again and again as we live our baptism:

"I think that what happens in Baptism can be more easily explained for us if we consider the final part of the short spiritual autobiography that Saint Paul gave us in his Letter to the Galatians. Its concluding words contain the heart of this biography: ā€œIt is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in meā€ (Gal 2:20). I live, but I am no longer I. The ā€œIā€, the essential identity of man - of this man, Paul - has been changed. He still exists, and he no longer exists. He has passed through a ā€œnotā€ and he now finds himself continually in this ā€œnotā€: I, but no longer I.

With these words, Paul is not describing some mystical experience which could perhaps have been granted him, and could be of interest to us from a historical point of view, if at all. No, this phrase is an expression of what happened at Baptism. My ā€œIā€ is taken away from me and is incorporated into a new and greater subject. This means that my ā€œIā€ is back again, but now transformed, broken up, opened through incorporation into the other, in whom it acquires its new breadth of existence. Paul explains the same thing to us once again from another angle when, in Chapter Three of the Letter to the Galatians, he speaks of the ā€œpromiseā€, saying that it was given to an individual - to one person: to Christ. He alone carries within himself the whole ā€œpromiseā€. But what then happens with us? Paul answers: You have become one in Christ (cf. Gal 3:28). Not just one thing, but one, one only, one single new subject. This liberation of our ā€œIā€ from its isolation, this finding oneself in a new subject means finding oneself within the vastness of God and being drawn into a life which has now moved out of the context of ā€œdying and becomingā€. The great explosion of the Resurrection has seized us in Baptism so as to draw us on. Thus we are associated with a new dimension of life into which, amid the tribulations of our day, we are already in some way introduced. To live oneā€™s own life as a continual entry into this open space: this is the meaning of being baptized, of being Christian. This is the joy of the Easter Vigil. The Resurrection is not a thing of the past, the Resurrection has reached us and seized us. We grasp hold of it, we grasp hold of the risen Lord, and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak. We grasp hold of his hand, and thus we also hold on to one anotherā€™s hands, and we become one single subject, not just one thing. I, but no longer I: this is the formula of Christian life rooted in Baptism, the formula of the Resurrection within time."

~ Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20060415_veglia-pasquale_en.html
 
InLight247 said:
You are just doing great. It is normal to be a little anxious before the big event. Do not be too hard on yourself. The Lord is pleased to have you into the Church and the evil one will try to distract and worry you. You have done your best and will have opportunities to do better after becoming a Catholic. Relax and be at peace. Congratulations! Welcome to the Church! May God bless you abundantly!!
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I agree whole heartedly with this advice!
 
Donā€™t worry about it. Sounds like you are doing great. And remember: your reception into the church is **just the beginning **of this wonderful journey.
 
I ruined my lent last year halfway through and then decided i wasnt going to go through with everything i had prepared for, cut a long story short ,i prayed hard ,got back on track, finished lent and was baptized , confirmed and received our lord in the Eucharist on easter vigilā€¦

God bless
 
It is all about receiving those sacraments now. Relax. meditate, pray, fast and abstain, let God do the rest. Congratulations!
 
MaeganFlinchum1 said:
I have studied Catholicism for a longish time. I gave up something for Lent last year and thats when I started studying Catholicism. And when I recieved the call to become a Catholic. I am 110% percent sure I want to be A catholic! šŸ™‚ i believe all the Church teaches and wish to fully submit myself to it. (Although im nervous) but now that i am 3 (tomorrow makes 2) days away from my Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist i am nervous that i did not prepare myself fully enough. I know in my mind i am prepared (i know) and in the fact that i believe it along side knowing it. (Although im nervous i sound prideful even saying that-becayse what if i dont know it as well as i think i do)

The problem is: for.lent i did quite a bit. But now i am looking back and realizing i did not do it with much love at all. I was intensing to really spend Lent preparing for the sacrements. And i did much complaining and i rushed through a lot of my devotionsā€¦i still prayed everydayā€¦but it really makes me sad to see i didnt do as wel as expected. I also went through a great spiritual dryness during Lent. And now lately i have felt much more excitement, joy,.and consolation from God. Urghhh this sounds soo confusing. Long story short. I ruined my lent to some extent and now i feel terribly unwotlrthy to be welcomed into the Church this saturday.

Im just so excited though, i kinda feel bad for that too. I am truly contrite for what i ahve done and i want to do so much better.

Thoughts? What.can i do? šŸ˜¦ Sorry for any spelling errors im on my phone.
Click to expand...
Hi Meagan (itā€™s Colin/SaintPatrick333). I was here when you were just starting your conversion journey. In the times that we have talked and upon witnessing you evangelize on facebook on more than one occasion, I can say you are ready for this crucial step. You are doing Godā€™s will and you are doing it well. Satan will do all in his power to dissuade you from going forth with this Vigil Mass. He will do anything he can to keep you just a half step away from God. Donā€™t let him. You worked hard for this. Youā€™ve prayed long and hard. There will ā€œalwaysā€ be times we can look back and say, ā€œI could have done this better, I could have prayed more, I could have prayed betterā€. That will not change. God is ready for you. He will take you as you are because He loves you more than you will ever know. Do not be ashamed of what you could have done. Just focus on what you have done and what you are striving to do. Keep your eyes on Christ and spend these last couple days praying and preparing yourself to receive your Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh for the first time. You are going to come face to face with God. Rejoice!!! It is a truly blessed experience. One I will forever remember. I am happy to call you my sister in Christ. I am so proud of your progress and greatly admire your love of God. It has led you home to Him and His Truth. You ā€œareā€ ready. God Bless you and have an absolutely wonderful Easter! Welcome home!
 
You have already prepared more than any of my children prepared for their baptism, since they were infants at the time.
 
SaintFrancis333 said:
Hi Meagan (itā€™s Colin/SaintPatrick333). I was here when you were just starting your conversion journey. In the times that we have talked and upon witnessing you evangelize on facebook on more than one occasion, I can say you are ready for this crucial step. You are doing Godā€™s will and you are doing it well. Satan will do all in his power to dissuade you from going forth with this Vigil Mass. He will do anything he can to keep you just a half step away from God. Donā€™t let him. You worked hard for this. Youā€™ve prayed long and hard. There will ā€œalwaysā€ be times we can look back and say, ā€œI could have done this better, I could have prayed more, I could have prayed betterā€. That will not change. God is ready for you. He will take you as you are because He loves you more than you will ever know. Do not be ashamed of what you could have done. Just focus on what you have done and what you are striving to do. Keep your eyes on Christ and spend these last couple days praying and preparing yourself to receive your Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh for the first time. You are going to come face to face with God. Rejoice!!! It is a truly blessed experience. One I will forever remember. I am happy to call you my sister in Christ. I am so proud of your progress and greatly admire your love of God. It has led you home to Him and His Truth. You ā€œareā€ ready. God Bless you and have an absolutely wonderful Easter! Welcome home!
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Thank you !! That means a lot to me!
 
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