My goal? Do whatever I am told by my RCIA instructors. Do not rock the boat. Go with the flow. Ask no questions. Smile smile smile. That way, I can get confirmed at the Easter Vigil. I may have to undergo a “conditional baptism” anyhow. Smile smile smile. When the RCIA instructors teach something in contradiction to the Catechism, say nothing. Smile smile smile.
Andruschak, I feel for you pal. At first I had the same attitude for a little while (while I was waiting for RCIA to begin). And on this web site somebody gave me excellent advice.
Obedience is a big thing. We need to learn obedience (and I fail some way every day so pray for me too).
We need to learn to be obedient to the Church. I know in writing it says we didn’t need RCIA if we were already Baptized. And I was confirmed as a Methodist (although we learned different things about Martin Luther than what is ordinarily taught Catholic youth in their confirmation classes). But I found RCIA helpful to me (and in some ways I’m not done yet even two years later).
There are several kinds of obedience.
There is a reluctant obedience.
There is an obedience that carries a grudge the whole while.
And there is a cheerful obedience.
And of course there is disobedience.
Moses led the Hebrew children in the wilderness for 40 years. And so much of this was all about obedience – learning to obey God’s commands. Many were obedient without being cheerful. Many failed once in a while.
God loves a cheerful giver, and I suppose He also loves those who obey cheerfully.
Even before RCIA began, I accepted that I would go through it. I learned some and I received grace and affection from others. In some ways I wish I could still go to some “formation” meetings – I have not yet received Confirmation or First Communion. But I have the Rosary and pray the Rosary (every day for a bit over a year now).
I’m surprised that after all this time you still have the attitude that you do.
I am also familiar with Jesus’s parables from my youth. The first time I heard the Prodigal Son in the Catholic Church, I nearly lost it – I was so near crying the whole time. I never before saw myself as the Prodigal Son. I had previously seen myself as the son who stayed on the farm. With the different perspective, I saw so much more love in the story. It was more than I could envision and more than I could accept or handle.
And recently, I have a new perspective on the Good Samaritan. I saw myself as the one traveling on the road from Jerusalem (with my back towards God). Falling victim to sin and the results of sin. Being robbed and beaten. After my first wife left me to go with somebody on the Internet (12 years ago) a Catholic Priest told me three things – (a) I wasn’t far from becoming a Catholic (b) he didn’t have much time to talk with me because the parish is large and not enough priests (c) I could remarry. I was glad to hear (c), but I did not consider myself Catholic. I went to see him because I was hurting very bad. There were perhaps a few others who did not help. And then there was my current wife (who is Black and very dark skinned) as the good Samaritan who picked me up when I was really down. I was out of work, often heavily drinking each night and sometimes nearly suicidal. Just as the hated Samaritans were excluded from the Jewish religion because of their race, my wife is more comfortable attending a predominantly Black Church. I sing in the Catholic Choir on Saturday night and then attend First Baptist with my wife and family each Sunday. Before getting married, we agreed that going to Church as a family was imporant to us both and I consider it to be a vow as solemn as my marriage vow. Less than 150 years ago, most Black Churches in this area began because Whites didn’t want Blacks coming to their churches. I wonder that in America if Blacks are like the Samaritans in Jesus’s day and what does Jesus think?
Jesus did go to the well and ask water from a woman who had been married and re-married. And at that time any good Pharisee would have considered themselves ceremonially unclean if only they somehow touched or stepped on the shadow of a Samaritan.
So tell me you learned nothing about the woman at the well.
I cannot leave Catholic teaching. I love attending Mass and praying the Rosary. Yet I find myself asking a new question – would it have been alright if the travelling victim (beaten and robbed) had decided to become a Samaritan? In his story, who was the good neighbor? Who acted the way Jesus taught us to act?
Only now, I am starting to see more and more value in Jesus’s parables – two years after finishing RCIA. I am still learning.
And note, I have seen some web sites where it is recommended that in some cases it may take more than a year before somebody receives confirmation or Holy Communion. Frankly, I suppose that this is more likely to be true and helpful than being a faster track.
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I still remember the time I met our bishop on Holy Thursday at the chrism mass.