Hey Egg dude! It’s me again. Your gift’s amazing by the way, so keep it up…and a little Alleluia on the side!! Ok…How is my life different as a Catholic. One major difference I feel is PEACE OF MIND. For one, let’s say I die…and I get to go to confession before I die (to get rid of my mortal sins)…let’s say God or Saint Peter greets me in heaven. Let’s say…Saint Peter tells me: “Vincent, how come you didn’t join the one true Church? You know Jesus prayed for His Church, that they be One like He and the Father are One, right?” I can somehow boldly say: “Yo, Peter dude…4-5 years, I’ve spend my life in agnosticism doing secular research on the History of Christianity, and now you’re telling me I don’t belong to the one Church?? C’mon…quit kidding me, hehehe.”
That’s one. The other more realistic feeling is this: I know God loves me, and I know love Gods everyone else who doesn’t belong to the Catholic Church. On the outside…I can say there’s not much visible difference, but having been a non-denominational Christian (I was close to being trained as regional leader because of my “zeal” as I was told)…I have a certain peace in my head knowing that God extends his mercy and love to everyone. I find good and balanced reason and strategies on how and when to evangelize…and know what it truly feels to “Plant a seed, leave it to the Holy Spirit.” ANother thing, since I come from a scientific academic background, my peace of mind is enhanced by how the Catholic Faith’s doctine uses and utilizes logic to explain the development of their dogmas and other teachings. They completely present both sides of the argument.
Don’t get me wrong though…as much as I try to be sinless, I still have my fights with Sin…and I have lots of fights. Sometimes when I can’t express my sorrow through spontaneous prayers, I have the rosary to rely on to for prayers. Just the effort along to pray the rosary is a practice for patience, humility and self-giving love. Also, eventhough there are times I still get antsy over some of our Christian brothers and sisters who call the Catholic Faith “Babylon the Great” or a “fake” religion…some people opening up the issue of the priest scandals and the inquisition, I have been able to “tolerate” these attacks, and actually, I have been genuinely and sincerely able to “retaliate in love and respect.” It’s not pity I feel…it’s kinda something else I honestly can’t explain. At work, where I’m exposed to everything worldly and potentially sinful, I can easily mingle with everyone else, and stand my ground and people actually respect it. There are those who will call me a prude or a killjoy, but before the night’s over, we can laugh it off. I can at the same time, admonish these other folks not to engage in sinful action in ways that “strikes” them somehow (ofcourse, it helps a lot that I’ve engaged in similar sins before I renewed my faith in Christ). “Be all things to all men, so that some may be saved” as Saint Paul once said. In those words lie the universality of strategies available to evangelize and share the love of Christ with others. Katholikos…please correct me if I’m wrong is actually greek for “universal” or “general”…Latin is Catholicus, I think.
Well…that’s it for now. Hope that helps a little bit. Take care Egg4Christ. God Bless you and your family.
