R
Randi
Guest
Since I didn’t know until after I eloped with my husband that I was baptized into the Catholic church as a baby, and since I was raised in the Baptist church, I didn’t know that as a baptized Catholic, I should be married in the Catholic church. When my husband and I began the ‘conversion’ process in January, our wonderful priest stressed the importance of my infant baptism and my identity as a Catholic. This was joyful for me, because after all these years of being curious about the Catholic church, yet believing it would be impossible for me to join the Church, here I discover that I am already Catholic!
Of course, that brought the priest to the tricky subject of educating my husband and I on marriage. He reassured us that we had not sinned, because neither of us were aware of my baptism, nor of Catholic teaching, nor of the idea of sacramental marriage. But he stressed the importance of making our marriage valid and sacramental by having a convalidation ceremony (especially since we went to a justice of the peace to elope). He also wanted us to understand that what we had intended to do 13 years ago we were unable to do because Christians (Catholics) are called to sacramental marriage. Anyway, many of you here already understand convalidation very well, so I’ll spare you all the details of our discussion. I am just getting so excited to have the opportunity to go before God in His Church, and make our marriage valid. My husband and I have loved each other deeply since we were 18, and we have always intended to have a lifelong marriage blessed by God and now we feel that our convalidation ceremony is elevating our commitment and partnership with each other to the level of a sacrament. I am so excited.
After our first confession, and then our convalidation ceremony, I will be able to take communion at Mass, and my husband and I will both be confirmed at Easter vigil. We are also planning for the immediate baptism of our son soon after Easter. Our daughter was christened as an infant in the Lutheran church (husband’s parents are Lutheran). Anyway, with both of us coming from seriously broken homes, we are doing our utmost to create a Godly legacy with our marriage and our family. And now that we learned about the authority and the graces found in the Catholic church, we feel even more enabled to do, with God’s help, what we have intended to do.
Sorry this is so long and rambling! I am just so excited about the next couple of months that I tried to say everything at once to express my joy. Has anyone else, looking back, seen God’s hand in bringing them to (or back to) the Catholic church and experienced such a dramatic ‘conversion’ time?
Of course, that brought the priest to the tricky subject of educating my husband and I on marriage. He reassured us that we had not sinned, because neither of us were aware of my baptism, nor of Catholic teaching, nor of the idea of sacramental marriage. But he stressed the importance of making our marriage valid and sacramental by having a convalidation ceremony (especially since we went to a justice of the peace to elope). He also wanted us to understand that what we had intended to do 13 years ago we were unable to do because Christians (Catholics) are called to sacramental marriage. Anyway, many of you here already understand convalidation very well, so I’ll spare you all the details of our discussion. I am just getting so excited to have the opportunity to go before God in His Church, and make our marriage valid. My husband and I have loved each other deeply since we were 18, and we have always intended to have a lifelong marriage blessed by God and now we feel that our convalidation ceremony is elevating our commitment and partnership with each other to the level of a sacrament. I am so excited.
After our first confession, and then our convalidation ceremony, I will be able to take communion at Mass, and my husband and I will both be confirmed at Easter vigil. We are also planning for the immediate baptism of our son soon after Easter. Our daughter was christened as an infant in the Lutheran church (husband’s parents are Lutheran). Anyway, with both of us coming from seriously broken homes, we are doing our utmost to create a Godly legacy with our marriage and our family. And now that we learned about the authority and the graces found in the Catholic church, we feel even more enabled to do, with God’s help, what we have intended to do.
Sorry this is so long and rambling! I am just so excited about the next couple of months that I tried to say everything at once to express my joy. Has anyone else, looking back, seen God’s hand in bringing them to (or back to) the Catholic church and experienced such a dramatic ‘conversion’ time?
It feels good to know we’re back where we belong!