Patience

[newcalling]

I’ve been called many things, but patient isn’t among them. I have some patience, but one thing has me particularly frustrated.

I am in rcia classes. I was an interfaith minister and “shaman” for many years before being called home to the Roman Catholic church last November (a few months ago.) Prior to that I was a protestant, and going to community college to complete general education requirements to enter seminary. I did attend a few seminary classes with the Pentecostal church I attended for a while, but it was those classes which made me realize that I didn’t believe everything they did. So I studied Judaism, qaballa, Christianity, Hinduism, Siberian shamanism, Lakota traditions and other spiritual traditions. Eventually I fell into the role of minister, though the physical church I used to lead eventually became an online church.

I have known since childhood that my life would be dedicated to serving God. I started my education as a teenager, with private classes with my Baptist pastor, and continuing today. Ido still a lot to learn, especially about Catholic teachings (I only know a few saints and mostly don’t know who is patron saint of what, for example.) However, I am used to serving God. I feel like I am sitting still for too long.

I am almost 42 and have some physical limitations. My rcia teachers keep telling me that they are trying to get me and my similarly educated friend through rcia quicker. I inquired of them as to whether we have to wait for Lent for first confession and first communion, and they (2 of them) say that they’re trying to work it out so that it can be sooner. However, when I was talking with the father of the parish the other day, I asked him and he reaffirmed that it only happens during Lent. I love all of the fathers at that parish, as they exude the Holy Spirit. Other people have given me the impression that we have to be in rcia for a year first! Ot is hard to understand Father Pedro, because English isn’t his first language, but I hope that he didn’t mean next year! There are several orders in which I am interested, and I can’t even attend secular Franciscan meetings until a year after I am confirmed. Most monasteries want people to be Catholic a few years before even inquiring!

Of course, I serve God in my every day life. I help others whenever I can, and I am constantly uplifting people and spreading God. I’m just eager for more formal service, and service involving the church to which the Blessed Virgin Mother fully converted my heart. I don’t dare pray for patience, as I do not want more hardship.

There is also the huge issue for me of almost 42 years (42 in May) of sin weighing me down, and I am eager for my first confession! I need this burden lifted. There are some real doozies which I need to confess, including idolatry and shamanism. Of course I look forward with great anticipation for my first communion, the first real communion, the partaking of the body, blood, soul and Divinity of the dearly beloved Son of God. However, anticipation of communion is different as my focus is more preparing my soul for such a great event, which includes first reconciliation/confession.

So, any advice, insight or other (name removed by moderator)ut are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Della]

Welcome home to the Church, newcalling.

I had a similar experience going through RCIA. I had ministered in the Assemblies of God in music and in evangelization, earning a B. A. in Bible from one of their colleges. I lelft the AoG to return to the Episcopal Church of my childhood, but wasn’t satisfied there. I looked into the Catholic Church and its teachings. I read some of the great saints and so was up on orthodox Catholic teaching when I started RCIA. I wasn’t a kid either in my late 30’s, so I can empathize with your position.

However, even though I had been educated–more than those running the RCIA program, I knew in my heart of hearts that going through the whole nine yards would be good for me. I saw it like an engagement period rather than an obstacle to my desires. I knew I had a lot to learn about being Catholic not just about Catholicism, if you see what I mean. Catholicism is practiced, after all, not just believed. Having to wait also increased my desire to receive the sacraments–like a bride waiting for her bridegroom.

Possess your soul in patience as an act of your will. Much of what you’ll do as a Catholic is about conforming our will to that of God and his Church. It’s a good discipline to begin early.

I suggest practicing the prayer life of the Church–the Liturgy of the Hours. Morning and Evening Prayer anchor the day and keep the heart and mind centered in God–in the flow of the Church year, connecting us with the whole Church in prayer. Learn to live in the Catholic milieu and do acts of charity. Your time in RCIA will rush by, I promise you.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

Offer up the sacrifice of waiting to get to confession to Jesus, give him all the pain, anxiety, frustration, urgency, and the rest of your suffering over this. He knows your heart trust Him. Trust His Church.

If you encounter difficulties, the Bishop of your diocese has the authority to override a lot of the local rules and can speed things up if he deems it is warranted.

 

[Magdalen2013]

I was accepted into the Church at the Easter Vigil last year. I have been where you are, and I understand the longing in your words.

The RCIA process is about helping you to become a member of the community. This is why many parishes have both candidates and catechumens together in the same RCIA group.
I know it is frustrating, but you may find that helping those who are newer to the path will help the time pass more quickly.

You are in my prayers.

 

[blueshells]

I’ve been called many things, but patient isn’t among them. I have some patience, but one thing has me particularly frustrated.

I am in rcia classes. I was an interfaith minister and “shaman” for many years before being called home to the Roman Catholic church last November (a few months ago.) Prior to that I was a protestant, and going to community college to complete general education requirements to enter seminary. I did attend a few seminary classes with the Pentecostal church I attended for a while, but it was those classes which made me realize that I didn’t believe everything they did. So I studied Judaism, qaballa, Christianity, Hinduism, Siberian shamanism, Lakota traditions and other spiritual traditions. Eventually I fell into the role of minister, though the physical church I used to lead eventually became an online church.

I have known since childhood that my life would be dedicated to serving God. I started my education as a teenager, with private classes with my Baptist pastor, and continuing today. Ido still a lot to learn, especially about Catholic teachings (I only know a few saints and mostly don’t know who is patron saint of what, for example.) However, I am used to serving God. I feel like I am sitting still for too long.

I am almost 42 and have some physical limitations. My rcia teachers keep telling me that they are trying to get me and my similarly educated friend through rcia quicker. I inquired of them as to whether we have to wait for Lent for first confession and first communion, and they (2 of them) say that they’re trying to work it out so that it can be sooner. However, when I was talking with the father of the parish the other day, I asked him and he reaffirmed that it only happens during Lent. I love all of the fathers at that parish, as they exude the Holy Spirit. Other people have given me the impression that we have to be in rcia for a year first! Ot is hard to understand Father Pedro, because English isn’t his first language, but I hope that he didn’t mean next year! There are several orders in which I am interested, and I can’t even attend secular Franciscan meetings until a year after I am confirmed. Most monasteries want people to be Catholic a few years before even inquiring!

Of course, I serve God in my every day life. I help others whenever I can, and I am constantly uplifting people and spreading God. I’m just eager for more formal service, and service involving the church to which the Blessed Virgin Mother fully converted my heart. I don’t dare pray for patience, as I do not want more hardship.

There is also the huge issue for me of almost 42 years (42 in May) of sin weighing me down, and I am eager for my first confession! I need this burden lifted. There are some real doozies which I need to confess, including idolatry and shamanism. Of course I look forward with great anticipation for my first communion, the first real communion, the partaking of the body, blood, soul and Divinity of the dearly beloved Son of God. However, anticipation of communion is different as my focus is more preparing my soul for such a great event, which includes first reconciliation/confession.

So, any advice, insight or other (name removed by moderator)ut are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Wow! What a great history and a testament to your desire for truth.

First off, to your point about not knowing the Saints: that’s okay. I’m a convert as well, and in my experience the ones you need will find you and you learn about them then. St. Teresa of Avila has been busting down my door for several months now, just before I was slammed by some bizarre health problems and a “dark night of the soul”. You’re not going to be tested on which Saint is the patron of what, or which Saint that statue represents; most of my cradle Catholic friends can’t tell the difference either. And it’s a good dose of humility and vulnerability, too, when you have to ask about the stories of the Saints. Embrace the childlikeness.

Second, I agree with the poster who suggested helping those who are just starting on the path. You have a lot of insight you might be able to offer them, and you can help each other bear the cross of your longing.

In your time before first Reconciliation and Communion, really embrace this time of waiting and unite yourself to Christ. Meditate on the Annunciation, and Mary’s waiting for the birth of Christ. Meditate on the Agony in the Garden and the Carrying of the Cross to Calvary: both long times of waiting and struggling.

Also, Romans 8 is an excellent chapter to read in that time! So much encouragement for patience in waiting for Christ in His Sacraments.

Praise be Jesus Christ for your call to His Church!

 

[newcalling]

Wow! What a great history and a testament to your desire for truth.

First off, to your point about not knowing the Saints: that’s okay. I’m a convert as well, and in my experience the ones you need will find you and you learn about them then. St. Teresa of Avila has been busting down my door for several months now, just before I was slammed by some bizarre health problems and a “dark night of the soul”. You’re not going to be tested on which Saint is the patron of what, or which Saint that statue represents; most of my cradle Catholic friends can’t tell the difference either. And it’s a good dose of humility and vulnerability, too, when you have to ask about the stories of the Saints. Embrace the childlikeness.

Second, I agree with the poster who suggested helping those who are just starting on the path. You have a lot of insight you might be able to offer them, and you can help each other bear the cross of your longing.

In your time before first Reconciliation and Communion, really embrace this time of waiting and unite yourself to Christ. Meditate on the Annunciation, and Mary’s waiting for the birth of Christ. Meditate on the Agony in the Garden and the Carrying of the Cross to Calvary: both long times of waiting and struggling.

Also, Romans 8 is an excellent chapter to read in that time! So much encouragement for patience in waiting for Christ in His Sacraments.

Praise be Jesus Christ for your call to His Church!

Thank you all for wonderful responses.

A few things to the post I quoted. Yes, I love to educate and help. In fact, I was thinking of starting a thread in the prayer forum, because there was one such person. There are three of us in the rcia class; me, my similarly educated friend, and a girl who is very new to christianity and Catholicism. I don’t know her background, but she is excitingly new. I was so happy that she was in the class, but she ran into some conflict (not my business so I didn’t ask) and has dropped out of the classes. I have been praying for her.

It’s helpful going to rcia and mass at an old Franciscan mission. I have learned about the three named archangels (though I knew about them only slightly differently from the book of Enoch) especially Michael (whom I have always loved) and also Saint Francis, Saint Anthony, Saint Duns Scotus, and being in the U.S., also Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and a few more about whom I am still to learn. There is information everywhere around the mission, including in the gift shop! Can you tell I love it? I praise God for and pray for the fathers there. I hope to meet the bishop some day. I just see folks on the forums and hear folks on Catholic radio able to just point out a patron saint for any issue, or maybe it just seems that way. I know to ask Saint Francis to pray for my kitty, and I mostly go to the Mother for most concerns.

Where can I learn more about the saints? I read the saint of the day on the Laudate ap, but I don’t recall it saying too often if that saint is patron of anything.

Otherwise I watch a lot of EWTN, listen to Catholic radio or lighthouse Catholic media cds in the car, and I am reading the Catechism and a book one of the rcia teachers lent me.

Because of a housing situation which is in flux, I am currently far from where I attend mass. I used to go at least three times a week, but now I can only get there once a week for mass, and once for rcia classes. I’m staying with the same parish, but I am looking around the area I’m in to find a place to possibly attend at least one weekday mass. Any suggestions as to what to look for or how great the differences are between different parishes and different diocese? Will I be totally lost during mass potentially? I have only regularly attended at the one place.

 

[blueshells]

Thank you all for wonderful responses.

A few things to the post I quoted. Yes, I love to educate and help. In fact, I was thinking of starting a thread in the prayer forum, because there was one such person. There are three of us in the rcia class; me, my similarly educated friend, and a girl who is very new to christianity and Catholicism. I don’t know her background, but she is excitingly new. I was so happy that she was in the class, but she ran into some conflict (not my business so I didn’t ask) and has dropped out of the classes. I have been praying for her.

It’s helpful going to rcia and mass at an old Franciscan mission. I have learned about the three named archangels (though I knew about them only slightly differently from the book of Enoch) especially Michael (whom I have always loved) and also Saint Francis, Saint Anthony, Saint Duns Scotus, and being in the U.S., also Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and a few more about whom I am still to learn. There is information everywhere around the mission, including in the gift shop! Can you tell I love it? I praise God for and pray for the fathers there. I hope to meet the bishop some day. I just see folks on the forums and hear folks on Catholic radio able to just point out a patron saint for any issue, or maybe it just seems that way. I know to ask Saint Francis to pray for my kitty, and I mostly go to the Mother for most concerns.

Where can I learn more about the saints? I read the saint of the day on the Laudate ap, but I don’t recall it saying too often if that saint is patron of anything.

Otherwise I watch a lot of EWTN, listen to Catholic radio or lighthouse Catholic media cds in the car, and I am reading the Catechism and a book one of the rcia teachers lent me.

Because of a housing situation which is in flux, I am currently far from where I attend mass. I used to go at least three times a week, but now I can only get there once a week for mass, and once for rcia classes. I’m staying with the same parish, but I am looking around the area I’m in to find a place to possibly attend at least one weekday mass. Any suggestions as to what to look for or how great the differences are between different parishes and different diocese? Will I be totally lost during mass potentially? I have only regularly attended at the one place.

I’ll reply just to the last point because I’m about to leave, but it’s one of my favorite things about the Church. Mass is the same everywhere. There are different forms (e.g. Tridentine vs Novus Ordo), but for the most part the structure and responses are the same. Mass in Germany was actually one of the ways I learned German because I knew exactly what was happening, and could match what the responses in English were with the German.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

For local masses, check out the parishes near where you live and where you work and in between. You may find masses at odd times that fit in your schedule. There can be a little difference between the parishes in the attitudes of the priests and members, but the liturgy should remain the same between them. (Exception: Eastern Rite Catholic Churches are in full union with the Roman Catholic Church, but the liturgies can be very different - it is fine to go to them as well.)