It has been almost 3 months since I started RCIA and I am at a stage where I am struggling daily not to return to my former pentecostal church.
I have felt as if my relationship with Jesus has suffered since. I feel a distance between me and the Lord, and I feel as if I don’t know how to pray anymore.
You are experiencing a lot of change right now. I’m not sure why you feel you don’t know how to pray anymore. Yes the CC has a lot of written prayers and those are helpful but you can still pray extemporaneously if you like.
I miss the strong connection I used to feel to Jesus and to members of my church, where we had strong prayer meetings until late at night, interceding for one another.
Your connection to Jesus is not gone. It is changing and that does not mean you are losing Him. The CC is different in fellowship than a pentecostal church. But it is amazing how quickly you can build strong relationships.
I am glad I don’t have prayer meetings until late at night. I’m not a late night person anymore.
But we have Bible study groups, parish ministries, prayer groups available for those who wish.
We intercede for one another at every mass. Not only the people attending mass but, for those have died, or who are ill. We are in communion with all the angels and saints.
I miss the feeling of words from the Bible jumping off the page and making my heart throb with the fear of the Lord.
It sounds as if the church you used to attend used a lot of emotion in your prayer meetings. Emotions are fine but can be manipulated as well. I went to a couple of pentecostal churches years ago and they are not a good fit for me.
This may be a phase… Truth is…if it were up to me alone, I would have gone back to my former church.
But there is no Mary devotion there.
That’s the only thing keeping me…
For now.
Limette, you’re still in RCIA. Learning the fullness of the Catholic faith takes time. You have almost 2,000 years of history to catch up on.
Have you been to mass? I started going to mass early on in RCIA and from the very first time I knew I was seeing and participating in WORSHIP.
I have been a Catholic now since Easter Vigil 2008 and every single day I thank God for making me Catholic.
You do not have to decide to become Catholic today. That is what RCIA is for. To help you decide if this is where God is calling you. And the Mary devotion that you love? That’s the part most protestants have the biggest problem with.
Its beyond the point of me ‘noticing’ it and now to the point where I feel the need to say something. Why are these good posters being dropped left and right…