SPLIT: Scrutinies 2014

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We had our First Scrutiny at Mass today, it was lovely and quite moving. None of us had to say anything, our little group stood together with our sponsors and it ended with a round of applause.

As I was leaving church after the Mass, a very elderly man approached me and shook my hand, with words of welcome. I told him I was 55 years old and he said “that’s OK, you have maturity”. 🙂
 
maltmom said:
Some of you may find it odd, but I’m so thankful I didn’t go through RCIA. I wouldn’t have been able to handle all of this. I may have missed out on the some of the other pre-Confirmation rites, but I couldn’t have gone through this part. Anonymous or not, my sins are between me, God and the Priest when I confess.
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I’m with you, my friend. If I had to go through some of the things (licit and not so much) that our brothers and sisters coming into the church today have to go through, I fear I would still be a Methodist. I was allowed to enter and grow, grow deeply, in the faith; now, it seems, we want fully formed Catholics (and who among us is fully formed?) before we “let them in.”
 
The Scrutinies are for the catechumens, not the candidates. The unbaptized. We have no catechumens this year, only candidates, thus the rites will not be done. It seems odd this year, because we usually have at least 4 or 5 to be baptized.
 
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I wish we used something like “self-examination” or “personal reflection” or some other term instead of the word “scrutiny.” Every year some of our catechumens/elect get alarmed thinking that they are going to be “scrutinized” in public by the entire congregation and for three weeks in a row no less. They are greatly relieved to learn instead that while the entire congragation is praying for them they will be asked to silently and internally “scutinize” their own lives. In the words of the explanation found in the Rite itself (paragraph 141): “to uncover, then heal that which is weak, defective, or sinful in (their) hearts; to bring out, then strengthen all that is upright, strong, and good.”

Many comment how moved they are knowing that everyone present is praying for them at that moment.
 
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