We Are Home!

Happy Easter Dear Reader!

Easter is a time for “coming home”. My friends, I have been waiting and hoping for this Easter for many years, ever since God called me home to His Church… This Easter is especially memorable for me since my family is now whole; united in full communion with Christs’ One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

“A person can do other things against his will, but belief is possible only in one who is willing.”

St. Augustine

It has been a long hard road that my wife and I have traveled down to get to this point and there were several times that I wasn’t sure we would make it. I have to say that the most important thing I learned throughout all of this is the power of love and prayer. So what does love and prayer have to do with “coming home”?

A lot of times you will here of Catholics saying that they are “converts” from a Protestant denomination. However, I think “convert” should only apply to someone who comes to The Church from an entirely different religion as MOST Protestant denominations teach at least partial truth of the Christian faith as revealed by Jesus’s Apostles. But rather than say a Protestant who has been Baptized utilizing the Trinitarian formula is a “convert”, I like to say that he or she has “come home”…. The reason I like that term better is that ALL Protestant denominations have their origins, whether directly or indirectly from The Catholic Church. [For more on this please check out my former blog article titled “Isn’t Catholicism Just One More Denomination?” in the link here… https://williamscatholicjourney.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/isnt-catholicism-just-one-more-denomination/

In a sense, all those who have been Baptized “In The Name of The Father, In The Name of The Son and In The Name of The Holy Spirit” are brothers and sisters through Baptism. Because we sprout from the same divine well-spring through our Baptism, we are all one family and whether through direct or indirect means, every baptized Christian can call The Catholic Church their home. We as Catholics must remember this when we speak of our faith to our Protestant brothers and sisters, and speak to them of our faith we should!

My wife is one of those who has come home this year at our parish’s Easter Vigil service… As the priest during every Mass echos the words of the angel in Revelation 19:9… “…Blessed are those who are called to the wedding feast (supper) of the lamb…” those coming home to The Church are answering that call to attend the wedding feast of Christ! To become one in communion with the body of Christ through the participation in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist!

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I have learned a lot over the last 4 – 5 years of my life. During my journey home to The Church, I tried to pass along to my wife what I learned and the realization of the truth that I was discovering in my studies of scripture and the early church fathers… There were times that I was too forceful in my sharing with her without realizing it… There were times that my patience would wear thin because I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t see a certain issue the same way that I did… There were several times that I pushed her away… almost completely… In part due to my selfish pride and stubbornness, and then also partly due to my overly zealous attitude towards evangelization…

My friends, eventually I got serious and instead of trying to “win the argument” I started to pray and pray and pray some more… Once I got out of His way, God was able to work in His own way through the Holy Spirit so that His will would be done in His time… I feel that this point is an important lesson for all of us. We all have someone or some people that we desperately want to share the truth of the faith with…

I started to study, not to win arguments with my bride, but to be ready to answer her questions when she asked them (Luke 12:11-12)… I began to pray without ceasing and I began to simply try my best to show my bride the love that I have for her and in turn, let God show His love for her through me… That doesn’t mean I was perfect by any means… But I stopped trying to take control and once I let go, God took the reigns and work He did! It was soon after we lost a child to a miscarriage in late 2017 that we both discovered how powerful God is in working through tragic events if we put our trust in Him…

“When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Luke 12:11-12

Without going into too much detail (this is my wife’s story to tell and I do not want to diminish her story at all by giving away details that she might like to share at some point herself), let me just say that last night at the Easter Vigil was THE best night of my life… NOT because “I won” or because because “I was right”… It was the best night of my life because my entire family by God’s grace is finally united as ONE in Christ’s Church, ONE in Profession of Creed, ONE in Confession, ONE in Baptism, ONE in Sacrament, and ONE in Spirit… Our family has come home to Christ in His ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC Church… AMEN!

Until Next Time Dear Reader…

Your Humble Servant in Christ,

William