Today's the big day!

Well, this is it.  I want to say today my journey ends, and I reach my destination, but I know it's only beginning.  I'm so excited about Easter Vigil, I can hardly contain myself.  There are so many thoughts I want to express right now, but I just can't seem to get them out in words, so I'm just going to ask all who read this to pray for me, and all who are coming into the Church tonight.  The adversary has been waging a full scale assault on the Church this Holy Week, and the faith of some has already been shaken.  The good news is, it's a desperation act.  He wouldn't go to these lengths if not for the fact that he know's he's already lost.  He's just trying to take as many souls down with him in defeat as he can.

Bless you all in your journeys as well.  Amen.

First confession follow-up

I went to confession yesterday, and it really want's that bad.  I found that I wasn't all that nervous,, but it was more like a feeling of intense anticipation that I really can't describe.  I went during regular hours, and made the offer to everyone that came in after me to get in front of me, since it was my first time and I might take a while.  One nice lady in her 60s said to take my time - she had converted when she was 19, and remembered the anxiety she had over her first confession, and that she'd be praying for me. 

First confession

Today comes a moment I've been simultaneously looking forward and dreading.  I'm making my first confession this morning.  Being a convert, I have to confess all my mortal sins going back to the age of reason (around 7 or 8).  I just turned 31 yesterday, and have been a heathen the vast majority of my life.  Soooo, that's a lot of sin to confess. 

Counting the days, counting my blessings

2010 is going to be a truly landmark year for me.  I'm getting married in June.  I'm going to be confirmed and come into communion with the Church at Easter.  It's amazing how those two things are so similar.

What a year this has been!

Hello to whomever stumbles across this blog!  It's been a while since I've posted.  It's been a combination of several factors.  Number one, I've been VERY busy with work, church, and family functions.  Second, I thought I didn't really have anything significant to post, but I've been doing some thinking, and I realized I'm wrong - I've got lots of WONDERFUL news to share!

The Fight For Life

Until earlier this year, I had a very different world view than what I had today.  I believed that a woman had the right to chose to do what she wished with her body, including abortion.  I felt that me, being a man, had no place telling anyone else what they could and could not do.  I said it's not a choice I'll ever have to make, so I turned a blind eye toward it, even though I knew it was wrong.  And I always knew it was wrong.

Why the Catholic Church?

One question I’ve heard from friends – and pondered myself a couple of times – is now that I’ve finally found my faith in God, why convert to Catholicism?  Wouldn’t I be just as happy in a Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, or some other denomination of Christianity?  The simple answer is no, I wouldn’t. 

I’ve been there before.  Granted, I haven’t tried every branch of Christianity out there,  But none of them quite range true with me.  I’d go to various churches, and never particularly enjoy it, no matter how much I tried.  And I’m not putting down any of those other branches, or anyone who follows them – they just didn’t work for me.

Basically, I feel like my faith has been a huge jigsaw puzzle.  Trying to work in before, in these churches that follow only the Bible, I only had maybe a third of the pieces.  But with Catholicism being so deeply rooted in the traditions that Jesus Christ and his Apostles began when they founded the church, I feel like I have most of the pieces now.  The rest are being filled in by my own belief and relationship with God, and that’s growing stronger every week.