Fall in Love with God

I finally attended my first RCIA meeting! Such a wonderful experience! I honestly don't even know if I have the words for it, but I'm going to try!

J and Liv as St. Therese

Completely unrelated to my RCIA class but so worthy of posting: So many wonderful things happened over the weekend! On Friday I was finally able to attend the Back from the Dead Cemetery Walk, in which people act as saints and such to share the stories of those who have passed and to encourage us to spend our lives growing closer to God. J was a guide of sorts and Liv played St. Therese of Lisieux on the night that I went. It was such an incredible experience! I cried a few times because it was such an amazingly powerful message. Additionally, J and Liv got me gifts! Normally I hate receiving gifts - I literally dread those occasions - but I was so excited about these. A couple weeks ago, Liv bought me a book called Saints that was written by an alum of my school and gives a brief description of the life of a few hundred saints. J bought me my first Catholic Bible and I'm so happy to finally have my own.

Now about my first RCIA class: I want to reiterate once more how grateful I am for my amazing best friends, J and Liv. These two women are some of the most joyful Catholics that I have ever met and it has given me confidence and joy in my decision to become Catholic. I was ecstatic to attend tonight's meeting, but as one of my other friends pointed out, many of the other people in RCIA aren't as confident in their decision as I am, which leaves them with a little bit of discomfort that I could clearly feel in the room. I was quite puzzled by this until I spoke to my friend about it after the meeting, but now I feel like I can understand where they are coming from.

My Bible and Saints book - I think I'm a fan of saints

In tonight's lesson, we discussed parts of the Creed. We picked apart the first couple of lines and learned about the biblical foundation for each, as well as how it applies to us as human beings pursuing a relationship with God. The very first line in the Creed is "I believe in God the Father," which is the first step in developing a relationship with Him because you must acknowledge your belief before you can strengthen your connection to Him.

One of the first things I was told when I was looking to become Catholic was that you have to fall in love with God. I don't think there is anything more beautiful than that. What better way to have a relationship with God than to completely surrender yourself to Him?! We are called to do this on many occasions, but one example can be found in tonight's Gospel reading from Matthew 22:37-38: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment." We are called to love God fully because we are made in His image and are therefore capable of great love, a love that is most fulfilling when shared with Him.

Tonight's homily emphasized the importance of loving God, the perfect lover. In today's culture, we say that we "love" a lot of things. I, for instance, can often be heard to exclaim how much I love mac-n-cheese or Pride and Prejudice or a favorite dress, but to love something is to will its goodness at all times. This is not to say that there is no inherent goodness in comfort food or a good movie or a nice article of clothing because they are all part of God's creation, but how does our loving inanimate objects make that goodness shine? Love is meant to be shared among humans or between humans and God because we were created in His likeness. Seeking and giving love are qualities of God that he bestowed in us as He created us to be like Him.

Moral of the story: Fall in love with God and surrender yourself to Him completely. Easier said than done, but we have an entire lifetime to try!

He said to them 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.' ~Matthew 22:37-38

Pax,
Kay