waiting

[MissMusicTeacher_2]

Converts:

After you made the decision to become Catholic, how did you deal with the pain of waiting to enter the Church?  Especially if you had to wait months or years, knowing that God was calling you, how did you approach that period of time?

[left coast mystic]

Wow! What a blessing today has been! To find that you're still around....I've been reading old posts and missing seeing your contributions!  You must tell us how things are going with you.

But to answer your question. Thankfully I only had to wait about three years from the point where I realized there was only one path forward for me, but I wasn't free to walk it.  I was kept sane during that time by immersing myself in reading testimonies of Catholic converts, listening to same via the Journey Home archives on the EWTN website, listening to Catholic radio, and MOST IMPORTANT, by being active on this forum.    This forum is a wonderful place to be safe and to get all the encouragement and prayer you need while things are gestating in your life. All the other sources I mentioned are encouraging, but they can't take the place of real relationships with real people.

Bendiciones,
Marcee

[Intercessor]

written in January:
Hello Becky, and everyone,

I have been away from the forum for quite some time, and I still have a number of threads to reply to where various people so kindly answered questions I had.  I'm afraid that will have to wait for awhile longer.

I am still at my EV Free church with my family and a non-Christian friend who has started attending with me.  I stepped down from the high school staff late 2009.  I am continuing to work through some lingering doubts and barriers with the help and guidance of David Emery, who has been a wonderful blessing to me.  At this time I am unsure where my journey will end up, but am still trying to learn more and live as a Catholic as best I can.

One thing I would like to do is move out of my parents' house before converting.  However, before that can happen I need to save a lot more money and be in better health.  I have been in the hospital twice in the last two months, plus multiple health issues that have been going on for years and are getting worse.  That is the other barrier, besides money, to me moving out: I am quite weak and need assistance with many things, hence why I still live at home.

In Christ,

Laura

Converts:

After you made the decision to become Catholic, how did you deal with the pain of waiting to enter the Church?  Especially if you had to wait months or years, knowing that God was calling you, how did you approach that period of time?

Laura, you summed it up yourself in your January note above:  still trying to learn more and live as a Catholic as best I can.  God does not hold you responsible for what you can't change.  Study, learn, heed your wise counselor, be faithful to Catholic teaching, practice, and devotion in so far as is possible for you.  

How does one bear the pain of waiting?  

Perhaps it's best to begin with a change of perspective.  A Catholic should expect to do some suffering and should be offering up that suffering for the salvation of others.  That's what we Catholics do.  Try accepting the crosses in your life (specifically your heartache at having to wait to enter the Church) as opportunities for God to purify you and give you something to offer up for the salvation of souls.  

If you are being purified and if you are suffering for the salvation of others, these months/years of waiting are hardly a waste of time.  God hands them to you rich and ripe with precious opportunities to become what he wants you to become.  Your part is to cooperate with Him and trust His plan.

I would encourage you to do four things to ease the pain of waiting:  

1.  Make a spiritual communion every day (lots of threads on the forum about that-- enclose spiritual communion in quotation marks when you do a SEARCH.)  

2.  Attend Adoration or sit before the tabernacle whenever you have an opportunity.

3.  Daily share your prayer intentions with your guardian angel, the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and several other saints you admire.  Ask them to help you wait, to help you cooperate with what God wants to do in your heart during this hard time of waiting.

4.  In addition to your other study, become familiar with the lives of the saints.  Notice the role that suffering played in their lives and what they did with that suffering.

God bless and strengthen you, Laura.  Think of yourself as already being in formation.  You cannot yet receive the Eucharist or receive absolution, but you are most certainly in the process of being formed, of developing a Catholic heart.

Becky

[MissMusicTeacher_2]

Wow! What a blessing today has been! To find that you're still around....I've been reading old posts and missing seeing your contributions!  You must tell us how things are going with you.

It is nice to know that I have been missed. I have missed everyone too.  I have been lurking a lot but not posting, mainly because I have felt the need for some sense of direction that I needed to work out on my own without publicizing everything.  My situation is much the same as it was in January, which is summarized in the post Becky quoted.  I am still corresponding with David and being encouraged by his wisdom.  I am also still living at home, and will most likely remain there for some years to come (I am still a poor musician/student living one paycheck at a time ...plus I am helping care for my dad who is ill).

I am praying for a way to start RCIA this fall.  I have been so hesitant to commit, yet God has made it unmistakably clear to me that He is calling me to become Catholic.  I am hoping to go to an RCIA information session at the local Catholic church at the end of this month, at which time it will probably be clearer as to whether or not it is likely to happen this year.  The other remaining question is when to tell my parents...I am turning 21 in the fall, and would like to wait until then to say anything; yet the sooner they know, the sooner I can start attending Mass regularly.  I also know from past experience that the more time they have to adjust to the idea before I start RCIA, the less hostile they will be (even if they vigorously disagree with my decision).

Thank you also, Marcee, for your suggestions for how to use my time while I wait.

Laura, you summed it up yourself in your January note above:  still trying to learn more and live as a Catholic as best I can.  God does not hold you responsible for what you can't change.  Study, learn, heed your wise counselor, be faithful to Catholic teaching, practice, and devotion in so far as is possible for you. 

How does one bear the pain of waiting? 

Perhaps it's best to begin with a change of perspective.  A Catholic should expect to do some suffering and should be offering up that suffering for the salvation of others.  That's what we Catholics do.  Try accepting the crosses in your life (specifically your heartache at having to wait to enter the Church) as opportunities for God to purify you and give you something to offer up for the salvation of souls. 

If you are being purified and if you are suffering for the salvation of others, these months/years of waiting are hardly a waste of time.  God hands them to you rich and ripe with precious opportunities to become what he wants you to become.  Your part is to cooperate with Him and trust His plan.

I would encourage you to do four things to ease the pain of waiting: 

1.  Make a spiritual communion every day (lots of threads on the forum about that-- enclose spiritual communion in quotation marks when you do a SEARCH.) 

2.  Attend Adoration or sit before the tabernacle whenever you have an opportunity.

3.  Daily share your prayer intentions with your guardian angel, the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, and several other saints you admire.  Ask them to help you wait, to help you cooperate with what God wants to do in your heart during this hard time of waiting.

4.  In addition to your other study, become familiar with the lives of the saints.  Notice the role that suffering played in their lives and what they did with that suffering.

God bless and strengthen you, Laura.  Think of yourself as already being in formation.  You cannot yet receive the Eucharist or receive absolution, but you are most certainly in the process of being formed, of developing a Catholic heart.

Becky

Becky, as always, I am humbled, encouraged, and challenged by your thoughts.  Thank you for sharing your wisdom and for the suggestions--especially the change of perspective.  I had not considered this as something to offer up, but it really is and can be a benefit to myself and others.

[Howard the Pilgrim]

All of us converts have had the experience of waiting and Marcee and Becky have given you good advice.  This forum is still a lifeline for me even though I came into the Church this year, a place to give and to receive.  It is good to see you here again.  May the Holy Trinity, the blessed Virgin Mary, the saints and the angels be with you on your journey.

[MissMusicTeacher_2]

Thank you Howard.

[Pani Rose]

Yes indeed, spiritual communion and adoration will make a huge difference in your wait.  As I read this thread, I thought of King David.  

Psalm 42; 2-3

    As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
 My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?

And, Psalm 63:2-9

O God, you are my God-- for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, Like a land parched, lifeless, and without water.  So I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.
For your love is better than life; my lips offer you worship! I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands, calling on your name. My soul shall savor the rich banquet of praise, with joyous lips my mouth shall honor you! When I think of you upon my bed, through the night watches I will recall That you indeed are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy. My soul clings fast to you; your right hand upholds me.

Spending time before Him, who is the Eucharist in the tabernacle, will feed your soul, while you offer to him a time of praise, worship, and thanksgiving for all he is doing, seen and unseen.

Speaking of the Real Presence...

Pray Unceasingly
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

...What the Savior told His contemporaries He is telling us. The moving of mountains can be done only by God. He will do so provided we believe in His Omnipotence as the man of Nazareth who is our Incarnate God...depths of faith that underlie prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? They are nothing less than the four most profound mysteries of Christian revelation. When we pray before the Holy Eucharist, we profess our faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God; we profess our faith in the true humanity of Jesus Christ assumed by the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; we profess our faith in Christ's death on Calvary and Resurrection from the dead; and we profess our faith in the continued physical  presence of the risen Christ on earth in our midst, ready to exercise the limits of His divine power in our favor, depending on the measure and depth of our faith in this quadrad of mysteries of Christianity....Pope Pius XII, ... the risen Savior never really left the earth. He is both in heaven and on earth. The same identical Jesus whom the angels and saints behold in the beatific vision is with us in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. This is the Real Presence. This we believe whenever we pray to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Every episode of the Gospels in which Christ's contemporaries wished to be near Him, so near they crowded and shoved and pushed, so close did they want to be to Him that as the woman with a hemorrhage knew that she would be cured if she was just able to touch the hem of His garment. She did so, and Christ asked, "Who touched me?" She was instantly cured, and the Savior told her, "It was your faith that healed you."...  
http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Eucharist/Eucharist_020.htm

[Estelle]

I recently found a website, SpiritDaily.com that has a listing on the bottom left hand side with a link to an Adoration Online site. When you click on it a Monstrance comes up (usually).  I like to start and end my "computer time" with a visit to Him there. Not to mention when ever I NEED to be in His presence with a visual.

[MissMusicTeacher_2]

Thank you, Pani Rose and Estelle.  Pani Rose, the passage you quoted is beautiful!

Please pray for me today, as I am (for the second time, this time a year later) informing my mom of my decision to become Catholic.  I feel like I am approaching the subject in a much more mature manner this time, but that does not change the fact that it will be a difficult conversation.

[Estelle]

We were fortunate enough to babysit our grandchildren this weekend but I was less than enthused by the reading material they chose to bring with them. The Harry Potter books DO NOT sit well with me. My daughter knows this. I was wondering how to approach this. In the past she has let me know it's "nothing to worry about, they know it's pretend". That is NOT the point I was trying to make. I struggled with how to bring this up. In the end I just left it to Jesus to "direct my mouth" (an everyday plea to Him). I told the kids I didn't want them to bring those books into my house again (after spraying Holy Water all over). They told her when she and her husband came to pick them up. (Not about the Holy Water which I did when they were sleeping - only because I didn't think of it sooner.)  All is well. I was "afraid" if she took issue with my feelings it would be a problem having them over again. Then I wondered why I would be "afraid" when He always tells us Be Not Afraid.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is when you have a difficult situation coming up just give it all to Him and He'll lead you in the best way to handle it.

[Pani Rose]

Estelle I love it.  That is awesome!

[Estelle]

  What did I say that's so awesome? I"d like to be able to repeat it!

[DrDave]

Thank you, Pani Rose and Estelle.  Pani Rose, the passage you quoted is beautiful!

Please pray for me today, as I am (for the second time, this time a year later) informing my mom of my decision to become Catholic.  I feel like I am approaching the subject in a much more mature manner this time, but that does not change the fact that it will be a difficult conversation.

Hi Laura, that's great news, just be patient with them, remember, it's taken two years since you first came to us for you to get to this position, and you were (by the simple fact of coming here) already seeking.

They, either aren't seeking, or aren't prepared to even admit the possibility that the answers might be in the Catholic direction, so don't expect miracles, but neither don't stop praying for them either

Just show them the love of Jesus Christ, the love of a daughter, and the courage of your convictions, leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit, and don't forget we're with you

Regards Doc