WILMA!!!!!
Michelle and I met with our sponsor this week, and had a fabulous get together. John and I are on different planets, but we both come from protestant backgrounds and in that respect are alike, we also both tend to be bookworms.
A funny conversation came up about the KofC, I asked John what he knew about them and if he had actually joined. Because if there’s anyone I know would would, join it would be John. Sure enough, he was approached and to use his words, “joined to make someone else happy”. But it didn’t last, he did the “secret” ceremony, attended a couple of meetings, and then just lost interest. He said he didn’t need a hat with feathers, or a sword, and that it just wasn’t for him, and he really joined for the wrong reasons.
I told him about my experience, and how that I just can’t help but think of the Flintstones every time I see a KofC member. Maybe it’s a sin, but it just happens. By his expression I don’t think it ever had occurred to him before and we all got a good laugh out of it.
Again another blessing on this journey, I wanted to meet with John for the simple reason that we had not gotten together and I wanted him to know our progress. The official RCIA rules clearly state that the sponsors job is to affirm that the candidate(s) are fully ready to be received into the church. Honestly, to this point no one asked. So I took it upon myself to make sure that our entry into the Catholic Church was fully honest and that we got all the pieces right, it’s important if I’m going to commit. But we got so much more out the meeting, it was good to share fellowship with someone who had been there, laugh some and finally come to peace with this process.
Its Good Friday, we both have the day off and are just resting (well we have lots of little chores to do), but we are finally ready. Yesterday I read an amazing article written by Jeff Dunn over at internet Monk:
I was sitting at work at the end of the day and this piece brought everything together for me, I was very happy with our reconciliation experience. But it didn’t match up with what others had told me about, I know that’s a dangerous thing to do, but I’m human after all. But this piece nailed it straight into my heart, it finally brought the message of salvation, grace and mercy all into a neat little package. And showed that the Catholic Church again, has the right of an issue that so many protestants just don’t understand, or worse don’t want to.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about a simple faith, simple belief, and simple worship. The Parish we are joining, is very modern and austere, and it’s starting to impact my idea of worship. I still love a good Gothic style cathedral, but there is a certain beauty in a sparse presentation. Growing up around the desert, my family always talked about how that the desert was God’s handiwork, it took me years to figure that out. But I think they where right, this is something I’ll elaborate on later.
I’m two classes away from finishing Philosophy 101, it’s been fun. I get up every Saturday morning at six, eat breakfast and we run off downtown to Boise State University. I do 3 hours of mind bending study, and Michelle does the weeks grocery shopping. I had a friend tell me I would hate Saturday morning class, but boy was he wrong. I LOVE it, I get to argue about God, Philosophy and some great thinkers. I jump sides and argue from the atheist position, and generally just have a blast. And it’s really effected the way I look at my thought processes, the tests suck, but I’m test phobic by nature.
But I’m looking forward to being off for a while and just settling down a bit, I need a nap now 
Blessings
-Paul-
