“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?” (Psalm 42:12).
The desire to know God is innate in human beings. Since God made us for Himself as St. Augustine says we naturally want to know Him. He draws us and we seek Him out. During the pandemic of the last year many people have become more acutely aware of this desire and even need for God. I have heard from several of them of how they have grown closer to God during the course of the pandemic.
For several people in our community, this time of seeking to quench their thirst for God whether directly because of the circumstances of the pandemic or not has brought them to the Catholic Church. They have been participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults over the past months at St. Mary Parish and now they are in immediate preparation for their entrance into the Church and the reception of the sacraments of initiation at Easter.
We are blessed to have three Catechumens who will be enrolled in the Elect at the Noon Mass this Sunday. Seven Candidates for Reception into Full Communion with the Catholic Church and two Catholics who seek to complete their Christian initiation will also be participating in the Call to Continuing Conversion at the same Mass. They are from many different backgrounds and walks of life. They vary in age from college student to young adult to some of life’s more seasoned veterans.
This is good news not only for these individuals but also for our entire parish. In finding God in the Catholic Church our Catechumens and Candidates find also a community and the support of many brothers and sisters in Christ. They in turn become “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) to build up and strengthen the Body of Christ in general and our parish community in particular. Our privilege now is to bolster them by our prayers and accompaniment as we look forward with them to the Easter Vigil in joy and expectation. So please keep all these men and women in your prayers during these last weeks of preparation and purification so that together we may approach and behold the face of God as fully one in Christ.
God Bless,
Fr. Joachim
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