RCIA Testimonies from OLPH Parishioners

I love to see the look on people’s faces when I tell them I’m a “New” Catholic. I was confirmed four short years ago and the surprise that I’m new to living a faithful life to me means that, while I’m completely aware I’ll forever be on a journey, I’m where I’m supposed to be and my friends and family can see that in how I live my life.

When we chose OLPH for my oldest sons’ education it was for many reasons, but faith and religion were not the top priority. As we began to attend mass with his class and then every so often on Sunday’s, I acknowledged that the sense of “always being busy,” the… rush and chaos that pervaded our family calendar, was there because I wasn’t content. Always trying to fill gaps in white calendar space meant I was ignoring the emptiness I felt, personally. On what I thought was a whim, I decided to call Sr. Lorraine to learn more about RCIA. I thought it would be a good way for me to learn more about the religion and maybe explore my own faith. As I attended the weekly classes and did some basic book studying, I also began to incorporate prayer in to my daily routine.

The most interesting part for my journey was that I never doubted I was meant to be there. With prayer, God opened my heart, and my eyes, to the experience– the grace and clarity that He was with me permeated everything in my life. I saw the world differently and felt a seismic shift in my heart. I recognized early on in RCIA that the sense of urgency and stress that drove my daily life was less and less as I moved closer to confirmation. The busy-ness was (and will always be) there, but the feeling of inner peace and home within the parish are what carried me to communion and confirmation. He showed himself to me in adoration and prayer, in ways I only saw when my heart was open. It’s a journey and I’m still learning every day and week what it “means” to be Catholic, but my relationship with God is what I focus on when I have questions, face fear and uncertainty, or experience challenges. I wish you prayer, patience and love in your journey. 

 ~ Coleen, OLPH Parisioner and RCIA Participant

“On the night of a live (Greccio) Nativity at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Mid-December of that year, I walked in and immediately felt a tremendous feeling like none I had felt in a long time. The Nativity performance began, but then I quickly realized there was no baby Jesus. Where was Jesus? After finishing the scripture passages, a video began in the upper corner to tell the story of the “Greccio” Nativity.

In a climactic moment, that began just three weeks earlier with my dream, the video kicks off with the song Agnus Dei, sung specifically by Third Day. “Holy, Holy, are you Lord God Almighty, Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb, You are Holy!!”

The same lyrics, the same tune, the same band that I was singing in my living room! I felt an overwhelming feeling, like the Holy Spirit descending on me and my heart bursting.

The words that followed in the video might as well have been spoken straight from the mouth of God answering all my questions. The narrator explained how Christ, his real presence in the Eucharist, is our living Nativity. And just how Mary carried the Christ child in her womb like a temple, so we receive Christ, the real presence of him in the Eucharist. He is as present in the Eucharist as he was at his birth – we are the new temple because we receive him!

Then out proceeds the Eucharist in the monstrance carried by the Priest. I fell to my knees and tears poured from my eyes.

This was truth, this was real, there was no going back after this.

How could I have missed this? In all my years as a Christian, discerning, reading scripture, praying – how did this fly right past me? I didn’t know what doctrine might lay in my way, but I had to be Catholic. I had to receive the Eucharist, this was God special amazing act of grace for me – and what a gift to be revealed this life altering truth in this way.”

 ~ Kristina, OLPH Parisioner and RCIA Participant