Saturday, August 31, 2013

The God of Increase

In my very first written assignment I mentioned that although I am a convert to Catholicism, I feel like I've been Catholic all of my life.  My Mother had taught me that I shouldn't look for a church that I liked, but that I should find a church that was teaching the truth, and her advice is just as good today as it was then. As I described in My Journey Home, I was led to the fullness of faith after my wife joined the RCIA program as a team member. She would come home after her meetings and we would talk about the subject for that evening, and eventually she invited me to attend the meetings with her. During those early RCIA meetings I slowly realized that the Catholic Church was teaching what I considered to be the Truth.
 
I was confirmed in 2004, and joined the RCIA program as a team member with my wife and few others. As volunteers tend to do I worked hard, asked lots of questions, and occasionally offered suggestions. I'll also admit that as volunteers tend to do I felt there was room for improvement; the process seemed to lack direction and consistency and was a bit too touchy feely for me. While I strongly valued prayer, meditation, and even mysticism I wanted to add something about what the Catholic church believes. Unfortunately, at some point I crossed the line and became a hindrance to the process, and I left the team in 2008.
 
My biggest mistake was meeting with my Pastor to voice my concern, suggesting that "if he found himself in need of someone to run the program I was available", or something to that affect. Shortly after that he inadvertently "threw me under the bus" in a conversation with the RCIA Director while trying to make some suggestions of his own. She (naturally) got the impression that I was trying to "take over" and as you can probably imagine our relationship was a bit strained after that.
 
It was about this same time that I discovered the ILM program and since I was serious about wanting to improve the RCIA in my Parish I asked for admittance. The Institute for Leadership in Ministry (and my personal journey of faith) is what this blog is all about. Their intention is to produce leaders in our Diocese. As I've recently said I enjoyed the program a lot and learned plenty, and graduated in the spring of 2013. This is where things get a little mystical ... as things tend to do when you recognize the Holy Spirit at work in your life.
 
By now two things had happened: 1) The Pastoral Staff had changed considerably, and 2) The RCIA program was much improved. Neither my current Pastor nor the rest of his staff was aware of my "previous history" with the RCIA program, but during a conversation with our Parochial Vicar one evening he asked me if I would consider working on the RCIA team. I consciously stated that although improving the RCIA program was one reason I attended the ILM program, I felt that the RCIA program had improved considerably over the last three years. I also admitted that I was still interested in the RCIA program but I was unsure about my reception as a team member. I was told, "everything would work out fine", and "not to worry".
 
You've heard the saying, "Be careful what you wish for". It's easy to get stuck in a rut and run on auto-pilot expecting the same thing, but God is a God of increase. He wants us to rise higher and continually grow and reach new levels. What I didn't realize at the time was that I was being asked to take over the RCIA program, and not just join the team. This unexpected turn of events became obvious during a later meeting with the Parochial Vicar. Even before it was announced to the Parish staff people were coming up to me and suggesting that either I should volunteer to take over the program or they were congratulating me for having been chosen to do so.
 
What I sense in my spirit is that 2013 is turning out to be an exceptional year; a year to see promises come to pass and a year to accomplish dreams. It's also turning into a year of surprises, in which God is amazing me with His goodness! My friend John, who passed away recently, is surely pleased with this turn of events and I can imagine him smiling and laughing a bit, and ready to support me fully! Over the last 3 years I've realized that the RCIA process should not be focused solely on the transfer of knowledge. It is really about the journey; leading people of faith to the Kingdom of God. So pray for me as I strive to mix in a little knowledge with the prayer, meditation, and mysticism that is and should be part of everyone's daily journey.