This upcoming week, Prince of Peace will be beginning the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, better known as RCIA. Yes, it is the process that one must go through in order to become Catholic and enter into full communion with the Church, but in all honesty it is so much more than just that. It is a path of deepening one's relationship with our Lord, a time of greater and deeper prayer, a period of discernment and making the full, conscious and active decision to follow what and where the Lord is calling one to go and to do. RCIA is so much more than just taking time to learn about the Church. RCIA is a time to decide whether one is willing to take a leap of faith and to jump upon the Rock that the Lord has set that Church upon.
For those of us who grew up in the faith, many of us take for granted the difficulty in some of the teachings of the Church as they were instilled in us from a young age. Why wouldn't we believe them when we see the happiness they have brought about for our parents and our family members, even when they were difficult. We automatically have a mindset of assenting to the Church.
For those of us who did not grow up in the faith, these can be more difficult to wrap our minds around. Some of the teachings we struggle to understand and many times they are difficult to believe and assent too.
If you are one who is not in full communion with the Church or just greatly struggles to understand the what and why behind what the Church teaches, consider joining the RCIA sessions. The Church does not just place arbitrary rules of things that we can and cannot do. The Church has our End and happiness in mind; they are helping us to get to Heaven.
RCIA is meant to be a time of deeper prayer and reflection upon the teachings of the Church AND a period of growing in a deeper relationship with our Lord. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we are living in a relationship with our Lord. If we are not talking and speaking with him, we will not grow in Holiness, even if we believe everything the Church teaches. As St. Paul tells us “Faith without works is dead.” If we do not practice what we teach and believe, do them out of greater love for Him, and live in a relationship with Him, there is no point in believing what we believe. The Faith encourages us to love, serve, and believe. Ultimately, to be a Catholic we must have all three of these removing one changes what the Church is asking of us.
Fr. Andrew