Euthalia
Why do I want to become a Catholic? Before
joining RCIA I used to have dreams which I cannot explain. For the past 20
years, I always had dreams about going to church, being inside the church,
being blessed by a Priest. It makes me wonder why I keep having this dreams and
start asking myself "Who is Jesus"? What is Christianity all
about?
I
felt the urge to go to church to find the answers. On the first day I attended
mass, I met Uncle James. He was sitting in front of me. He greeted me and asked
why I didn’t go to receive the Holy Communion. After explaining to him, he
advised me to join RCIA. It was when my journey started.
On
my first day attending the RCIA class, the Facilitators asked me “Why are you
here”? It’s difficult for me to answer the question because I’m sure my
Facilitators will not believe me when I tell them about my dreams. However, I
was surprised that they do believe that God is trying to reach me through my
dreams. Sister Sue was very helpful. She guided me from day one and that is
when I bought my first Holy Bible.
My
journey was not that easy. I tried giving up twice due to personal reasons.
But, Sis Sue and Uncle Raymond never give up on me. They guided me and helped me
with my problem and this made me feel stronger.
What have I learned in the group study? At first my intention was to go
through the classes so that I can qualify to become a church member and having
the privilege to partake the Holy Communion. I did not expect much, just hoping
that it was not too difficult and not so boring. But after I attended a few
classes, I gradually was having a different experience.
Firstly, I have a better understanding of the Bible and the church. It is
not just to know but to understand why I should read the Bible and understand
the various ceremonies in the church. I am now having a deeper understanding of
worship. In our small group, I have a better chance to ask questions and get
answered, and we are free to ask when we are in doubt. I can participate in discussions
and hear my group members share their thoughts. I have learned a lot.
Secondly, I have learned to pray, I am able to handle stress better. When
I am in doubt, when I am in need, I know to whom I can turn to now. I
believe that God had answered my prayers. I was surprised when my mother
accepted me as a Catholic and even asked me to never stop praying. Hearing that
from my mother really meant a lot to me.
My
friends told me that I’ve changed. I used to lose my patience easily. Now, I've
learned to control my anger. I will not get angry easily. I’ve learnt to be
humble, patient, to love and to forgive. People around me especially my family
feel happy with my changes.
I
was baptized individually on the 19th April, 2017 by Father
Christopher. At first, I felt a bit left out because I was not able to be
baptized together with my beloved RCIA friends during Easter. However, during
mass I realized that the mass was for me. My family members, facilitators and
friends were there to witness my baptism. And when Father Christopher poured
the Holy Water on my head, I know that I’ve received the greatest gift from
God.
I began to really feel like part of God’s family. Thanks to my fellow
group members, my greatest benefit is the close relationships and friendships
that developed among us. I am not alone. I have a group of brothers and sisters
worshiping God together with me. Thank you to my facilitators and my group members. Thank you for your trust, guidance
and support. Yes, it’s true. There are angels here on earth.
I
know this only the beginning. I will continue to learn,
not because I wanted to be a member of the church but to become a better child
of God. I will share the good news of God’s salvation with my family, relatives
and friends.
May
God bless us.
I am Abbey Josslyn.
Jesus, I have heard about Him
since I was in primary school. I can still remember I went to church every
Friday to listen to Jesus’s story. At that time, for me, Jesus is a kind,
powerful, protective and a good man.
I grew up in a Buddhist family and I went to the temple
to pray as my family did. I followed all the rules and regulations as a
Buddhist. And one day, I decided to go
for a working holiday trip overseas. I secretly bought a crucifix cross
pendant so that He can protect me all the way to the destination and keep me
safe on my overseas stay which He did. Weird, I shouldn’t have bought it
because I’m a Buddhist. I should have
bought a Buddhist pendant instead. I
can’t explain why but now I understand after I joined in the RCIA. I believe this is “God’s calling”. And I believe too, God works through others.
Years passed with ups and down, obstacles and problems
until I became a single mother with a special need child. Caring for my daughter was the biggest challenge
in my life. I can obviously see that my
experiences have changed me into another person- bad tempered, no joy, no
patience and always blaming others. God was
not an exemption. Why… why have you given me this child? Have I done anything wrong so that you punish
me? These keep on going until I met a
long lost friend. This friend is a Catholic and I started to follow him to
church every weekend. He knew about my
problems and asked me to pray to God, asked for His help. Sometimes, I go to church earlier to talk and
pray to God for my daughter’s health before the mass start. I noticed that after prayer, my heart is more
calm, peaceful and lighter. Slowly, it
became a habit for me to go to church every weekend. I learnt to pray the Rosary too and I can feel
that the Lord is with me. Eventually, my
daughter’s condition was getting better.
After attending mass for about 5 years, my friend showed
me a section in the bulletin about the RCIA session. He asked me whether I would like to join so
as to understand more about the Catholic faith. I felt scared at first but I said yes. I was nervous and shy on my first few days in
the RCIA session because I don’t know anyone and I don’t understand what Christianity
is all about. But time shows everything.
After these months in RCIA, I learnt a
lot about Christianity and the way to live as a good Catholic. Most of the chapters in the session touched on
our life’s purpose here on earth. For
me, the most interesting is “how to perform God’s work through God’s word”. It’s not easy and I’m still learning.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the
facilitators who have been very kind, patient, helpful and spent their time to guide
and tell us about the Catholic Faith, the Seven Sacraments, the Ten
Commandments, etc. Most importantly on becoming a better person. They also
shared their experiences about how God had touched and changed them and I
believe God will help me too.
On 15th April 2017, at the Easter Vigil Mass,
I was baptized! Alleluia. I saw the crowd and all were welcoming us into Christ’s
big family. I can feel the joy, happiness
and the closeness of God, especially during the Confirmation and Holy
Communion. Finally, I can have the feast
together with my brothers and sisters in Christ in the next coming mass. This
is only the beginning for me. I still have a lot to learn and the journey of
Faith will never end. I believe that our
Lord Jesus Christ will guide me and all my brothers and sisters in Christ to
journey along together with me to strengthen my faith in God and to love Him as
He first loved me while I was still a sinner. Amen.
Thank you and May God Bless
All of Us.
I am Hermione and was born and raised in a Buddhist family. Before
I joined the RCIA, I didn’t even know what Christianity is all about and so I
joined the RCIA. During my first day of my RCIA session, the facilitators
shared about their own experience to all of us. They shared about how God
touched them in their faith by the Holy Spirit. During my journey in the RCIA,
I learned more about God’s Words and the beauty of the Catholic faith. All our
facilitators are very helpful and kind to guide us along this journey. I am
very thankful to all of our facilitators because of their willingness to spend
their precious time to guide and share their knowledge to us in every session.
After spending 11 months attending weekly sessions of the RCIA and attending
mass and receiving God’s special blessings, I felt in me the calling from God
and I began to be more excited to explore Catholicism in a deeper way. This is
when I learned the truth about the faith. Finally, I will be baptized and confirmed
into the Catholic faith and an official member of the Catholic Church. I
believed God is with me and always guide me during this journey. When
my baptism day arrived I was so excited and nervous. When it was my turn to be
baptized and immersed into the holy water, I felt I was really closer to God.
Upon receiving my First Holy Communion, I felt that God is with me, I was very
touched that I was able to receive the precious body and blood of Jesus Christ.
I wish to thank God for giving me a chance to follow Him all my life. I
pray that God will continue to guide me and lead me more deeply in the Catholic
faith after my baptism. I’m so happy that I become a child of God.
Kimberly
Time flies and our weekly RCIA classes are coming to
an end very soon. Before attending the classes, I considered myself a
"child" growing up surround. By the stories of Christ. Stories will
always be stories if we don't allow ourselves to dwell into it and it will
always just be something that passes us by instead of being something part of
us.
From the moment the classes were introduced to me, I
learnt to share, I learnt to share my personal experiences openly, unknowingly
accepting Christ as I unfold my very own stories. God has obviously touched
some of us with different means and methods, especially to those (our
facilitators) who speak about His greatness, His power and His mercy. Every
week tens of thousands of words are being said, constantly reminding us about
our Father in heaven, hoping that we too will someday speak about and
experience His greatness.
I do not know when these classes have then become one
of my journey, a journey with God walking with me. And I have learned that
faith is indeed developed bit by bit, by every ups and downs we experienced. Of
course to build any relationships can take years but to destroy may take
seconds, not to mention a relationship that is somewhat invisible, something
that exists only when we believe. It is hard to define or pin point exactly how
I believe He really exists but I guess that's God’s intention. For He is the
one I turned to when I am feeling helpless. To be able to find inner peace from
something we can't see, talk to and get a response or touch. The lent season
was the hardest period of time for me to go through. First I was put to test
when one of the days I was feeling really depressed and helpless, I only had
negative thoughts in my mind. Just struck me so suddenly and at that very
moment I couldn't find any solution to it. God seems to understand me very
well, He gave me the strength to let it go. Letting go isn’t something, we
human beings can do easily. It takes a lot of courage and forgiveness. Somehow
I managed to get by. God knows each and everyone of us very well, He knows how
to handle us, when we are scared to confide our deepest secret to anyone even
to ourselves.
Vera Chang
I was naive about Jesus during
my teens. I was aware of His existence through my schoolmates but I never
surrender myself to believe Him. And I didn’t have good impression towards
Christianity because I thought it was pointless to go to mass weekly. I was
introduced to Christianity twice but failed until the 3rd time which
was through my marriage in 2011. Ever since, my mother in law consistently
share and explain about the Word of God to me which eventually created my first
good impression towards Jesus. My Catholic faith is even stronger when I
witnessed the changes in my kids through my prayers. Plus, witnessing my family in laws receiving Holy
Communion each week made me feel incomplete as I cannot receive. I am thankful to be surrounded by Jesus’ good
news for several years before I decided to join the RCIA sessions in June 2016
to widen my Catholic knowledge and hoping to get closer to Him.
I remembered when I was
worried that the RCIA sessions would bore me out and might not excite me to
attend the sessions weekly. And I was wrong. I felt my thirst was quenched
after the first session. I remembered I surprisingly cried when my mother in
law came into my mind as I was explaining why I decided to join. I am thankful for
her constant sharing and I know she is very proud when I have decided to join
RCIA. Other than that, I am grateful to Jesus that He allowed me to meet five
wonderful new sisters and brother, and the helpful facilitators. I am a much
happier person ever since I have joined RCIA. My social life is more active now.
As I am a housewife, I do not have many chances to meet new people thus I
appreciate every new connection. Praise the Lord for choosing me to be a part
of His family.
After this whole year of
learning through RCIA, my tempers are better especially when dealing with my
kids. I often lose my temper on my kids and I used to worry on things that are
beyond my control. But now, I will think
twice before I react to them. I will try
my best to advise my children in a gentle manner and explain to them. I admit that I am not divine and I will still
lose my temper on them but at least, I have improved. And, I am no longer in stress and I will leave
everything to God’s will after I have done my part. Believing that Jesus has
planned the best for us, my relationship with my husband has become stronger.
Our baptism during Easter
Vigil was fantastic. The experience was priceless. I wasn’t that nervous until the moment I stood
in front of the baptism pool. It was so
crowded and I felt like a sinner who is about to turn into a new person with a new
life after we walked out from the pool. The water was cold when I immersed into
it but I do not feel cold when I walked up. It was such a joy when I knew my
sins were gone! I was wondering why I did not shed tears after such a
meaningful event. And yet, the climax during the whole night occurred when I
received my very First Holy Communion, the taste of the body of Christ which I
have been longing for years. It is the body of Christ and the blood of Christ
that I have received and I burst into tears without my control. I didn’t know why I would cry so terribly
right away. I believe the Holy Spirit had touched me as I knew I am now the
official child of God. It was a very memorable night which I would never forget
in my life. I am ever thankful that God has chosen me to be His child.
The major outcome from the
RCIA sessions is to prepare myself to be closer to Jesus and to feel His love through
the pain and sufferings that He went through for us. And I came to understand the meaning of the
mass. In addition, the movie that was shown to us in preparation to be accepted
into the church earlier, in one of our sessions, has evoked my love to Jesus
where someone can suffer and endure so much pain for us, the sinners. I have loved him much more than before ever
since then. I have found the biggest love of my life and someone whom I can
trust and to listen to my prayers. Amen.
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