This past Sunday, I officially began my journey into the Catholic Church with the Rite of Welcoming. The Rite of Welcoming is celebrated by the parish (church) community to welcome those into the order of Candidates. Candidates are those that have been baptized from another denomination, but wish to join in full communion with the Catholic Church. I was baptized a Pentecostal, but I wish to join the Catholic Church, therefore after this celebration, I am now a Candidate. My entry into the Catholic Church will be celebrated on Easter Vigil, April 11th 2009...and I cannot wait!!!
When you join the Catholic Church, you have to have a sponsor. The role of the sponsor is to vouch for you and say that you are ready to become a member of the Catholic Church. They are to be available for questions and to help you however they can on your journey. I have selected someone from my parish community that I have a great respect for. He was there for me when I had all of my tough questions and he helped to answer them one by one. He is truly God sent, and I cannot thank him enough. If you are interested to learn more about Sponsors, go to this link and read the section titled Sponsors.
Part of the Rite of Welcoming, which I found very beautiful, is known as the Signing of the Senses. During the Signing of the Senses, all of the Candidates stand in front of the congregation with our sponsors. The priest then invited the sponsors to trace the Sign of the Cross over our senses while he spoke these words:
Receive the sign of the cross on your ears, that you may hear the voice of the Lord
Receive the sign of the cross on your eyes, that you may see the glory of God.
Receive the sign of the cross on your lips, that you may respond to the Word of God.
Receive the sign of the cross on your heart, that Christ may dwell there by faith
Receive the sign of the cross on your shoulders, that you may bear the gentle yoke of Christ
Receive the sign of the cross on your hands, that Christ may be known in the work which you do.
Receive the sign of the cross on your feet, that you may walk in the way of Christ
This was a very beautiful celebration, and I hope that you will celebrate it with me. Please keep all of the Candidates and Catechumens in your prayers as we officially embark on this journey of faith.
4 comments:
Hi Carlus - Welcome indeed!
I notice you have another blog related to software engineering, and was wondering if you would be interested in joining the Association of Catholic Computer Programmers. We're a little group that shares your two great interests.
Jonathan,
I would love to hear more information regarding the group.
Thanks
Sure thing, Carlus - we're basically a small online group that is passionate about software engineering best practices and is proud of our Catholic faith. It's a low-traffic site - every so often someone will post a topic for discussion - there's an RSS feed that you can use to be notified of activity. Come join us at accp.ning.com!
Carlus,
Marcie and I will be praying for you in this focused journey through to Easter! Congratulations! May the time bring extra special meaning to Christmas and Easter as you dive deeper into your Catholic faith.
Two years ago, I had the honor of sponsoring a fellow AQ grad (Lance Adams) and I was awed by the cognitive choice he was making to become Catholic.
Delighted for you,
Brian
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