Our converts need our prayers…

Especially NOW! 

It is so important for us to remember to pray and fast for our brothers and sisters who are about to come into full communion with the church on this Easter Vigil.  These days leading up to the Vigil are probably the most intense for them.

I have been blessed to sponsor a few amazing people into the church:

*Casey*  *Sheri *  *Denise*  *Michelle*

…and I know from past experience that this is the time when the devil will start to discourage, rob them of their joy and mess with their heads.  Please join me in prayer for all of them!  Those you know personally, those entering from your home parish and those around the entire world.

And, while we are at it, let’s pray for the Church and our Pope.  With yesterday’s stunning news out of the Vatican, all I can think of is pray, pray, pray.

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!

Lynn and a conversation with the Holy Spirit

I have a very dear “old” friend that I have reunited with about 6 yrs ago. We went to high school together. We sang in the choir together. We had some classes together. Even though we really didn’t hang out a lot in high school, I have always considered her my friend. I saw her and her awesome husband at our 20th reunion and recently at our 25th. We’ve been chatting and Facebooking ever since. She is an amazing woman, a devout Catholic and a mom of 7. In all honesty, I am kind of jealous of her. She has a way about her that makes you feel so special. She radiates holiness. Her family prays the rosary every day and she is a daily mass attendee.

She called me the other night. When the phone rang I was tempted to put the call into voice mail because I was tired. I didn’t feel like talking. I talk constantly every day for my job. I just wanted to vegetate. (Like my brutal honesty?) I picked up the phone and I’m so glad I did.

Background: I have been sort of suffering from a spiritual dryness as of late. I pray, don’t get me wrong, I pray a lot. I pray constantly through my day and I pray before I go to sleep. However, I am not being the Catholic I aspire to be. The daily mass attending Catholic, the weekly confession kind of Catholic, the daily rosary saying Catholic, the novena saying Catholic, the visiting the Blessed Sacrament, the Adoration attending Catholic. My life circumstances have changed a lot. I used to be a better Catholic. I used to be the Catholic that Lynne is.

Our conversation had been a long time in coming. She’s so busy with her big family and I am so busy with my life – Just picking up the phone to connect with my friends is so hard for me and sometimes exhausting to me. I hate to say that. But Lynne blessed me by picking up the phone for the both of us.

She had a lot of miraculous things to tell me – things happening in her life and in the lives of those she knows that truly touched me. People going to confession for the first time in years, people who are in the final stages of life accepting Jesus and their long rejected Catholicism, people going through conversion. I thought to myself, “Lord, I want to witness those things happening in the lives of the people I know!” Again, I was jealous. My life has been dry. As I was listening to her, a conviction came over me. A conviction that I needed to “step it up and get back to how I was meant to live and act.” I audibly heard “Get off of Facebook in the morning, instead, say your rosary, pray, read good Catholic books.” “Pray without ceasing and you too will see miracles.” It was so awesome…It was like a release. A warm Holy Spirit breath coming through my blackberry. Thank you Lynn for being such a wonderful influence in my life!

Catholic Church prepares for tens of thousands of U.S. converts

Washington D.C., Apr 1, 2009 / 04:09 am (CNA).- Tens of thousands of new Catholics are expected to join the Catholic Church in the U.S. in 2009, with many doing so at the Easter Vigil liturgies on April 11. Converts to Catholicism are known as catechumens if they have never been baptized and as candidates if they have received baptism in another Christian community and now seek full communion with the Catholic Church.

The Archdiocese of Atlanta, where Catholics have traditionally been a minority, estimates that 513 catechumens and 2,195 candidates will enter the Catholic Church in 2009, about 1,800 doing so at Easter. The figures do not include infant baptisms.

Father Theodore Book, director of the Office of Divine Worship for the Atlanta Archdiocese, said the archdiocese has been “blessed with an authentic dynamism” during recent years. He cited the archdiocese’s annual Eucharistic Congress, saying it draws nearly 30,000 participants.

“One of the many blessings that we have received from the Lord is the large number of individuals entering the Church,” he said.

The Archdiocese of Seattle will reportedly welcome 736 catechumens and 506 candidates, while the Diocese of San Diego will baptize 305 and receive into communion 920 other baptized Christians.

The mostly rural Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama reportedly will have 445 new converts. The diocese’s Cathedral of St. Paul could not hold them and their families for the Rite of Election, which had to be held in three separate ceremonies.

At St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, California resident Heidi Sierras will represent North America at the Easter Vigil, where she will be baptized by Pope Benedict XVI.

The 2008 Official Catholic Directory listed 49,415 adult baptisms and 87,363 people received into full communion in 2007.