Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Pre-Catechumenate
We had a nice Pre-Catechumenate RCIA class last night. We talked about the Easter Vigil, about our past faith journey and about crossing ourselves, using the water in the font, genuflecting, when to stop kneeling after Mass, etc. Those who are baptized are welcome to dip their fingers into the water of the font when entering or leaving church to remember their baptism. We genuflect not to the figure of Christ on the cross, but to his body present in the host. We are welcome to cross ourselves (top to bottom, left to right) even if we are not yet Catholic, but most people will assume you are Catholic already if you do. When the priest reads from the Gospel, we cross ourselves on our forehead, lips and over our heart... that the Word might be always in our minds, professed from our lips and felt inside our hearts. We stop kneeling when the host leaves the room, not when the priest leaves... the priest just happens to be carrying the Body of Christ.
We have our straw mass (where our priest will present a sample of a mass and describe what he's doing and answer questions) and tour of our church next week, then only two more Pre-Catechumenate classes before going to stage 2: the weekly Catechumenate classes. I can choose or will be assigned a sponsor at that time who will go through the classes with me and will present me at next year's Easter Vigil.
The news is full of the fighting in Fallujah. Hopefully, when our men go all out, there won't be uprisings elsewhere in Iraq...
We have our straw mass (where our priest will present a sample of a mass and describe what he's doing and answer questions) and tour of our church next week, then only two more Pre-Catechumenate classes before going to stage 2: the weekly Catechumenate classes. I can choose or will be assigned a sponsor at that time who will go through the classes with me and will present me at next year's Easter Vigil.
The news is full of the fighting in Fallujah. Hopefully, when our men go all out, there won't be uprisings elsewhere in Iraq...
