Why I love being Catholic!

I'm no theologian so correct me if I'm wrong!

So I now live in a strange place where people actually talk about their faith fairly openly. It is strange to me being from a place where you keep your faith to yourself. I guess that is what happens when you move from the land of the blue states to the land of the red states...and to (according to FOX news anyway) the most pro-life state in the country!

Being around people who openly share their faith means that I have encountered people from various Christian denominations. This has been very interesting for me to learn all of the differences between our denominations, and to meet people who share and allow me to share without judgement.

This experience has also led me to a greater appreciation of my own Catholic faith. There are just some things that are so special about our faith.

We know who founded our faith.
Many, many, many people know who founded their denomination. How many of those people can say that the founder was Jesus Christ? We can. Jesus Christ founded our faith when he made Peter the rock of the Church; when he made Peter the first Pope.

Guys! Jesus is our founder! Jesus Christ, our savior, the lover of our souls, the lion and the lamb...guys God Himself is our founder!

Our perspective on Mary is phenomenal
We, like many others believe that Mary is the Mother of God. What is unique about the Catholic faith is the relationship we have with Mary. We believe that Mary wants us to be close to her Son and that she will lead us to Him. We do not worship Mary, but like the saint, we pray to her. We ask her to take our prayers and deliver them to her Son. Who better to bring our prayers to Jesus than his mother?

Jesus comes to Church with us!
We (probably) all know Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Cool, cool so when we gather and pray Jesus is there. This is very cool, but want to know what is even cooler? 
At the point of the consecration we believe, as Catholics, that the host actually becomes the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.
Guys, do you know what that means? Do you? DO YOU?
It means Jesus is physically present with us at mass. JESUS IS PHYSICALLY THERE! How awesome is that?
Not only is He there, but He loves us so much he lets us consume Him. Guys we eat Jesus, we put Him in our mouths and eat him. Jesus goes inside of us!
WE ARE LIVING TABERNACLES!

We can attend mass anywhere in the world and be able to understand what is going on!
Because we follow the Pope, and we all believe the same thing, we believe in the order of the mass. A Catholic mass will always begin with the liturgy of the word, which is followed by the liturgy of the Eucharist. The mass is filled with scripture, prayers, music, and of course the miracle of bread, water, and wine becoming Jesus Christ. I can go anywhere in the country and participate in the mass. I can go anywhere in the world and know what is happening in the mass even if I do not understand the language. It is wonderful.

Forgiveness
The Catholic faith has seven wonderful sacraments: Baptism, Reconciliation, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. They are all awesome, but there is something about Reconciliation I want to pinpoint. Reconciliation, or confession, is a unique opportunity we have as Catholics to ask Christ for forgiveness. The priest in confession, works in persona Christi, which means in the person of Christ. This means we come before Christ to ask for forgiveness, and He gives it to us. Guys Christ really forgives us and we know because we are absolved of our sins. We don't have to wonder "did God forgive me for that, I mean I asked him in prayer but I'm just not sure if he granted forgiveness." We know because in the sacrament of confession, we are forgiven by the priest who is acting in the person of Christ. Christ works through that priest to forgive us! Whoah.

So those are a few of the reasons why I love my faith. I do truly enjoy learning about other people's faiths, and am often inspired by the strength of their faith, but I deeply love love love my faith. I love being a Catholic! This was a long post, perhaps I should have named it "Five Reasons Why I Love Being Catholic," seeing as we are now in a culture of lists. If you made it to the end of this post I give you mad props, and hope to see you in Church sometime!

The new girl in church

I've always been part of a church group...First I went to the Catholic school, and went to Children's Liturgy every Sunday...then CCD...the Youth Group...the a super duper Catholic college with many opportunities to be part of  a faith based group, households (kinda like sororities), ministries, mission trips, shoot we talked about God at work and in class...the companionship was everywhere...

but now...I'm the new girl...

er well I really shouldn't be the new girl anymore...

I moved here in August...and found a church I like enough to go to consistently about ummmm maybe 3 months ago...

...and I can count the number of times someone has spoken to me after church on one hand....and it was either an older woman or a small child...not a single person my own age...

This I am finding to be a problem in our church...think about it...how often do  you actually look around and talk to the people you don't know after mass? I bet it isn't too often.

We are regulars, we sit in our regular spots, talk to our regular friends and that's about it

Straight up it. We come we pray we talk to people we already know and we leave...

...but I have no one to talk to ...so I go to church, I pray, I leave...slowly walking out of the pew...hoping someone will talk to me...

I love love love my faith, don't get  me wrong, but the way we as Catholics interact with each other is disappointing..if we are all one body in Christ...why don't we speak to each other?

Think about it the next time you're in church...that person who always comes to mass alone? Say hello to them...really just a hello is all it takes to reach out to the new person in church.