Love Will Find a Way… Back to God

After more than a decade of not walking with the Lord and a failed marriage, I met my wife Susan and fell in love. Susan lived at home with her parents and was a Catholic who had attended parochial school and a Catholic college. Many of our interests were the same and I always felt very comfortable with her.  She attended Mass faithfully, some might say “religiously,” on weekends, Holy Days and other days of obligation. I began to go with her though she never pressured me.  I firmly believe that God sent her to save me. In 1980 we were married first in the Baptist Church as she explained that we would not be allowed to be married in the Catholic Church. I knew very little about Catholicism. The first experiences of Mass were a source of wonderment to me. Susan never raised the issue of religion nor did I feel any pressure from her at all to become a Catholic. Having just come out of a decade of not walking with the Lord I hungered to return to him. I decided to examine the Catholic faith. My love for Susan led me to want us to share a strong foundation spiritually for our marriage. In retrospect part of what attracted me to Susan was her faith.

I received my own private RCIA training from Monsignor Louis at a nearby Church. I began the process of seeking an annulment from my first marriage and was blessed that it went quickly. Susan and I were married in the Catholic Church shortly before the birth of our son Adam. Later that year I received the Eucharist and Confirmation and was brought into full communion with the Catholic Church.

I have a daughter from my first marriage and I had visitation every other weekend. I was grateful that her mother did not stand in the way of Jennifer being raised in the Catholic faith. Her training was accomplished privately with Monsignor Louis during visits and ultimately she was baptized, and received her First Holy Communion at an Easter Vigil. I arranged for ongoing religious education through the Church in New York. Two of my greatest joys are giving my daughter her Catholic faith and watching my now grandchildren, Olivia and Derek, be baptized and raised as Catholics

I have heard it said that our Mission as Husbands and Fathers is to get our loved ones to heaven and that is my quest.

— Parishioner Steve Z

What Does the Bible Say?

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…  And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 12 - 13)

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

What Do the Saints Say?

"To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."  - St. Thomas Aquinas

 

This Week’s Evangelizing Challenge

Gift idea! Grab a CD or Book for a family member or a friend from the kiosk in the narthex.

For Advent, Start Some Family Traditions

It’s not too late to assemble an advent wreath to light at each of your evening meals this advent. Say a prayer or have the youngest sing a verse of a Christmas hymn like Silent Night.

Put a nativity scene (crèche) in the house where it can be plainly seen. Gather around it and say a prayer as a family. If there are children in the home and the pieces are not breakable, have the three Wise Men start their journey on Christmas Eve and move them slowly closer to the stable each day, arriving on January 6th (Epiphany). You could also have Mary and Joseph make their way toward the stable during Advent to arrive on Christmas Eve. This will reinforce that Christmas is a season in the Church and help kids understand the concept of The 12 Days of Christmas.

Leave the manger/crib noticeably empty through Advent. Place the Baby Jesus in the crib sometime during Christmas morning.

On Christmas Eve, gather the family around and read Chapter 2 of St Luke’s Gospel aloud. Consider having a grandparent read it, or everyone reading a section depending on their reading skills and desires.