RCIA & Adult Faith Formation: Loving People to Christ

People may be communicating at an unprecedented rate today with social media, but are these interactions satisfying? People may have hundreds of friends on Facebook, but recent research shows that 25% of Americans say they don’t have anyone they can talk to about their personal troubles. The truth is that while online social networks are exploding, we are growing increasingly socially isolated. Yet we all need connection. It’s how we were created. It’s in our wiring. At our core, we were created with a God-shaped vacuum that cries out to be filled with our Creator. And most of us need a human hand to reach out to us with the love of God to help us to understand who our Creator is and why he is worth everything. I can remember the day I decided I was going to leave the Catholic Church as if it were yesterday. I had had it. I was mad and disillusioned. I felt judged and devalued. One foot was out the door. What I didn’t know at the time was that what I was experiencing wasn’t a true or good representation of the Church. However, my experience was all I had on which to base my judgments. Take yourself back to a similar day. Maybe you weren’t getting ready to leave the Church. Maybe you had just had it with God. Too many prayers had been unanswered. Too many questions remained unanswered. Your life (at least your spiritual life) wasn’t working for you, and God didn’t seem to be doing much about it. Maybe there was a disconnect between church on Sunday and the rest of your life. Maybe it was a slow fade, and one day your life got filled up with other things; and if God had ever played a part in it all, there just wasn’t room for him anymore. Can you remember what those days felt like before your faith really came alive? Can you remember feeling empty and unsettled inside? Did you find yourself filling up your life with all sorts of things, but nothing totally satisfied? Did you have fears of the future? Did you long for something more?