Photo adapted from a Flickr image. Click for source.
It’s coming up on a year since I joined our church choir and it has been a year of great joy as a result. Even better than this, I am pleased to report that my husband decided a short while ago, that he wanted to be a part of this tremendous experience too. I had a feeling he would come around (my enthusiasm has been over-flowing, and he was bound to catch it, eventually). It was the same when we were first married. I was born and raised a Catholic, but he came from a Lutheran background that had rather lost its vigour. When we married, I did not insist that he convert, but rather left it in God’s hands, and it was not too long after that my spouse came to me and said he was thinking about becoming a Catholic.
We moved away from the big city and joined a small country parish where we were welcomed with open arms and where also, they ran an intimate R.C.I.A. group. Though timid at first, we came to feel totally at home with the people in this group and became very good friends with a few of them. Sadly, one of our dearest friends from the experience passed away earlier this year with cancer, at the fairly young age of 59. We miss her very much, but try to spend time with her husband at every opportunity.
My husband became a Catholic on Easter Sunday in 1996, and has grown in his faith and devotion ever since, so I am not too surprised that he made the decision to express his love of this faith and our God through the music of the church.
At Easter, I was so filled with joy when I was a part of the ensemble who sang over the Triduum, that I remember thinking to myself, Wow! If it’s this wonderful at Easter, just imagine how Christmas will be! And so it is.
Kevin and I are practicing our parts for “In The Bleak Midwinter”, “Silent Night” and “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” (he’s a Tenor, and I’m a Soprano). We are never in a quandary about where we should be on the weekend—on either Saturday at 5:00 p.m., or Sunday at 11:00 a.m., you will find us in the choir loft with the others, singing our hearts and souls out!
Last week, we had occasion to sing at the Penitential service for the Advent Season. Afterwards, there were a few priests present to hear confession. Now, I must admit that when it comes to confession, I have not been the best at keeping the sacrament. In fact, it has been years since I set foot in a confessional!
There are many excuses I could give you, but I won’t. I will tell you, that on that night of the Penitential Rite, after singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, I was irrevocable motivated to stand in the line and go inside the booth and make my first confession in a very long time. Even though I wanted to bolt, just before I opened that door, I can honestly say, I am so very glad I took that step and I encourage anyone who has been away from it to just go for it! You will be embraced, not judged. You will be loved and forgiven. That is all.
I do not know if I will keep up the pace of regular posting here. I make lots of promises, but the truth is, I have many other things that keep me from it. I will do my best in the new year to put some new things on this blog. Pray that I do.
A very blessed and profoundly joyous Christmas to you all, and much love and faith in the new year!
Beatasum (Kathleen)
December 31, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Our Lord gave us three wonderful gifts.
He gave us Himself in the Eucharist
He gave us His bride – the Church
And He gave us His Mother to be our Mother.
http://www.RosaryConference.com/