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June 2000
Feature Article
 Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
The RCIA Process
How Do I Become A Catholic?
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--by Vickie Shepherd
"Rejoice O Mother Church!
The Risen Savior shines upon you!
Exult in glory!
Echoing the mighty song of all God's people!"
�����(from the Easter P>
�����When you finally hear these words proclaimed during the Easter Vigil, you will be reflecting back on the road that leads you to this wonderful night. This time in your journey has been long in arriving, the process called RCIA is not one with time limits or a specific amount of time in which you will finish and become a catholic. Usually the process takes a year, or a little more for those who have joined right after the Christmas season. It mainly depends on your circumstances, people with a marriage case to be annulled may take a bit longer. People with strong background in another faith and scripture may not* take as long as others.
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You may be wondering what is involved in the RCIA process, or the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. There are several periods in this process; the beginning period is called a time of Inquiry or the Pre-Catechumrnate. This will be our focus this month. The other periods are called the, Catechumenate, Enlightenment and Purification, and Mystagogy. These periods of the process are all preceded by formal Rites with the assembly that will be your affirmation to the community as well as yourself that you are ready to move on in your journey towards the Easter Vigil, your initiation into our "Catholic Christian" community.
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During the Pre-Catechumenate or Inquiry period you will make that decision to call and ask about the catholic faith. You have felt God's first stirrings in your heart and want to act on this need to be nearer to Him. During this call you will probably talk to the parish priest and he will find out your needs and make arrangements to have the RCIA Co-Ordinator call you when it is most convenient for you. When the co-ordinator calls you he or she will need to make an appointment to meet with you in order to make the initial interview. This interview is the story of your life until this point in time; the co-ordinator will take notes or have a short form for you to fill out.
If you are not baptized you are known as a Catechumen, during the Easter vigil mass you will be baptized and confirmed. If you are baptized already you will be a candidate for full communion into the catholic faith. At Easter vigil you will make a profession of faith with the community and be confirmed. The candidates and catechumens will both receive their first communion at this Mass.
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The Pre-Catechumenate is a time for the inquirers (you) to ask questions. Most of the sessions will be based on the questions you ask and more than likely the person who meets with you will be able to share scripture readings with you that relate to the questions you ask. This period is a good time to start reading the Bible if you haven't started already. If you do not have a Bible just let the person meeting with you know. If you need assistance in using a Bible the team person will be glad to help you learn. This is also a time to tell your story, how your life has been guided by God to get here to this point. Your story will blend in with the others who are here with you. Each Sunday at mass you will hear a part of the story of God and how the story of His people have been added to a time in history. You will hear at Easter how from the very first day of creation we were a grand part of God's story and how we have made Him a part of our lives by telling this story over and over through the years. Through our telling of this story we have made it a part of our story, and we walk our journey keeping God's word in our minds, on our lips and in our hearts so that we may share it with the world.
Submitted by Vickie Shepherd
RCIA Parish Co-ordinator
Note*
this is based on the RCIA Rite Book # 473-504
� which mainly says that no greater burden than necessary is to be placed on Baptized catechized adults to establish communion and unity. The baptized person is to receive doctrinal and spiritual preparation adapted to individual pastoral requirements
News From The Domestic Church A Gift From God
MY brother in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted
out a tisssue-wrapped package. This he said is not a slip. This is lingerie.
he discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was equisite; silk,
handmade trimmed with lace. the price tag with an astronomical figure was
still attached. "Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least
8 years ago. She never wore it , she was saving it for a special occasion.
Well I quess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on
the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands
lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut
and he turned to me.
"Dont ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a
special occasion." I remembered those words he said to me over and over all
the way back home. I'm still thinking about those words and they've changed
my life. I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and
admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending
more time with family and friends. Whenever life should be a pattern of
experience to savor not endure. I'm trying to recoginize these moments now
and cherish them. I'm not saving anything; we use our good china and crystal
for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped,
the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like
it. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties. Clerks in the grocery
store and tellers at the bank have noses that function just as good as my
party going friends. Its those little things left undone that would make me
angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing
good friends whom I was going to get in touch with some day. Angry because I
hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write. Angry and sorry that
I didn't tell my husband and daughter and son often enough how much I truly
love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back or save anything
that would bring laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I
wake up and open my eyes I tell myself that it is special. Every day every
minute, ever breath truly is .........a gift from God.
submitted by---Gerrie
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"If"
IF...
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without pills,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without drugs,
If you can honestly say that you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion or politics.....
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...then you are almost as good as your dog.
- Author unknown
submitted by---Carol White
Prayer for June
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord. make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, Where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console -to be understood, as to understand -to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born into eternal life. Amen.
Prayer Intention for June
That all might come to a greater respect for life, from the unborn to the sick and dying elderly.
APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER
June 2000 General Intention
That Christ - adored and celebrated in the Eucharist � may
increasingly be welcomed and shared as Bread of life
for the good of the world
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As the Jubilee of the Year 2000 leads us into the new millennium, it induces us to contemplate with new eyes the Incarnation of the Son of God in such a way that we will experience the constant, renewing grace that flows from this, both personally and as a community, and go forward in a new life, driven by the breath of the Spirit, toward the Source of Life. In order to highlight Christ's living and saving presence in the Church and in the world, on the occasion of the Great Jubilee, John Paul II has decided to hold an International Eucharistic Congress in Rome. For this reason, the Holy Year implies taking a strong awareness of the Eucharistic mystery, the centre of the whole life of the pilgrim Church in time. The International Eucharistic Congress is a favourable occasion for professing and celebrating the fact that "in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself our Pasch and the living Bread which gives life to men through his flesh - the flesh which is given life and gives life through the Holy Spirit.
Welcoming Christ requires us to let him live, speak and work in us through our voices and our hands, and to let him continue his sacrificial mission in our lives spent "for others", without excluding anyone. "Everyone is to recollect himself before eating this bread and drinking this cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body is eating and drinking his own condemnation." Therefore anyone who has violated God's commandments in a serious way should be purified from sin through the sacrament of Penance before taking the Eucharist. On the one hand, in fact, the Eucharist is the source of reconciliation and commits believers to be effective promoters of forgiveness. On the other, so that everyone can worthily receive the Body of Christ, they must be reconciled not only with God but also with their brothers and sisters and the community.
By containing all the spiritual value of the Church, the Eucharist is presented as the source and culmination of evangelisation. Since it crowns a believer's initiation process into the life of Christ and carried out in the Church, it urges Christians to proclaim, both in words and deeds, the mystery celebrated in the faith. In fact, the Eucharistic banquet encourages those who partake in it to be committed to the mission so that the Gospel of salvation and the invitation to draw from its fruits will be made known to all. The celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is the most effective missionary action that renews the world and people's lives. Breaking the Bread of life involves us personally and in a community way in helping those who do not know the Gospel to open up to the gift of faith, and those who have drifted away to rediscovering the joy of communion with Christ the Saviour.
Vicariate of Rome
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary
September 8, 1998
Scriptures for reflection:
1 Corinthians 11:28-29: proper disposition for receiving the Eucharist.
John 6:32-40: "I am the bread of life."
Luke 24:13-35: Emmaus (He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread).
Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1377-81, 1391-1405
For this intercession we can ask the intercession of Saint Paschal Baylon, who is known as the
Saint of the Eucharist and who is the patron of Eucharistic Congresses
Prayer of the Forty-seventh International Eucharistic Congress:
Lord God, Father of mercy and source of life, you call us from the whole world to celebrate with renewed fervour the great mystery of the Eucharist, memorial for all time of the Passover of your Son.
With gratitude in our hearts for the salvation which has been given us, we ask you confidently at the dawning of the third millennium: by our sharing in the one Bread and one cup, make us one body in Christ: may we live the divine life which he obtained for us at the price of his Blood.
Enlivened by his Holy Spirit, we will proclaim to the world the wonders of your love.
We make this prayer through Jesus Christ your Son, who was born of the Virgin and who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
June 2000 Mission Intention
That in China, priests, religious men and women,
and the laity may be animated by an
apostolic and Catholic spirit.
Patron Saint for June
St. Anthony of Padua
Priest and Doctor of the Church
June 13
St. Anthony was born in Lisbon Protugal in 1195. At fifteen he entered the Order of Regular Canons of St. Augustine near Lisbon. After eight years, the event of viewing the relics of five Franciscan martyrs from Morocco which came to Portugal led him to desire to join that order. After much opposition from his superiors, he was allowed to do so. At first he was largely ignored by the Franciscans, but they soon realized his gifts and was made professor of theology, which he taught in several cities including Padua from which we get his name. He eventually gave up teaching to devote his time to preaching. He was quite gifted as a preacher and traveled to through France, Spain and Italy. He became so popular that people flocked to hear him preach and no single church could house them all wherever he went and he often had to resort to preaching outdoors. He was a legend even in his own life time and many miracles were attributed to him including the Psalter that was stolen and returned (for which we invoke him for lost articles today). St Anthony died June 13, 1231.
prayer: Almighty Father, by the intercession of St. Anthony, martyr for your Word and patron in difficulties of life, may we bear witness to your Son Jesus Christ in all adversity in life. Amen
Featured Website for June
Access to Catholic Social Justice Teachings
http://www.justpeace.org
Just Peace is a comprehensive megasite for the Social Doctrine of the Church. It features thousands of links to websites and organizations for Social Justice. The website featues 27 categories including:
- Justpeace Front Page
- Better Times: The Webzine
- Preliminary Observations
- Orthopraxis
- Orthodoxy
- Spirituality
- Demons
- Works of Justice and Peace
- Simple Living
- What God says about the poor
- Commands of God
- Virtue
To name a few. This webservant highly recommends it as a resource of information for Living the Gospel.
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To view past issues of Catholic Reflections 2000, please visit our archives.
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RCIA images copyright 1996 Thomas Scharbach. All rights reserved. "Used with kind permission."
Image of St.Anthony used with kind permission from Catholic Saints(Catholic Pics)
�2000 eCatholic/2000
all rights reservr>
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