Tomorrow is the big day. I have a meeting with Father David to talk about some questions I have. We brought them up in RCIA and they recommended we meet with the head honcho, so that's the plan. Kevin was originally going to come along but now he can't get away from work, so it's going to be just me.
Here's a copy of the outline of things I want to bring up:
1) My divorce & annulment concerns – discuss personal situation & specific questions
2) Bigger picture – seeking understanding of the church in this process (help me overcome my picture of the “big scary church” – where is the balance between grace and truth in the annulment process?)
3) Can a divorced/remarried person who isn’t granted an annulment and is therefore not “eligible” to take the Eucharist EVER get restored? If so, how? Will they die not taking the Eucharist?
4) Same question with abortion – only thing I’ve come across so far that results in excommunication. Is there any process for restoration?
5) If there's time, and I don't feel like a nutjob by this point, ask for comment on “community” in the Catholic church. Is it limited to Mass? Specific desire to meet other moms of young children. Or, does he have other involvement recommendations?
It's a little bit sorta sad to me that the divorce question is the topic for my first meeting with a/my Priest. And I am asking the abortion question because it's so woman-centered, so BIG, and so yucky. And I know people (even one Catholic) who have had abortions. I guess I'm wondering how they would have an active, forgiven, grace-understanding participation in the Catholic Church.
In other news, I finished reading Tiber at the end of last week. Sigh of relief. That was an intense book - so much material and so many footnotes. Kevin reads on in the area of church history, but I am opting for something different. I just finished a novel based on the book of Hosea and the theme of God's extravagant love for us. It was much-needed. (Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers)
Get this timing - just finished reading all the scriptural, historical, and traditional support for the Eucharist in Tiber and took my little self to Bible Study at our old church today where the text was John 6. One passage in that chapter is Jesus talking all about eating flesh and drinking blood. We skimmed right over it, which was a bit of a bummer.
As we talked, I was hearing all these good one-liners from the other members of the Bible Study regarding faith in Jesus and for some reason I sat there copying them down into my study notes. Let's just say that as simple as they are, they spoke to me today, and in light of my recent learning. I'll end with them:
"What would that LOOK like?" (referring to watching the fish and loaves multiply)
"The disciples got to be part of the miracle." (they seated the people and later gathered the leftovers)
"Believe and then we can see."
"It's a daily thing."
"If it's easy, it wouldn't take faith."
"Jesus is in the history books." -yes he is, and you have no idea!
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