I had high hopes for our OCIA class this year. More inquirers expressed an interest than we have ever had in the past. Keep in mind we are a small parish so even four is a big number for us. A young man with a large family approached me a few weeks ago after a weekday Mass. He had been reading the Church fathers and Scott Hahn’s conversion story. He told me he was drawn to the Catholic Church. He seemed so excited. The only issue was his Protestant wife who stood in the way. Just before our first meeting, he contacted me and said he had decided not to attend. I told him that I would love the opportunity to address any theological concerns he may have. I suspect he did not want to cause conflict in his marriage. He has not replied, but I hope someday to see him again.
A young woman who was baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil two years ago has a mother who has expressed interest. Yet when time came for our class to start, “family issues“ prevented her from coming. It seems some people know the right thing to do, but can’t find the courage to take the first step. Another young couple attended their first Mass on a Sunday in July. They talked to our priest afterwards, but he failed to get their names or contact information. We never saw them again.
So, now we have only two attending OCIA. One of them, an older woman with a Baptist background, had never been in a Catholic Church before. The other is a man with young children, married to a Catholic that does not attend Mass regularly. To complicate matters, the woman still goes to her family’s church some sixty-five miles away on Sundays, so she wants to meet on Wednesday evenings. The man’s wife works on Wednesday evenings, so he wants to come while his children are in CCD on Sunday mornings. Consequently, we are doing OCIA twice a week with one person in each session. That’s okay. I would meet every day of the week if necessary to help someone enter the Catholic Church.
There are so many faith-filled Protestants in this country. Why is it so difficult to bring them into the one true Church? I keep coming back to one particular Bible verse, John 6:53. 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” How do you get past this verse without realizing you are missing something important in your relationship with Our Lord? You can sing beautiful praise songs, hear wonderful sermons, and be slain in the spirit, but without the Eucharist, you have no life in you. To fully participate in the Lamb sacrificed for our sins, the Lamp must be consumed. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to His supper.
