Skip to main content

Living my dream

     I had this moment tonight. It was more of a surreal time stop. Have you ever been in a moment where you all of the sudden are seeing in a tunnel and the world starts getting really colorful and spinny? I had that...in front of 17 people this evening. And it was awesome!
     Tonight was the first night of RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The journey one must take to become part of the Roman Catholic Church, and I am the director. Now, that may seem to you like I have dragged out a soap box, stood upon it, cleared my throat, and began preaching. You would be so far from the truth. I began this evening living my dream!
      The moment, 7 years ago, when I decided who I wanted to be when I grew up came, this night, to fruition. Her name: Becky Grossman. Who is she? The one I wanted to be. I began the RCIA program 8 years ago and fell in love with this Church. I fell in love with what this woman represented to me. She was the director of the RCIA program at Church of the Madalene, and I was a noone. I was just a 20 something who was seeking answers and trying to find my place in the body of Christ.
       That year I found my niche, my faith, and who I wanted to be when I got older. This year, at 29, I am living that dream. Granted, I am so far from where I want to be in the Church, as far as experience, but I feel so honored to be apart of the journey that people will take to find the treasure that I once set out to find and found. I could not ask for a greater opportunity. I am doing exactly what I wanted to do, so as I was standing in front of these humble people, I felt short of breath and on the verge of tears. 
        I mean...how could they do this for me? How could they allow me, of all people, to be able to do the one thing that I know God has put me on this earth for? Do they realize what they have done? Do they realize what honor they have bestowed upon me? Probably not. I know that if they expect perfection they won't find it within me. I know that if they are looking for earth shattering direction they will only be disappointed. But what they will find is someone who is ready to give their all. I am ready to give of my life blood for this Church and program...and at 29 I finally get the opportunity to do what I am called to do. Damn! I am so lucky!
      

Comments

  1. Congratulations! I have worked with the RCIA Program at my Church for many years and every year is wonderful and exciting! Each year is a different adventure and a new learning experience! Enjoy the ride Alysse, it is a marvelous journey!!! God bless you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beneath the Weeping Willow

  "The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows—a wall against the wind. This is the willow's purpose." —  Frank Herbert, Dune   Time, although a very evasive concept, is in each moment a gift. And most often, I don't stop to look back at the road I have traveled on. Even more so, the road Justin and I have travelled together. But today it is warranted. Today marks 9 years as husband and wife, and 9 years of truly some amazing and adverse moments. We have lost the most cherished and birthed the most loved all the while interwoven with each other.    I will be the first to admit that our day to day appears to some: mundane. However, inside the ordinary he and I together have understood the profundity of love. It is brash and loud, but it is also cautious and quiet.  "Love is a many splendored thing."  It is the true basis of community, and I am proud of the community we have built.   The  willow  is the t...

A human mirror

  I look at myself, a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that I didn't think myself attractive for a long time. Now, I can look at myself even when someone else is in the bathroom. Before, I entered with head bowed and left the same. There are times when I look at myself 3 times before I leave. Most of the time, I focus on one aspect of myself: my eyes, my hair, my waist line, my clothes...something. I can see how this seems egotistical, but perhaps I am making up for lost mirror time.   However, I can only remember one time that I actually looked into the mirror to see something deeper than my outward appearance. And it scared me. I honestly didn't think it was possible to look into the mirror and truly see oneself. It always seemed so cliché. Until I did it.   That was 4 months ago. The moment I decided to walk away from a "relationship" that was nothing more than a confusing drag. It held me bound and clipped the wings I knew God had given me to f...

It's the underlying peace...

For some reason, dating my first boyfriend was hard. I was 21; he was 18. We were together for maybe 2 months. I am even reluctant to call him my boyfriend. Classic story of he wanted me; I was bored...voila. And not too long before I broke it off, I found myself in the sacristy talking to my then pastor. I was confused and hurt. I honestly can't even remember why. But he changed me that day.   He told me this: when he was discerning the priesthood two weeks prior to ordination, he struggled. He struggled so much he was beginning to believe his choice of vocation was wrong. His spiritual director at the time told him to pray. He told him to spend one solid week praying as though he was going to leave formation. Leaning all prayer toward that thought. Then, he told him to pray the next solid week as though he was going to stay and become the priest that he believed, at one point, he was supposed to be.   And as he prayed, he struggled. His mind wanted to wander and his desire...