By Bishop James Conley
As we come to the end of the first full week of Lent, I hope and pray that everyone is off to good start to this holy season of prayer, sacrifice and almsgiving (generosity). We are reminded time and time again in the liturgy, in our devotions for Lent and in the sacred scriptures, that Lent is a time for conversion, a time to once again turn away from the sin in our lives, and to resolutely turn back to the Lord who loves us, who wants us to be happy and who wants to give us a future with hope. I say “once again” because conversion doesn’t come just once in our lifetime, it is an ongoing venture, year in and year out.
During the various seasons of our life: youth, young adulthood, mid-life, golden years, we are constantly being called to deeper conversion, to deeper friendship with Jesus, to deeper trust in the mercy and love of our Father in heaven and to a deeper docility to the action of the Holy Spirit. Lent is a time to refocus our lives, to reboot our life of prayer and to rekindle our fervor for the Lord.
A few weeks ago in these pages, I mentioned the fact that I think we are experiencing a “Catholic moment” in our Church. I read with joy in that same issue of the Southern Nebraska Register, the testimonies of four college students and their journey into the Catholic Church. I was so encouraged to hear how the OCIA program at the UNL Newman Center is bursting at the seams with interested students who want to explore the Catholic faith. This interest in the Catholic Church is happening on college campuses across the country.
While conversion stories are interesting, we all have our own stories, and we should know them and tell them. As I write this column, I am preparing to share my own conversion story on the EWTN program “The Journey Home.” Those of us who have converted to the Catholic Church from another faith tradition, or from no religious belief at all, have our own stories to tell. But we are all on this journey together. Lent is time for all of us to prepare for the renewal of our baptism, whether we are being baptized for the first time, or if we were baptized at infancy. Lent is a time to reboot our spiritual lives.
In the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours for Thursday after Ash Wednesday, St. Leo the Great, in a Lenten sermon preached to Christians over 16 centuries ago, sums up this idea beautifully and succinctly. In speaking about the Paschal Mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, he calls the whole Church to rejoice in the forgiveness of sin during this holy season. He proclaims that the Church rejoices: “in the forgiveness of sin not only of those who are reborn in holy baptism (at the Easter Vigil) but also those who are already numbered among God’s adopted children.” He goes on to say that “all must therefore strive to ensure that on the day of redemption no one may be found in the sins of his former life.”
As I mentioned in my last column, it’s important for the Church to accompany new Catholics in the weeks and months following their conversion. If the surveys are true, it is sad that nearly 50% of Catholics who are received into the Catholic Church leave after a few years. That’s why it is so important that new Catholics are welcomed into the parish community and accompanied with support and friendships in the weeks, months and years after their reception into full communion.
On Sunday, March 9, I visited the parish of the North American Martyrs in Lincoln and celebrated the regular 11 a.m. Sunday Mass. I told the people that I was not there to make a “surprise inspection,” but that I just wanted to be part of Sunday Mass, and to meet as many people as I could. I am going to try and do this more often during the Jubilee Year. I want to witness firsthand the remarkable stories of faith being lived out by those across our diocese.
Father Nathan Hall, the pastor, celebrated the Rite of Sending for those catechumens and candidates who were preparing to be received into full communion with Catholic Church. I saw them again in the afternoon at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, where we celebrated the Rite of Election. The Cathedral was nearly full, the largest attendance by far for the Rite of Election that I could remember. I was joined by 15 pastors and other priests who represented all the parishes where these folks attend.
Editor's Note: see photos from the Rite of Election
At the end of the Rite of Election, a half dozen leaders of various apostolates in the Diocese of Lincoln came to the ambo and shared with those who were preparing to become Catholics some of the many opportunities there are to continue their formation and involvement in the Catholic community. These are excellent ways to accompany these new Catholics and to welcome them into the larger Catholic community.
The final prayer over the catechumens and the candidates summarizes the beauty of the rite:
Almighty, most beloved Father, graciously guide these elect of the Church and grant that, faithful to the calling they have received, they may be built up into the kingdom of your Son and be sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Look also upon these candidates, and grant that, faithful to the gifts already received in Baptism, they may be more fully conformed to the Death and Resurrection of Christ. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
That prayer is one that speaks to not just the catechumens and the candidates, but to all of us. During this Lent, we can achieve that deeper conversion, deeper friendship with Jesus and deeper trust in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, if we focus and fully conform ourselves to the Death and Resurrection of Christ. Jesus has shown us The Way, it’s now up to us to “write” our own ongoing faith stories and share those stories with the world through the lives we lead. Lent is a great time to do that – sharing our journey as we follow Jesus’ journey to Good Friday and Easter Sunday!
