Easter is a time for reflection. After the penitential season of Lent, we celebrate Easter and the risen Christ and welcome new converts to the faith. The National Catholic Register reported that many American dioceses received large numbers of converts to the Catholic faith this Easter. That is phenomenal! The thirst for truth is growing even amongst reverts, and the stories of the new Catholics resonate with them. And so, to all the people who have come in this year and years past, God bless you! Welcome. We love you! Here are the three best things about being Catholic for those still on the fence or contemplating reversion.
The Sacraments
You cannot have the sacraments as a Protestant, atheist, or whatever. In the Catholic Church are the sacraments, and in the sacramental Church is salvation. The sacraments are the thing that keeps us going. They get us up in the morning. They keep us from just giving up. They give us strength. It is the beauty of the sacraments; seeing them alive in other people makes us realize that this is the Church Christ founded. We see that in the baptisms of the new Catholics who came in this Easter, adults and babies in the sacrament of matrimony are being celebrated by faithful Catholic couples. We see it at confessions before and during mass. These are signs of joy in the Church! These sights remind us that God is still faithful. We are the ones who are only sometimes faithful. He still gives us the means of salvation through the sacraments should we choose to avail ourselves of them. And we should! Why? The sacraments are essential to Christianity.
The Saints
Reading Church history, you learn and see the example of saints. Human nature cannot explain the saints. The greatness of the saints. Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Therese of Lisieux. Saint Teresa of Ávila. Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Saint Athanasius. Saint Augustine. We could go on forever. The reality is it is only because of their membership and incorporation into the Catholic Church that they were able to be the great saints they were. Some great men and women have lived throughout history, but nothing compares to them. There are no saints outside of the Catholic Church. It is a major reason to become Catholic. Through the Catholic Church, grace is available, and people can profoundly unite with the Lord and be transformed. That is the key. By our very nature, each of us may be weak, fallible, and not a good person. We can transform ourselves through the sacraments. The saints have been transformed through the sacraments so we can be saints too. Alleluia!
And the final reason… simply because it is true.
There is a process of elimination when it comes to religion. The first question is, “Are you an atheist or religious?” To deny God goes against reason, for it is very rational to believe God exists. It makes more sense that something generated something than something came from nothing since nothingness can beget only nothingness. But then one must ask themselves: what is the best way to know God? Within Christianity, the Catholic Church is founded by Jesus Christ. If you believe in the message of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church is the one God wants us to be part of. It is true. It is self-consistent. And it is the most faithful to Jesus Christ.
It takes work. At times, the problems on the surface overwhelm the beauty in the depths. We do not always see the faithfulness of God in the muck. In the same way, it is hard to be an American upon seeing the kinds of heinous corruption happening in Washington, D.C. daily. There are good and bad prelates, clergy, and laypeople like there are good and bad Americans. Again, it is hard. Catholics ought to recognize and profess publicly that Christ is our true head, not any of the leaders with authority, and that none of them are the reason we are Catholic. We are Catholic because of Jesus Christ.
Conversion stories remind us of Jesus Christ’s promise to the Catholic Church. He does not break his promises. The problem is that, as Catholics, we often want to add to his promise. We want Jesus to promise more than he has promised. He promised the gates of hell would not overcome the Church. Christ did not promise that there would be no scandal, confusion, or chaos within the Church at any time. He did not promise that there would not be evil prelates who roam throughout the Church seeking people to devour. He did not promise that everything would be hunky dory. Unfortunately, too many Catholics try to tack on extra promises to this promise.
And so, while the Church might appear to be bending, it does not break. It is still that rock. It will not falter. It will not stop proclaiming the truth and making the means of salvation available to the world. Thanks be to God!
