Ancient Roman catacombs where early Christians worshipped in secret

One of the most emotional things for me is to hear the number of new Catholics who are welcomed into the Church during the Easter Vigil Mass each year.  This Saturday, one of my readers, Antoinette, will become Catholic. She is 29 years old, gorgeous (!) and, like many of us, struggling to trust in the Lord and His plan for her life.

I asked her about her conversion story and she shared it with me.  It was so beautiful.  She gave me permission to share her story with you and I felt this week was the perfect week to do so.

Please join me in praying for her as she crosses the Tiber and begins her Sacramental life in Christ.

God bless you, Antoinette!

My conversion was a long process which began when I was about eight years old in a Southern Baptist church in New York City.  In this denomination, children participate in a scripture memorization competition called the Bible Drill. My instructor encouraged me to familiarize myself with where the passages verses were found in rather than simply memorizing the verses themselves.

While putting her advice into practice I stumbled upon John 6:55-56, “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.”  When I read it I thought, this sounds like what Catholics believe.

Up until this point I had heard that Catholics had no scriptural basis for any of their doctrines but these verses did not seem symbolic, even with my eight year old intellect. I decided that I’d keep an open mind if I ever came across any books on Catholicism written by Catholics.  

Years later when in Junior High, I was flipping channels and saw a new channel, EWTN, and it was the first time I encountered Catholic teaching from practicing Catholics. I found the teachings to be as sound as what I was being taught in my Baptist church so I continued to watch for years.  

As I grew older, chastity, the virtues and orthodoxy became more important to me but I felt secure in my protestant tradition, until College when I studied abroad in France.  There I lived with an atheist family that knew I was Christian and encouraged me to go to church every Sunday (completely unexpected right?).

When I set out about finding a church I realized that I was unlikely to find a Southern Baptist church in my French town but I was hesitant to attend the local Catholic church for some reason.

Over dinner one evening my host family asked me what exactly I was protesting since I was so insistent on being a Protestant, and I had no answer.  I began studying the faith and was drawn to it more and more.

I was also struck that whenever I encountered an ancient Christian denomination’s worship services in videos online (Copts, Ethiopian, Greek Orthodox) they looked extremely Catholic and completely unlike my Southern Baptist church.

I eventually became convinced that this was the true Church and finally entered RCIA. When I told my parents they were very supportive and I learned surprising things about their pasts in Jamaica.

My mother used to teach CCD as a teenager until the family moved away from the local church. My Dad was educated in a Catholic elementary school and his Christian foundation came from the priests. He even knew Fr. Richard Ho Lung of the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica.

Thanks again Cindy.

Sincerely,

Antoinette

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 God love and bless you!

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Dear Cindy,
     Thank you so much for blogging about this texting trend. Your words (again) are right on time. You mentioned that we can always email you if we have questions….Well, may I bother you for a moment?
     So I met a guy online and things were going well. We met in person and hit it off. From there we texted and talked on the phone regularly (about every other day or so) but I noticed the calls started to subside at about week 2.5 but his text did not. He made sure to text me at 7a.m. to say good morning and check on me throughout day.
     Due to his job he had work in another state for 2 weeks. He remained in contact with me via text. He told me that he couldn’t wait to get back home and take me out on a date, see me, blah,blah…well, we talked ONCE during his 2 week work trip and I initiated that phone call.
     During the call I sweetly made it a point to let him know that he could call me anytime and that I loved to hear his voice. He said he would do that. But fast forward…The day before his 2 week work trip was soon to end again we are texting. He still has not called me so I decided to ask him via text if he preferred to text. His response “yes, I do”.
     I did not like his reply so I didn’t respond back. He followed up after his response to that one single text a couple of hours later with, “but I do like talking to you every once in a while”. At that point I thought to myself “well, what is the point of me being around if you only want to talk to me ‘once in a while’.”
     I decided at that moment that I wouldn’t text him again and that if he liked me he would call. Especially after I sweetly asked him too 🙂 His work trip is now over with no call from him the entire time (2 weeks). The day he was heading back home from work he texted me the usual “Good Morning”, and “I’m boarding the plane” but I didn’t reply.
     He continued to text me for 3 days asking if I’m okay. On day 4 he called me 3 times with no answer from me. On day 5 he goes back to texting me. Now he wants to know if he did anything wrong. At this point I’m thinking he is only calling me because he realizes I am gone. Am I right? Should I at least tell him the reason and be done with it. I know how it feels to just have someone totally ignore you and it’s not a good feeling but on the other hand I felt a little ignored myself.
     Thank you so much for letting me vent! Sorry so long but I do appreciate your input and I love your writing. Thanks for not forgetting about us single gals.

      Feeling Ignored

Dear Feeling Ignored
     Thank you so much for writing to me and sharing your heart with me. Ya know, I was just on my way upstairs to bed and I stopped by the computer for one last check and saw your note. Normally, I would sleep on it before responding to make sure that I could pray about it a little. But, I had to respond right away!
     You have assessed this guy correctly, Smart Girl! You have sooo much self-control. Some girls would have responded by now and acted like a door mat. Great job at putting him off-balance so he can think about his approach!
     If anything, I would sweetly respond with “It is difficult to feel a spark via text. Just not my preference.”
     Please let me know what happens!
     Love and blessings, Cindy

Hello,
     Here to update you on that lil issue I had the other day with “Texting Guy”. So I let him know the reason I pulled back from him was due to his texting and not calling. He apologized for not understanding but I felt he wasn’t sincere. He thought it was silly and told me that instead of ignoring him I should have talked with him about this. I kindly reminded him that I did, that I asked him to call me often. He went on to say that due to our work schedules it was hard to talk and easier to text. He was so sure that I would be satisfied with that lame response until I mentioned to him that there is plenty of time on the weekends to talk.
     I gave him my blessings and told him to take care. In a way I wish I would have just left well enough alone in the first place but lesson learned the next time around. I learned it is okay and to not feel bad about Not responding to lame and inconsistent initiation.
     Thanks Cindy for being here,

     Feeling Ignored

Dear Feeling Ignored,
     I am sorry that things did not improve. I have to say I am not surprised. Sometimes these things can turn around but most of the time the symptoms of his lame and inconsistent initiation are just ‘confirmed.’ And, that is good.
     I have had guys try to turn the tables on me also with the “why didn’t you tell me?” thing. So irritating. You were not silly at all. You are very perceptive.
     I will share a story with you. I dated this guy a long time ago who was like this towards me for years. When he met his wife, he later revealed to me that they talked on the phone every night. They were living in two different states while they dated. She was a nurse and had a weird working schedule and he was a military pilot with a weird schedule. Yet, they talked every night, even if it was in the middle of the night! I was flabbergasted when I found this out!  He would not do that for me.

     But, that is what love does. It propels the guy to want to hear your voice. It propels him to want to be in your presence. Schedules get worked out.

     Sometimes girls feel bad for not responding to texts so I recommend giving a simple response of a smiley face or “You are sweet.” Just enough to encourage him but not enough to support a conversation via text.
     Using texting as the main mode of communication is like trying to return a ball in tennis that never makes it over the net. Let’s say you are playing tennis. The guy on the other side of the net half-heartedly lobs the ball at you. Or, worse, he hits the net and it bounces back to him. What I see you girls doing with this whole lame texting thing is treating it like he hit the ball over the net AND that the ball is returnable. So, some girls run after the ball and wear themselves out in the game thinking that they better keep the ball in play or else the game is over. The thing is that you can only return a returnable ball.
     So, texting is along the lines of a half-hearted lob. It does not really merit a return. Again, if anything, you might return with a smiley face because that is enough to let him know that if he makes a real effort, you are potentially interested. But, all you can muster for now is a smiley face.
     With this guy, the lame and inconsistent initiation is a symptom that those required feelings were not there. And, now you have confirmation of that.
     I really believe in this Veil theory. When it is right, everything is different. The guy pursues, calls, takes you on dates and marries you. Wait on the Lord.
    Thank you for writing to me. I will continue to pray for you.
     Love and blessings,

     Cindy

p.s.s. Check out all my posts listed by category here!

If you have enjoyed my blog, please “like” my Facebook Page, The Veil and sign up to receive my blog posts automatically by clicking the rectangular “Follow” button. Please check me out and follow me on Twitter too! Thank you!