God's Kingdom is at hand for those becoming Catholic at Easter
Melissa Schupp Martin is coming to realize that the God of justice is also the God of mercy.
“I’m over 40 now, so you’d think I would have learned that sooner!” she said. “But it’s been a wonderful experience to go on this journey.”
She’s one of the more than 250 people from many walks of life in this diocese who are in the final phases of preparing for initiation into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.
They will complete the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) but will spend the rest of their earthly lives answering God’s call to be Catholic.
There will always be something new to learn and grow into.
“The need to know, I think that’s what keeps me coming back,” said Ms. Schupp Martin.
She was raised in one Protestant faith tradition and brought her children up in another. After her divorce, she felt a little lost.
“Until now, I’d never been in a congregation where I felt comfortable walking in by myself,” she said. “Before, I was afraid to go to church alone. Now ... I’m not!”
As it turns out, she doesn’t do that very often. She started going to Mass with the man who’s now her fiancé, a strong Catholic, at St. Patrick Church in Laurie.
She lives closer to Eldon, so they decided to become members of Sacred Heart.
“I grew up in Eldon, and I enjoy it,” she said. “It just kind of feels like being at home. It’s calming for me.”
Since entering the RCIA, she’s beginning to treasure prayers and devotions, truths and traditions that she didn’t know about while growing up — such as Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, praying the Rosary, and seeking the powerful intercession of Mary and the saints.
She knows some people who wonder about and maybe even resent the amount of time she’s investing in the process of becoming Catholic.
“But for me, this is important,” she said.
As she reads through her copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and becomes more immersed in Catholic devotional and communal life, she’s been going back and reading her Bible and spending more time thinking and praying.
“I’m becoming closer to God than I’ve ever been,” she said.
She knows this is the start of a great adventure, “because there are so many more aspects of the faith that I didn’t even realize were there.”
She hopes she never loses her drive to keep learning new things and growing in her relationship with God.
She wants to keep wanting to learn — “to have a constant need and desire for knowledge.”
“I realize I won’t understand everything because I’m not supposed to understand everything, at least not in this life,” she said. “But it’s nice to want to keep learning, and I pray that I never lose that.”
“Beauty of God”
A child is leading Andee Sartori of Moberly to a deeper relationship with God.
Ms. Sartori grew up in St. Pius X parish but was never confirmed.
“I decided to get confirmed because of my son,” she recently stated in the St. Pius X parish bulletin. “He brought the beauty of God into my eyes and my heart. I not only want my son to grow up knowing God, but I want to get to know God better, as well.
“I ask this faith community to help me raise my children to know God,” she wrote.
To know and share
Having gone to church and spend time with Christians all her life, Presley Humphry, 13, feels safe and at home in the Catholic Christian community of Sacred Heart parish in Eldon.
She started going to Mass at Sacred Heart when she was 6 or 7.
“I always found a lot of the stuff interesting and I just enjoyed going, and I felt very comfortable there,” she said. “I want to get to know the faith more and learn more about it so I can share my experiences with everybody.”
Most of her friends are Christian, ranging from devout to nonchalant.
“I have some pretty supportive friends who I can rely on,” she said. “I have a few who go to Sacred Heart with me, and I can ask them questions, and they can help me with it.”
This year, her stepmom and a friend invited her to seek initiation into the Church.
She signed up for the RCIA and has been actively preparing ever since.
“It’s great. All of it,” she said.
One of the highlights for her was the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion, held on the First Sunday of Lent in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City.
There, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight exchanged a sign of peace with all in the diocese who are seeking sacraments of initiation at Easter.
He inscribed the names of the catechumens into Book of the Elect and urged the catechumens and candidates to spend the rest of Lent pursuing repentance and deeper conversion with the support of Catholics throughout the world.
“It was a really great experience, and this place is beautiful and it’s just amazing how many people were here,” she said after the ceremony. “It’s a lot bigger group than I’m used to being in! But we’re all connected in a way and it’s all through God.”
Presley understands that becoming Catholic is a lifelong commitment. She asks for prayers for strength and guidance to help her stay the course.
“You start by making a habit of going to church every Sunday and just keep praying all the prayers and staying in contact with all of the people,” she said. “With my family all being strong in the faith, that all helps.”
