Mass Notes for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (and my 3rd Scrutiny)

I thought I might try to get in the habit of posting some of my thoughts after Sunday Mass; either things I learned from the sermon or the readings, or just general thoughts and musings. Next week will be crazy since it's Holy Week and I'll be going to SO many Masses, but after that I'll try to start posting these with regularity.

Readings:

Ezekiel 37:12-14

Psalm 130:1-8

Romans 8:8-11

John 11:1-45

Since I tend to geek out about liturgy, I got really excited when the woman leading our scrutiny discussion told us that the Gospel readings for the last three Sundays have been chosen specifically with catechumens and candidates in mind. The story of the woman and the well alludes to the living water that catechumens will receive through baptism; the healing of the blind man symbolizes our growing insight on matters of faith; and the resurrection of Lazarus represents the new life that we will receive in Christ. I thought that was a nice reminder of how seriously the Church takes our formation as new Catholics, and how important we already are to the Church family.

For the homily, our pastor talked a lot about reconciliation, since that has been a Lenten theme for him and our other priest. Reconciliation (confession, penance, whatever you want to call it) is so interesting to me and something that I don't think I've quite grasped yet. I made my first confession in December, and it was definitely a freeing and healing experience, but it didn't impact me as much as I expected it to. Plus it was disappointing that I fell right back into many of my old habits a little while later. I'm hoping my next confession (in a week! Aaahh!) will make things a little clearer.

Okay, now it's your turn! Leave some thoughts on yesterday's Mass in the comments! God bless y'all :)

Look! A Link-Up!

Seeing as I've never had a blog before, I've also never done a link-up before. But they seem to be a good way to connect with other bloggers and blog readers, yeah? And how can I resist when one of my favorite bloggers (Kendra at Catholic All Year) posts a link-up with a bunch of questions for bloggers to answer about themselves?

And hey, if nothing else, it'll be a good way for a couple of lost people on the internet to stumble across my blog and learn some interesting facts about me.

Here goes!

1. Where do you live? And why do you live there?

I live in a dorm on campus at my small Christian college with my two best friends, because, well, I have to. But also because it's a lovely place to live and it's cool to be close to my classes and the cafeteria. I also occasionally live with my parents and my little brother, which is cool too.

2. What are you currently watching and/or reading?

I'm watching the 7th season of Doctor Who, which is exciting because it means I'm almost caught up! Recently I've also been watching Supernatural, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet... I'm reading "The Two Towers" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything" by Fr. James Martin, and a devotional book about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, whom I've just chosen as my confirmation saint.

3. What kind of Catholic are you, cradle or convert?

Convert in progress! I'll be officially joining the Church at the Easter Vigil.

4. Can you point to one moment or experience that made you a practicing Catholic? (Or want to be?)

I can think of a few defining moments that made me want to join the Church. The first that comes to mind is the first Mass I attended, which happened to be a traditional Latin Mass, on Pentecost, at a beautiful church with an amazing choir that sounded like angels in the choir loft. That experience was so incredible and holy that I knew the Catholics must be onto something. (You can imagine my surprise when I attended my next Mass, since no one had warned me that the Novus Ordo is still beautiful but quite a bit different!)

5. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

(Mentally counting) I think... maybe 10? Only 7 or 8 that I actually wear on a regular basis though.

6. Are you a good dancer?

If you're thinking moves on a dance floor, then no. If you're thinking plies and pirouettes, I'm decent but very out of practice.

7. Who usually drives, you or your husband?

Me, since I have no husband! :)

8. What is your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?

I'm gonna have to say Christmas. I celebrate with my family; we usually go to church on Christmas Eve, my brother and I get to open the presents we got each other, we read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then in the morning we open more presents and eat breakfast casserole. It's simple and lovely and I quite enjoy it.

9. Which is correct, toilet paper over or under the roll?

Over, definitely. My roommates tend to disagree.

10. Do you have any scars?

A handful of chicken pox scars, a scar on my hand where my brother stabbed me with a pencil, and a scar in the corner of my right eye where my brother hit me with a mini golf club and I had to get 7 stitches. He wasn't aware that you don't use a backswing in mini golf.

11. What's the most famous thing you've ever done?

I wrote and self-published a novel in high school, and they did a segment on me for the local news. I was also interviewed in the Archbishop's Appeal for our archdiocese this year, because they did a feature on campus ministry and thought it would be cool to include a college student in RCIA.

There you go! 11 facts about me! Now go read about other people in the link-up!

Hi, I'm New (to the Blogging World and to Catholicism)

Welcome to my blog!

As some one who loves writing, and has a lot of thoughts, some of which might possibly be interesting to others, it seems high time that I get myself one of these. If nothing else, it will be good writing practice!

I'm not sure yet what I want this blog to be about, but I think it will mostly be about my experiences as a brand-new Catholic convert, starting this Easter (in less than three weeks! Wow!). I thought about making a blog about RCIA when I first started classes, but never got around to it. So instead I'll just focus on what it's like to be a young person entering this crazy and beautiful world of Catholicism.

I especially hope I can reach out to other young people, who are either involved in the Church already, or have fallen out of their churchgoing ways. I think the stage is set for big things to happen among young Catholics, and I hope to be a small part of that movement.

Other than faith-related topics, I hope to blog about all the other little things that make up my life: college, books, music, knitting, and traveling. I'll also try to write out my lengthy and complicated conversion story... One of these days :)

Thanks for reading, and God bless!

-Kelsey