I'm always fascinated by what draws others to the Church. Every story is so unique and grace-filled. My favorite conversion stories are those written by former atheists or agnostics. It is rare for me to get through one of those without experiencing a deep welling over of emotion. I have faith that one day, my beloved husband will join me in on this journey. No one is ever far from His loving embrace.
The spark that set off my journey into the Catholic Church began roughly eight months ago in a bookstore my husband and I liked to frequent. I was busy looking through the religious music section of the store, when suddenly, I came across a very recent album by a Christian music artist I had only known about for a few days.
You see, a few days ago, I had been browsing the iTunes store in search of new music. After sampling various CDs, with none really appealing to me, I began to lose hope. But then, I noticed a CD cover on the front page that jumped out at me. The artist's name was Audrey Assad, and I was immediately won over with the first song I listened to. She sang about Jesus' Sacred Heart, a concept I had never heard before, but it sounded very beautiful. I thought about purchasing the CD then and there, but I would be paying full price, so I simply logged off and forgot about it for the time being.
Back to the bookstore. As I was looking through their very limited religious music section, I almost did a double take when I pulled out Audrey Assad's album, the very one I fell in love with on iTunes. And it was less than half the price I had seen it go for on both iTunes and Amazon! I immediately purchased it, feeling quite happy and blessed with my finding.
Being the information junkie that I am, I decided to google Assad's name, in order to find out more about this new-to-me music artist. What I found absolutely shocked me. This woman, who sang so beautifully, with songs so moving and spirit-filled, was a Catholic! Not only that, but she was a convert to Catholicism from - get this - Protestantism!
I will not lie here when I say that never in my twenty-plus years had I heard of an individual choosing to convert to the Catholic Church. In my mind, such an idea was an absurdity! Did not everyone know what I knew to be absolutely true about the Catholic Church? That it lies to its people, and is able to get away with it only because no Catholic reads their Bible? That it worships idols, and sees the Pope as Christ on earth? That it is a dead religion with no life in it?
I shudder now, as I look back on my ignorance. I had taken what I heard from anti-Catholic friends and family as truth, without ever questioning their outlandish claims.
After recovering from my initial shock, I set about trying to understand why a Protestant would choose conversion to the Catholic Church. And, even more shocking, what I discovered made absolute sense to me. Soon, I was asking not why a Protestant would convert to Catholicism, but why isn't every Protestant converting to Catholicism?!
I started with Jen Fulwiler's blog, Conversion Diary, where I immediately began watching her fascinating atheist to Catholic conversion story (which she has up on YouTube), and from there, I continued watching or reading stories by people who made their way to the Church from all sorts of backgrounds. I was hooked, and there was no stopping me. I am still hooked, nearly a year later!
My delving into the Church came at the time of Pope Benedict XVI's resignition and Pope Francis' election, and I was able to follow all of it, though I did not understand everything, via Relevant Radio, a Catholic station I am eternally grateful for having discovered so early on in my journey.
The more I read about Catholicism, the more my heart fills with joy and deep gratitude. I now see why the Lord took me through various denominations and faiths. Each one served to prepare my heart for the fullness of faith I have found in the Church. I truly feel like I have come across a treasure chest that was sitting right next to me all along. I am home now. And when you're home, you know.
No comments:
Post a Comment