July 16, 2020
Wow, I forgot about this post I wrote 3 years ago. It is still the best answer I can give to why I became Catholic.
Why did I leave the Evangelical church and join the Catholic Church? Because without the Sacraments administered by the Church, especially the Eucharist, I was in a long-distance relationship with the Lord. There was something missing. I had always heard his voice in Scripture, but it was only after experiencing Him in the Sacraments that I began to intimately know Him and be fully satisfied in Him.
July 16 2017
“From its very beginning Christianity has been the proclamation of joy, of the only possible joy on earth.” – Alexander Schmemann
Before this year, I was, for the most part, a satisfied Christian. However, if I am totally honest, I was a bit bored, and most of the time, I had a “fake it ’til you make it” approach to Christian joy. Missions, or bringing others to Christ, was my main purpose in this life, but what did it mean to experience Christ once you found him? “Scripture, Christian prayer, fellowship, and more mission,” would probably have been my answer, but it still felt like I wasn’t totally satisfied.
(I am going to stop here for an important note: Please do not misunderstand me. I absolutely did have a “personal walk with Jesus Christ”, but my approach to pursuing it, the very approach that all of my Christian mentors had taught me (again, knowing Christ personally, personal Scripture reading and prayer, fellowship, telling others about Christ) was still leaving me coming up a bit hungry for something more. I was enjoying all of the gifts that my Evangelical Christian faith had given me, but I still felt like it was missing some part of the joy of the Christian life. I am sure that I am not the only Christian that has been in this position.)
“Joy, however, is not something one can define or analyze. One enters into joy. ‘Enter into the joy of thy Lord’ (Matthew 25:21)…” –Alexander Schmemann
About a year ago, I started asking a lot of questions, and my questions began with Sunday morning. What is the purpose of church? What seemed to be the purpose of my church? What was the focal point of our Sunday worship? What is the summit of the Christian experience? Yeah, “worship” feels like it should be the answer, but when I looked at how we spent our Sunday mornings, the focal point of the service (and where the majority of time was spent) was an expository Bible teaching. Good, but is that really the summit of the Christian worship service? I really hope not. And if “worship” really is the summit of Sunday worship, what form should this worship take? In my mind, it started to seem like celebrating the Lord’s Supper was the most explicit way to celebrate Christ and his sacrifice on the day that is most explicitly meant to be celebrated as the “Lord’s Day”.
Months later, I am convinced that celebrating Christ in the Eucharist is the summit of the Christian life, of Christian joy.
“Joy, however, is not something one can define or analyze. One enters into joy. ‘Enter into the joy of thy Lord’ (Matthew 25:21). And we have no other means of entering into that joy, no way of understanding it, except through the one action of which from the beginning has been for the Church both the source and the fulfillment of joy, the very sacrament of joy, the Eucharist.” – Alexander Schmemann
Every week, I am so so so excited to go to Church on Sunday and celebrate Christ in the Eucharist! I enjoy it so much that I will even go during the week, whenever my schedule allows. I would honestly go every day if I could. Never in my life have I ever wanted to go to a full-length “church service” more than once a week, until now. Sacred Scripture, prayer, Christian fellowship, and mission all point us to Christ, but I have realized that the truest way to experience Christ is in his church, with other believers, singing, praying, and reading the Scriptures corporately, and ultimately, celebrating the Eucharist.
I know this may sound crazy to Christians that are not used to hearing about the “Eucharist”, and I get it. I would have thought it sounded crazy most of my life, until a year ago, when I actually looked into it for the first time. I would challenge anyone who feels this way to “come and see” (John 1:46). Commit to observing the liturgy, the Catholic Mass three times. Come with me, go with a friend, or go on your own. I think you may be surprised at what you find.|
“The Eucharist is the entrance of the Church into the joy of its Lord.” – Alexander Schmemann