MY GOD WHISPERS

I am Catholic.  I am a cradle Catholic. You know, one of those Catholics who had no choice but to be Catholic. My parents were Catholic and so that's what I was. I never thought about it. Never thought about being anything else but Catholic. That was just how it was. I didn't know much about  my religion even though I could recite all the answers to the Baltimore Catechism that the nuns made us memorize. I could recite all the prayers I was supposed to know. I said my prayers every night like a good little Catholic girl. I went to mass every Sunday and religious education twice a week because I was one of the lucky ones who didn't go to Catholic school. (I don't think my parents could afford it.) My friends were mostly Catholic kids going to Catholic school. Then I went to college and mass just wasn't important any more and that's the way it stayed until I started dating a Catholic guy. We would talk a lot about religion in our lives. He was Italian so religion was really BIG in his life. He got me back to confession and mass. Then I met Ger and him being Brooklyn Irish Catholic . . . need I say any more.  I gave up A LOT for that man. But I got a lot in return. The return of my religion was one big thing but I had yet to find FAITH.  That didn't come until years and years later.

Faith is something that grows slowly. So slowly that you don't even realize it is growing. It is a quiet growth. No bells and whistles for me. Not fire works or explosions. Just whispers and tiny breaths of warmth.

I had a conversation with my daughter yesterday about her church. She and her husband come from different religious backgrounds. Keri had always had a very strong attachment to her religion. She always surprised me when we talked about religion and faith. Her depth of understanding and insight is well beyond her years. She and Steve are trying to find a place to worship for their family. They are looking for some place where their children will find God, learn to love the Lord and learn the power and love of God. Their latest venture has been to a large community church which is dynamic, loud, charismatic and powerful. GOD IS PRESENT FRONT AND CENTER !!!!  And yet . . .  in Keri's words, she and Steve just don't feel they belong. All the hype and noise still don't make God any closer to you. Sometimes you just need that same old familiar mass that repeats those same old familiar actions that you know in your heart really are bring GOD into your presence so he can whisper to you . . . "HEY CATH,  I LOVE YOU!"

I Love being Catholic.  My God whispers.