Yesterday, I finally made it to our newly renovated,
dedicated cathedral. When I was first trying
to pick out a church to attend, I thought I had finally found my home at the
then Crystal Cathedral, I was attending a Bible study group and helping in a prayer
ministry and the campus was so entirely beautiful that I thought becoming a
member was inevitable. For a week there
was a lot of hype about a famous pastor coming from Argentina to take over the
Spanish services. I attended his first
service and that’s when God told me that I had to continue looking for a home
church. This famous pastor on his first
service spoke ills about the Catholic Church and how his mission was to
evangelize and bring all misguided Catholics to the truth. Though at the time I didn’t have any zeal for
the Universal Church, I knew that I would not follow a leader who spoke so publicly
against a group of people. I can accept ignorance
from members of the church because they are learning, but from a leader who is
in charge of guiding his flock I couldn’t.
So, after the first Spanish service, I left behind the most beautiful
Church that up until then I had seen.
A little after I returned to the Catholic Church, I was
informed that the Crystal Cathedral had been transferred to the Catholic Church
to be its new diocesan grounds. The
first time I heard the news, I couldn’t help, but smile- to think that God does
indeed have a sense of humor- because I walked away from the one place that I
felt I could grow roots, to return to the Catholic Church and now He was converting
us both to the one true faith. I love
the cathedral grounds. I have been going
regularly for a couple years taking classes for my Master Catechesis
Certificate. Usually I would go early to
class so that I could spend time in the prayerful nooks and the various gardens. While only recently has the cathedral been completed
for proper Catholic worship, I have enjoyed our diocesan grounds with such
gratitude.
Yesterday, mom and I went to Mass to finally see the inside
of the newly renovated Cathedral. The
inside is beautiful in a minimalist sort of way. Other than the floating crucifix, the
tapestry of the transfiguration and the life size Our Lady of Guadalupe mosaic the
cathedral is pretty plain. It still homes
one of the largest organs and has beautiful bronze Stations of the Cross. I was expecting more embellishment, more religious
art – even though it wasn’t as decorated as I thought it would be, it’s still
such a beautiful place that will bring so many people to God. Yesterday, without planning I went to Mass when
the bishop was celebrating the Eucharist and I felt such a special
welcome. They are still working the
kinks – like distributing communion on a timely manner. Overall, it’s such a great feeling to see how
far we both have come. She now a
beautiful Catholic place of worship (that am sure will attract and win many
souls just through its godly beauty) and I revert able to be there worshiping God. God is full of wonderful surprises,
of tangible moments that feed the soul. I would have never imagined that I would find myself worshiping in a place that began my reversion (smile).
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