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February 18, 2018

Now that we’ve gotten past the conundrum of whether we celebrate Valentine’s Day or Ash Wednesday, we find ourselves on this Sunday squarely facing the season of Lent straight in the face.

Today we join parishes all over the world as we celebrate the Rites of Election and of Continuing Conversion in our parish. Those who have been journeying through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults will take the next definitive steps among us to become more integrally bound to us as brothers and sisters in faith.

Because of the nature of our parish, with six different Sunday masses every weekend, and because most of the opportunities for our RCIA group to participate in mass usually falls on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., many of our community may not be aware of the ongoing and unfolding journeys these brothers and sisters of ours have been undertaking. Nonetheless, as pastor, it falls to me to exhort all our parishioners to support them with our prayers very intentionally during this Lenten season, at the end of which time they hope to take their place as fully initiated Catholics alongside us. With our help and support, and by God’s grace, they will be ready to celebrate sacraments with us at Easter Vigil, a short six weeks from now.

The Rite of Election marks the beginning of the end, so-to-speak. That is to say, it marks the beginning of the final stage of preparation of men, women and youth who have been preparing to be baptized. For many, this is a process that has taken years. The journey of faith which has woven itself throughout the experiences of our lives now comes to a place of choosing. It is a choosing by God of the men, women and young people who have journeyed through their lives responding to the gentle movements and call of God. It is also a choosing on the part of these people to respond definitively to the call of God, and a choosing on the part of the Church to recognize this call. It is a rite in which those to be baptized, confirmed and receive First Eucharist make a commitment to the final and intense stage of preparation required for this amazing choice. Those who are to be baptized, confirmed and receive first Eucharist, those preparing for full initiation, are called Catechumens.

The Call to Continuing Conversion likewise marks a final stage of preparation for those who have already been baptized, but who now seek to respond to God’s call to them to participate fully in the Eucharist and to Confirmation. In secular language we speak of Christians “joining the Catholic Church”, or “becoming Catholic”. In some ways, the secular language can’t do justice to the journey of faith already undertaken by candidates for full communion. It’s not a simple thing, nor an insignificant choice, to enter into full communion with the church as a Catholic Christian. It calls for a giving over of heart and mind to the care and love of God. It calls for a conversion of heart and mind, which finds expression in a deliberate and distinct choice to endeavor to live life morally and well, to be deliberate in the choices we make to witness to a life of Christian discipleship. Those who are already baptized and who now seek full communion with the Catholic Church are called Candidates.

As we practice the traditional Lenten observances of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in these days ahead, let’s commit to keeping to the forefront of our minds the following candidates and catechumens:

 Candidates                                     Catechumens

Jerome Ames                                  Megan Cahill

Michael Flaherty                              Christopher Cahill

Yesenia Hernandez                          Luca Canseco

Lehua Jordan                                  Esmeralda Canseco

Kyrea Lanuza                                  Jasmine Coe

Ariana Lanuza                                 Jessica Fugate

Erin Portillo                                    Nathan Gonzalez

Anna Rodriguez                               Lupita Medina

Steven Aaron Schwinn                      Monica Medina

Vianca Ventura

Kaitlyn Ventura

Kenneth Ventura

Arvee Vivar

 

 

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