My father-in-law, raised a Protestant, was brought to Catholic faith through my mother-in-law. She told him she wouldn’t marry him if he didn’t enter the Church. He took a year to think about it, traveling the country, reading, praying, exploring. He came to truly believe in the truth of Catholic faith. And then married my mother-in-law. And had my wife!
But he was a man of deep, to-the-bone integrity, and only came into the Church because he became unalterably convinced of its truth.
He was a very, very devout Catholic.
There is no question that God can draw people to His Church through many means, including through romantic love.
sitetest
“He came to truly believe in the truth of Catholic faith...he became unalterably convinced of its truth”
Okay, but what I want to know is how. I’m not naturally inclined toward religion, so maybe it’s just me. I never knew how that worked.
Thank you for that tribute to your father-in-law. I am not Catholic, but I appreciate how your f-i-l worked to find his faith. As I grow older I am coming to believe/understand that faith is not a simple choice from a religious menu. In fact, I don’t true faith can be simply chosen. It takes prayer, study and perhaps most important, “listening” for direction from God. I have to question the faith of those who have not gone through the searching process to find their faith.
The issue is summed up nicely for me in Ephesians 2:8— “By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” My almost daily prayer is that God continue to give me faith and grace to believe and follow Him more closely.