Posted on 05/23/2018 10:25:54 PM PDT by Cronos
Sherry Anne Weddell recalls the moment when she stepped “across the threshold” and entered a Catholic church for the first time. It was while she was studying at the University of Washington in Seattle and, coming from a Southern Baptist background, she was looking for a Protestant church in which to pray.
All those in her vicinity were closed, but Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church was open.
“I know it sounds incredible, but I didn’t know what that (the Blessed Sacrament) was, and if you had explained it to me I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said in a May 12 lecture to lay Catholics of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, England.
“It just wasn’t a possibility in my world, but I crossed the threshold and felt the Real Presence, and that’s when I became a Catholic,” Weddell said. “That was my point of entry. I still had a lot of anti-Catholic stuff in my head. God had established a bridge of trust. It was probably the only way he could have gotten my attention.
Weddell, who has now published three books on the Catholic Church, told the audience: “I started praying in Catholic churches because, even though I was going to Protestant churches and they were very lovely, I would say, ‘yes, but that thing isn’t here’, the Presence isn’t here.
“I would just go back and pray in Catholic churches. My friends said, ‘If you don’t stop doing that you are going to become Catholic,'” she said. “I thought, ‘That is the stupidest thing, no way.’
...Weddell has traveled a long way since then and is gaining international recognition as something of an authority on the “new evangelization,” the project of the Catholic Church to preach the Gospel anew, particularly in the once Christian nations of the West.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicphilly.com ...
Why didn’t she realize that Jesus WAS present with her and IN her all along? He promised He would never leave or forsake us - and that is true for ALL genuine Christians.
The key word is “genuine.” Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God. Be that as it may, I am not inclined to go swimming in a dirty, polluted river today. 👎🤣
>> Why didn’t she realize that Jesus WAS present with her and IN her all along?
Hatred is a repressive vice.
“I still had a lot of anti-Catholic stuff in my head.”
Maybe she did - you can ask her directly, her email is in the link
God didn’t forsake the author. What she’s written is about her journey in Christ.
I went to the link and did not find her e mail address. What it looked like, was an email to this site, rather than to her directly. If I thought e mail went to her, I would write, but I don’t think it does. Anyway, she is entitled to her journey in Christ, and I am also entitled to mine.
This does not negate from Christ being present with us spiritually. So we are talking in parallel. What is important is that she grew and grows deeper in Christ
Actually none of us are entitled to it. The grace was freely given to undeserving us. She is on her journey in Christ as you are. Let’s not doubt the veracity of her or your journey in Christ
REALLY? The Lutheran Real Presence (which apparent was originally an Anglican term for their different belief) is the same as that of Catholics?
And that by "physical presence" you mean as Christ was manifestly incarnated on earth, "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life," (1 John 1:1) and maintains that, or a christ whose appearance does not correspond to what he physically is, such as John contrasts the true Christ with?
And which "presence" only remains as long as the non-existent visible species do not manifestly decay?
The One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ Jesus
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
+10 One God
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
+10 Christ Jesus
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
+ 1 Consubstantial with the Father
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
+ 1 For our salvation
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
+ 1 Virgin Birth
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
+10 Suffered, Died and Rose
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
+ 1 Ascended, Seated
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
+10 Come Again in Glory to Judge
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
+10 Holy Trinity
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
+10 One Visible Church
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
+ 1 One Baptism
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
+10 Resurrection of the Dead
The Ten Commandments:
1. I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
+10 The Ten Commandments
The Greatest Commandment
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength
2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
+ 2 The Greatest Commnadments
The Seven Sacraments Catholic Church:
1. Baptism.
2. Eucharist.
3. Confirmation.
4. Reconciliation.
5. Anointing of the sick.
6. Marriage.(XY+XX)
7. Holy orders.
+ 7 The Seven Sacraments
The Precepts of the Catholic Church:
1. You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
2. You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
3. You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
4. You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
5. You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
+ 5 The Precepts
The seven chief corporal works of mercy:
1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To visit the imprisoned.
5. To shelter the homeless.
6. To visit the sick.
7. To bury the dead.
+ 7 Corporal Works
The seven chief spiritual works of mercy:
1. To admonish the sinner.
2. To instruct the ignorant.
3. To counsel the doubtful.
4. To comfort the sorrowful.
5. To bear wrongs patiently.
6. To forgive all injuries.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.
+ 7 Spiritual Works
Pro-Life - From Conception Until Natural Death
+15 Pro-Life
She was looking for the light of Christ.
Does this article meet the requirements to be tagged ecumenical?
It does — the article respectfully talks about the author’s journey in Christ and to Christ. At no point does she criticize her former beliefs.
As I understand it, the ecumenical tag is for discussion of common ground. I don’t see how this applies here.
Without a discussion on what this means to a person we will get nowhere.
Especially in this article - at no point is she calling her former faith names, rather she writes about her joy in Christ and how she felt in the presence of God.
It is a wholly positive article about the joy in Christ -- and if that is not common ground, I'm not sure what is..
I’ll let the RM decide.
I feel shunned for some reason...
"One indeed is the universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved, in which the priest himself is the sacrifice, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine; the bread (changed) into His body by the divine power of transubstantiation, and the wine into the blood, so that to accomplish the mystery of unity we ourselves receive from His (nature) what He Himself received from ours."
--Pope Innocent III and Lateran Council IV (A.D. 1215)
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