Five Minute Friday: Ten

Note: This post is my weekly contribution to the Five Minute Friday community that is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home. Click here for more information about Five Minute Friday and how you can get involved! To link up with all the other entries for today's prompt word, click here

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1. Over 2000 years of history, tradition, and Apostolic Authority -- The Catholic Church is the oldest Christian church in the world and is the one founded by Christ Himself on the rock of St. Peter who was the first leader, or pope, of the Church (Matthew 16:13-20)

2. The gift of Holy Scripture -- the Bible was compiled by the Catholic Church and its canon closed by Pope Damasus I at the Council of Rome in 382. This canon includes all 73 books as well as longer versions of the books of Esther and Daniel. This is still the canon used by the Catholic Church today.

3. The Holy Eucharist -- this is the gift of Jesus to the world. It is His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity and we get to take Him into our own bodies as nourishment for our souls! See #10 for more about this :)

4. The Communion of Saints -- which includes both those who are officially canonized, those are not, and those who are still living and striving to live lives of holiness and obedience to God on earth. I love that we have these heavenly friends to turn to in addition to our earthly friends!

5. Mary -- Yes, I know that every Christian church recognizes her in some way, but we as Catholics call her our Mother because she is the mother of Jesus and because He gave her to us as our mother from the cross when He gave her into the care of the beloved disciple John. I love that my girls have not just me, but Mary too! I also love having Mary as my mother too.

6. The priesthood -- a tradition that really dates back to the Jewish priesthood in that these are men who are set apart for God's service. I am SO grateful for the service of our priests. I know they're not perfect, but then again, neither am I!

7. The consecrated religious life -- I love that our faith tradition has a particular way for those who are called to God's service (men and women) to consecrate themselves and devote themselves totally to God. I also love that there's a religious order for just about every personality -- Franciscan, Domenican, Jesuit, Carmelite, Benedictine, Claretians, etc. and within those orders, there are various groups devoted to different callings -- teaching, preaching, nursing, missionary work, and contemplative prayer. Some are cloistered and some are in the community. Some live on farms, some live in urban areas. All are called to follow God and serve Him with the whole of their lives.

8. The Rosary -- some people think it is just a prayer to Mary, but it is really a meditation on the life of Christ. It is one of my favourite devotions and I could write a whole blog post about it. Maybe I will one day!

9. Easter Vigil -- The most gorgeous Mass of the entire year when there are baptisms, confirmations, and First Holy Communions all in one night -- lots of candles, incense, TONS of Scripture reading, and of course, the Holy Eucharist! It's my favourite Mass of the year!

10. The Mass -- I really have no adequate words to express how much I love the Mass. On those rare occasions when we must miss a Sunday because of sickness, I start feeling a bit spiritually weak from not having received the Eucharist. There is a hunger in me to be present at Mass each week that resides deep within me in a place even I do not fully know. I know it must be so because my flesh is weak and there have been many times on a Sunday when I was angry with God and angry with the world and depressed and just didn't want to go. But because of this soul-deep need in me, I went. It was, in part, out of obedience, but I know there must be some love with it too.

There are lots more reasons, but these are just a few that I came up with in five minutes!

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Join in the Five Minute Friday fun and link up at Kate Motaung's blog!

Theology Thursday: An Introduction

Had you asked me some twenty or so years ago if I was interested in converting to Catholicism, I would have likely chuckled at the idea and said no. It wasn't that I thought Catholics were laughable or that the idea of converting to Catholicism was laughable, but I felt so close to God as a Southern Baptist Christian that the idea of leaving that faith practice for anything else would have been amusing -- no matter what you put in that blank -- Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc. The Catholic faith seemed an odd thing to me with all its rituals and rites and various trappings and the Southern Baptist faith was so simple and straightforward. It was comfortable and familiar. Eventually though, comfortable and familiar ceased being enough. I grew hungry for spiritual nourishment that I wasn't getting in my home church. That led me to begin a journey that took a good ten years which eventually ended with my confirmation in the Catholic Church. At some point, I am going to write out my story about how I did wind up Catholic, but that's a story for another day.

My Best Saint Friend -- St. Dymphna -- #ForAlltheSaints

I was going to write about All Souls Day yesterday, but to be honest, my friends, I had a really really bad day. Some of you who are reading started reading during my 31 Days series last month which was a chronicle of my journey through a particularly dark episode of depression. As I said during that series, that journey is ongoing even now. As of November 1st, it has been 22 months of putting one foot in front of the other and trying to make my way through this. Some days are kind of okay, but I have a lot of days where the struggle is super real and super hard. This past weekend has been like that but in particular, Sunday. All this is to say that I just didn't get anything written like I had planned.

Ora et Labora

"Ora et labora" -- or in English, "pray and work" is the motto of the Benedictine Order. Benedictines take seriously this idea that a well balanced Christian life is ordered towards working and prayer. Some Benedictines are contemplative, some cloistered, some work beyond their monasteries and convents in the secular world, some work in parish churches, and some work in missions, but at the end of the day, all of these groups of Benedictine religious have a strong belief in working with your physical body and being steeped in frequent daily prayer.