An Aid To Memory

I have not been able to update this blog as often as I would like. I have been pretty busy with a variety of things, including the fact that I have begun teaching again. I just got back from Canada, visiting a very good friend of mine. In fact she is my girlfriend. The trip was great. I really enjoyed my time with Maria, and I loved spending time with her family and friends. Unfortunately, my visit only lasted for 4 short days, but I know we will spend a lot more time together in the future.

We are both Catholic, and it was very exciting that much of our trip revolved around our Catholic faith. We prayed before the Blessed Sacrament together for over an hour, attended Mass together, and prayed again before the Blessed Sacrament almost immediately before I departed for the US. We prayed psalms and canticles together. It was very amazing, very new, and of course, very exciting, to have met such a great Christian girl, with whom I can pray and worship our Lord.

Maria and I have prayed together ever since we first met, and have prayed together online too. At first, I had to shed many of my Protestant notions of “going it alone” spiritually. In past days, I would have felt like I was cheating God because I highly valued praying with someone else. It is crazy, but in my past faith was always reduced to a solely personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While there has to be a strong personal component to one’s faith, as Catholics we know there also has to be a strong communal component as well. In past relationships I always made my faith a personal matter, and rarely discussed it with those whom I claimed were an important part of my life. Even when a girlfriend and I agreed on faith matters, I would still keep my faith to myself, as strange as that sounds. Seeing how important my faith has been to me for the last 6 years, it is very odd and even sad that I took this attitude. I think I have finally gotten over it though. A relationship with someone else is a great thing, and so is our relationship with God. It is essential for our well-being that the our relationships with each other are deeply grounded in our relationship with God. Anything else, I believe, would be cheating God, ourselves, and the other person.

It seems like life gets kind of busy for me when the school year starts. Unfortunately my blogging has suffered a little bit. I am continuing to dive into the Catholic faith, and I have almost all but disengaged the Anglican controversies (even though my sympathies lie with the conservative side). I still read some Anglican blogs, specifically one of my favorite blogs in the universe, Pontifications. I have done some teaching already this year, so far 6th grade science. When class goes slowly I get to send out some emails and read J.H. Newman’s “Essay on the Development of Doctrine.” I would rather be teaching that than science…in due time I pray.

I am also getting ready for a trip to Canada in order to meet a friend of mine in person. I will be leaving on September 17 and ask for your prayers for safe travel. Yes, this person is a girl, and a very special Catholic girl, with whom I have shared a lot about my new Catholic faith. Her support has been instrumental in my initial growth as a Catholic. Thanks Maria. I hope to update this blog a little more often now that things seem to be settling down a little.