Transcript

The phrase obedience of faith, it, it's similar in my mind, or at least perceived to be, outside of the church, similar to the, the rules, you know, the church having so many rules.

And just the phrase obedience of faith, I think is alarming, perhaps to many non, non-Catholics or maybe non-Christians.

Um, but to me, o- obedience of faith is, is once again, connected to, um, Jesus Christ, whom I have, um, decided to follow.

I'm a disciple of, of Christ and, and I wanna know, I wanna know what God's calling me to do.

And I only wanna be where God's calling me to be.

And, and that's, that's the obedience of faith, you know?

Um, there are lots of things in our church, uh, spiritualities and, and prayer life, and the sacraments to help us discern, What is God calling me to do and how can I be o- obedient?

But you only wanna do that, I mean, that only makes sense in the, the context of a r- a relationship.

Um, eh, the example I like to use is, you know, my husband and I are the only Catholics in, in our families.

And he did geological research and found out, you know, that, that, um, we're the first Catholics since the Reformation.

So, so we're charting, uh, new territory.

But, but it's on Sunday when the whole family, extended family, gets together and, and we go to mass.

Where, wherever we are, um, whenever, um, whatever church we can find.

And that's very misunderstood.

So while my extended family certainly are, uh, professed Christians, it's not really something they're gonna do on a vacation, or that might impact something the family's gonna do.

And, and, and I've had family members be very angry about that.

So that's sort of an example of, you know, we're called to put Christ first.

And that's a precept of the church, um, to, to worship and, and attend mass.

And, and that's very misunderstood, but to me, I think, um, that's an example of obedience of faith and we do it because, because we're in love with Christ.

I think we all experience times in our lives where, when our faith can be a little shaken, can become a little uncertain.

Whether it be when we're making a big decision, a big life-changing decision, would it move our job, or would our family Or whether it be when we go through a time of suffering, a time of trial or tribulation.

I think what I appreciate most about the Catholic Church is that it teaches us that there are going to be times when we're not going to totally understand why.

Why, why, why?

However, if we just obey, with that obedience, with that repeated obedience will come understanding.

While being a Presbyterian, we had, um, uh, things that we could do to, um, show our faith.

And among them were, uh, um, housing the homeless, uh, shelter, healtha- housing the homeless in our shelters, and also giving to the poor, and, um, and giving to charity in general.

But I find that the Catholic Church has much more to offer in opportunities.

Opportunities for regular church, mass, or mask, more so than the, the Protestant churches.

Uh, group participation, to go out to do service for the community and abroad.

Also, um, more time to, um, observe the, uh, special periods during the year.

The religious periods.

And recognition of the saints, and recognition of, of our Lord and his mother.

And, um, a number of, uh, a number of things that were not there, uh, that are available now in the Catholic Church.

One of the ways that my faith has been strengthened as I'm in the process of becoming Catholic, is because there, I'm discovering that there are ways to actually practice my faith beyond As a Protestant, you know, you would go to church on Sunday mornings, maybe go Sunday evenings, maybe go Wednesday nights, maybe attend a Bible study.

Um, and those were all, well, those are all good, but in Catholicism, you can go to mass every single day, or twice a day if you want to.

You don't have to, but you can.

You participate in the mass with the kneeling and the bowing and part- taking the Eucharist.

You can go to an adoration chapel and spend time quietly before the presence of the Lord.

It's just endless.

You can pray the rosary, there are all these different ways of praying.

You can attend, um, holy hours of reparation where you're praying for the sins of the world.

So if you're worried about the world, you know, I have found those holy hours of reparation to be profound.

And there's just so many ways to actually practice your faith.

And just like practicing anything, if you're practicing an instrument or if you're training for a sporting event, practicing makes you strong.

And it's no different with faith.

Even though it's sort of an unseen thing that's difficult to describe, when you practice it, it grows.

It becomes stronger.

And that's what's happening to me.