Transcript

My story of becoming Catholic is a personal one, as it would be for, for anyone.

Part of that story is that I had come to a point in my life where my, my life had fallen apart.

And because I had been in many different Protestant churches and now I, I couldn't go back to the church that I had been attending, I didn't know where to go.

I felt that Protestant, Protestantism had nothing left for me, and that's when and that scared me because I knew that I needed to belong somewhere.

And so my son and his wife had become Catholic.

They sent me a crucifix.

It was the first crucifix I had ever held in my hands.

And at night I would hold that crucifix and I would just cry out to God to have mercy on me and to help me.

And I would think about the woman with the issue of blood who would say, If I could just touch the hem of his garment, I would be healed.

And I knew I needed to be healed from the events that had brought me to this point.

But I would say, Lord, I can't touch the hem of your garment because I, I can't get near you because you're not here.

You're in heaven.

So where are you?

Where is your body?

I need your body.

And this went on for several weeks, I think.

Um, and I started watching Christian television all the time to keep my spirits up.

And once in a while I would have it on Catholic television.

And one day, as I was sort of wiping the kitchen counters, I hear this woman talking about her situation, which was exactly like mine.

She was alone.

She had lost her husband.

She could not go back to her former church, and she didn't know what to do.

And someone told her, Go to an adoration chapel.

And my ears just perked up, and I sat down and started watching this interview with this woman.

And she described how she went to adoration.

She wasn't Catholic, just like me, and she would just sit there and weep before the Blessed Sacrament.

So, I didn't know what an adoration chapel was, and so I picked up my phone and I Googled, What is adoration?

I didn't really understand the Blessed Sacrament, although I, I had an idea.

Of course, it had something to do with communion, and so I started Googling that.

And within, within about a day, I found an adoration chapel that And I went.

And I, I sat before the Blessed Sacrament and just tears just quietly flowed down my cheeks.

And, um, I didn't really know what I was doing.

I didn't know how to I didn't know I was supposed to kneel or do holy water or any of that.

I just walked in as a very green Protestant and sat down and poured my heart, heart out quietly to the Lord.

And that was the beginning of my journey into Catholicism, and adoration has become absolutely vital to me and precious to me.

I've dragged all of my family to visit adoration chapels with me, and not And without fail, my sisters, my mom will say as soon as they step inside, The presence of the Lord is here.

You can tell that some There's just a spirit of prayer here.

And they all, even though they're not Catholic and not really becoming Catholic right now, they all have a deep appreciation that, um, Jesus is there.

Back in the days when I was a Protestant pastor, I used to be walking around town and, and want to pray and want a quiet place to do it.

And so I often, maybe even usually, ended up in a Catholic church if I was walking around because I, I knew that the Catholic churches would be open.

And I would go in and kneel to pray, and when I did, I know it was a very subjective thing, but I would begin to sense a presence that I couldn't feel anywhere else.

I didn't feel it in my own church, as wonderful as my church was.

There was a presence, and I couldn't escape it.

And looking back now, I know I was haunted by the hidden God.

What do I mean by that?

That our Lord Jesus was in the tabernacle.

The host was reserved in the tabernacle, and He was there in a special way that He isn't in other places.

And so even without understanding what a tabernacle was or having any, any way of knowing it, some very deep, profound way, I sensed this presence.

And I know, yes, people say to me, God is present everywhere.

Of course He is.

But I talk about sometimes how if, uh, if I were in, in Europe, say across the ocean, and I wanted to be present to my wife, I might, in the old days at least, write her a letter, today maybe an email.

And she'd read it and I would be present to her in a certain way.

But what if I gave her a phone call and she could actually hear my voice?

Be present to her in an even deeper way.

What if I came across the ocean, met her at the airport, took her in my arms?

An even deeper presence.

And we could go even deeper than that, but I think you get the idea that I There are different levels, degrees of presence, and it's that way with God too.

He's present everywhere.

But in the tabernacle, in the monstrance we exposed for adoration, He is present in a whole new way to us.

And because of that reality, Eucharistic adoration has become a very important part of my life.

Not just mass as often as possible, but also that.

And it never takes away from His presence at the mass, but it gives me a place to go where the world fades away and He is so deeply present to me.

I find myself changed, and that, that getting away from the world and getting His presence allows me to go back and to change the world myself.