Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens

God works in our lives all the time. God calls all people into community. God calls us to come to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him. Some hear this call and come to our parish, asking more about how to do just that: to come into a relationship with the God we call Father.

When that remarkable event happens, we have the privilege of introducing people to the one we call Lord: Jesus Christ. We share the good news, and uncover God’s action in our lives. For some, this leads to a remarkable beginning, a new life. They begin to know Christ, and to hear his call to love, mercy, forgiveness and change. They respond to that call from Christ to abandon what they know, and to come and follow him.

That story has happened again here at the Church of the Holy Spirit. Next Sunday, we will mark the powerful presence of God-with-us, Emmanuel, by a special communal ritual. This ritual is called the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. It marks our catechumens’ first public declaration of God’s call to follow Christ. And this ritual also marks the beginning of a formal relationship between these unbaptized men, women and children over the age of seven, and the Roman Catholic Church.

Many things have already changed for these people. This Rite marks that change. We know these men, women and children as belonging to God and to God’s people gathered here in our parish. They have a unique relationship, and a special name: catechumens. They are entrusted to this faith community to nurture in this journey of faith. They will be signed with the sign of our faith, the sign of the cross. They will commit to begin to follow Christ deliberately, and to learn what that means from us, through our prayer, our deposit of faith, our works of charity and justice and our lives as holy people.

This is the first of many ritual moments these catechumens will celebrate on their way to the Lord’s Table. All along the way, we, the people of the Church of the Holy Spirit are asked to accompany them with the affection of a mother. We are to welcome them into our homes, our lives and our ministries, and to show them what it means today to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. So this Rite of Acceptance is both a time of joy and a time of commitment for all of us. May we mark it with the enthusiasm of the Spirit and a renewed commitment to the way of the cross.

We invite all of you, our parishioners, to join us at the 9am mass on 29 June 2008 to be as Christ to them, with open embrace as our catechumens come into a specific relationship with the Church.