Getting Here From There
I was sitting in my car yesterday morning praying. Living that joyous sorrow I’ve been given. “I’m sorry for it, for the hatred and contempt, the cross, the whip, the nails...” And Jesus says to me with great joy, “I’m not! I’m not sorry at all! I did it for you; you’re worth it. For I have made you so.” I do not look around and the world is made new; the world is the same as it ever was. But I am a new creation and I look around with new eyes. This is what my God has given me, this is what His church has given me...Precisely.New convert and commenter, Easter 2008,
Catholic and Enjoying It blog
The blinders have fallen from my eyes and I can hardly believe the depth and layers of meaning that are in evidence all around us.
Why did it take me so long to see the truth that floods through every day life? Every time I look back at where I began and where I am now, I am astounded.
My parents were what I think of as the good, old fashioned sort of atheist. Religion was silly superstition so why argue about it? We were taught to be good people and that as long as you didn’t break the law or hurt anyone, what you did was your own business.
This didn’t mean that I didn’t wonder if God existed. I just didn’t know how anyone could ever be sure that God was real. I grew up, married, and had children. The whole time I kept wondering.
Then, God used what I cared about most to get my attention.
Halfway through our oldest daughter’s kindergarten class irreconcilable differences between Hannah and her teacher required leaving public school. (Don’t ask. Just know that it wasn’t the 5-year-old’s fault.) She began attending the local Catholic school. One day the religion teacher told the children that anyone who wasn’t attending Sunday Mass needed to go home and tell their parents that they needed to attend. Hannah did not simply pass the message on. As only a kindergartner can, she dug in her heels and insisted on proper behavior. Pretty soon we were attending weekly Mass at St. Thomas.
Now I really couldn’t avoid the question of God’s existence. Most of the “proof” I ever heard seemed like simple coincidence to me. Weekly Mass gave me plenty of thinking time and finally I came up with a plan to force God’s hand.
We desperately needed a larger house but no one would even make an offer on ours. Kneeling at Mass I made God a deal. All He had to do was to get a me a new house as a sign. Then I’d know He was there. And I’d have a new house. Clever, eh?
Of course, nothing happened. Finally, after about a year had gone by, I realized that something inside me had changed. It wasn’t because of any dramatic feeling or discovery but I didn’t need that proof I had wanted. Kneeling at Mass once again, I told God that I’d just take His existence on faith. I told Him that He didn’t need to pay off. I was fine as I was.
The next day our new accountant found major tax errors that garnered a refund big enough for a new house. We found a perfect house that had been on the market for months with the price just lowered to what we could afford. Two weeks later our house was sold without ever going on the market. The buyer was was determined to have a house with exact specifications like ours, within a six block area that we were smack dab in the middle of. All the realtors said they had never seen anything like the smooth progress of the sale and our purchase.
I don’t believe in coincidence any more.
Five years later, I went through RCIA and became Catholic during the Easter Vigil of 2000. I love it. I love the traditions, I love the saints, I love the Eucharist … I love being Catholic.
One of the things that made my conversion so powerful to me in retrospect is that it was so personal. This was all just between God and me. I didn’t discuss it with my husband and I didn’t even read any books about religion. In fact, although I’d always been an avid reader, it never even occurred to me that they had books about religion.
After my confirmation, though, I was given a Catholic book and that began a reading frenzy. I began seeing a pattern of truth and beauty that I never knew existed. Soon, everywhere I looked, I recognized the pattern. Books I read, movies I watched, songs I heard were reflecting bits of the Truth that was God. I realized that this reality had been there all along. I just couldn’t see it before. It made everyday things glow. I couldn’t hold in my delight and began emailing friends with my discoveries. The emails turned into a blog, Happy Catholic, that reflected everything I loved about being Catholic every day.
This book continues that sharing.
We see echoes of Heaven all around us, sometimes without ever knowing what we are seeing. I have a passion for quotes that point toward those truths. That passion turned into short reflections on some of my favorite quotes. You’ll find everything here from movies to television to Scripture, from humor to seriousness to optimism and joy. In short, everything that draws back the veil and let us connect with God. I hope it delights you as much as it does me.
Julie Davis, written on the Feast of St. Martha
(my patient patron)
