PROVIDENCE — Lent is a liturgical season filled with anticipation. As the Church prepares for Easter, the most important holy day in the Church calendar, the faithful prepare to reflect upon and celebrate that which is the source of renewed life. They are called to see their own life as a microcosm of God’s Plan of salvation: the human race fell into sin and death, which was overturned by Christ; likewise, each individual is struggling with sin in their own life, and the more they, by God’s grace, grow in union with God, the more they partake in new life in Christ.
This reality is exemplified to an especially intense degree in the Sacraments of Initiation, particularly when received by one who is a convert to the faith. This was no more evident than when the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul hosted the annual Rite of Election on Sunday, March 9, for those candidates to be initiated into the Catholic Church this Easter Season. This ritual involves those seeking to be initiated into the Church publicly professing before the bishop their desire for baptism, first Communion and/or confirmation, and receiving moral guidance and blessings on the final steps of their journey to Catholicism.
Auxiliary Bishop Robert C. Evans, presided over the Rite of Election, with roughly 200 participants, which organizers say is one of the highest numbers in the past several years.
“Today, you begin the period of final preparation,” Bishop Evans noted, going on to point out how the liturgical life of the Church is meant to reflect certain broader spiritual truths concerning the life of the individual believer.
He said that it is no mere coincidence that they do this on the First Sunday of Lent. For this holy season of self-denial and penance is always the beginning of a journey, a pilgrimage.
He said that the occasion is an invitation to purification and enlightenment and that for the next 40 days, as Christians worldwide prepare themselves by prayer, fasting and works of mercy to commemorate Our Lord’s Suffering, Death and Resurrection, they too will be prepared to configure themselves more closely to Jesus Christ.
“You will experience the truth that Jesus proclaims in the Gospel, namely that one does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes forth from the Mouth of God,” Bishop Evans continued. “Much has been asked of you and your sponsors in this process. Much, however, has been given you by God. Bring your gifts to the Lord, that is, your time, your talent, and your treasures, in order that He may bless you, and work with and through you.”
Those present came from various walks of life and had a variety of different stories about what led them into the Catholic faith. For some, it was something deeply personal.
Such was the case with Haley Hugg, age 21, who currently attends SS. John and Paul Parish in Coventry. Although she is only this year being fully initiated into the Church, many family members and friends throughout the years are Catholic, thereby making the Catholic faith an ever-present influence in her life.
“I had some family members that had grown up Catholic,” Hugg said. “I’ve known these two my whole life,” she continued, pointing to her sponsors, “and they got me into the faith.”
When asked what had the biggest influence in drawing her into the faith, Hugg responded, “First of all, the beauty of it. And Jesus Himself, of course.”
For others, their conversion was equally influenced by a broader intellectual conversion.
One example was Chet Singh, a freshman at Brown University. Singh, who is currently majoring in computational neuroscience, began his journey into the Catholic faith due to his exposure to apologetic literature. In particular, Singh was first introduced to Christian theology as a result of reading the work “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis. As he began to explore the various arguments for and against Christianity, he was intrigued in particular by the intellectual rigor of Catholic apologists.
“Most of the people that I’ve been exposed to online, intellectually, have been Catholic,” Singh pointed out. As he began to study Church history, Singh became more and more convinced that Roman Catholicism had the greatest amount of continuity with the teachings of Jesus and the early Church. “I feel like the spirit of Catholicism and its teachings align most with Jesus,” Singh said.
Singh is currently working with various on-campus Catholic groups at Brown University to be initiated into the Church.
