Outside the Sacraments

Having sat outside the Sacraments of the Church first as a divorced and remarried evangelical Protestant and then as I gradually came along a curious follower I became aware there were a lot of people invisible almost people out here with me. Being married to someone who thinks Catholics are in serious error, and that would be the polite phrase I find myself on the outside looking in. There are a lot of outside the Sacrament people sitting out here with me. Perhaps they are not sitting in the pews. Perhaps they feel so alienated they no longer darken the door of a church or they are on the opposite end of the scale and deeply want to be in full communion but some barrier is keeping them from what they so desire. Maybe they are Catholic and divorced or remarried outside the church, or a coming into the church but have some paperwork to clear up...or you are in RCIA and a year seems like a long time. There are a list of reasons that could hold you back. Maybe you were just really , really naughty and you can't face telling anyone your secret and so just sit out and sitting out just lasts longer and longer and the joy and light which once burned so bright now seems to be full of condemnation. It isn;t but it does feel that way. There is nothing like sitting in the pew while people go up for communion and having to climb over you on their way back to reinstate you in the flock of spiritual lepers. Its easy to forget the main Guy hanging on the cross spent His primary time on this planet rescuing lost sheep just like us but we forget that and think He is just attainable to the Holy Few. There is a whole host of voices out there to help us with dig our hole deeper. Those nagging interior voices that tell us we are unloved, uncared for undeserving and wholeness is a fantasy. The same voices and interior whispers that got us all kicked out of the Garden in the first place still haunt the souls of the uncommunioned. Again lift up your eyes to the crucifix ask yourself "who is he there for. " Maybe he understands something about pain and suffering and alienation. Maybe that is the whole point. Prove it ,,,okay Bible story time..Hopefully you got some along the way as a kid...as my hunch is you wouldn't have hung into this chat that long without some reference points.... One of the most ancient liturgical formulas in the church is the saying" Is Lord Have Mercy Christ Have Mercy." ..or Lord Jesus Christ have Mercy on Me a sinner. It brings us to the foot of the cross . It also brings us in the position of a long list of people Christ brought healing to..The leper, the blindman, the woman at the well, the prostitute, the foreign woman who begged for just the crumbs of bread of Mercy from Christ table, the Centurion, the woman with the issue of Blood, the lost sheep, the Prodigal Son, the woman caught in adultery.There are so many examples you could just about close your eyes and point in the first four chapters of the New Testament and someone on the outside looking in comes face to face with Christ. You might have to read a couple of chapters but your won;t have to go far. Jesus main job is Love. Love that does not condemn, judge or point fingers. The message is like a lantern burning in the window of a home on a dark night. Come Home. Welcome Home. You may think the barriers are impossible or the walls are too high or the ceiling will fall in or you might just self combust but there is a place called Home to come to. The journey feels too long. That is my purpose for being here. My journey has been to long. It has been so long as to be ludicrious and ridiculous. So I had a choice I either wallow or I walk. I pilgrimage or I die in the mire. What could I do on my journey to keep myself occupied in the Long life of Lentenlike Advent that never seems to find either Christmas or Easter.Kind of that piece in Narnia where they say ...always Winter never summer. The following are a list of ideas: Subjects actually I would like to discuss as ways to keep busy while coming home to the church. I am not a theologian,I am really just a Blogger but I will try to stay as close to the truth as I understand it and things that have worked for me..

Journaling
Spending Time in a chapel
Spiritual Communion
Making friends with the Saints
Small group others
Spiritual Reading
Prayer
Lay Groups
Getting involved in service
Taking mini-courses or retreats
Abbeys and monastics
Spiritual Directors
Creating Sacred Space
Being Present
Searching for Silence
Showing Up
Penance and Honesty
Listen
Scripture Speaks
Keeping Short accounts
Hope springs eternal

Should keep me busy and out of trouble for awhile...