A Journey of Faith
Reflecting back on my faith journey, I would have to say it has been an ongoing process for many years – as far back as I can remember actually. Was it because I grew up as a ‘sickly’ child with asthma experiencing many trips to the emergency room and many near death experiences? I don’t know, but I am sure that did have an effect on me – in those harrowing times, I felt God’s presence and Him saying ‘it just isn’t your time’. Those experiences probably led to my childhood interest in the Bible and its interpretation and the meaning for my own life. I was raised on a farm in the Midwest as Lutheran but over the years have attended many types of church services – everything from Episcopalian to Reformed to Methodist to Baptist to Catholic and on and on – apparently, I was seeking something. My life journey took me as far as New York City, and if you had asked me as a child if I ever wanted to, dreamed of, or hoped to live in New York CIty (NYC) I probably would have said ‘where’s that?’ – we didn’t travel much beyond the foreseeable gravel roads of the farm in my childhood due to my health and also due to being tied down to the farm. But I did end up in NYC through many of life’s twists and turns.
New York City was a fascinating place, and I would reflect many times on ‘how does a little farm girl from the Midwest end up here?’ In hindsight it was God. Not only did I end up in NYC but ended up living there for over twenty years. It was in NYC that I really fell in love with St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and I spent most of my years in NYC attending many Mass services. To this day, I cannot explain why I was drawn to that church or to Catholicism except maybe it just felt right or maybe it was the ‘miracle of the water’ at my feet on Holy Thursday in 2014 (wasn’t really someone that believed in miracles). It went like this: I walked into the pew and there was no water, the water (enough to splash) appeared midway through the service at my feet and was enough water that the gentleman further along in the pew grabbed, with a horrified expression, his briefcase which was on the floor and now sitting in water – he stared at me and I stared at him shrugging my shoulders – nothing had been spilled and no broken pipes as far as we could tell. Even before this occurrence – I would always tell people – ‘there is just something about that church’; one of my friends who happens to be Catholic would frequently say ‘you know… you really should consider converting to Catholicism’ – maybe the timing wasn’t right but somehow, I just couldn’t make it happen in those years. What was it about St. Patrick’s that I loved so much? I think it was the order of service and the reverence Catholics had/have for their religion – it was the one church in NYC where, in spite of the large number of people attending, you never heard a cell phone ring. I also appreciated that the Catholic Mass was/is the same no matter which church you attend.
Eventually I left NYC and returned to the Midwest to be closer to my aging parents and my family. I attended St. Johns Co-Cathedral here in Rochester a few times and had the same feeling I had in NYC – ‘there is just something about that church’. Back to my Catholic friend - when I moved back to Rochester, she said again ‘you know… maybe it is time to re-consider Catholicism’ and it was that very day that I reached out to inquire about RCIA. I left a message and figured I would probably not hear back – but I did hear back almost immediately. Deacon Randy said ‘you know…we have RCIA starting soon’. The minute he said ‘you know’ I thought ok I had better listen to this. I did start the RCIA program and have to say ‘there is just something about this church’ and this time I said to my Catholic friend ‘you know…you’ve been right’. I have learned a tremendous amount in RCIA (thank you Deacon Randy and Terese) and am looking forward to the Easter Vigil. Isn’t it interesting that I will be converting to Catholicism ten years to the week of the ‘miracle of the water?’ God is…’you know’…amazing.
Sarah Roberts