RCIA Represents More Than Just Teaching Catholicism
A parishioner, who sponsored a member joining the Catholic Church, once mentioned how every Catholic should participate in the RCIA because he learned so much from joining the faith-sharing sessions each week. Although learning “about” the faith is important, the Bishops of Vatican II stated that the RCIA is not “simply a presentation of teachings and precepts, but a formation in the whole of Christian life…; by these means the disciples will become bound to Christ as their master. Catechumens should therefore be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of gospel living; by means of sacred rites celebrated at successive times, they should be led gradually into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity belonging to the people of God”(Missionary Activity of the Church, 14).
Sacraments, which includes the entire RCIA, are never intended only for new members who attend the weekly sessions – but also for the whole parish. Our catechumens and candidates renew longtime Catholics’ desires to live the gospel and continue our growth in living Christ’s gospel. While it would be beneficial for Catholics to participate in the RCIA, we actually experience the RCIA when we celebrate various rituals with our new members.
Experience has also taught me that when Catholics enter into the Church’s liturgical seasons with faith and active participation, we experience the same graces given to new members through the RCIA – because the RCIA leads them to the Church’s worship, where our faith is perpetually deepened. The Advent/Christmas Season mirrors the RCIA’s first stage, called “the Inquiry.” The Catechumenate Stage mirrors Ordinary Time. Lent is the same for catechumens and Catholics entering our baptismal retreat towards Easter. Mystagogy celebrates Christ’s Resurrection until Pentecost.
The Advent/Christmas Season celebrates God’s faithfulness in sending us a Savior. Born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus was like us in all things but sin. He grew in wisdom, age and grace. During Christmas we are caught up each year in the mystery of God’s immense love for us in Jesus – not only born into our world, but also into our lives through faith and baptism. God’s love is made unmistakably clear through Jesus. We can depend on God and pray to him. God hears us just as God heard Christ’s prayer on the cross.
The RCIA says this about the Inquiry: “…faithfully and constantly the living God is proclaimed and Jesus Christ whom he has sent for the salvation of all. Thus those who are not yet Christians, their hearts opened by the Holy Spirit, may believe and be freely converted to the Lord and commit themselves sincerely to him. For he who is the way, the truth, and the life fulfills all their spiritual expectations…” (par 36). They are “called away from sin and drawn into the mystery of God’s love” (par 37).
Upon entering the Catechumenate Stage, the parish looks for certain prerequisites in our new members: 1) the beginnings of the spiritual life and the fundamentals of Christian teaching; 2) an initial conversion and intention to change their lives and enter into a relationship with God in Christ; 3) first stirrings of repentance, beginning to call upon God in prayer, a sense of the Church, and some experience of the company and spirit of Christians (cf. par 42).
Our Christmas celebrations (concluding this weekend on the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism) are a continuous proclamation of the living God and Jesus Christ whom God sent for the salvation of all people. Did not our Christmas celebrations inspire us to commit ourselves more sincerely to be disciples of Jesus? Were we not drawn on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day into the great mystery of God’s love in Jesus, incomprehensible to our minds but consoling to our hearts?
Did we not hear again the fundamentals of the spiritual life and of our Christian faith proclaimed? God loves us with an unimaginable love. Christ saves us from our sins by reconciling us with the Father and with one another in the Church. We can always turn to Christ who understands our life’s journey from the “inside out.” Did we not sense being part of the Church on earth and the church in heaven? Then we experienced the same graces our new members receive during the Inquiry stage.
