Here I am, Lord. I come to do Your will

Our Lady of the Angels

When I started this blog, I had the intention of using it to "talk my thoughts through" and strengthen my own faith. I had no idea it might actually cause another searching soul to ask me about my beliefs.

I had yet another pleasant surprise at the end of my workday today. One of the guys I am working with for the next two weeks came to me as I was leaving and said, “You know you left your blog up on the computer a while back and I took the liberty of reading it. I’ve been following it, as well. You’re a pretty good writer, and some of the content really makes me think.” (Cue the humility—I mean, I admit I’m pretty good with grammar and spelling, but as to content? I’ll let the readers decide.) He said he knew I was “into the whole going to church every day thing and all” from conversations we have had on truck transfers and he wants to talk to me some more about my faith. He is searching for some fulfillment in his life, and he seems to think I might have answers to some of his questions. I told him I don’t have all the answers and I’m not a full-blown apologist, but I will be more than happy to introduce him to my faith. He said he hasn’t practiced anything in quite a while, but he was “baptized” and raised Jehovah’s Witness, and he reads the Bible pretty often. I think we’ll tackle the “baptism” controversy early on in our discussions, given the fact that JWs don’t believe in the Trinity, hence a Baptism in the Jehovah’s Witnesses is invalid.

Anyway, his statement that he reads the Bible pretty often got me into a mini-conversation, as I was in a hurry to get to Lodi to check on Mom, but hey, if the Holy Spirit is calling you into action, it’s pretty hard to ignore Him.

I said it’s great that he is reading the Bible, but if he wants the whole, unadulterated, and unfiltered Truth that is found in the Bible, he should start reading the Catholic Bible. After all, the Catholic Church did introduce the Bible to humanity (through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the labor of St. Jerome). I asked him if he was aware that the JW’s had changed a lot of the words in Holy Scripture (and continue to change it periodically) to suit their needs. He said he had asked about that, and was told the changes were made to “update” the language. This worried him, because he understood that no one should be allowed to change the words given to us by the Holy Spirit. I reminded him the words are timeless, and don’t need to be “changed” or “updated”. I told him he could even try out a King James version, but he needs to be aware that it is not a complete Bible—that the Protestants took many books out and changed a couple of words in James to make their claims seem valid. I pointed out that the Catholic Church has used the same Scriptures in written form (the Bible) for over 1700 years, and in the form of “Tradition” (orally) in their liturgies since it was founded by Jesus Christ Himself over 2000 years ago.

Now that I think about it, I should have advised him to pray to the Holy Spirit before reading the Bible and to be sure and read the commentaries as well to get the true interpretation of what the words mean. And that the Bible alone is NOT the final word. The Word is Jesus Christ, and He leaves it up to His Church to interpret the Scriptures.

I am reminded here of Acts 8:26-39.
Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route."

So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and join up with that chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

This was the scripture passage he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In (his) humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth."

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, "I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?"

Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?"

Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing.

I really had no more time to talk today, but I look forward to helping Our Lord bring these searching sheep he has sent my way in the last few days to His Light. In the meantime, I’d better get busy on a “personal Bible study” so I am better prepared for the tough questions I know are headed my way. In addition to the study, I plan to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to fill me with the grace and knowledge I will need to spread His Word faithfully. I ask all of you to pray for me, too. I have confidence in my abilities, but are they up to this level of challenge?

One last piece of advice I would give to anyone who is really looking for the Truth. Go to a Catholic Church. Spend one hour in front of the tabernacle in silence. Don’t say anything. You don’t even have to kneel (unless you feel the need to). Just listen. Christ is there. He will do all of the talking. He gave us ears to hear and eyes to see. Use them.