RCIA Summer Intensive

I had to really restrain myself from doing the happy dance in Mass a few weeks ago. Father John announced that they would be starting their RCIA Summer Intensive session, designed for baptized believers who just need basic instruction in "Catholic distinctives" before being received into the Church.

I have been somewhat disappointed in the content of the class - the "Intensive" part of the class title, as far as I'm concerned, is a misnomer. Intensive is what I've been doing on my own for the last year or so. This is "overview" and "any questions?" The instructors are a couple of very sweet grandmothers - one of whom just LOVES Oprah Winfrey. Yes, I realize Oprah does a lot of great things for the good of humanity, but I might be more inclined to LOVE her if she didn't seem to be doing it all for the glory of Oprah.

There is only one other person in the class who will be confirmed with me on Aug 12th. There is a third woman who just joined the class, but she's not baptized, in fact, she has never been to church anywhere, so she's just there to get acquainted and will go through the full RCIA program that starts in the fall.

We were talking about the miracles of Jesus and one of the teachers was kind of blending the story of Zacchaeus (you know, the "wee little man") and the woman with the "issue of blood" who touched the hem of Jesus' cloak. So, according to her telling of it, there was a man up in a tree looking for Jesus, and then he climbed down to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak to be healed.
I couldn't help myself - I corrected her. But I wasn't rude about it. Honest.

So I am counting down the days (1 month, 6 days according to my Ticker) until I am confirmed. I hope to have several of my online buddies there for the occasion. I know they'll ALL be there in spirit! I am so much at peace about this. If you'd told me 5 years ago that I'd be looking forward to my Catholic Confirmation I'd have probably fallen over, nearly dead at the thought. Praise be to God for his gentle leading.