April 22nd, 2009
The time leading up to the Easter vigil seemed to pass so fast, when we started the course in October it seemed so far away. I remember very clearly thinking how much time there was when I saw the pages and pages of our class dates and other events. That was one of my main feelings during the Easter vigil, just shock that it was time already.
Before Easter Mass, I got there around 7:30pm without any real snags, a good friend of mine was kind enough to provide the transportation there and back for both me and some others I wanted to bring along so that was one less thing I needed to think about. Andith got there a little sooner, since she was downtown already she ended up holding some seats for us, basically the 3rd row on the center right isle. A few rows back from them were some friends I was lucky enough to have made during the Wednesday evenings and Sundays RCIA course. This was kinda of cool and unexpected because I got to light their candles and it was just nice to see familiar faces in the crowd, makes things a tiny bit more special.
When I went back to St. Johns chapel, which is around back of the cathedral I was the 5th or so person to arrive they gave gave us stuff, depending on if you were there for confirmation or baptism you received different things or just some things like the robe and the candle at a later time.
One good thing about not bing responsible for anything other then being physically there is you can sit back and not be apart of the chaos that happens before big events. You know, trying to make sure everyone is there and everyone has all the right stuff, everyones in the right order and even that everyone has went to the washroom before hand. After all its a the mass started at 9pm and didn’t end until after 12am, you cant after all say hold on I have to go the washroom in the middle of everything.
Things settled down a little as soon as everyone was all sorted out and accounted for. About 20 minutes before the mass we started trying to get into our two lines. We tried to get in the same order as we were in during the practice a few hours before hand but it was hard to remember exactly how the order went. While everyone remembered where they sat in the pews few remembered were they were in the lineups all in all though we managed to get into our popper order with little problems. The order was semi important since some people had small assigned jobs based on where they were in the seating order. Another major thing is just actually repeating as closely as possible what you had practiced otherwise it diminishes the value of practicing in the first place a little and when you are standing in front of lots of people at big moments in your life its easy to draw a blank as i’m sure you are well aware.
Before we walked outside in our lineups we received a little blessing from the Archbishop it was sorta hard to hear what he said since there were about 8 people in front of me but I could at least make out he was giving all of us a blessing. All the priests and the Archbishop were lined up along with some of the deacons and sacristans in the area where they get changed/ready for masses. We walked past them though some doors that went outside though a small fenced off area in between the cathedral and the place where the priests/bishop live, around to the front of the cathedral. This is were we waited for a few minutes before the Archbishop came to light the bonfire. We saw some sacristans there getting things ready for him and after everyone arrived, Archbishop, priests and deacons with the large candle then the Archbishop went to actually light the bonfire, while he did so he said:
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April 6th, 2009
Another weekday at work, one of my coworkers was off on vacation with is family as a result I inherited some of his duties while he was away. Everyone depends on some internal staging servers running smoothly and updated with the latest code. That is basically what i was now in charge of, I didn’t want to feel pressured or like I was holding anyone up so I thought that was a good idea to get in a little sooner then i would normally be in. All in all, it wasn’t a huge issue anyway since it just meant catching the train that departed before the usual one I take.
On this one day I left to jump in the earlier train however even though I was there ready to get on the train it didn’t necessarily mean that the train was there ready to take me. The thing about Go-Transit that is extra special, not only do they charge you an am and a leg for the monthly passes but the trains are very frequently late/delayed or canceled. I’m waiting and waiting along with lots of other people for the train when 30min or so goes by and they announce that the train is late over the P/A system. It was late for one of the usual reasons either ’switch problems’ or ’signal problems’ I’m not sure what reason they gave us this time the train was way behind schedule that comes from Toronto stops at Oshawa and heads back towards Toronto again. I had been standing around for about 40min or so at this point so I decided to get on the train that was going the wrong way knowing that it would only be making one one stop and then be back to where I was and then onto Toronto.
I’m finally on the train and go into train mode ’sleep+wakeup with head on someone else’s shoulder+drool’ ok I’m kidding I didn’t get THAT comfortable. So I drift off into sleep and wake up when we get back to where I originally on 10 minutes before. The thing that woke me up was a young blond women sat down in front of me and she had the obligatory college student backpack with 100lbs of stuff in it and a guitar which she banged into me. Sitting beside me was a Hindu women that normally sits in front of me and to the left by the window, usually I’m near the isle so I can make a quick run for the doors last the rest of the herd.
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Posted in Apologetics | Comments Off
March 29th, 2009
Until recently writing down my thoughts and writing in general wasn’t something I did or wanted to do which is related to this journey I’m on. I say this to warn that this isn’t going to be an aw inspiring tale, its meant to be just a simple personal account of recent events in my life. Those events which helped guide me in a direction that is a totally 180 degree turn from where I was before. Now before I really get into this let me just come out and say writing isn’t my specialty and I’m really just trying to get my thoughts down for you to read. Ive been recently inspired to write about some other things however before I go sharing those, it made scene to me that this be the first thing that I post on here. This first posting will also reside in the “About” page
In John 4:39-42, there is a women at a well in Sumeria who is having a conversation with Jesus when she realized who she was talking too and her reaction; where she feels the need and desire to run and share the news with her those she cares about. This could very well play a big part in why this is being written be me. Another reason of mine for sharing this is to hopefully inspire some inner reflection in anyone who takes the time to read this.
Ill start off with some general background info to get the ball rolling…
I have no memories of being in any Churches, I am not Baptized at the time of writing this and I never gave religion any kind of serious thoughts. I mean I literally just didn’t really think about it at all, not even a little. My friends as with most people these days are masters at hiding what they believe in for there own reasons I could take a few guesses but thats not the point of this so ill omit it from here. The tiny amount of knowledge or any kind of information specific to Catholicism I had at the moment when I took my first step on this journey I’m on was based on sadly on a bunch of outright lies. That poisonous fictional information was presented to me in the da vinci code movie. I now understand the purpose of those lies and its simply to degrade something that is Holy and special but in a way that is so subtle and sneaky it made it all the more believable.
People tend to think that people like myself who go from zero faith and knowledge of faith quickly to a deep desire to learn more about it were ‘brainwashed’ or have some kinda of mental or even terminal illness well I have neither, at least I don’t believe I have a mental illness. Another reason people usually think people like me have some ulterior motive such as started dating someone and doing to please them, while I’m sure someone may go though the motions for someone else I doubt someone would ever really start believing deeply in something to please some other person. Just to be totally clear I wasn’t talked/fed my new found beliefs and feelings by someone nor am I doing this to please anyone else.
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