Here I am, less than one week away from becoming Catholic. This has been my desire for more than a year, yet somehow it’s all gone pretty fast!

I am bursting with excitement at how close I am to becoming a full member of the church and being able to enjoy more of the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist. I wonder how it will affect me — if it will be noticeable or just a subtle change.

I am thrilled that I have done First Reconciliation, which I was so nervous about. I feel like it’s all joy from here on out as I head into Holy Week and the Easter Vigil (the service where I join the church)!

I am amazed at how far I have come spiritually in just the span of a year. From a year and a half ago a nonbeliever to a full convert bursting with joy at what I have found … nothing short of a miracle.

I look forward to becoming more active in the church. So many times I’ve been interested in doing something but thought to myself “nope, let’s work on actually becoming Catholic first… then I can add more of these activities.” I hope to get involved in some of our church’s groups and programs and perhaps become a reader.

I have participated as fully as I can as a non-Catholic from going to mass weekly and on Holy Days and to daily mass when my kids’ school schedules permit it to adding prayer to my daily life and guiding my kids in the beginnings of their Catholic journey.

I have learned so much over the last year, but yet am so eager for more. It truly is a “thirst”. I find myself often sad at the fact that I cannot just sit in church or read a spiritual text or pray. Work and day-to-day life get in the way, but I’m working it in as much as I can and I hope I find the capacity to add to it.

I look forward in the coming year to continuing to work on my personal flaws and am so happy to be aided in that process by the sacrament of reconciliation. I also fully intend to commit myself to service to others in a regular fashion in the wonderful model of our new Pope Francis.

I also hope to take a short pilgrimage to St. Therese of Lisieux’s national shrine in the U.S., not too far from me outside of Chicago. Maybe a good summer trip…

So much to do… so little time… I will continue to blog as my first year as a Catholic and share all the new joys and experiences that come my way. Please join me!

I’ve long intended to share how I “came around” to Catholicism because it truly shocks me utterly to the core!

It’s not that it was some huge, dramatic moment, but the simple fact of me becoming Catholic is nothing I could ever have imagined and would have argued with you about vehemently had you told me it would happen.

While exposed to different churches growing up, I always felt most comfortable in a spiritual, but non-religious environment.

I spent many years studying various New Age philosophies and always believed in God but not religion as a requirement to get to God. However, through all that, I never felt like I was given a solid, specific path to self-improvement.

It was all wishy-washy, try this, do that and disorganized, so I never got very far on that path. Read my post on Catholicism as a specific, proven path to self-improvement.

Right about Christmas 2011 is when I experienced my “calling.” I don’t even know what words to give this. I’ve heard “calling” and “conversion of heart” but to me, it’s like I was suddenly given the eyes of faith. Never before was I willing to believe in Jesus as the son of God because my very logical mind would not accept it. But once I was given the “eyes of faith,” it didn’t need to be “proven” to me; suddenly, I could just “feel” how right it was.

It started some years before that when I began to feel a very faint desire and interest in revisiting  the place where my husband and I spent our Catholic marriage retreat. I felt “pulled” or “drawn” there is the best way I can describe it. It was deep in the recesses of my mind or perhaps it was the stirrings of the Holy Spirit I was feeling.

I ignored it for a couple years, though did a few things like looking up the retreat house on the web and learning more about it. I would eventually go back to the retreat house and spend a silent retreat that led me to this blog.

All of a sudden around Christmas 2011, I began to feel more strongly that I’d like to try going to Catholic Mass. So we packed up the whole family and off we went.

My husband is a cradle Catholic, though not practicing. Never had I been interested in Catholicism and in fact was turned off by it (read more in my blog here about my misgivings about Catholicism).

But when I went this time, it didn’t seem so bad. In fact, if I dared admit it, it felt kind of good.

We came back for Christmas Eve Mass and sometime thereabouts I decided to give it my full effort, kneeling, singing and reading the responses.

The first positive feelings I experienced besides “not so bad” were complete and utter peace, something I really feel was lacking in my life as the mother of two young boys and owner of my own small business. This simple respite of peace once a week was delightful.

The positive feelings grew from there into a great “thirst” and unquenchable desire to learn everything I could and attend Mass as often as possible, and then complete and utter “joy.”

I feel like perhaps this happened at Christmas, because this is when we celebrate Christ’s conception and coming into the world. I feel like the Holy Spirit allowed Christ to be conceived in me at this time.

I think after Christmas Eve Mass 2011 I never missed a Mass before confirmation. And it was less because I was obligated to go as a future Catholic and more because I couldn’t stand to miss.

To me, this is utterly a miracle and I can explain it no other way.

I still stop and say “is this me?” and begin to question myself a bit, but when I go back to the feelings I receive when in communion with the Lord, I “get it” again and again and again.

As for advice for those of you considering Catholicism, pray that you experience a “conversion of heart” like I did and that you are given the “eyes of faith.”

I am not sure why I was called now and suddenly given this gift; I suspect I had some people — both on earth and in heaven — praying for me :).

Open your heart, participate in Mass, read about Catholicism and see where it leads you. I hope it leads you to the place of peace that I have found.

As I have embraced the Catholic faith with much enthusiasm, I want my kids to embrace it too. So I’ve been working over the last several months to work the faith into their daily lives.

I want to be sure that I don’t make it a “have to” for them so that they grow to resent it or want to get away from it. I welcome ideas from moms and dads out there about how you inspire your kids in the faith and make it something positive that they embrace.

Here is what I have done at home thus far and please share any suggestions for what you do with your kids:

• Nightly prayer before bed
• Make the sign of the cross on their foreheads as their “blessing” before bed and they do it for me as well. It’s become a lovely little tradition :).
• Nightly work in some sort of Bible story or information from a Catholic kids book (may be about a saint or a Bible story).
• Occasionally say one decade of the rosary for one of their friends who needs help or their recently passed Grandma. This needs to become at least weekly, I think.
• Attend Mass weekly.
• Attend religious education weekly.
• Talk more about the importance of helping others and regularly try to engage them in an activity where we are donating/giving to others in need.
• Hung crucifixes in both of their rooms.
• Recently had a visit from one of our parish priests where  he blessed us, the house and the dog ;-).

Other ideas I’d like to do but really haven’t yet:

• Have a weekly family meeting where we say a prayer together and discuss tasks for the week, concerns, etc.
• Once a month, instead of eating out, have PB&J at home and donate the money we saved to an organization we all choose.
• Put a portion of any gift money or allowance money they receive into a charitable giving fund which they can donate to the organization of their choice.
• Possibly take my almost 9 year old to Adoration for 5-10 minutes at first.

What else can I do to make this a positive experience? I truly appreciate your feedback and thoughts either here or on Twitter where I post at @ACatholicNewbie.

As we begin 2013, I find it the right time to begin to more consciously make an effort to eliminate bad habits and add new, productive habits into my life. I’ve spent the last year learning about Catholicism (barely scratching the surface!) but at least I’m informed enough now to have an idea of what changes I need to make to better my life.

So I thought I’d share with you, in the hopes you’ll share with me, my 2013 religious resolutions! In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about ways I will try to stick to these habits and how the structure of the church helps me in creating a routine that will become a part of my daily life. I plan to work on these resolutions slowly, focusing on one at a time until I feel like I’ve got that one adopted fairly well. Here we go…

My 2013 Religious Resolutions:

• Pray the Rosary weekly. Also, pray a decade of the Rosary with my children weekly dedicated to someone in need or their recently deceased grandmother as a way to remember and honor her.
• Spend an hour of adoration weekly in the Blessed Sacrament chapel or at Eucharistic Adoration when available.
• Read the Bible daily and begin to explore Lectio Divino (a conscious reflecting of Biblical texts)
• Blog at least 5 times per week on my Catholic Newbie blog.
• Begin to work Christian meditation/contemplation into my routine (not sure how much yet)
• Keep my body healthy by practicing moderation (not over indulging) in eating and by exercising my body 2-3 times weekly.
• Once I am able (when I become fully Catholic), attend Reconciliation monthly.
• Begin introducing my oldest son (8) to Adoration time.
• Donate the amount we would spend on eating out for one meal monthly to our family’s choice of charity and have PB&J that night instead :).
• Volunteer at a local charity one day per month.
• Increase my tithing and donate more of my money to charitable organizations.
• Engage my children in more charitable and volunteer activities.
• Attend Mass weekly (I pretty much have this one down already :))
• Be courageous in following God’s will.
• Pray at least 2 Liturgy of the Hours daily.
• Continue reading daily the Read the Catechism in a Year email.
• Take one silent retreat this year.
• Remember to see Christ in every one.
• Get up earlier!

OK, so that’s a long list! Yikes! But these are all things I really want to work on. I think the key is to focus on one at a time so as not to get overwhelmed and do the best I can.

What are your Religious Resolutions for the New Year? Please share them and help hold me accountable to these!