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!

So my anxious waiting brought forth fruit yesterday in the form of our new pope: Pope Francis! As I mentioned yesterday, I am so excited this time around as I am about to enter the church right at the same time we have a new leader of the church.

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been reading whatever I can on him and I so look forward to his leadership. Pope Francis brings with him a focus on simplicity and humility which I absolutely love. I personally struggle with humility and how wonderful it is to have a such a role model to emulate.

Simplicity is also something I am working on. Over the past year, I have slowly tried to simplify my life in subtle ways. Removing fruitless ambition, being content with what I have, giving away when I want to get, being grateful for the normalcy of a day and dialing back the busy-ness of my life as much as possible to be more quiet, internal and prayerful.

I have never been a person about the material things in life and I struggle to relate to others who are so outside-focused. I never cared much for stylish clothes (I still own — and wear — clothes I had in college!), jewelry (I have worn the same simple gold earrings most days of my adult life :)), make-up or nice cars. I would instead prefer if I am going to splurge to do so on travel. The joys of my life are being outdoors in nature, prayer, Mass, reading, spending time with my family, and whenever possible traveling (though that doesn’t happen much these days). I used to be focused on climbing the entrepreneurial ladder, but I have let that go and decided to follow God’s lead. How much more peaceful it is :).

My choice of St. Therese of Lisieux as my confirmation saint is also furthering me on this path, as her way of life is known as “the little way” and she focuses on small tasks in honor of God. Another wonderful role model.

I love the reports that Pope Francis lives in a humble abode, takes public transportation, cooks his own meals. What an incredible and rare example for such a materialistic world. I’ve also heard him compared to Mother Teresa in his simplicity and focus on the poorest of the poor. They say he is not a charismatic speaker or personality, but neither was Mother Teresa. Too often it’s the charismatic ones who get us into trouble 🙂 — a good speaker does not necessarily make a good person.

Taking the name of Francis of Assisi is also inspiring. Another saint of simplicity, poverty, focusing on the simplest of things, a love of nature and animals.

I look forward to learning more about our new pope and watching how he leads the church. Consider me a faithful follower now and “officially” as of Easter :).

I truly remember next to nothing about the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Catholicism and certainly the new pope was not on my mind. But  my how things have changed!

This time, I am completely and utterly fascinated, maybe even too much so :). It reminds me of March Madness with games of my favorite teams up while I try to work. I discovered EWTN, which I had come across on some level in the past year but didn’t realize it was entire TV channel. How exciting! I found it on our cable network (Catholic programming 24/7!) and have all the conclave coverage running live on my computer during key ceremonies and voting times, including the Smoke Cam (yes there’s a smoke cam!).

Why I am so excited? Because I am about to become Catholic. I am a mere 17 days away. As the new pope is chosen, so will I be chosen among the elect to be Catholic and how special and historic that is. This pope will be MY pope.  I can follow his papacy from the start along with the start of my Catholic journey. I am so anxious to learn about him and watch as he leads the world (and me!) in persona Christi.

How lucky I am to witness this event on the eve of my confirmation. The election of a pope happens so rarely and what amazement of this timing and what joy this Easter!

Are you following the coverage of the conclave? Are you like me — running it on your computer while you work ;-)? Well, I’d better get back to my EWTN programming — another vote is coming soon!