Episode 01: Inquiry
The Inherent Good of Asking Questions
An opening mediation
“Seek not greatness, but seek truth and you will find both. ”
For those of you who know me personally, you already have reasons to feel sorry for my mother. For those of you who don't, let's just say I was an inquisitive child who would never let a question go until satisfying explanations where provided, by any means necessary. Sometimes this persistence got me into trouble, sometimes a lot of trouble. It is fair to say I never learned my lesson, as I am still asking hard questions and bearing the consequences. One particular unsettled question actually steered my life in a whole new direction.
I could not have been more than seven when I began to dog my Sunday School teacher with all the persistence of the Spanish Inquisition. The subject, Noah's Ark, should be safe for a 1st grade Sunday morning lesson, but up my hand went, and life was never the same. "Noah really put all the animals on the ark? Even the Dinosaurs?" I followed her reply:, "no, there were no dinosaurs on the ark, " with a whole new barrage of questions. Why not? What happened to them? Did they not fit? Would Noah let them drown? Is that why they all went extinct? I was relentless. Eventually, she tried to steer me in another direction. "Well they must have gone extinct before Noah built his ark."
Great, progress. Good thing we had covered God creating the world the week before. Up my hand goes again, "So then Adam named the dinosaurs along with the other animals? Where they the first in line? They aren't mentioned in the list from the story you read us last week. It mentioned the great sea monsters, but not the land-osaurs. Why not? They were just as big, some bigger and scarier, how could God mention the Elasmosaurus and not the T-Rex? At this point, I was shamed into silence for disturbing the class AND she told my mother.
My mother, of course, needed to know why I was rude to the teacher. "I just wanted to know why God killed the Dinosaurs. They must have been there when God made the other animals, but they didn't get to go on the Ark, and not all of them can swim. It doesn't seem fair to leave them behind. It's not their fault they're big." Then I went quiet. My mom, being reprieved of having to answer these questions herself, decided to let the matter go. She's good like that.
But this question plagued me without answer for a great while. Eventually, I became a scientist and thought that would supply all the answers, but what I really learned was how to ask and answer better questions. In biology, we learn that while many dinosaurs went extinct, some evolved into present day birds. There were birds on the Ark; in fact, without the dove, Noah would never have gotten off. So that would have satisfied 7-year-old me.
But older me was only beginning to ask questions. With the freedom that comes with college and Boston being somewhat bereft of Southern Baptist churches, I was left largely to my own religious devices. My home church dutifully mailed me a tape of Sunday's sermon, but a cold recording is no replacement for a real church community. So I ventured out to find a new church home. I went anywhere friends invited me, regardless of denomination. Suddenly I was aware of how little I knew about the wider Christian community. There were liturgical seasons, prescribed readings, and kneeling. I was a stranger in a strange land I thought I had called home all my life.
Over my four years of college, I learned about many religions through attending services, reading, and most importantly asking questions. By the end of college, I was asked to participate in a senior privilege at the campus chapel's Protestant service. "This I believe" is a series of reflections given by graduating seniors about their faith journey during college given on the last Sunday of the school year. I was terrified of this. What did I actually believe?
In the end, honesty is always the best policy. So I told the truth. "This is what I can say for sure: there is a God and it is a Christian God. Otherwise, I have no certain answers or even a denomination to call myself. I am Eustace at the beginning of the Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis. I am standing at the edge of a cliff and a lion is asking me to jump. Faith compels me forward and I have landed on a soft cloud carrying me gently to the ground, but where the journey ends I cannot say. I can only say that I am thankful for my time here. This community has shown me great kindness, answering my barrage of questions with wisdom and love. It is because of you that I have learned it is ok to leap."
Not long after this speech, I found Crossing the Threshold of Hope by Pope John Paul II lying on a table in a bookstore. It was a series of questions JPII answered for an atheist journalist and it rang true as a perspective on faith that brought all of the pieces together, but still seemed so unknown. I was raised to believe that Catholics aren't really Christians. So I tried to put it out of my mind. Though this reminded me that I wasn't sure how my current Methodist denomination would answer this journalist’s questions either, so I asked the assistant pastor, with whom I was friends. As lovingly as she answered my questions, I still found I believed JPII had the better answer. Then, I tired ignoring it. That lasted only awhile. A few years later, a Catholic friend invited me to an Ash Wednesday mass. I had missed my own church's service so I went along. I could see so much of the things Pope John Paul II had discussed in his book going on around me. Thus, I knew when I left that my cloud had safely landed and I had found my home.
The RCIA process I began the following Fall ultimately meant I never went another Easter without communion and I was beginning my new Catholic journey.
We all come to RCIA at different stages of life with different questions, different baggage, but the same desire. We are all here seeking truth. So ask your questions. Express your doubts. Our community will answer with wisdom and love.
Take the leap. I cannot promise you where you will land, but it will be worth the journey.
Weekly
Prayer
Intentions
To be prayed daily
Pause for some silence
Pause for some silence
The Sign of the Cross
Start by touching your right hand to your forehead, then your stomach, followed by your left and right shoulders while saying "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen"
My longing for truth
For the longing for truth that you have planted deep within me. It is not going to be fobbed off with empty promises, Simplistic solutions, or hollow phrases. I ask you, my Father, to help me look at the truth of my own life., At all that is genuine and all that is false, at all that is true and al the lies, At all the fullness and all the emptiness. I trust in you, my Father, to come into my life And brighten my darkness with your light, And be for me the Truth that will fill all my longing.
Amen.
Specific intentions:
Lord, help me to understand what motivates me to explore Catholicism.
Lord, let me ask my questions about honestly and directly.
Lord, give me the courage to accept the answers that I receive with an open mind.
Personal intentions:
Please add your own intentions here.
Our Father:
Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Glory Be:
Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end, Amen.
Weekly
Journal
Prompt
Other Resources
In this week's reflection, The Inherent Good of Asking Questions, we learned how my own faith took many twists and turns before coming to see embracing the Catholic faith as a necessary step in my life. Stop and look back at your own faith journey for a few minutes. What has your own faith been like up to now? Is it missing something? Who first introduced you to Catholicism? What brings you here to explore Catholicism? What appeals to you about the Catholic faith as an outsider looking in? Take a few minutes to write down your thoughts on these personal reflections.
Resources for Finding Answers
Resources straight from the source:
The following resources come from the Church itself. All are free to read online.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
In reading the "Catechism of the Catholic Church "we can perceive the wonderful unity of the mystery of God..." - Pope John Paul II The Catechism is a complete explanation of all the Catholic Church professes.
The online version can also be found here.
The Compendium of the Catechism
Consider this the Spark Notes version. The Catechism can be dense at first and the Q&A format can be helpful in finding answers.
The online version can also be found here.
United States Catholic Catechism for Adults
Written under the direction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Catechism for Adults breaks down the topics from the Catechism into smaller chunks with stories from American Catholic saints and leaders for inspiration.
Weekly Activity
This week your task is simple.
An important part of anyone's faith journey is community. The first vital step after knowing what questions you have is to get used to talking to others about faith, especially your own. To help you get this level of comfort, this week, your task is to ask a Catholic some questions about their faith. Some questions are provided, but you can also add some of your own. If you don't know anyone who is Catholic, let us know and we can help you find someone to talk to.
Feel free to poll multiple people!
Questions to ask:
How long have you been Catholic?
How often do you attend mass?
What do you like most about being Catholic?
Is there anything you dislike?
For those who grew up Catholic: Would you still chose Catholicism for yourself, if you hadn't been raised Catholic?
For converts: Why did you convert?
Enjoy your conversations.