Among the seekers at inquiry sessions and the candidates and catechumens in Sunday RCIA classes, one’s Personal Faith Journey is currency. It is asked for and shared like a business card whenever new faces attend, or even when the old ones feel like hearing it again. Even at the Rite of Acceptance, in front of a thousand people, the priest hands the shaking neophyte a microphone and asks, though not in so many words, What could have possibly brought you here?
My story, frustratingly, changes with each telling. I don’t rehearse it, and so I forget bits, I emphasize or de-emphasize incorrectly, and I’m sure I sound totally incoherent. Looking back (I am 25 now), I can only recall the dots, a few insights…