Are you considering becoming a Catholic? Are you thinking about taking your Catholic life seriously, if you had neglected it? I do not know if converting to Catholicism is a good idea. If I was you, I would think it carefully before taking the next step. Catholicism is not a “well-being club.” To be Catholic is to be a little crazy. A little crazy of love for Christ, and a little crazy of love for Mary and, consequently, a little crazy of love for others. And being crazy in such “rational” world is not easy. And the crazy things we Catholics do, many times bother those who are not Catholic, because most of the time they are taken as an accusation that those who are so “rational”…are…wrong. But that is not our intention: what happens is that we live “crazily” and, according to this world’s “good sense,” our lives should be a complete disaster. Nonetheless, against all odds, our lives are full of joy!
Therefore, let this little article serve as a warning: if you are thinking about converting to Catholicism, you will become, almost inevitably, a “strange” person. Maybe you will even become a happy person, and nothing jars so much in this saddened world we live in as a genuinely happy person. Committed Catholicism is a one-way route. Do not say we did not warn you.
I write this article partly as a joke, but also seriously. Seriously since all things related to God are serious, but that does not mean they have to be boring, or necessarily solemn. In essence, humor invites reflection. And when we have to compare what is negligible with that that is sublime, a viable way of doing it is humor: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1Cor 1:25).
1.Beware! You can find the meaning of life.
Catholics believe that God created us with a purpose and that, if we manage to discover that purpose, we can aspire to sainthood. And what is sainthood? To complicate one’s life unnecessarily. To make difficult what is easy. Not taking any shortcuts. To resolve to reach a goal and accomplish it with God’s help. To enter by the narrow gate. And how is it possible that by making everything more difficult we still have time to be happy? Well, that is the secret. Sainthood is God’s plan for our lives, and if we follow God’s plan, how could we ever be unhappy? Even martyrdom is gain, because we do not place our happiness in this life, but in the incredible reward God has prepared for us…”What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard…” (1Cor 2:9)
2.Perhaps buying a new car will not longer be a priority.
Perhaps finding the meaning of life will change your priorities and what seemed important before, like having a new car, will become something secondary. What is dangerous about this is that these priorities will be replaced by completely “ridiculous” things, like participating in a religious formation class, or helping the victims of an earthquake. Pay attention: Christianity will turn your priorities upside-down. And we will end up looking crazy. Crazy of love for our neighbor, and less crazy of love for the new car.
3.Attention! You might want to have more than one child. Two, three, four…
“All the children God might send!” “How so? All the children He might send? How reckless! Children need the newest technologies to be happy! How are you going to bring a child to the world if you do not have enough money to guarantee his education in the best schools?” This is something else in which us Catholics are crazy. Crazy of love for our children. And we give them the most valuable and exclusive thing one can find in today’s world: time, quality time, spent just in loving them, listening to them, and nurturing them. This is why, despite not having the newest tablet, or wearing mended clothes, our children grow up to be confident and happy persons.
4.You might stop supporting abortion, divorce, euthanasia, etc…
Catholics are basically against mostly everything the world stands for, since we strive to keep an opinion opposed to the dominant culture. We are always “out of fashion. ” We are against abortion, divorce, euthanasia…because we do not like the easy way out! We believe everything has meaning in this life, even suffering! So, why don’t we just live our faith and let others live as they please? Once again, the answer is: because we are crazy. We believe that everyone has the right to know the truth, and we also believe that we have to offer this truth to everyone. This is what we call “being yeast in the dough.”
5.And what if you discover that you are called to religious life?
Some crazy Catholics say that God showed them that they have to devote their entire lives to Him. “Their whole life?” “Yes!” “Without any conditions?” “Unconditionally!” “And what is the trick?” “There is no trick.” Just for the love of God and others, this crazy Catholics dare to live the most unbelievable adventures, like teaching the Gospel to the poor in Tanzania, or in the midst of war in Syria and Iraq, or to extremely poor communities in the Philippines. And as if it was not difficult enough in itself, they commit to live in celibacy for the rest of their lives! They are our favorite crazy people, and according to the worldly standards, they should be the saddest and most miserable persons in the world….Nonetheless, they are tremendouslyhappy!
6.Warning! If you are Catholic, you will always celebrate!
In January we finish the Christmas Octave (our celebrations are so big that they do not fit in a single day), and then we celebrate the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Then, in the following days we celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and a couple of days later we have the celebration of the Epiphany! Not even a week has passed in the new year, and the celebration that started with Christmas, continues. Catholics believe that life is a celebration, and therefore we have to celebrate. And the celebration continues throughout the year: February with the Presentation of the Lord, Our Lady of Lourdes, and the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle; in March, with Saint Joseph, and the Annunciation of the Lord (when Easter does not fall in March, it falls in April), and so it continues throughout the year.
7.Maybe you will agree with the Pope!
We read the documents the Pope writes, we study them, and write books, and give conferences about them. Why? What makes more than 1000 million people follow each word this elderly man says? Well, the answer is easy: the things this elderly man says make a lot of sense, and every time we follow him, we are convinced that what he says is the truth. The great truths that have make the world uncomfortable have come, in the last 20 centuries, from the mouth or the pen of a Pope. And when the world gets uncomfortable, is generally because the Pope has touched upon the cause of the evil that afflicts humanity.
8.And if you become such a “strange” person, will you not be persecuted?
That is guaranteed! Persecution is almost the watermark that help us distinguish a true Catholic from a “comfortable” Catholic. Are you being persecuted? Then you certainly are a good Catholic! It happened to the best of our own, starting with Our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the point where everything gets interesting: for us, those persecutions are rewards! Are we crazy? Well, I believe I already mentioned it about a couple of times before in this article. Jesus told us, in the Beatitudes, “to be happy whenever we were persecuted.” Why? Because our reward in Heaven will be great! Does Jesus consider us worthy of suffering for His Name? Then we must be doing something right!
9.Maybe you will become aware that you are a great sinner.
But as the well-known saying says: “for great ailments, great remedies.” We have the sacrament of Reconciliation, to which we can resort to as many times as needed! Did you sin? Go to Confession! Did you sin again? Confess again! What? To confess all your sins to another sinner? What craziness is that?! The craziness of the Mercy of God, who left us a sacrament to forgive all our sins! It does not matter how big your sins are, the confessor has an experienced ear! Besides, he is also a sinner, thus he will treat you with exquisite mercy. And once you get out of the confessionary… What a relief of the soul! It feels as if we had been carrying a burden the size of the world in our soul and then, suddenly it is gone after Confession. The relief is COMPLETE! There is no other way to recognize that we are great sinners without experiencing God’s Mercy.
10.And the most dangerous thing of all: You could finally be happy.
And in order to be happy one must be able to take things lightly. That is how us Catholics are. We do not take danger too seriously, because we put all our trust in God. Can we be happy in the midst of the calamities of this world? We can, because we know that our stay in this world is only temporary, and all the calamities we can live here are nothing compared to the incredible benefits that God will reward as with if we endure them patiently. But, also, since we do not get easily discouraged, we know that God calls us to fight these calamities, and that we have to change the world. And since we do not trust in our own strength, but God’s, we know that we can actually change it, and that makes us very happy!
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