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Did you convert?
- Thread starter Adammi
- Start date
- Status
Irenaeus
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus!
I just wanted to say, all of your testimonies are wonderful. Several of you have been given reputation points. 
I'll try to keep my reversion story short and sweet.
***Warning, some graphic imagery***
I was baptised Catholic on the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas, January 28, 1988. I was born on St. Augustine's Birthday, November 13, 1987. I often joke to my friends that God may have appointed Church doctors as my spirirtual tutors.
In any case, my Mom and Dad taught me the commandments young...but most of you who have been around the world know that what is "wrong" to many people is basically what isn't "nice." That was my morality...not to do what wasn't nice. That didn't last very long.
I was very much a pre-conversion St. Augustine when I began to hit teenagehood at age 12. I was extremely lascivious, if not in my actions, then in my thoughts. Toward others, I was an incorrigible liar, gossip, and slanderer. I remember my one friend waving to me and asking me how I was, and me flipping him (and three other people) the bird because I was in a bad mood.
I calumnated constantly and was addicted to pleasure and had a very luxurious taste that I still try to combat through prayer and mortification; I guess you could call be the soil with the thorns from the parable. I was very often doted on by my Mother, being the only child. Now I can't stand to be doted on - I like to stand on my own two feet on the world, holding the hand of Jesus, and letting him take me where he wants.
I loathed quiet and stillness, I was immensely popular (in my own mind) among my peers, but terribly insecure.
When I was 13 my Grandmother died and I had an appendectomy shortly after, with severe blood poisoning. Both these encounters with mortality fixed my gaze upon myself, which I had tried to avoid. As Augustine would say, "You were within, but I was without." I was very much like that.
One night I vomitted all over myself in the hospital and it was around 2 AM. The nurse would not come. Even in the morning when she did come, the vomit was still on me. I could hear the groaning of other patients in pain. I began to pray for my first time in a long time. I begged God to forgive me and take me from that place. The next day, my white blood cell count was stable and they sent me home.
The recovery was arduous. I had no appetite for two weeks, I could see my ribs clearly and had dropped twenty pounds in three weeks.
I still talked with my friends and they kept me back in the world, but I kept remembering my near brush with death. Eventually, I began to listen to gospel music. At first I found it almost brainwashing, but I discovered in it a love and a pure affection that I never truly had heard before; a yearning in the voice, a peace in the melody.
One day while walking home from school, meditating on these things, I was walking up the hill that comes to a circle from which you can see the final stretch of road that leads to my house; beyond you can see the nearby lake, the forest, and also a highway.
As I began to ascend the hill, I felt this hot coolness, I have no idea how to describe it. I don't know if it started near my chest or my feet, but all of a sudden, I felt this love, this light, this fragrance which surpasses all material olfactory sense. Literally, in a second, I was convinced of the truths of the faith, which I had learned in CCD before, preparing for Confirmation, but never really believed.
I came home and immediately began reading the Bible. Day and night. On the bus, on the computer, in my room, in the bathroom, lying on my bed, riding in cars, airplanes..on vacations, at home, in school. I began with the book of Job, funny enough.
The first verse I memorized was Job 28:28, "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding."
Very soon after that I was confirmed. I would have stayed Catholic, if not for my Aunt.
I'm sure all of you know that I left the Catholic Church because my Charismatic Protestant Aunt said they were unbiblical, etc. etc. I think God permitted me to become Protestant, because it forced me to study the Word of God even more, because I find (sadly) they are constantly arguing over matters of doctrine. I had to know my sword, the Word of God. This aids me to this day.
Anyway, after studying the Bible nonstop for two and a half years straight, I was led back to the Church. I would rather not belabor all of you with the doctrinal facts which I had to weed out, although they were important.
I'll leave it to this: the Eucharist called me, and Mary led me. I remember once flipping on EWTN and watching a program on Akita. I asked the Mother of God in my prayers, "I am sorry, but if you truly can pray for me, I am sorry that I do not acknowledge you."
I've spoken of my dream I had before on this forum...
As a Calvinist who believed in Perseverance of the Saints, I believed God would bring me to salvation, because I was his elect. However, as I constantly fell, I began to question it. One night I had a dream, that I still remember vividly.
I was in my old Catholic Church on my knees, about to receive the Eucharist. As the host almost touched my tongue, the Priest turned around and walked back toward the altar. I immediately fell prostrate on the floor, screaming, "If I cannot have him, I cannot live!" The Priest turned his head to me with his back still facing me and said, "You are not worthy to receive him now."
I got up, thoroughly shaken, and made an appointment for Confession. After I was done, I felt as right as rain.
The first time I received the Eucharist, seeing it with the eyes of faith, my joy was indescribable. I started saying the Rosary daily. Last August, on the same weekend I came back to the Church the previous year (St. Augustine's Feast Day, Aug. 28) I made my Consecration to Jesus through Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort. I hope now, in the faith in Christ, to live a life of love to the glory of the eternal Father. I trust in the mercy of God and the prayers of my Lady to bring this poor wretched sinner and make a saint out of me.
I'm sorry I am so talkative on these things; I hope though that one may look at this and perhaps see a friend, a relative, an enemy or themselves..and may know that miracles can happen, and God, in his love for human souls, will overturn the world to save just one. I leave you with the last words of Augustine's Confessions,
GRATIAS TIBI, DOMINE !!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll try to keep my reversion story short and sweet.
***Warning, some graphic imagery***
I was baptised Catholic on the Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas, January 28, 1988. I was born on St. Augustine's Birthday, November 13, 1987. I often joke to my friends that God may have appointed Church doctors as my spirirtual tutors.
In any case, my Mom and Dad taught me the commandments young...but most of you who have been around the world know that what is "wrong" to many people is basically what isn't "nice." That was my morality...not to do what wasn't nice. That didn't last very long.
I was very much a pre-conversion St. Augustine when I began to hit teenagehood at age 12. I was extremely lascivious, if not in my actions, then in my thoughts. Toward others, I was an incorrigible liar, gossip, and slanderer. I remember my one friend waving to me and asking me how I was, and me flipping him (and three other people) the bird because I was in a bad mood.
I calumnated constantly and was addicted to pleasure and had a very luxurious taste that I still try to combat through prayer and mortification; I guess you could call be the soil with the thorns from the parable. I was very often doted on by my Mother, being the only child. Now I can't stand to be doted on - I like to stand on my own two feet on the world, holding the hand of Jesus, and letting him take me where he wants.
I loathed quiet and stillness, I was immensely popular (in my own mind) among my peers, but terribly insecure.
When I was 13 my Grandmother died and I had an appendectomy shortly after, with severe blood poisoning. Both these encounters with mortality fixed my gaze upon myself, which I had tried to avoid. As Augustine would say, "You were within, but I was without." I was very much like that.
One night I vomitted all over myself in the hospital and it was around 2 AM. The nurse would not come. Even in the morning when she did come, the vomit was still on me. I could hear the groaning of other patients in pain. I began to pray for my first time in a long time. I begged God to forgive me and take me from that place. The next day, my white blood cell count was stable and they sent me home.
The recovery was arduous. I had no appetite for two weeks, I could see my ribs clearly and had dropped twenty pounds in three weeks.
I still talked with my friends and they kept me back in the world, but I kept remembering my near brush with death. Eventually, I began to listen to gospel music. At first I found it almost brainwashing, but I discovered in it a love and a pure affection that I never truly had heard before; a yearning in the voice, a peace in the melody.
One day while walking home from school, meditating on these things, I was walking up the hill that comes to a circle from which you can see the final stretch of road that leads to my house; beyond you can see the nearby lake, the forest, and also a highway.
As I began to ascend the hill, I felt this hot coolness, I have no idea how to describe it. I don't know if it started near my chest or my feet, but all of a sudden, I felt this love, this light, this fragrance which surpasses all material olfactory sense. Literally, in a second, I was convinced of the truths of the faith, which I had learned in CCD before, preparing for Confirmation, but never really believed.
I came home and immediately began reading the Bible. Day and night. On the bus, on the computer, in my room, in the bathroom, lying on my bed, riding in cars, airplanes..on vacations, at home, in school. I began with the book of Job, funny enough.
The first verse I memorized was Job 28:28, "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding."
Very soon after that I was confirmed. I would have stayed Catholic, if not for my Aunt.
I'm sure all of you know that I left the Catholic Church because my Charismatic Protestant Aunt said they were unbiblical, etc. etc. I think God permitted me to become Protestant, because it forced me to study the Word of God even more, because I find (sadly) they are constantly arguing over matters of doctrine. I had to know my sword, the Word of God. This aids me to this day.
Anyway, after studying the Bible nonstop for two and a half years straight, I was led back to the Church. I would rather not belabor all of you with the doctrinal facts which I had to weed out, although they were important.
I'll leave it to this: the Eucharist called me, and Mary led me. I remember once flipping on EWTN and watching a program on Akita. I asked the Mother of God in my prayers, "I am sorry, but if you truly can pray for me, I am sorry that I do not acknowledge you."
I've spoken of my dream I had before on this forum...
As a Calvinist who believed in Perseverance of the Saints, I believed God would bring me to salvation, because I was his elect. However, as I constantly fell, I began to question it. One night I had a dream, that I still remember vividly.
I was in my old Catholic Church on my knees, about to receive the Eucharist. As the host almost touched my tongue, the Priest turned around and walked back toward the altar. I immediately fell prostrate on the floor, screaming, "If I cannot have him, I cannot live!" The Priest turned his head to me with his back still facing me and said, "You are not worthy to receive him now."
I got up, thoroughly shaken, and made an appointment for Confession. After I was done, I felt as right as rain.
The first time I received the Eucharist, seeing it with the eyes of faith, my joy was indescribable. I started saying the Rosary daily. Last August, on the same weekend I came back to the Church the previous year (St. Augustine's Feast Day, Aug. 28) I made my Consecration to Jesus through Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort. I hope now, in the faith in Christ, to live a life of love to the glory of the eternal Father. I trust in the mercy of God and the prayers of my Lady to bring this poor wretched sinner and make a saint out of me.
I'm sorry I am so talkative on these things; I hope though that one may look at this and perhaps see a friend, a relative, an enemy or themselves..and may know that miracles can happen, and God, in his love for human souls, will overturn the world to save just one. I leave you with the last words of Augustine's Confessions,
GRATIAS TIBI, DOMINE !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Baptized in the Moravian Church at age 25, then continued to follow my historian's instinct until I was finally received into the Catholic Church 5.5 years ago. Thanks be to God!
Sam
Sam
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de Unamuno
Active Member
- Jan 8, 2004
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ProCommunioneFacior
I'm an ultra-traditionalist, run for your life ;)
- Oct 30, 2003
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CrystalBrooke
I'm almost positive I don't care what you think
born, raised, and baptised Baptist, i recently discovered that, that wasnt enough. my parents will hear of no such thing when it comes to me converting, so im learning and studying it now, and when i turn 18, my mom said i could do whatever i wanted, which in my case will be to convert officially to Catholicism...and i just get this wonderful feeling just thinking about it
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I am a cradle Catholic, not using the Catholic Icon(yet) because i am still finding my way towards it.
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