How I Came From Islam to Protestantism to Belief in the Real Presence

[Michie]

How many men and women throughout history have dreamt of having easy access to a king?

There is a Eucharistic chapel at St. Francis Church in Raleigh. That’s where I go on my free days to spend an hour with the Lord.

During that hour I hardly speak a word. It used to be that I probably spoke far too many words while in prayer. Sometimes a flash of piercing insight will dawn on me during that hour. Days such as that are the exception. The reason that I go there is to spend time with the One who calls us friends. Sometimes I even wonder whether he gets lonely when that room is empty.

My thoughts tend to wander, several times, during that hour. My mind gets seized by various concerns, hopes and dreams, events of the day, or events yet to come. Buddhists have a term for this: monkey mind. I once again focus on where I am whenever I catch this monkey mind by its tail. I do wish that I could remain fully present throughout the hour. Sometimes my physical presence is all that I’m able to give.

Continued below.

How I Came From Islam to Protestantism to Belief in the Real Presence

How many men and women throughout history have dreamt of having easy access to a king?

www.ncregister.com

 

[Bob Crowley]

I can relate to the paragraph towards the end Zubair Simonson's article - "It turned out that my time at Redeemer was a preparation. It was where God saw it fit for me to go during those years between my baptism and my being received by his Church. In September 2011 I finally started RCIA, at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, very eager to finally be able to partake in the Eucharist."

I was never Moslem obviously, but I was atheist at one stage. I went from atheism to Protestantism to Catholicism.

My main protestant journey was as a Presbyterian, and I learnt a lot from my old Presbyterian pastor. With hindsight I don't think I could have gone from atheism straight into the Catholic Church. There were too many hurdles, real or imagined, and I wouldn't have gotten the same personal guidance I received from the pastor and others in the Presbyterian church.

I think my time at that particular Presbyterian Church was a preparation for my eventual transition into the Catholic Church. The old pastor predicted it, saying "I think you'll become Catholic. I think God might want you to go back there" (after being taken out of it in a sense by my father's loss of his own Catholic faith).

I can empathise with Zubair Simonson's feelings about his time at Redeemer.