Celebrating a Scrutiny is frightful!

Grant me, Lord, to know what
I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love,
to praise what delights you most,
to value what is precious in your sight,
to hate what is offensive to you.
Do not allow me to judge according
to appearances,
nor to pass sentence following
the judgment of the ignorant,
but to discern with true judgment
between things visible and spiritual,
and, above all things,
to seek to know what is the good
pleasure of your will. Amen
Thomas A. Kempis

 Today I am getting ready to celebrate the Second Scrutiny at Mass this Sunday with our RCIA group and parish community.  As we reflected last Sunday in our group, after our First Scrutiny, someone shared how frightful they had been when they heard that they would be celebrating a Scrutiny at Mass!  Although I thought I had done a good job preparing us all for the Scrutinies, this person reminded me that I had forgotten to see outside of my lens.  Of course! This should be frightful for anyone who is taking this celebration seriously.

Our group has been journeying together for many months now and together they began by inquiring of the community what our Catholic faith is really about. Together we have been scrutinizing our parish community. Our group has examined what the Church believes and how it responds to what it believes.  That process is painful at times, because our Church is made up of sinners and we can’t white wash the times when whom we said we were and how we acted were in conflict with one another.

Most times it is the newcomer who points out the good in our Church.  They will share the good news of what led them to the Catholic Church, how the Holy Spirit pointed the way to our church through a person, an event, or an experience.  This is where I am renewed in my own faith, when I see how God continues to call everyone to Himself, without discriminating between ethnicity, nationality, race, class, sexuality, age, etc.  Each person who visits us through RCIA is someone whom God has moved their heart enough to "come and see" for themselves.

Now during the period of Lent, the Rites of Scrutinies are meant to be for each one of us; whether we are coming into the Church, or already part of the Church through our baptism, the Church uses this period to nudge us to scrutinize ourselves.  Yes, that should be frightening, because if we are honest we should see ourselves for who we really are:  how we may have deviated from the path that Christ calls us to each day.  We discern: Where have I not loved what I ought to love?  When have I not delighted in God’s blessings?  When I have not rejected what is offensive to God? When have I judged others and not been compassionate enough to share in their pain; instead I may have distracted myself with selfish goals or numbed myself of my pain with destructive addictions?  The answers to these questions can disturb us, because we may consider ourselves to be “ok” or even worse “not sinful”.  Part of the journey of Lent is to see our sinfulness, accept that we need the Lord as our savior and we need his sacraments to nourish us on our walk of faith.  On our own we are easily lost.  Together we rejoice that our Lord has already redeemed us. 

So, now I prepare the Rite and I reflect on my own faith journey I am touched by the conversations I am having with the group and realizing once more that it is through our Elect that God reminds me  to “move outside of my box” and allow myself to be “frightened” enough to respond humbly in prayer…. “God I am a sinner. Thank you for loving me anyway!”