As Billy Osborne sat outside St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, on the eve of being welcomed into the Catholic Church he was overwhelmed with emotion. Source: Catholic Outlook.
His journey to this point had been a long one, he said, but now that he was so close to receiving the three Sacraments of Initiation – Baptism, Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist – in front of such a large congregation at the Easter Vigil, everything was welling up to the surface.
“I’m feeling every emotion possible,” the 29-year-old catechumen from Granville said. “Scared, worried, happy, joyful, nervous, excited, it’s just all muddled into one.”
Then, afterwards, he would feel at peace and ready to start his new life.
“I will just stay focused on Jesus and what he wants from me on this earth now,” he said.
And the first thing he would do on Easter Sunday is go back to church and “take the Eucharist again”.
Mr Osborne was one of three catechumens being presented during Mass on Saturday evening, which was celebrated by Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta.
The other two were Glen Cameron, 32, from Melrose Park, and Vy Tran, 33, from Parramatta.
In his homily, Bishop Long welcomed the three new members of the Catholic family, as well as all those at other parishes around the Diocese, and said what united all Catholics was the power of the resurrection.
“The essence of Christian hope is contained in the abundant life that Jesus brought about through his death and resurrection,” he said.
“The whole point of the risen Christ is our human capacity to become a new type of person who can do new things for a new heaven and a new earth.”
FULL STORY
‘I will just stay focused on Jesus’: new Catholics welcomed at Easter Vigil (By Antony Lawes, Catholic Outlook)
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