The Vancouver Follower

On March 31st, 2018, I will be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. I will receive the sacraments of Confirmation and Communion, which is something that I have longed for for a couple years.  My story is simple, fundamentally rooted in God’s grace working in the world. There are many touching moments in my life where I can say, “Ahh, see, God is really at work here.” In filling out the information sheet for the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), one of the questions was, “Who inspired you to join RCIA?” In retrospect, one of the answers I should have given was His Holiness, Pope Francis. The Election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013. At the time I was just leaving middle school and entering into high school. It was at this point that I was beginning to understand, even though it was at a basic level, the things that were happening around me. The election of Pope Francis would prove to change the course of my life in a way that I could not have predicted....

Ten months. Ten months ago, I started to satisfy my hunger with soup because I was afraid of eating carbohydrates. Ten months ago, I decided I wasn’t allowed to feel ‘full’ anymore. Ten months ago, I looked in the mirror, at my stomach and felt absolutely defeated. I started restricting my food intake last October, and continued to do so because there were no immediate consequences. I still had energy, I was doing well in school, and I seemed to have everything more or less together. But, when I saw my ribs poking through the skin of my back one day, I knew my desire to exert control over every aspect of my life had turned into something extremely detrimental. I knew this physical weakness was a result of not fully entrusting my heart to Him, the one who made it; I had failed to nourish the body that housed my heart. I had not respected my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit and instead of letting the Spirit free me, I’d tied it up in chains. I had forsaken the Father. There was ...