In His Mercy He has Led You Here

By David Reising

This upcoming Saturday, May 23, a small group of already baptized Christians will become Catholic during the 4:30 pm Mass. After the homily, Father will invite those becoming Catholic to come forward. We will all recite the Creed together, and at the end of the Creed, those becoming Catholic will say, “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims as revealed by God.”

Father then receives each individual into full communion with the Catholic Church by saying their name and declaring, “The Lord receives you into the Catholic Church. In his mercy he has led you here, so that in the Holy Spirit you may have full communion with us in the faith you have professed before this his family.”

Whether we have just recently become Catholic or we have been Catholic our entire lives, do these same words not apply to us today? “In his mercy he has led you here.”

In his mercy, he creates us. In his mercy, he reveals himself to us. In his mercy, he redeems us and makes us members of his mystical body, the Church. And in his mercy, he sends us forth to share his mercy.

As we hear those becoming Catholic say, “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims as revealed by God”, let us reflect on our own lives and how we can, with the help of God’s grace, better live out these words, so that, seeing our good works, others may give glory to God (cf. Mt. 5:16) and turn to his mercy.