In preparing couples for marriage, most of the time is spent talking about the four “goods” or essential qualities for a sacramental marriage:  Permanent, Faithful, Fruitful, and “Conviviality.”  I have that last one in quotes because there is not a good word for it in English.  By “conviviality” the Church means that the husband and wife must have the intention of sharing their lives together, of walking together, helping each other along the way, as they follow Jesus.  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once described Christian love or charity as trying to help one’s beloved achieve their eternal destiny, namely heaven.  In other words, husbands and wives are called to help each other (and their children) grow in holiness.

    This weekend we are celebrating this “good” of marriage in a special way.  May of you know the Taylor family.  Dennis is currently our “deacon-in-training” (or DIT as I call him) and is an EMHC, a Lector, involved in the Boy Scouts, and volunteers for so many other things.  Mary, his wife, has been singing in our Adult Choir for many years, volunteers in the Religious Education program, and like Dennis, is always quick to volunteer to help at parish events.  Both of their children -- Ian and Michele -- are also involved in the parish.  I think they have been in the parish for over 28 years.

    Mary was keeping a secret.  OK, it wasn’t a secret, but many people did not realize that all these years she never went up to receive Holy Communion.  The reason?  Mary was not Catholic.  She was raised as an active member of the Methodist church (her sister is even a Methodist minister), but when she and Dennis got married she decided that they should all worship as a family, and they were going to raise their children as Catholics so Mary started coming every Sunday here -- first to Holy Name Church, and now Resurrection Parish.

    Mary was obviously doing her best to live a good, holy Christian life as a disciple.  I did talk to Mary about a year ago to see if she had ever been asked to become a Catholic.  She said that she had, but was not interested.  Of course that was fine with me.

    Things changed a few months later.  Mary often goes with Dennis to his deacon-in-training classes, and last January Fr. Dan Kirk was leading the class on the theology of the sacraments.  The Lord touched Mary in that class, and on the drive home she told Dennis that she had a strong desire to receive the Eucharist; that she now really believed it was Jesus’ Body and Blood.  Shortly after that, Mary came to me to say that she wanted to become a Catholic.  Since she was already baptized and a “well-formed” Christian, I judged that she did not have to go through the whole RCIA process.  She did meet with the RCIA team, and watched videos on FORMED.org with Dennis, to address some of the more specifically “Catholic” topics (e.g., the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, the sacraments).

    All that has come to fruition this weekend. At the 5 PM Mass I received Mary’s Profession of Faith as a Catholic, gave her the anointing of the sacrament of Confirmation, and she received the Body and Blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist for the first time.  Her two children stood beside her as her sponsors for Confirmation.  It was an appropriate day for this celebration because Mary and Dennis were also celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary.

    Obviously Mary and Dennis have been living their “goods” of marriage well.  They have been supporting each other in their journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.  For Mary, that journey was for her to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.  And it is with great joy that we welcome her.