Today I would like to offer a brief summary of terms we use in the Church which we use, I think, for no other reason than to confuse people…

This weekend we begin the first of three scrutinies with our catechumens and candidates. Lost yet?

Let’s start with the people. Catechumens are people who have never been baptized who now seek to become Catholic. They have felt the movement of the Holy Spirit within them to live life on a deeper level in their relationship with God. Candidates are those who have already been baptized in some Christian church. We do not re-baptize people. As long as they have been baptized in water in the Name of the Father of and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church recognizes it as a valid baptism. They have heard the call to live out their Christian Faith with the Catholic Church.

The Scrutinies are what they sound like. When you scrutinize something, you examine it closely. At the 9:30 AM Mass for these three weeks, we as the Catholic People, will ask questions of the catechumens and candidates, to affirm their calling to the Catholic Church. The 9:30 AM Masses will use special readings. This Sunday, we hear of the story of Jesus meeting a woman at a well. Next week will be the story of the blind man regaining his sight. And the final week we hear of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Each of these stories show us a process of conversion. Stay tuned. They are great stories!

Our faith is completely focused on the Holy Triduum. Huh? The Triduum is the three days when we celebrate the central mystery of our faith — Holy Thursday (the day of the Last Supper); Good Friday (the day Jesus died on the Cross); and Easter Sunday (the day of Resurrection). That’s The Pascal Mystery — short-hand for the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the center of our faith. It is the whole reason we are Catholic!

This year it happens we don’t have any catechumens, but we do have candidates. At the great Easter Vigil, they will affirm their faith in Christ through the Catholic Church. They become a part of our community. They will be confirmed and receive Holy Communion for the first time. It is a beautiful liturgy, and I urge you to join us.

After they have been received into the Church, our candidates will enter into a period of Mystagogy. Don’t worry. It’s not as painful as it sounds. It is merely the time when our new Catholics (neophytes) through meditation in the Gospel, participation in the Eucharist and acts of charity and justice, make progress in understanding the Paschal Mystery. Please pray for our candidates!

So there you have it. There’s a sampling of our “Catholic jargon.”