An unexpected guide

Now that I had decided to become Catholic, I was eager to speak with a priest. But that’s not what happened.

The first steps

I needed to figure out how to become Catholic, but Paulina had unknowingly already set things in motion. A week earlier, she had called a nearby church and asked the parish priest, Fr. Andrew, to bless our house. When she told me he would be visiting, I thought, perfect—this is my chance to ask what to do. After reading the Gospels, I had many questions and was eager to discuss them with a priest.

A few days later, Fr. Andrew arrived. He was a friendly, down-to-earth, and straightforward man, and I immediately liked him. He said a prayer and then proceeded to generously sprinkle holy water around the house. Afterwards, we invited him to sit down and have some tea.

Fr. Andrew asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Holland.

“So you’re Dutch, huh?” he concluded.

“Then you should speak with Mike. He’s also Dutch, and he just joined our parish. I’ll give you his number.”

We chatted for a bit longer, and then he left for his next appointment. I was disappointed that we hadn’t spoken about my questions. Still eager to find answers, I reached out to Mike.

It turned out that Mike was a missionary who had recently made Singapore his home and now organised Bible studies, spiritual formation and retreats for the parishioners. He was kind and knowledgeable, spoke with a real love for God, and proved to be exactly the right person to speak with. Each time we met, he patiently addressed my many questions, explained the Scriptures and shared some of his own experiences.

One of my questions was who we should pray to: Jesus or God? Mike told me to pray to the one I felt most comfortable with. It was not an “either–or”, since praying to Jesus also meant praying to God, as Jesus is God. A simple answer to a simple question.

But once we went a little deeper, things became harder to grasp. Jesus called God his Father, so the Father was God as well. How could Jesus be God and the Father be God, while Jesus and the Father were not the same? With the Holy Spirit, also God, the “equation” seemed even more impossible. We had arrived at the mystery of the Trinity: one God in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—distinct, yet sharing the same divine nature. And the Son, Jesus, is one Person with two natures: not partly divine and partly human, but fully God and fully human at the same time. It took me time to begin to grasp all this.

Another question I had concerned a firm statement Jesus had made. He told his disciples that unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. It was a line that stayed with me. To this day I remember Mike’s answer. He explained that whereas our worldly development moves toward independence, our spiritual development should move in the opposite direction: toward dependence. It is God who sustains us, even if we don't recognise our dependence on him. If he were to withdraw his presence, we would not even be able to take our next breath.

Several people had told me to “just surrender to Jesus.” What Mike had said lifted a corner of the veil, yet I still didn’t know how to surrender. I understood that it meant acknowledging I was not in control, and letting God take over—but I wasn’t ready. I was only just beginning to know Jesus.

Our discussions were a great help to me, but obviously Mike realised that I was far from ready to absorb everything at once. He suggested that I join the church’s RCIA program, which was specifically organised for adults who wanted to become Catholic. The course was about to start. Registration had already closed, but I was still able to join at the last moment.

I soon found that RCIA was perfect for me. For the next ten months, leading up to baptism at Easter, we met every Tuesday evening. I especially appreciated meeting the different priests, each of whom covered a specific topic. They introduced us to Scripture, the teachings and practices of the Church, the liturgy, prayer and—last but not least—the Catholic community. That was another thing I really liked about the course: the opportunity to meet people who were already Catholic, as well as others like me who were preparing to become Catholic.

The RCIA program allowed us to grow in faith together.

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