Since young, I have always been exposed to Christianity, to Biblical stories, to Jesus. Everything I learnt and heard about Jesus, I loved it. My parents were Buddhists but they were supportive parents who believed in letting their children decide for themselves whichever religion they were inclined to. Despite that, I never did take a step towards the faith because there were still doubts in me. Being the cynic that I am, I was consistently questioning if God was really there, if God really loved everyone, etc.
The turning point came to me at the start of last year when I was going through a low point in life. I was feeling particularly stressed out at work and I found myself constantly questioning my purpose and meaning in life. One day, while I was feeling lost and depressed after a day of work, I received a message from an ex-colleague who I had not been in touch with for a long time. She had suddenly thought of me and shared with me a link to Psalm 121, A song of ascents. The lyrics “He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber” and “The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life” really called out to me at that time. At that moment, it felt like God was speaking to me through my ex-colleague to comfort me and remind me that despite the loneliness and fatigue that I was feeling, he was actually there with me, every step of the way. Those words brought me immense comfort.
From that moment, I started to believe in God. I started to believe in his presence and I started to feel his presence everywhere around me, in the form of my friends and the people around me. I wanted to learn more about God and to put my trust in him. That led me to take the first step to reach out to Valerie Liow, my sponsor, who was also my colleague. She brought me to RCIA where I met many like-minded people there. The Catechumens there came from a spectrum of different age groups and once again, I thought, “Ah… There is no such thing as loving God too late.” The sponsors there are all very friendly and welcoming people. Every RCIA session with them is always filled with laughter and no judgement from them, no matter what you share. Hearing their testimonies was a very humbling and touching experience for me. Father JJ and Father Chong were also very patient with all of us and never failed to answer our multiple questions about the faith.
It was unfortunate that COVID-19 struck us at the start of the year and many of us were very worried that it would drag on and our Baptism would be postponed. We were right. Missing baptism during Easter period was definitely a damper. I think many of my fellow Elects in RCIA were very disappointed as it was something we were all excited and eagerly looking forward to. Strangely, even though baptism was postponed, I did not feel as upset as I thought I would be. Maybe it was because to me, Baptism was me pledging my love to God. Not being able to pledge my love to him does not make my love for him any less. It felt like God was telling me that if I was truly ready to be a Catholic, what’s wrong with being patient and waiting until Baptism?
I’m very blessed to have such a loving RCIA community that learnt to work around this pandemic. Despite not being able to attend RCIA sessions and go to church, we still have our weekly sessions over Zoom. They are the ones who have being constantly nourishing me spiritually as a Catholic. Meeting them weekly reminds me that I’m never alone in this faith. I look forward to continuing my journey with Christ and with my fellow brothers and sisters of the church!