Faith, Hope, and Love. A Retreat on My Journey to Becoming Catholic

Today I attended an OCIA retreat at my church with the other candidates preparing to enter the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. The entire day was centered around three simple but powerful words: faith, hope, and love.

They’re words I’ve heard many times in Scripture. But during this journey toward becoming Catholic, they’ve begun to take on a deeper meaning in my life.

Something that was really special was when the deacon anointed our hands with oil. He prayed over us and marked us with what is called the Oil of Catechumens.

Naturally, I had to look up the history of this tradition. In the Catholic Church, there are three sacred oils used in the sacraments and this was one of those oils! The Oil of Catechumens is used specifically for those preparing for baptism. The tradition goes all the way back to the early Church.

Catechumens were anointed with oil as a sign of strength, protection, and preparation for the spiritual life ahead.

Oil in Scripture often represents being set apart for God. Kings, prophets, and priests were anointed as a sign that God had chosen them for a mission.

For those who are preparing for baptism, this anointing symbolizes something similar: that God is strengthening us for the new life we are about to enter. Pretty amazing!

Having my hands anointed felt incredibly meaningful and traditional. Our hands represent the things we do, the way we live, and how we serve others. It felt like a quiet reminder that my life is slowly being shaped by something greater than myself.

There was another really special moment where we were all given a letter to read. The letters were from our sponsors. The letter my sponsor wrote me made me cry! It was super sweet and I’m blessed to have her alongside me on this journey. After we read our letters we had to write our own about what faith, hope, and love mean to us personally.

This is what I wrote.

Faith, Hope, and Love

Faith, hope and love have taken a deeper meaning for me during my journey toward becoming Catholic. They are no longer just beautiful words I hear in Scripture. They are becoming the way I try to live my life.

Faith is learning to trust God even when I don’t have everything figured out. I used to feel like I had to control every part of my life. My purpose, my work, my relationships, and even how others saw me. But faith is teaching me to surrender that constant need to understand everything. It’s choosing to believe that God is guiding my life even when the path feels uncertain. Faith is quiet sometimes, but bold. It’s what gives me the courage to openly share my beliefs and not be afraid of what others think.

Hope is what keeps my heart steady. Life can bring confusion, waiting, and moments where things don’t go the way we imagined. But hope reminds me that God is always working, even in the silence. Hope tells me that every struggle, every unanswered question, and every season of waiting has a purpose. It allows me to look forward with trust instead of fear.

Love is the center of it all. Jesus made it clear that everything comes down to two things: loving God and loving our neighbor. I’m learning that love isn’t always grand or dramatic. Often it’s found in small, everyday moments. Love is also what draws me closer to God, because the more I learn about Him, the more I understand that He is love itself.

Faith helps me trust, hope helps me endure, and love reminds me why it all matters.

And the more I grow in these three things, the more I feel like I’m becoming the person God created me to be.

Our letters were all read aloud and it was amazing to hear what hope, faith and love meant to everyone else. At the Easter Vigil, when we are baptized and enter the Church, these letters will be burned and sent upward as a symbol of offering them to God.

It felt incredibly meaningful knowing that the words we wrote today will rise in smoke and prayer on the night we receive the sacraments.

The closer I get to Easter, the more excited I become. Soon I’ll be baptized, confirmed, and receive the Eucharist for the first time. I’m really excited and I’m feeling super blessed. Today was amazing!!