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I never did one of these, so here goes:

I converted about four years ago from a wicked life of Protestantism after many years of reading history. I never desired the Catholic faith, and I thought it was evil and impossible for it to be true. I wanted to learn what the true faith is, because none of the Protestantism I had come in contact with could be it. The Protestants I were with wanted to play rock music and have a good time, but I wanted something more.

Year after year I made concessions, but I stopped attending any nominally "Christian", Protestant, whatever kind of service. I remember most vividly accepting that Purgatory must be true during one restless night. The most difficult truths for me to accept were those of Our Lady. It was possible for me to accept her as Mother of God, or Theotokos, but it took me many, many years to accept her as Queen of Heaven and Our Lady. If I hadn't been so blinded by pride and Protestantism to reject her, it would have saved me a lot of trouble to convert sooner than I did. Perhaps it was necessary, but God knows.

I assist at a Mass in the DC-Baltimore area and have a background in the armed forces. I've learned a great deal from CathInfo as a lurker, and I hope I can learn a lot more even while posting.

That has to be one of the most sincere and crystal clear conversion stories that I have EVER heard. Beautiful!
Keep on going, you have found the path. Welcome to the Faith, and to this board! Wow, Our Lady has some beautiful plans for you.

Step on up to Our Lady's glorious army now, lol. Our Lady is the best mother we could ever have and is only too happy to have more under her mantle.

I can only think of one Bible verse at the moment that proves it outright that Jesus intended for us to love His Mother outright when He said, "Women, behold thy son. Son, behold thy Mother." He was referring to Saint John of the Cross. He wanted him to take care of His Mother, and she of course, would take care of him. So it is impossible to love Mary more than Jesus!

Can I interest you in a brown scapular or miraculous medal? There is a very short enrollment prayer that a Priest can say for the brown scapular, and it only needs to be blessed once, on that occasion. Each subsequent replacement scapular carries the blessing forth with it. There are some AMAZING stories about how the brown scapular has aided many people to be preserved from injuries, accidents, death, etc. Once enrolled, you end up with all the prayers and such of those also enrolled in it as part of the confraternity of Our Lady.

The Miraculous medal is also something to research as part of a good Catholic's "armour." One or both of these items are incredible tools for protection from evil, and helping one stay in the state of grace and chaste, etc. Also, the Saint Benedict Medal. That one is SUPER powerful against evil and has its own special blessing that includes an exorcism prayer over it.

If you think I am joking about the power of the Saint Benedict Medal? I know a number of young people that wear T-shirts and hoodies with the Saint Benedict Medal printed on the back and front (while they wear the actual medal also). One day a bunch of families were at a public social event and I overheard some strangers talking in front of me. One girl was very visibly annoyed with something and wanted to go. She kept bugging her friends to leave, but they were not ready to go yet. Finally one of the girls said, "What IS your problem?!" The other girl responded, "You mean you don't know?? LOOK!" They all looked towards the guys wearing the Saint Benedict clothes. "OHHHHHHHHH!" Somehow the guys had already heard these girls complaining and such and they had determined the girls were into witchcraft.

Also check into "The Full Armour of God." (Look for a Catholic source, though). Also, when a Priest is vesting for Mass (in a Traditional Latin Mass), there is a very prescribed order for how he vests, and why, and he vests in silence and prayer while touching certain parts of his body with the vestments. One vestment represents his head, another his hands, and so on. It is very interesting, and if you are use to routine and such with the armed forces, then this is another way for you to see how a Priest "arms" himself before Mass. Hope this helps.

Thank-you for your service to your country, (and ours indirectly). Patron saints for Military/soldiers/police etc. include Saint Stephen, Saint Sebastian, Saint Michael, and Saint George. There are probably more, but those are the ones off the top of my head.

Cheers, Anne.

I never did one of these, so here goes:

I converted about four years ago from a wicked life of Protestantism after many years of reading history. I never desired the Catholic faith, and I thought it was evil and impossible for it to be true. I wanted to learn what the true faith is, because none of the Protestantism I had come in contact with could be it. The Protestants I were with wanted to play rock music and have a good time, but I wanted something more.

Year after year I made concessions, but I stopped attending any nominally "Christian", Protestant, whatever kind of service. I remember most vividly accepting that Purgatory must be true during one restless night. The most difficult truths for me to accept were those of Our Lady. It was possible for me to accept her as Mother of God, or Theotokos, but it took me many, many years to accept her as Queen of Heaven and Our Lady. If I hadn't been so blinded by pride and Protestantism to reject her, it would have saved me a lot of trouble to convert sooner than I did. Perhaps it was necessary, but God knows.

I assist at a Mass in the DC-Baltimore area and have a background in the armed forces. I've learned a great deal from CathInfo as a lurker, and I hope I can learn a lot more even while posting.

Welcome dx!

I echo the others and pray that you (and all of us) grow in the faith more and more every day!

In regards to Our Blessed Mother, St. Alphonsus quotes a lot of Scripture, I like this one:  "I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue....They that explain me shall have life everlasting." Ecclesiasticus 24:24,25,31

The above quote is taken from one of the 7 books below that the prots have removed from their bible .....
Tobias
 Judith
 Wisdom
 Ecclesiasticus/Sirach
 Baruch
 I Maccabees
II Maccabees
3 chapters of Daniel
6 chapters of Esther

Thank you, Anne, Nadir and Stubborn. I have the Sacramentals, Douay-Rheims, etc. I've met a lot of great priests and even married a woman who's been a Traditional Catholic for over a decade. I am read on a fair amount of history but not so read on topics such as the liturgy and lives of the Saints, especially due to the volume of the latter. I do have a copy of Butler's Lives of the Saints and there's this interesting twitter feed: https://twitter.com/RMartyrology

For Our Lady, I was trying to describe how difficult it is for a former Protestant to convert after the brainwashing against her. If you can imagine being told for decades the usual lies, it might take an extraordinary grace to overcome it in a short time. For me, it took a long time.

Oh heck, you have lots of help there :-) Congratulations! Maybe your wife will join here if not already a member?
Yes, I see about Our Lady. My Dad had the same hang-up about her. It took my Mom decades of prayer with him-over 40 years. He died a happy though, wearing multiple scapulars, too. THAT was a miracle!

You would have both been in the more stubborn fish category as a Priest friend used to say :-)