Posted on 04/10/2009 3:32:52 PM PDT by Steelfish
APRIL 10, 2009 The Freedom to Choose a New Faith
By ASHLEY SAMELSON
At tomorrow's Easter Vigil, I and hundreds of thousands of other catechumens around the world -- converting from other churches and faiths -- will be baptized, confirmed and received into the Catholic Church.
Each of us is invited to take the name of a saint or other biblical figure as our confirmation, or "Christian," name. This name represents a biblical or Christian historical figure of particular meaning to the convert's faith and prayer life. I will take the name Esther.
Esther, one of the Bible's daredevils.
As a girl in Sunday school, I had a particular curiosity about the daredevil ladies of the Bible: Rahab the prostitute spy, Deborah the prophetess judge, Ruth the audacious pursuer of romance. But Esther was my favorite -- a daredevil defender of religious freedom.
As a young Jewish woman living in the capital of the Persian Empire, Esther was chosen for her beauty to become the new queen for King Xerxes (485 to 465 B.C.). At the time, Jews in the kingdom were eyed warily for their foreign customs and their refusal to follow certain edicts, such as bowing to government officials. It was a dangerous time to be a Jew, and so in order to accept the queenship, Esther was forced to hide her faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Esther is one of my favorite books of the Bible. Next week, I’m starting a Bible study on her. I can’t wait!
We did one in our church, too, and saw a great little film about her. She’s one of my heroes. One of our Bible Study ladies named her last daughter Esther. I hope you’ll really enjoy your study. We did Java with the Judges and she was part of that series.
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