I do not as yet belong to the family of Christ.

I feel it.

I can be an alien no longer, and without the Church I know, by my own past experience, that I cannot attain to purity and sanctity of life.
I need the counsels, the aids, the chastisements, and the consolations of the Church.

It is the appointed medium of salvation, and how can we hope for any good except through it?
Our first business is to submit to it, that we may receive a maternal blessing.
Then we may start fair.
"You doubtless feel a repugnance to joining the Church.

But we ought not to be ashamed of Christ; and the Church opens a sphere for you, and you especially.