Love of Christ alone is what impels one to evangelize

"It is essential that in the first place you be an 'example in all good works, purity of doctrine, dignity, sound word, perfect,'" (the Pope) said, quoting St. Paul. "Contemporary man listens with greater willingness to witnesses than to teachers, or, if he listens to teachers, he does so because they are witnesses."

These are some of Papa's words to nearly 100 new bishops, ordained over the past two years for mission countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. Good words for all of us, though.

The Holy Father told the prelates: "Called to be pastors among people who, to a large extent, still do not know Jesus Christ," as the "first responsible for proclaiming the Gospel you must therefore make considerable efforts so that all will be given the possibility to receive it." Benedict XVI stressed that "only impelled by love of Christ is it possible to fulfill this apostolic effort, which calls for the bold ardor of those who, for the sake of the Lord, do not fear persecution or death."

Lord Jesus, protect these bishops, increase their missionary zeal and their love for You. May they be an example and an inspiration to their flocks to aspire to the heights of holiness and be fearless in proclaiming You to all people. Give to us all, and to all bishops, this grace of loving You to the point that we cannot help but share You with others!

Mercy Night

This is my pet project. It's the first thing I thought of organizing for our parish when I got back home. The Emmanuel Community, who ran the school I attended in Rome last year, focuses huge amounts of effort on evangelization. Much of that comes in the form of week-long parish missions, in which a small or large group of missionaries basically canvas the whole town or neighborhood in order to reach out in love and engage people in conversation about God (door to door, the streets, the bars - wherever!) and they also put on a variety of events to draw people into the church. One of these, and my personal favorite, is Mercy Night.

Mercy Night consists of approximately three hours of good old-fashioned Eucharistic adoration, during which much else is happening. The lights are low, there are candles everywhere, and there is beautiful, contemplative music being sung throughout the evening, mostly in the style of contemporary praise & worship. There are readings from scripture, and some spontaneous prayer, and a couple people even get up to give testimonies. In addition, a major aspect of the evening is having confession available, and usually the priests would just sit in the pews at the back to hear confessions (I was at a Mercy Night in downtown Manhattan where there were eight priests available!). I have been to confession at one of these, and let me tell you, it's a powerful thing to have Jesus right there in front of you while you are confessing. Mercy becomes very real in a moment like that. There would also normally be several prayer teams scattered throughout the church, for those who had particular intentions and wanted to be prayed for. Plus, since it was three hours long, people could come and go as they pleased, staying for 5 minutes or the entire time. My school helped with such evenings at several parishes throughout Europe, and they were always hauntingly beautiful, lovely experiences. I will never forget the one that took place during the International Congress for the New Evangelization (ICNE) in Lisbon, Portugal. It was in the massive, stunning old church of São Domingos...the evening was incredibly gorgeous and the church was totally packed. Many people who come to these Mercy Nights leave truly moved (and often tell us so afterwards), and some are even powerfully converted, just by being there present before the Lord in such a beautiful, safe, welcoming environment.

And this very thing is what I have been planning for the last month and a half, with the help of the wonderful and talented Adoration committee.

Right now we're essentially wanting to see what our parishioners think of Mercy Night. Eventually the idea, should it suceed on the parish level, would be to expand it, to first advertise widely at other parishes, and then invite the neighborhood and the whole city somehow. This would therefore make it an event with a focus on evangelization (like it normally is when the Emmanuel Community does it), on bringing those who are far from God closer to Him, and of course we would then be starting from scratch with some people who show up...which I think is something our church ought to get used to. And we're hoping to have it on a regular basis, maybe as often as every three months. I am so excited to see where the Lord will take this.

So the first Mercy Night ever in Seattle (to my knowledge) is happening this Friday from 8 to 11 pm. Please ask the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in the hearts of those who come. I'll post an update on how it went next week.

Prison Ministry

Every Tuesday night at prison I do a one on one, for about forty-five minutes, with a different inmate who has requested to see a prison ministry volunteer. After discussing any particular problem he has, I ask if I can share my Catholic faith with him. No one has ever said, “No.”

Would that I'd have the courage for such a thing. God bless this guy.

Home at Last!

I'm back home and ready to take on Seattle for the Lord! I am again, as before, working with the Young Adult council at my parish, Blessed Sacrament, and am currently looking for a house close by the church with a good friend of mine. My year was amazing, difficult and super intense, and the Lord taught me heaps of things about Him, myself, and others. Stories will trickle out of me little by little once I have begun to process the whole experience.

I will begin again to post links and stories about evangelization in the coming weeks.