The Pandemic Call to Missionary Evangelization

Posted on August 18, 2020 by the Bouchers

God’s invitation to share our faith with others may begin with a growing concern about adult children or nieces and nephews who don’t go to church. The beginning may be concern about the sparse attendance at parish Sunday Masses, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. News of more parish and school closings may alarm us. Or instead, we may be inspired by Catholics who knelt outside Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit to pray for Coronavirus patients and their health care professionals.

Our experiences and observations are just a few of the ways Jesus might be calling us to find new ways to share the faith that we love during these uncertain times. But how do we take steps to do that when it seems foreign or overwhelming? How do we embrace what the Church has called the “New Evangelization” and become what Pope Francis has called “a missionary disciple?”

What is “missionary evangelization?” The word, “evangelization,” can make us feel uncomfortable and apprehensive. As Christians, we may know that we are called to share the good news of Christ. But it is easy to think that this is a calling for others, who know more than we do about the faith. Where would we even begin?

It is not as difficult as we might think. It involves just four simple steps that anyone can do to share their faith: praying, caring, sharing faith in conversations, and daring to invite others into a faith-filled life, into family, small group, and our parish community. We hope this time-tested wisdom will help spark a greater desire to share your faith and encourage you to become confident in your ability to do so. An article about each one will follow.

Here’s one definition of “evangelize” that might help: “Evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself. Its essence is the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the response of a person in faith, both being the work of the Holy Spirit.” (Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States, 10)

The ongoing pain, suffering, loss, and isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are causing many people, believers and unbelievers, to cry out for help from God. Join those Catholics who are stepping up to help and to share their faith in the Good News of Jesus Christ. Pope Francis encourages us:

“The joy of the Gospel is such that it cannot be taken away from us by anyone or anything (cf. Jn 16:22). The evils of our world – and those of the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervor. Let us look upon them as challenges that can help us to grow. With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that ‘where sin increased, grace has abounded all the more.’ “(Rom 5:20). (The Joy of the Gospel, 84)

(This article was taken from the June 2020 issue of The Word Among Us magazine, wau.org. Used with permission. The book Sharing the Faith That You Love, by John and Therese Boucher, from which these articles were adapted, is available at www.bookstore.wau.org.)

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Reaching Out to Father-God

Posted on July 10, 2020 by the Bouchers

While our faith sharing group was meditating on the “Our Father” Jim became very agitated and blurted out that he could probably love Jesus, but had no use for the Father. We listened to Jim’s pain and encouraged him to slowly pray with the “Our Father” during the following week. At our next gathering Jim joyfully announced that he had been adopted… He explained that memories of his own father had surfaced as he prayed: His dad’s frequent admissions into psychiatric institutions, his inability to show affection and his eventual suicide. As Jim had explored additional Scriptures about God, the Father, these words had leapt out at him. “You received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba, ‘Father!’” (Romans 8:15). Jim felt healed, nurtured and accepted from head to toe. Since then he prefers to pray to his “Father-God”.

 

The Father’s Gift. Jim’s ability to place his broken life before the Father was a gift. Our Father freely shares such healing gifts and is always faithful to an everlasting covenant love. Each of us can go deeper in this love and truly say that the Father of Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus is my Father as well. We can rely on this remarkable Father-God who creates and personally sustains billions of children. This is an important truth to remember when we feel like orphans, who are abandoned, or lacking moral leadership from the government, or feeling overwhelmed by life-threatening tragedies.

The Father’s Strength: Our Father is intimately involved in every breath, all or our movements, our thoughts, our relationships. It is through the Father’s love that our inner self grows strong and capable of love. Each of us is given God’s Spirit, who helps us cry out in time of trouble, like Jesus during the anguish of the cross (Psalms 22). Jim was not only healed, but received help in loving his own small children. St. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians describes what can happen. May God “grant you in accord with the riches of his glory… that you (be) rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17).

The Father’s Blessing. Encountering the Father also involves allowing the Father’s gentle, but persistent, strength to draws us into a spiritual family, so we can grow alongside Jesus, our brother. It is here that we grow and discover the particular gifts that our Creator has given us. In times of pandemic, when it is not possible to receive the Eucharist together, you can imagine yourself on the day of your Baptism. Then picture God, the Father, hovering over you, or cradling you, and smiling as you are filled with new life again and again. And remember: the whole timeless communion of saints is always gathered around you also.

Journey to the Father. Every time you get in the car or go for a walk, even if your trip is just to a supermarket, remember that you are part of a people on a journey toward the Father through the grace and strength of the Spirit. And together, with every step of this journey, we are all meant to be swept up into the relationships between Father, Son and Spirit. The result is a burning hunger for sharing this journey with all God’s children, the way Mary did, by bringing Jesus into the world. Through her we know that ultimately; corruption, death, sickness and evil have no place in our Father’s house. So, we tell others about this journey, this inheritance, especially those in need.

Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will… for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.             Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)

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Seven Reasons to Hope from Pope Francis

Posted on June 15, 2020 by the Bouchers

“It’s enough to discourage a Saint,” Therese’s grandmother would say when things weren’t going well. You and I might be tempted to say something similar in the face of widespread protests over racial injustices and police brutality; as well as regional increases in COVID-19 cases, and predictions of a second wave of this plague in the fall. It is hard to maintain hope about the future. But Pope Francis still encourages us to have hope. How? What does he know that we do not? In the book, On Hope, a collection of his teachings from general audiences, we discover at least seven reasons to persevere in hope.

First, we cannot manufacture real hope by our own power. Our possessions, scientific advances, and achievements may make us happy for a time, but these will not give us lasting hope. “Let us keep this in mind: our assurance will not save us; the only certainty that will save us is that of hope in God” (Pope Francis).

 Second, the foundation of Christian hope is God’s love for each of us. God loves us first! (1 John 4:19) On our own, we are incomplete and sinners. But when we turn and give ourselves to Jesus Christ, the Lord opens an overflowing fountain of freedom and salvation. Each day, Jesus walks with us. No matter what we face. We can still cling to an expectation that the power and love of the Holy Spirit will come.

Third, hope is a journey with Jesus Christ to the Father. Every small or large “yes” that we give to Jesus is a seed of hope. He will lead us through the darkness to the light. Hope is not afraid of our current reality however challenging or difficult.

Fourth, prayer leads us forward in hope. We entrust ourselves daily to Jesus without demanding anything. This kind of hope entails a humble heart, not one that is full of ourselves, our achievements, or even our failures.

Fifth, hope thrives in a vital Christian community. We can draw hope from brothers and sisters in Jesus. Each one teaches the other how to hope. Each one helps fan the flames of hope when times are tough. The Holy Spirit wants to form and re-form our communities in a Perennial Pentecost, an ongoing experience of his power and presence (See Acts of the Apostles 2,4, 8,9,10,11).

Sixth, hope doesn’t lead to discrediting or marginalizing others. We are meant to discover new brothers and sisters in times of waiting, longing, expecting, and working for healing, peace, and justice. “Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd. We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life… Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost.” (Pope Francis, June 3, 2020)

Seventh, to live in Christian hope, we each need to be born anew in the Holy Spirit. We need to draw from the living water of the Spirit through the sacraments (flowing forth from Baptism), prayer, and adoration. 

To summarize. Our ability to love and to serve flows from God, who loves us first in Jesus Christ. We are incapable of loving others, according to their needs, without the gift of infinite mercy. This gift is given through God’s Holy Spirit so that we can share that mercy with others. “Jesus is our hope. Nothing—not even evil or death—is able to separate us from the saving power of his love.” (Pope Francis)

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