When Our Blessed Mother first called me to Our Lady’s Chapel during the 2020 crises, I was in awe of what I saw and heard from these priests and I pondered what the actual difference between them and what I was seeing back in our parishes could be. She spoke to my spirit: ‘these priests aren’t afraid of the cross’. Wow…that was such a powerful moment for me. “crosses” come in many shapes and sizes. Caring too much about what the stereotypical ‘Karen’ thinks, for example, can be a form of trying to escape the cross.
There are so many ways both big and small where I’m tempted to run from my daily crosses. Lord give me the courage and strength to always persevere in doing Your Will.
851 Missionary motivation. It is from God’s love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, “for the love of Christ urges us on.
“343 Indeed, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”;344 that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth.
Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation.
But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God’s universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary. –Catechism of the Catholic Church
Yes…the church (all of us) must be missionary (one who promotes the faith)…and who is in more dire need of this right now than those in our very own circle. I think it is often even the ones already in church, in the pew right next to us that are in need of being fully drawn in. We must start with those closest to us and work our way out. How do we reach them? Pray and obey, you’ll be shown the way! At times us simply living our lives openly and sincerely without fear, will do it. We just need to be attentive to opportunities. Where ever you spend your time, there are people that need the Good News…think of Facebook as a missionary field. 😀 The darker the times, the greater the need.
We must acquire a great zeal for souls and need to work together to build up the Kingdom…
“The kingdom of God is at hand”
541 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'”246 “To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth.”247 Now the Father’s will is “to raise up men to share in his own divine life”.248 He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, “on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdom”.249 (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
