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 ESUS
INVITES EACH OF US to proclaim the Gospel boldly. The
Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People states "The
apostolate of ... [each member of the Church] aims
primarily at announcing to the world by word and action the
message of Christ and communicating to it the grace of
Christ." (6)
 I
believe my conversion is the result of many rosaries prayed
on my behalf by people who loved me, and because a group of
lay Catholics boldly shared with me about the love of Jesus.
Looking back on my life, I can see God's care, even when I
was unable to acknowledge his existence. By the age of
seventeen I was in serious trouble with drugs and alcohol. A
former teacher suggested the Agape Centre, a treatment
centre in North Winnipeg run by a group of lay Catholics. I
believe that Jesus intervened in this situation, because I
was only seventeen years old at the time, and I was accepted
even though their minimum age requirement was eighteen. As
far as I know, I was the only exeption ever made in the
history of the Centre.
At
the Agape Centre I was immersed in love. I noticed that
these lay people were happy, dedicated Catholics who loved
Jesus and the Church. Each of them talked to me about the
message of Christ and the wonderful things Jesus was doing
in their lives. Their happiness and sense of peace was
something I longed for. I believe this desire was the spark
of hope that opened my heart enough to allow the grace of
Christ to begin working in me. This group of people have now
become very dear sisters and brothers in the Lord, whom I
cherish greatly. Because of their individual surrender to
Jesus and their willingness to reach out boldly with
Christ's love, I embraced Jesus and the Catholic Church with
my whole heart.
There
came a time when I felt Jesus beginning to invite me to
share about him with others. At first, I was nervous
whenever I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to share about
my experience of God's love. I found myself questioning
whether or not it could possibly be the Holy Spirit
prompting me to share. When I finally decided to try it and
see, I found that the Lord gave me the words I needed. I
have often had great pleasure seeing Jesus bless the person
with whom I was sharing.
I
am finding that obedience is a real key to my response to
these invitations to share my faith. Obedience is the
decision of love that enables me to minister with Christ's
peace to others. Even to hear the prompting of the Holy
Spirit, I need to surrender my life to Jesus, daily, seeking
his will in all I do. I find I am just too busy on the
inside with various distractions, temptations, fears and
floating resentments when I am not surrendering my heart to
Jesus and his will for me. Distracted like this, I cannot
minister effectively with God's peace through either prayer
or service.
At
these times, I first need to stop everything I am doing and
become quiet inside. Becoming quiet inside is a process of
letting go of all of my concerns and opinions and simply
returning my focus to Jesus and his great love. When I do
this I am gradually returned to peace. The grace that flows
from this surrender causes a prayer to spring up within me.
This prayer is fantastic and it always brings results.
Praying God's way lets me look at whatever person or
situation I am concerned about, with God's love. With this
focus, my prayers are that the person or people involved
experience fully the love of Jesus for them and that his
peace and mercy reign. I often enter into God's joy when I
am praying for someone, because Jesus shows me his holiness
in that person. It is a great privilege to see holiness in
someone, and this edifies my heart beyond words.
Sometimes
I get so excited seeing these things that as I start to
share about them with others two things happen. First, the
person I am sharing with is blessed with God's presence; and
secondly, the goodness of God is being proclaimed. Obedience
to Jesus allows gratitude to take root and be nourished in
our hearts. Gratitude becomes like a blanket that covers our
thoughts and actions, keeping our focus on the reality of
God's kingdom in our midst. It also gives us opportunities
to build up those around us by bearing witness to the
goodness of Jesus in them.
By
embracing the call to proclaim the message of Christ to each
other, we create an environment of peace where the Gospel of
Christ can be heard and nurtured. As messengers of Jesus we
will point the way to Jesus as the true source of hope and
joy.
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