The Gift of Evangelizing Prayer

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Terry and John

Suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many people to their knees, begging for divine protection for themselves, their families, and loved ones. Such prayer forges a link between our everyday life and God’s presence. But aren’t we also called to evangelizing prayer? Prayer that lifts someone into the arms of Jesus, who is our final destiny and our greatest need. Therese, often and literally, raises a photo of a loved one up to heaven as she prays. For her this is an act of faith, instead of worry.

Evangelizing prayer helps us slow down and focus on the needs of one person at a time. Our neighbor Joe was petrified about what would happen to his mother in a nursing home as the COVID-19 pandemic deepened. He was also anxious because he was not allowed to visit her. We asked Jesus to show us one specific thing that we might pray for. As we did so, we realized we could help him explore and implement options like writing a letter, sending small gifts, or learning how to make a video call.  

Evangelizing prayer begins with asking God for the eyes to see a person from Jesus’ point of view. Here are the steps. Choose someone with an immediate need. Describe his or her situation to Jesus. Ask God what one thing this person might need first: physical or emotional healing, a new job, a successful surgery… Then allow this need to act as a doorway for even deeper prayer, that surrenders the person’s most spiritual needs. 

When we intercede for a person’s needs, we join ourselves to Jesus, the great High Priest, who stands before the throne of God (Hebrews 4:14-16). We also open ourselves to the charisms and gifts that God wants to give us to help that person. Our prayer is transformed from just asking for what we think they need, to allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into a vision of God’s unending, concrete love for someone. 

Pope Francis points out the way that God can move our hearts and minds as we pray. “May prayer and action always be deeply united. A prayer that does not lead you to practical action for your brother — the poor, the sick, those in need of help, a brother in difficulty — is a sterile and incomplete prayer.” (“Angelus,” St Peter’s Square, Sunday, July 21, 2013). 

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The Pandemic Call to Missionary Evangelization

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Terry and John

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 Terry and John

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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