Steadfast in purpose. An amazing example!

Recently while prayerfully reading Acts chapter 11:19-26, I was struck, once again, by the early church's missionary zeal.

It is the account of those who were scattered because of the persecution in Jerusalem and how they continued to witness to Jesus as Lord! They weren't silenced or intimidated by the persecution.They couldn't stop talking about this good news of what God had done in Jesus of Nazareth who was raised from the dead. Some of those who were evangelizing began to share with non-Jews, Greeks, about the Lord Jesus. As a result many came to believe! The Church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to see what was happening and to help build up the new believers. When he saw the grace of God evident in the lives of those who believed, he was glad. Barnabas then exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord and steadfast in purpose (vs 23). I felt like that was a word for me and for those of us who serve in and our friends of ChristLife. It is a good word, isn't it? Something we all want in our walk with the Lord Jesus. To be faithful to him and absolutely steadfast in our purpose.

While in Michigan last week presenting a mission for two parishes, the pastor of St. Therese's shared a YouTube video that really illustrates faithfulness and steadfastness in purpose. Take a look and give thanks to the Lord for this man! You may not feel called to do what he did, but the key point that all of us should admire is his steadfastness in doing what he was called to do!

May we all have such passion to make the Lord known to others! May each of us be steadfast in purpose.

Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

On the Day of Atonement,the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people, the high priest, carrying the blood of the sacrifice would enter the holiest part of the Temple. Once a year he would pass through the temple curtain and enter the Holy of Holies and there he would pronounce the name of God. The name consisted of four letters and was so sacred that it was never spoken at any other time or place. The Jews would substitute the name, Adonai, which means ‘Lord’, when saying the divine name. When the High Priest spoke the holy name, it made God present; and atoned for the sins of the nation of Israel.

This holy week, as Christians, we celebrate The Great Atonement (Heb.4:14;9:12) with the death of Jesus the Messiah, not only for the sins of Israel, but for ‘the sins of the whole world’(1John2:2; Romans 3:25).

St. Paul sharing a hymn of praise of the early church that existed before he wrote his letters tell us:

Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the Name which is above every name,

St Paul does not use the divine name rather he uses Adonai (in Greek Kyrios, Dominus in Latin, and Lord in English). He goes on to tell us:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2: 8-11

By using the word Lord, St Paul means exactly the name that means God! This is the incredible truth of our faith! Jesus is the ‘I AM’. He is the everlasting almighty God. He has 'all authority and all power.' (Matt.28:18-20).

After the first Easter the proclamation, “Jesus is Lord!” took the place of the proclamation that our Lord made, “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” The early disciples were telling everyone that, ‘Jesus is risen, He is the Messiah, He is Lord!’ They were telling the most incredibly good news that Jesus, the King was at hand and, He is the Lord!

This was the heart of the good news! It is what is called the kerygma, the basic Gospel message. In these words are the power and authority of God that transforms lives as nothing else can. For those who have come to know the truth of this profound self -revelation of God it is revolutionary and imparts a confidence in what He can do through our proclamation. It elevates our faith in the Lord Jesus present among us in the Holy Spirit to save and continue his mission of redemption.

This proclamation, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ is like a buried treasure that must be uncovered and restored to the rightful place of prominence in our preaching and in our sharing with others. Yet currently it is a point of spiritual warfare and there is great resistance within the church to embrace the simplicity and humility that this proclamation calls us to. St. Paul tells us, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel!” (Rom. 1:16). We too must not be ashamed of the kerygma. For, “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith…”(Rom 1:16b)

St Paul tells us, ‘every knee shall bow.’ That is the posture we need to have if we are to proclaim the essential gospel, that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’ It is a call to humility, and it is a call to obedience to God.

This Holy week, let’s seek the Lordship of Christ for our personal lives, families and friends, and reflect on his great mercy displayed at Calvary for sinners like you and me! Let us like the early Christians proclaim the joy of Easter, He is risen, Jesus is Lord!

If you have never asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, of your everything, ask Him. Tell Him you want to surrender your entire life to his Lordship. Ask him to come as your God to lead you!

Ralph Martin and Personal Prayer

Yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend of mine, Ralph Martin. It is always special to have time with Ralph, we've know each other for 38 years! Ralph lives in Ann Arbor Michigan so we don't get to see much of each other, but recently he has been finishing up his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in Washington, D.C. So Ralph drove up to get a chance to see our ChristLife offices and for some time to catch up with each other.

Back in 1971 I attended a workshop on Union with God in

Prayer, that Ralph was presenting. That workshop inspired and instructed me how to begin the discipline of a daily personal prayer life that continues right up till this morning! Ralph has written two incredible books on prayer: Hungry for God- Practical Help in Personal Prayer and, The Fulfillment of All Desire.

I want to encourage anyone who would like to establish a daily personal prayer life, which is so crucial to living as a Christian, to get hold of Hungry for God. It will be life changing.

Thinking like Christ

He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange…Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God. Wisdom 2: 15,21-22

Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who… humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Philippians 2:5, 8b

The first passage above is from the book of Wisdom written around 200 B.C. You really have to read the whole chapter- it is a remarkable prophecy of Christ’s suffering, death and rising. But it also is a testimony to how different God’s ways are from our ways of thinking apart from him.

And that reality has been challenging me in recent weeks during my times praying over Scripture. The Lord wants to renew our ways of thinking about everything! Take as one example Jesus’ question and teaching to the disciples found in Matthew 16:13-27. Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter responds by the revelation of God, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord then goes on to explain his mission as Messiah and how he will suffer, die and be raised on the third day. Pete got the revelation that Jesus was Messiah, but when it came to the revelation of His mission, he could not comprehend how that had to do with Jesus, in fact he also would have feared what that would mean for him as lead disciple! I imagine Peter thinking to himself, “If you Lord, who are Christ, are to suffer and die, then what about me your follower?! Jesus in fact went on to say, "if anyone would come after him, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Like Peter, I recognize within myself patterns of thinking that are not yet subject to the Lordship of Christ. Thoughts that essentially continue to preserve my self life. Thinking that is not consistent with what I profess. Just like Peter, I can say by the grace of God, “Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of God!” But when he tells me that his mission also requires, death to self, I recognize areas of my mind that clearly are resistant to Him and need renewal! I want to say, God forbid!-just like Peter.

The Lord wants us to be his witnesses from the inside out. Like the passage from wisdom, he wants our manner of life to be unlike others, because we are growing in oneness with the Lord.

Some practical ways to co-operate with the Holy Spirit transforming our thinking

The good news is that the Lord knows exactly where we don’t have the mind of Christ and wants to transform our minds by the renewal of his Holy Spirit within us! (Romans 12:2). He is for you and He is the one who can change your mind!

In order for this to occcur it means hanging out with the Lord in daily personal prayer and Scripture.

It means being with Church as we celebrate the Liturgy and receiving his Word and His Body and Blood.

He wants to break strongholds of our thinking by his divine power (2 Cor. 10:4-6). That means if there are areas where evil spirits are influencing our thinking, we have authority in our Lord Jesus to renounce and give up fellowshipping with those patterns of thinking.

For our part he wants us to surrender to him. We need to talk to him daily and make a practice of surrendering to his leadership of my entire life. We can ask for his light to reveal the darkness within and to then renounce thought patterns that are not consistent with who He is and who we are. It is also wonderful that we can take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation for more power to hold firm in our resolutions to draw closer to the Lord!

One last thing, St Paul’s exhortation to have the mind of Christ is spoken to Christians, the church and not just to ‘me and Jesus.’ A very important support to being a disciple of Jesus today is having some brothers or sisters who you can fully reveal yourself to. Trusted Christians who you can share and pray with, and turn to in times of trouble and times of joy. As we share with others with the desire to live for Christ, his light works through to transform us, and bring us more completely into the image of Christ, being fully who you were made to be in Him.

Jesus wants to teach us his ways that are not of this world, but which turn the world upside down and right side up, so that we see things as they really are, and can offer others more of his fullness of life which we are increasingly living!

How do you get to heaven?

Lots of people, Christians and those of other religions or no religious belief at all, believe in heaven. Fewer people seem to believe in hell or at least don’t want to think about it. And now days many don’t seem to give much thought to how you get to one place or the other.

Christ talked about the existence of both frequently, and urged everyone to do what was necessary to go to heaven. As Christians our reason for believing in the existence of heaven and hell is because we believe in Him and He believed in them!

Back in the 1970’s I taught religion at a Jesuit boys high school. At some point during the courses I taught I would ask the question, “When you die what is the reason for getting to go to heaven?” I almost always got the same answers: Because I was good, I didn’t hurt anyone, I was sincere. Rarely was Jesus mentioned as the answer. Many of the students had received Catholic education throughout their schooling yet did not understand what Christ Jesus had to do with eternal life.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) He also said, “eternal life is this to know you the only true God, an Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

The Church teaches, “By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has “opened heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remain faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into him.” Check it out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 1027

The essential answer for our getting to go to heaven is, Christ. Jesus has “opened heaven to us.” He is the way we can be eternally with God. By his death and resurrection Jesus accomplished what we in and of ourselves could not accomplish - our redemption. It is the love of God made manifest on the cross, bearing our sins, granting us forgiveness and through the Spirit entry into relationship with God. It is God’s initiative, not ours that allows us this access to eternal joy with the Trinity and all of the saints and angels! The Father wants us to be with Him eternally and through the Son has made the way for us be with them, happily ever after! It is our responsibility to respond to this grace of God with faith doing his will in our daily lives.

Let me make one comment on hell. Hell is the consequence of our free will. We can choose it for ourselves. God does not cast anyone into hell against his will. If we truly are creatures with free will then we have the capacity to say no to a loving Creator. That is essentially what hell is. Eternal separation from the One who loves us so much that he allows us to choose to be with Him, or not. Take a look in the CCC, 1033-1037.

The Church also teaches that even those who have not baptized and responded with faith in Christ may be saved (under the impulse of grace) who “sincerely seek God and strive to do his will can also be saved without Baptism (Baptism of desire).” CCC,1258-1261. It is a mystery and thank God He is the judge of all and not me or you! It is not our responsibility to judge who is or isn’t going to heaven when they die.

Our responsibility is to pray for salvation for everyone and to be witnesses of the eternal life that begins here and now in knowing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (See John 17:3 noted above). What is important for those of us who know Christ and are seeking to do his will, is to graciously be available to share the good news of what God has done in Jesus our Lord so that all might have fullness of life here and eternal happiness in heaven! After all, if we believe in a heaven and hell we certainly want to help others to be in heaven and to know the way to get there!

No ordinary people, no mere mortals!

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities… that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” - C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

My dear friend Bert Ghezzi quoted this section of C.S. Lewis’ sermon in one of his books and it has had a profound and lasting impact on with me. In fact I carry a copy of it in my wallet and another inside the cover of my prayer journal. I do that to remind myself daily of the reality of what happens in my interactions with others and especially to re-read at times when I am tempted to be less than loving with others. I am called to relate in the love of Christ towards all I encounter. To relate to others as if Jesus were living my life and relating to them through me.

This can mean exercising patience at times, say with a grumpy customer service representative. Or being a truth teller with a friend who is veering into sin in her sharing about a mutual friend. In all our interactions with others it calls us to bear in mind the truth that I cannot be neutral in attitude towards anyone. No “ordinary” people. No mere mortals. Everyone is on the way to heaven or hell – no exceptions. Everything that I say or do can help or hinder them.
That is a real reason for seeing all that we do as evangelizing others to the love of God.

“Father, open our eyes to see people as you do and as they really are, created for eternity. Through Christ our Lord we pray, Amen! “

What then shall I compare the people of this generation?

What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, `Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' ... (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

"To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place and calling to one another, `We piped to you, and you did not dance;we wailed, and you did not weep.'For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, `He has a demon.' The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."Luke 7:25-35

God is not distant and removed from creation and his creatures. He is with us! He is not static but active, creative, redeeming-moving in his all powerful Holy Spirit in our 'today.' The Lord Jesus points out the purposes of God coming in two very different persons. John the prophet forerunner preparing the way, and Jesus the Messiah. The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the purposes of God for themselves in what He was doing in their day. They missed his activity, his will for them in the persons of John and Jesus. They couldn't see God working among them.

There are many Christians as well as unbelievers that have no understanding of this truth. They don't know the good news of Emmanuel, God with us today! Here and now. Jesus said, I am with you always. In Christ God the Father has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us as Church but also personally in our daily lives (have you read the Acts of the Apostles recently?).

This reality effects everything. Who we are and what we do. How we pray personally and when we gather together. Anticipation and openess to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Attentiveness to His providence in our lives and in interacting with others, and with circumstances we are in daily. Our faith in His faithfulness in all details of our lives. Our confidence in his mercy coming through times of joy (we danced for you) and in times of sorrow (we sang a dirge for you). His grace in presenting his life to us in the church by different kinds of churches as well as different types of people that we can identify and respond to. John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus were very different as the Lord himself pointed out.

In this time, in our generation, the Lord continues to fulfill his purposes. Let's pray for our eyes to be opened to see what he is doing and our ears to hear what He saying and to obey Him! (See John 5:19,20 to learn from the Master). He wants us to know with confidence that He is with us and wants us to join Him in fulfilling his purposes in our day!

Son of Hamas leader's conversion to Christ

"...we preach Christ crucified,.. to those of us called,...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 1:23-25

In our day, where and when Christians are ready and willing to share the love of Christ with others, the the life changing power of the Gospel is still as effective as in the days of the early church!

The young man in this video, Mosab Hassan Yousef, is the son of a very well known Hamas leader on the west bank. Several years ago he was invited to hear a talk about Jesus. He had seen the torture inflicted by Hamas leaders on their followers, and while reading his Bible secretly read Jesus' call to love our enemies. The truth of God, which is weakness to the world, proved to be stronger than man's ways! This truth is seen in completeness in Christ crucified! Jospeh(his Christian name) Hassan Yousef has given his life to Christ! He knows that Jesus is the way to God the Father, and is praying for his family and friends to embrace the Lord Jesus as well.

Let's us pray and look for opportunities to share the life changing good news of our Savior with anyone whom he leads us to. All people have the right to know the love of God made manifest in our Lord Jesus, the Christ!

Let's pray for this young man to become a living witness to many people, and in a special way to his Muslim family and friends! May the Lord protect and strengthen him, in Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Are we evangelizing in our parishes?

Recently a man who had seen a TV episode of The Choices We Face, on which I talked about evangelization, contacted me. As a result he called me for support and clarification on some of what he was experiencing. He had formerly been an evangelical Christian, was now a Roman Catholic, and wanted to continue to evangelize people to Christ within the context of his parish. His parish was the diocesan Cathedral, so he wrote his Bishop asking how do ‘we’ evangelize
people to Christ in our parish? He understood the place of RCIA and had been through it himself, but was asking, what else do we do? He was simply trying to understand how the parish evangelized. After respectfully writing three times and receiving no response he decided he had apparently gotten his response.

I have often heard this type of concern voiced by Catholics regarding their parishes or (arch)dioceses.The questions raised go like this: What are the steps we are taking to make evangelization our priority mission? What is our evangelization plan and process for my parish? Does anyone know the evangelization game plan in our parish so that we are all know what is expected of us and how we can support it? If evangelization is really a priority to us as Catholics, why isn't it reflected in the budget? Do we know that it is the universal calling, privilege and responsibility of every baptized Christian? Do we as Catholics realize this incredible calling given to each of us isn’t intended to be some abstract, irrelevant educational exercise we hear and vaguely remember, but rather is the power of the Gospel that can change the lives of people we encounter who desperately need good news! Is anybody being taught how to personally evangelize in our seminaries or parishes?

There are many Catholics (clergy, religious and laity), who are life long Catholics, who are raising these questions about evangelization, in addition to brothers and sisters who were formerly from other Christian traditions. I for one being a committed ‘cradle Catholic,’ would like to publicly express my gratitude for those of us who have come from other Christian backgrounds and have a deep personal commitment to evangelization. Thank God for their zeal! Oh that all Catholics would be so concerned for those around us to know the love of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

The fact is we have Catholics who want to evangelize and don’t find the necessary support or means to do it as parishes. The Church teaches that the laity are intended to be in the front lines of evangelization in our neighborhoods and in the market place. The laity are crucial in the new evangelization and they need the support of their priests to get out into the harvest fields and spread the good news! Evangelization is after all not an isolated act: it is ecclesial. (See Pope Paul VI’s, EN, 60).

This issue of parish evangelization is a very serious pastoral challenge for the Church here in the United States. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, speaking recently at a conference held in Rome on "The Parish and the New Evangelization," stated: "The Church exists only if it evangelizes, and the same is true for the parish. If a parish does not evangelize, it is only a building." Read the full article

The Magesterium teaches that evangelization is “the reason the Church exists.”(EN, 14) The universal mission of the Church we are taught is to be lived out at every level, in all institutions and in the lives of every baptized Christian (Mission of the Redeemer, 3). The US Conference of Bishops stated in “Go Make Disciples,” A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization, that the Bishops want “to make evangelization a natural and normal part of Catholic life and to give evangelizers the tools and support they need to carry out this ministry today.”

The bishops evangelization plan was written back in November 1992. It is worth asking ourselves as parishes how we are doing with evangelization becoming a natural and normal part of Catholic life in 2008? Since the place where the rubber meets the road for most people in terms of their Catholic life is the parish, what are we doing?

Three Steps parishes can take

I would like to offer three practical steps that we can take as parishes that can help us move forward in making evangelization the essential mission. I am not going to develop these points here, we do that in our Building Evangelizing Eucharistic Communities seminar. I am simply pointing out three practical areas worth parish staffs and councils discussing and considering in order to take some steps to move forward.

1. Provide ongoing opportunities for people to encounter Christ Jesus as Lord within the context of a welcoming relational community (of the parish). As a parish we need to have regular ways of inviting people to encounter the Lord Jesus, both for parishioners and those not connected with the parish.
Courses like Alpha, Life in the Spirit seminars and ChristLife’s Discovering Christ course are effective examples of courses that are offered over several weeks.
Retreats that evangelize people like Cursillo and Light of the World are also means of evangelizing people to Christ and fuller life in the parish.
Special events. Special events such as a music concert, a film, or our Christmas and Easter liturgies. These Masses have incredible potential for lovingly welcoming our annual Catholics to the parish through par the intro to the Mass and in proclaiming clearly at the homily the reason for the celebration of the Incarnation or Resurrection of Jesus and what it means for you! Also, having some type of event, course or retreat, to invite everybody to, which the presiding priest would personally invite all attending to come to. Having extra greeters who could pass out a welcoming leaflet and invitation to whatever it is we will offer to connect them to the love of God and our parish!

2. Develop an ongoing process of initiation in the parish that includes both actual evangelization of the participants (point one above) and practical life formation/catechesis. I am not talking about RCIA here (which is essential and needs to be taught well and in an ongoing manner). But here I am talking about formation (discipleship) for daily living as a Catholic follower of the Lord, e.g., How to have a personal prayer life; how the sacraments sustain and strengthen our daily life; reading Scripture as God’s word; Christian relationships; service and evangelizing, learning to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil, etc. Here at ChristLife we are piloting a new course entitled, Following Christ, which teaches on these basics of following Christ as Catholic disciple. We also have some video courses that help in this process.

3. Foster Community as part of the process. True interior conversion, the work of the Holy Spirit, is most effective when it occurs in the content of relationships. Without authentic Christian relationships within the context of the parish it is hard to expect anyone to make the shift from being ‘conformed to this world’ (See Romans 12:2) to a transformed Christian worldview and lifestyle. To live authentic Catholic lives we need each other! We can establish small Christian communities that spontaneously develop and flow out of the two previous points above if we make it a priority to pastorally care for their development.

We would be happy to personally talk with you or someone from your parish more about evangelization in your parish, if you would like. Contact us at: info@christlife.org May we all take active concrete steps to incarnate the calling of Christ our Lord and the Church to evangelize!

ChristLife's Summer Newsletter!

Check out all the latest happenings in ChristLife's ministry in our Summer 2008 Newsletter:

My Cardboard Testimony

Take a look at this video!

This very simple means of having members of a congregation share a key point of their conversion, or place of deepening faith is very powerful and profound! It is a great way of sharing your faith in humility and succinctly. It is also a great opportunity for the person sharing the testimony to reflect and note a specific turning point.

This willingness of the people to humbly honestly share what has brought them to faith in our Lord, or to trust him more completely in crisis, is the way the Lord deeply touches those who need his grace and mercy!

One practical response to seeing this video, is to take the time to pray and write down your point of conversion or deepening faith in the Lord. Think of it as writing a few words just like they did on cardboard and then flipping it over and giving the change that has occurred. Some of us have numerous testimonies from our journey. All of them are redemptive doors of grace for people the Lord brings to us in daily life. This is a good exercise for each of us to do. It will increase your praise and thanks to God for the mercy He has shown you!

Can you imagine doing this in your parish! What amazing grace could be released for others, and what an amazing opportunity this would give us as parishioner's to proclaim the good news and lead people to receive forgiveness and into personal commitment to the Lord Jesus!

Missionary of Jesus’ Resurrection in Turkmenistan

A dear friend of ChristLife’s, Hana Simcikova – a young woman from Slovakia – wrote us an update on her missionary work in Turkmenistan. Her work is very inspiring. She first came across ChristLife during training Dave Nodar was doing in Eastern Europe during the 1990s. We met up with her in 2007 in Slovakia – and Pete also had the chance to interview her for a podcast on her missionary work.

Here is her letter:

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"'There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has risen from the dead and now he is going ahead of you to Galilee; that is where you will see him." Look! I have told you.'
Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples." (Mt 28)

Dear friends!

Almost a year ago I was writing to ask for your help with the Turkmenistan mission.

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU! Thanks so much to every one of you for your prayers, thoughts, financial support, emails, greetings, and every kind of support that helped us to serve in Turkmenistan last year. You have a special place in all that is going on in that country, and in the small Catholic community there.

The Catholic Church in Turkmenistan still lives underground.
During this mission we were able to meet many more native Turkmen people then during our first mission. We were blessed through those simple, mostly Islamic, people who were open to talking about God; they are so thirsty for His love and presence. We prayed together with them and they were touched by the Father's love through our Lord Jesus! Hope and peace changed their desperation. Their simple and joyful testimonies about Gods miracles strengthened our faith.

In two years, since our last mission, many things are still the same in Turkmenistan. There are still just two catholic priests for the whole country. However, there are many changes – much more people are coming every day, coming to hear about Jesus, seeking His love and help, ready to give Him their all. Mostly they are poor people who suffered a lot in their lives. When they come to Jesus they are blessed by His forgiveness, deep healing and new life in Him! We prayed over them almost every day and we led all the meetings for catechumens, youth and kids, which was so helpful for the priests. We also prepared simple evangelization training, where we taught them how to proclaim the Good News. We saw how the first small prayer group was born--just a few people who want to worship Jesus, and serve others by intercessory prayer.

The Priests also sent us to other places in Turkmenistan, where we spent some time with people sharing Gods love with them. More and more people were coming every day, hungry for His word which many of them heard for the first time in their lives. Their desire for more priests and missionaries in their towns didn't surprise us.

We could see the big gift of God that we have at home– daily Mass and Holy Communion especially.



I personally was especially touched by the warm-heartedness, kindness and hospitality of the poorest people in the village called Arzuw. They told us things like: "If I didn't meet you two years ago, today I would be addicted to heroine and I would also sell it as the rest of my family does." "We know, God has sent you to us – just for me!" – told with thankful heart.

I also met a woman at the market place, whom I had promised two years ago that I would come back. Her first reaction when she saw me at the same place was: "Ooooo – she came!" and invitation she invited us to visit her house. I could write a book about that meeting. Their clear eyes spoke about clear hearts, which we could also visit. In the family, everyone works from the sunrise to the late night. Love, respect and care are given to each other in all small situations, where members of that Islamic family speak so nice about each other, pray together and have God among them – it is a small (or big?) miracle in that nation.
We had a very nice time with the youth during retreats we prepared for them. Their testimonies among their friends and schoolmates bears fruit, and more and more youth came later to the meetings, to pray together, to hear Gods word, or just to play together.

We wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you!

When I was on the plane going into Turkmenistan, I saw a desert named Kara-Kum from above. It looked like a lot of small rivers, or water sources but they were empty and dry. I was thinking about the land, which is ready, rivers which are waiting for water, water which will bring the life to that land. And a prayer grew up in my heart – giving thanks to God and asking Him for living waters of His presence and love to flood this country.

I apologize I haven't updated you about our mission in Turkmenistan earlier. Thank God for these last months. They were full of challenges. I was working on my dissertation, our mission in Turkmenistan was very intense, coming back home I defended my PhD, and started my new job, so I can make some money, pay my loans, and go back to Turkmenistan as soon as possible.

Please, pray for Turkmenistan, pray for the priests. Pray for those, who are going to be baptized tonight; pray for more missionaries in that country; pray for us to be ready to give our time, money and all lives to that mission when Jesus calls us again. I hope that time will come soon!
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the free given gift of being a part of that mission, for every miracle of healing, deliverance and conversion. Thank You for your faithfulness, for your favor, and that we can come personally closer to You!

I wish you a blessed Easter. May your Easter season be filled with the grace and love of Our Risen Savior!

Hana Simcikova (in the black shirt in the above picture)
Slovakia

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Isn’t that an awesome testimony of how our Risen Lord is still using his Church to accomplish his great mission to save souls! If you would like to donate to Hana’s work or get on her update email list – please contact us

Ministering to Young Adults

“Fewer than one out of ten young adults mention faith as their top priority” (UnChristian, 23).

A shocking statistic - yet one that should challenge Christian young adults and youth leaders to evangelize! As a resource for my own Christian discipleship and for leading others I found some interesting statistics as well as great ideas in the books UnChristian and Googling God:

• Ministers too often give a quick fix approach to God and introduce the “born again” mentality rather then consistent truth. (Googling God)

• Our generation often follows teachings of the Church without even understanding why we believe those things, thus not having true conviction. (Googling God)

• Web site resources for Ministering to young adults: www.bustedhalo.com; www.sacredspace.ie; and www.rejesus.com (Googling God)
  

• We must provide venues for all the Catholics we are dealing with: adoration/ sacraments, volunteer opportunities, videos, Q & A, Theology on Tap, etc. (Googling God)

• There needs to be young adult events where they can unite with the Church, bishops and Pope/ young adults need to know that the Church cares about them. (A young adult, Googling God)

• “Jesus didn’t put a sign on a palm tree and say, ‘All those willing to be disciples, please meet here at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday; refreshments will be served.’ He personally invited people!" Ministers must: “be in the world but not of the world” so as to understand where young adults are coming from, use technology but not as an only means rather to draw them into the richness of the Church, also invite personally. (Googling God)

• "84 percent of young people say they know at least one Christian personally, and only 15 percent see a lifestyle difference in that Christian." (UnChristian)
  

• Living with integrity starts with being transparent. Doing what you say you are going to is the number one quality young people admire. (UnChristian)

• “We have experienced the presence of a living God, but outsiders are wary of feeling brainwashed or manipulated." (UnChristian)

• Many people do not associate with Christianity as something new but as something old and commonplace, they have “been there, done that”. Many young people have been involved in a church and then left, so evangelizers must keep that in mind and not try to portray Christianity as something that they have never heard of before. (UnChristian)

• Nearly one third of Americans believe that there are some crimes and sins that God cannot forgive. (UnChristian)

• “It is more important than ever to think about and respond to political issues in light of a biblical worldview.” (UnChristian)

• Be creative – Jesus was, He attracted people who were unaccustomed to His style, ability, message, etc. (UnChristian)

• 2 Corinthians 7: 11-12 – Christians should respond well to correction. (UnChristian)

My point in these statistics and ideas is not to discourage Christians, but rather to challenge them - and myself - to be able to respond well to correction and be more faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ. These books really opened my eyes to new ways of approaching people with understanding and respect, but without watering down the truth. I think it is helpful for anyone working with or ministering to young people to be aware of these things.

There are so many stereotypes of Christianity that sometimes repel people from it. “Jesus said Christians would be known by their love” (UnChristian), let us make that our stereotype!

Pink Flamingoes and the Pearl of Great Price

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. St. Paul - I Corinthians 2:1-5

When I was a young boy my family traveled down the east coast of the U.S., from Maryland to Florida, to go on vacation. Back in those days we didn't have the interstate highways we now have and there were places where you had to travel along two lane roads that ran through small towns. I can remember in some of those areas you would see homes where the owners had decorated the yards with all kinds of things. Mirror balls, pin wheels, antique (abandoned) cars, statues of all kinds of things, dwarfs, deer, people and pink flamingo's. Now some of those lawns were so filled with 'decorative items' that it was hard to figure out how to get from the road to the house! Some home owners had gone even farther in their extravagant decorating and had affixed all kinds of things to the front porch walls. Flags, hubcaps, beware of dog signs, and other creative wall mountings! Kind a like the yard, some homes had so much stuff on the wall that you couldn't even see where the front door was!


Sometimes we as Catholic Christians feel compelled to immediately share with friends who, perhaps do not know the Lord or are not church goers, about the treasures of the Church,- Mass, the sacraments, Mary and the saints, Apostolic succession, etc. We feel the need to get it all out in front of them immediately. Sort of like the yards with the pink flamingos. By attempting to get it all out there immediately we run the risk of not establishing first things first. We can easily put the horse before the cart. We certainly want people to know all about the treasures of the Church, but we want them to know first and foremost about the Pearl of Great Price, who is the person that our faith is all about. We want them to know the reason for all of the wonders of the Church, His Body! When we share with others about the joy of knowing Jesus Christ personally as our Lord, as the center of our lives and of all creation, it puts first things first. We want them to know the way into house of God, and Jesus is that way! We want them to know the meaning of life which is found in union with the Trinity through what our Lord has done for all by his life, death and resurrection! If in fact our friends come to know the love of God in Jesus our Lord, the forgiveness of sins and, power of the Spirit given in baptism, then they will hunger to learn more and, live in the truths of the Church!

Let's growing in learning to share about the Lord Jesus, and look for opportunities to tell others why He is the pearl of great price and the joy of our lives!

“This is the principal proclamation of the Church, which remains unchanged down the ages. The Christian faith, therefore, is not an ideology but a personal encounter with the Crucified and Risen Christ. From this experience, both individual and communitarian, flows a new way of thinking and acting: an existence marked by love is born, as the saints testify.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Parish of God the Merciful Father, Rome, March 26, 2006

Evangelization from a Muslim Convert

Daniel Ali is a muslim convert to the Catholic faith and very passonate about evangelization. We were able to interview him and hear his story plus practical ways to evangelize muslims from his perspective. One thing he said that really struck me was that one of the things that drew him to Christianity was when a Christian asked if he could pray with him. He said that his intiation reaction of being asked to be prayed with was not of anger or resentment but he "welcomed it!" I hope that Christians will see the power of prayer and not be afraid to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because it changes lives!

You may remember Daniel Ali from our last podcast along with the March for Life news. He had so many amazing insights that we just came out with a second podcast with his view on scripture and practical ways to evangelize! You can listen to this new podcast here, or click play below:

You can also check out ChristLife's Sharing Christ and other Resources for Evangelization.

Know and Confess that Jesus is Lord!

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)

As Christians we are called to know and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! The first step to evangelization is knowing who Jesus is as the Lord of the world, but also personally as the Lord of our hearts. This means having a personal relationship with Him and getting to know Him better every day.

During training for a nine month evangelization ministry I was a part of, the leader told us that we "can't give what we don't have". Basically, If we plan on telling people about Christ, we better know who He is first! This really struck me and it has helped me remember that the foundation of any evangelization ministry is my own relationship with my Lord Jesus.Fr. Francis Martin discusses this basic and crucial truth in ChristLife's most recent podcast. He has been a priest for many years, and is now a part of Mother of God Community. He speaks with great wisdom and his insights really challenged me in my own relationship with Christ.

You can listen in to ChristLife's most recent podcast here, or press play below:

And Action!

I don't know about you but I don't get the opportunity to be in movies very often, so when I had the chance to go to Philly to be an extra in a new movie called Our Lady of Victory I was pretty excited. Although doing "extra" work was not everything I ever hoped and dreamed of, it was a pretty good time. In addition to spending hours waiting to go on set and then hours on set being really quiet and doing the same thing over and over, I had the opportunity to talk about Jesus! Now, it wasn't anything amazing – no mass conversions or anything - but just talking about faith a couple times reminded me of how simple sharing Christ can be.
The first opportunity I had was while on a bus on the way to the set. It was about a 10 min. ride but I had to sit with a stranger. Of course we went through the normal introductions listing who, what, where, ect. and eventually we got into where we work. She is married and does "extra" work a good amount and I introduced myself as a summer intern at ChristLife: a Catholic ministry of Evangelization. From then we continued on, chatting about faith here and there and discussing the importance of knowing Christ as your personal Savior and then sharing your faith. This little chat got me excited for the rest of the day as I looked for more opportunities to share Christ's love.
To my surprise and joy the scene we were shooting was in a Catholic Church. So, sitting quietly for 4 hours on hard wooden pews was a task my body was all too well trained for and of course the setting lent itself to an easy discussion of faith. During the scene the "priest" read from 1 Peter making sure to emphasize the verse “wives submit to your husbands” and that women are the weaker sex and then, according to the script, the priest was to go on giving a very sexist homily. During a short scene break I turned to a girl near me and we discussed the verse from 1 Peter. We shook our heads sadly at the movie's misuse of the verse, recognizing important parts that were dropped and I summarized Ephesians 5:25, 28 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” The other women near us overheard our conversation and began chatting on their own about the movie’s misrepresentation of the Catholic Church and the Mass in various ways.
After a few similar conversations I inwardly rejoiced in the Lord for having the chance to talk about faith in an easy casual way. Hopefully I’ll continue to take advantage of the little ways I can share Christ’s love daily on set and off.