Graduate/STL program in New Evangelization

"I sense the moment has come to commit all the Church's energies to a new evangelization.... No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples."

These words of Pope John Paul II from his encyclical Mission of the Redeemer (#3) have inspired countless new efforts to proclaim and bring the Gospel to people throughout the world. From grassroots initiatives like going out on the streets and sharing the Gospel to ministries like ChristLife to seminary programs.

The following video is an inspiring look at the world's first licentiate in sacred theology in the new evangelization at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. The priests and laypeople in the video are inspiring and bring hope to the leadership of the Church effectively responding the Holy Spirit's constant call to proclaim the Gospel!

Come, Holy Spirit

I was reading the Gospel of John the other day and I ran across a few verses that really emphasized how important the Holy Spirit is to evangelization:

And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. - John 16:8-11 (NRSV)

This is so important.

We need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to show the world what is sin and reveal that God the Father gave us Jesus as a provision for our sins.

We need the Holy Spirit to show us the Righteous One - Jesus Christ - so that we might believe in him. (Think about St. Peter's confession.)

Finally, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal to everyone that Jesus came to save us and condemn the evil one - that Christianity, at its core, is about God's radical love and forgiveness.

Sometimes, I think these points get lost. Too often, Christians are depicted as these sin-obsessed people, self-righteously condemning the world and everyone in it. Which is definitely not who we are called to be.

That's not to say that we should ignore sin or dismiss it as inconsequential. One look at a crucifix reminds us how awful sin is. But it does mean our focus, the basis of our faith, should be that Jesus came to save us, not condemn us, and that grace is at the center of our faith, not sin.

And so we pray:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

And the Word became flesh...

Madelein Delbrêl, a French laywoman, writer, mystic and a former atheist- and perhaps, future saint - wrote this beautiful meditation:

We cannot be missionaries if we have not sincerely, generously, and warmly welcomed the Word of God, the Gospel, within ourselves. The vital dynamic of this word is to take on flesh, to become flesh in us. And when this word comes to dwell within us, we become capable of being missionaries.

You cannot pass on what you do not have. As an intern here for the past few months, I know firsthand that Jesus was right: "without me you can do nothing." But with him, we bear great fruit - "we become capable of being missionaries."

The time of martyrs comes and goes, but the time of witnesse continues without end - and being witnesses means being martyrs. This incarnation of God's Word in us, this allowing ourselves to be molded by it, is what we call witnessing. To take the Word of God seriously,we need all the strength of the Holy Spirit. If our witness is often mediocre, it is because we have not realized that the same kind of heroism is needed to be a witness as to be a martyr.

I read once, somewhere, that everyone is called to be a martyr. Some, like Sts. Peter and Paul and Perpetua die gruesome deaths for the love of God. But the majority of us endure different martyrdoms - dying to self in little ways every day, like driving in rush hour traffic without giving in to road rage, or living a Christian life even when it means losing friends or sacrificing sleep for someone else's benefit. And these acts of martyrdom are only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. We cannot be effective witnesses without the Holy Spirit.

At the beginning of each hour of the long day, we could say, "I must begin this hour as if I were going to be a martyr, and a witness" - because there is not one second that we have the right to let God's Word lie dormant in us. And this entails awakening a fervor in our very being in the presence of the grace of each moment, a wildly passionate expectation for that strength, without which we would turn traitor.

Remember Ephesians 2:8-10? For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

God has called each one of us not only to a personal relationship with him, but also a mission: to tell the world about his love for us, to be witnesses to that love, and by doing so, lead others to him. Realizing that should lead to "a fervor in our very being" and "a wildly passionate expectation for that strength" he gave us.

(picture source)

Holy Spirit Retreat

Greetings blog readers, it's been awhile for me (Pete). Last week I had a pretty rough cold/fever that kept me resting a good amount (& blowing my nose) :-/

The retreat was held in the glass room. Here's a view, thanks to Miguel, from the veranda off the room:



Well the retreat day went wonderfully. But how was the Holy Spirit present? Well each of the 30 or so young adults who came brought Him in some way through their unique experiences and backgrounds. But, even more, several things assured me of His Presence:

1. "You can tell the weather, but can you tell the signs of the times." Well, thankfully, in classic fashion, the weather prophets were wrong about Saturday- at least at the Friary ;) It was supposed to be mid to upper 80s out. In a room with no air conditioning and the cameras and lights for the video production, this was going to be a problem. We prayed about this. It ended up being 78 with a real nice breeze. Thank you Jesus.
   
   
2. "Well Dave you don't need to give your talk..." This was my remark after hearing my wife give an awesome testimony to begin the day about God's saving presence in her life. Dave agreed... but felt like we might still give talk for video purposes :)
   
   
3. "What is the Church's greatest need?" Dave concluded the first talk quoting from Pope Paul VI who responded to this rhetorical question, saying "the Holy Spirit!" Not more programs or this or that spirituality or whatever, but the divine fiery gift Jesus promised His people! Dave's talk as well as Fr. Arnold talk answered this question in spades and were truly anointed and imparted grace and truth to all of us retreatants.
   
   
4. "We carry this treasure in earthen vessels..." This statement of St. Paul's describing the paradox of how the Lord Jesus uses weak, imperfect people like us to accomplish great things, was certainly a theme for me- due to my cold. Erik, who led the worship, also didn't feel spiritually that great about everything- but we were both pleasantly shocked by the amazing ways in which God moved people during prayer time and worship, to encounter His love, shed tears, and share together. It was very very cool :)

Lots more happened and I hope some of the leaders will also share a bit about what the Lord accomplished and is accomplishing...

I'll leave you with a picture of the "photographer," Miguel, and Vincenzo enjoying lunch break at the retreat:

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!

Perseverance and Practice in Christ.

But solid food is for the mature- for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good and evil. Hebrews 5:14

This is what the Lord intends for us who follow him. He desires for his kids to grow in Christ- likeness, in Christian maturity. We are to have the family resemblance. We are to resemble our older brother, Jesus. That’s what holiness is about. To think and behave like Jesus, as if he were us, by the empowering grace of God. Not to try and attempt externally to play act what we think we ought to be and do, but to allow his Spirit to make us like him from the inside out. That takes a life time of experience and connection to Him.

God knows that we learn from experience as is clearly illustrated for us in Scripture. The stories of the Bible our intended to help us learn how to best live. So the Saints lives in the Old and New Testament recount not only the glories of their lives but also their sins. Think of Adam and Eve, Abraham, David or Peter.

Hopefully we learn from their experiences but more often than not its our experiences that help to instruct us, both the good and sinful choices that we make. Everything (St Augustine tells us even sin) works together for good for those who love God and are called by him... so that we might be conform to the image of Jesus. Romans 8:28,29

As I get older, more mature in age, I find myself identifying with the people of the Bible much more readily and closely. I appreciate them, feel like I know them and empathize with their failings and rejoice in their choices to say yes to God and trust in his unfailing faithfulness.
I also see a characteristic of all the saints both in Scripture and in the Church’s history - they get up and go on. When they fail, they turn once more to God and continue walking with him. The Spirit instructs and transforms (sanctifies) them through perseverance, through practice, to think and act more like Jesus!

Over the last couple of years, I have taken time to reflect on my life and relationships. I have had the blessing of a mentor who has helped me to examine how things have gone for me up to the present. I have seen some things I had never known about myself. One example has to do with a tendency to grow passive in certain relationships and not speak honestly on what I think and feel about the relationship. I never even recognized this weakness in myself. I just didn’t see it.

Now I am learning the power of speaking the truth in love by practicing in my relationships. It is sort of like exercising a set of muscles that have never received strength training. I am growing in virtue, as my thinking becomes more subject to the Lord’s truth and light, which brings change to my behavior! Not easy, painful at times - hard work in prayer, reflection and conversation. Yet it is a wonderful grace where I can see He is at work to change me, to make me to think and act like Jesus! To help me to love like he loves.

When we are transformed by his grace at work within us, as we persevere and practice, his Spirit works not only in us, but through us. We freely receive in order to freely give. When we are healed we are to become healers, when we are delivered we are to be his delivers. Any work of grace is to become a grace for others.

Holiness, Christ-likeness is essential to and Christian who brings good news to others.

May we each continue to draw close to our Father and allow him to transform us as we persevere and practice his truth in the love of Christ our Lord!

God the Father loves you!

When you have a chance to put on hold any busyness that you are involved with, a time when you can quiet down and open up to God and receive, I have something wonderful to share with you!

It's a video of a song that communicates in word and Spirit the love God has for you personally. The song is, How He loves us! and is sung by Kim Walker in the context of a worship time at a conference.

I first heard this song when we posted a video called, Cardboard testimonies. Subsequently I listened to the testimony of the author of the song, John Mark McMilan - quite an incredible testimony of love inspired the song.

Fr. Arnold used this video at the end of his teaching during our Discovering Christ retreat day recently, and I simply got undone with the Father's love for us, for me personally, as I watched and listened! That is how the good news works you know. We experience good news and want all of our friends to know about it!

We all need reminders of our Father's love which is the foundation of our life and identity! Oh how he loves us!

"Holy Spirit come and reveal the Father's love in great power as my friends listen to this song, in the name of the Lord Jesus 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!

The hairbrush and the love of God

Beth Moore is a Christian Bible teacher and author, and is a married mother of two daughters. This is one of her experiences.

As I read it I knew the reality of this story and encourage you to open your heart to the deeply personal love of God in Jesus Christ. Also, pray and ask the Lord to make you available to the opportunities he provides to carry his love to others in our daily lives!

On April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville , waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing.

I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport...an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere?

There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern,and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. "Oh, no, God, please,no." I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, "Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!"There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane."

Then I heard it... "I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair." The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man."Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I said,Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair." I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?" God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies .I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"He looked back at me and said, "What did you say?""May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"To which he responded in volume ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that."At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?"At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Long locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you really want to." Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush." "I have one in my bag, "he responded.I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted.

I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands,remembering to take my time not to pull.A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old mans hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes -felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while.The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said, "Sir, do you know my Jesus?"He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures, I thought.He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said, "You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride."Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand,was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known.

It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?"I said, "Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!"And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way. .. .. all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. "We Have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,full of grace and truth."John 1:14

Amazing! What are your thoughts and comments? Ever been in a random situation like this?

Come Holy Spirit!

In ChristLife's latest podcast Bill Johnson gives teaching on the Holy Spirit being the power and presence of Jesus in our lives and how we need to be continuously "leaking that presence. It is so impactful how Bill Johnson explains the basic truths of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in layman's terms and makes it applicable to every second of every day of our lives. I highly recommend listening to his words, and I hope we can all grow in great docility to the incredible Holy Spirit!
Also in this podcast, our director, Dave Nodar shares about how the Holy Spirit is essential in the evagelization work of ChristLife and the current Sharing Christ course co-sponsored by ChristLife and UMBC for young adults.

To listen to Bill Johnson in our 47th podcast click here or press play below:

Making Disciples!

"Go therefore and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

The calling from the Lord of every Christian is to proclaim the Gospel to the world! I have found that in my own life God provides so many small opportunities to share Him with others. It doesn't have to be standing at a podium in a huge public square (though it could be), but simple, small ways of telling others how Jesus has impacted our lives.

I am a waitress at a restaurant and one day I was waiting on an elderly man sitting by himself. He asked me why I seemed so happy, and I ended up telling him about my relationship with the Lord. It was a great conversation and he talked about his life in the military, and how he knows he needs the Lord more in his life. It is these daily, small opportunities God puts in our lives that can have a lasting impact on people's lives, and I need to be more open to them!

The beautiful thing about sharing Christ is that we are not expected to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit comes and anoints our words so that we are simply instruments of the Lord. Dave Nodar expands on how to share Christ with others through the power of the Holy Spirit in Christlife's most recent podcast "Called to Share Christ". I hope this podcast will inspire us all to enter into the mission field of making disciples by sharing Christ with others!

Listen in to the latest podcast here, or click play below:

Receive the Power

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses." (Acts 1:8)

I don't know how anyone tries to witness to Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit. That's like running a marathon through the desert without any water! I remember a great conversation on this topic that I had with Fr. Francis Martin, a Scripture scholar from the Mother of God community we did a podcast with, about evangelization. He said rightly that "evangelization" is never used in Scriptures - but the idea of "witness" is. And Peter and the other apostles were excellent at this (after being baptized with the Spirit at Pentecost). Remember in Acts after being persecuted by the religious authorities for preaching Jesus - they exclaimed "how can we not speak of what we have seen and heard!"

But you say: I have never seen Jesus physically, etc. I say: the Holy Spirit is the one who makes Jesus present to us - and in a way, through faith, just as tangible as seeing someone physically. Because I've seen extraordinary things - and the problem is that weeks, months, years later - the memory grows dim - especially if there is persecution - unless I have the Holy Spirit.

I write all this because the next World Youth Day's theme is the verse from Acts I started with in the blog - and the official theme song recently came out in a video form - check it out... what do you think? I think its a great inspiration for the Catholic Church.