The Church and the world have entered into unprecedented times, and many are looking around wondering what to do. As I shared before in a previous post, there are three basic camps that churches fall into. The first is to do absolutely nothing but hunker down. The second is to get some form of virtual presence up to keep the faithful together. The third is to see these times as obstacles to overcome so that they not only maintain the parish but keep people growing in faith.

Growing in faith is, I believe, at the heart of why the Lord has allowed the Church to experience Covid-19. We can’t just stop growing, sharing or presenting the Good News to others. Our Lord has given us this time to evaluate not just our faith in Him but also what is crucial. It is a wake up call to regain sight of our transcendent life that will pass from one life to the next.

For those of us who profess Jesus as our Lord, we don’t see death as the end but only a transition. We should be longing for the next life instead of holding onto this one. Why? Because this is our hope! So many in the world have no clue that they have a Heavenly Father who has gone to great lengths to save their eternal souls and restore them to Himself.

A New Era

I believe we are entering, as the Blessed Mother has described to the visionaries of Fatima, Lourdes and others, into a new period. Pope Saint John Paul II exhorted us to get ready for the New Millennium – A New Spring. While this sounds great, there is much work that needs to be done. We can see what Pope Benedict XVI warned us about when he said that the Church is going to get much smaller but become much stronger.

Since the early 1960s the bishops have been calling for a New Evangelization. Most local parishes have responded with some form of program for their faithful. However, despite increasing renewal at the parish, those efforts are falling short of the mark. The local parish needs to equip their membership with the knowledge, skills and courage to evangelize by themselves – one-on-one!

If all disciples of Jesus Christ are truly going to live out their discipleship, then they need to be on call 24/7. They not only need to know how to bring some to conversion, but they need to be ready to do it when the Holy Spirit brings someone to them. The days of Catholics believing that evangelization is just inviting someone to church need to end.

We need all Catholics in the pews of our churches equipped, motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit to engage the mission field of their stores, coffee shops, and social and work environments. Our programs are limited because people are not participating in church programs.

Therefore, disciples of Christ must pick up the universal call (command) from Jesus to “go and make disciples of all nations”. We must all learn how to walk with individuals who don’t know Jesus and lead them into a viable relationship with Him.

The time has come to arm the saints for the work of evangelization because this is the work of every disciple!

Come Holy Spirit, place a burden on our hearts to share the kingdom of God with the world. Place a burden within us to get trained and then to go out. Give each of us the zeal of St. Paul who was compelled to share the Gospel with strangers. AMEN!