The Great Commission

God sends just the right people into our lives at just the right times. I had two amazing conversations today that truly lifted my spirits. Today, a fellow first year got up and basically said, 'Hey, we're all being attacked by the Devil right now. But we're all going through it together. So let's pray together and love God together and fight Satan together.' It was totally what I needed. I've been so spiritually attacked the past month and a half, and it increased exponentially once I got to New Staff Training. Sometimes we forget that we're not alone in this seemingly un-winable battle. We have our family, our friends, our mission partners, our fellow missionaries, our students to turn to for support and love. And let's not forget that the only way we can win these battles is to throw ourselves into the endless mercy of our Father. Ask Him to hide us in the wounds of His Son so the Evil One will not prevail (on a side note, you all should pray the Anima Christi - one very powerful prayer).

Conversation #1 was with a potential mission partner, but more than that, she has been a staple in my life at the parish my family has attended for over a decade. She had never really heard of FOCUS before, so I was really able to start from the beginning, no preconceived notions or judgments about us either good or bad, and go through my love story with God and the part FOCUS played in it. We got to talk about how FOCUS missionaries go through similar struggles as youth ministers, DRE's, and other ministry positions within the Church. How we all need each other to strengthen the mission of each person, because sometimes it feels like you're just spinning your wheels. But to know you can pick up the phone and someone else will know exactly what you're talking about and encourage you to go back to where it all begins: prayer and your relationship with/trust in our Lord.

Conversation #2 happened toward the end of the night. A girl I had lunch with probably the second day I was here. She is just such a vibrant personality and we formed a loose friendship somehow within the maybe 30 minutes we shared a meal together. The following 2.5 weeks, we have said hello and just loved each other like sisters without really spending any more time together. Today I had an image come to me in meditating upon the Sorrowful Mysteries that I really wanted drawn, and as I have no artistic ability, I needed to turn elsewhere. I happened to know this girl was an artist. Now, I have had other images come to me in prayer, yet I have never felt the desire to see them drawn. And I wasn't sure if asking her to draw it would work out. But at 10 o'clock tonight, she was in my room where we talked about Mary, the rosary, the Sorrowful Mysteries, St. Mary Magdelene and that was just when we were discussing the sketch she would do for me. She shared with me that she had been praying for a deeper devotion to the rosary. And here I was asking for a picture of my meditation on the Sorrowful Mysteries. God answers prayers.

We continued talking and discovered we both have an affinity toward the charismatic movement within the Church. So naturally the conversation moved to the Holy Spirit and the ways Jesus speaks to us in prayer. The conversation was like a breath of fresh air. I feel God has been asking me for perseverance in prayer because it is a virtue I struggle with. I have been a little discouraged with this, but talking with this woman revitalized me, made me excited to go back to prayer determined to be patient and grow in perseverance.

Ending the conversation, we talked about how the readings for the past two weeks seem to be catered to missionaries. As if the Holy Spirit whispered in the ears of those who decided the reading cycle that in 1998 a missionary organization would be founded and their training would take place in the few weeks after Easter, so plan accordingly. Discussing this option, as it is entirely plausible, we decided that it could be that the missionary pattern seen here is actually present throughout the whole of the Bible, especially the New Testament, and this theme has nothing to do with FOCUS in particular, but rather the commissioning of the entire Church. For Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)