A couple times a week, I’ll quietly leave the house to meet with a group of runners – to get some miles in before the sun is up and the kids are awake. Most of the conversations in those early hours are light and bright: we catch up on each other’s families and work, and, shockingly, talk about running.
But I have one friend who is not into that kind of conversation. He’s Presbyterian, a strong Christian, active in his church, and he loves asking me tough questions.
“Can you tell me what you Catholics really believe about the pope?”
“Why do you Catholics reserve the Eucharist at the end of Mass instead of consuming everything?”
“Can you tell me more about this Synod thing?”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to talk through theology and the goings-on of the Church. However, I am not always on my A-game before 6 a.m. while running through the streets of Richmond.
I have come to realize, though, that moments like these are what it means to be on mission. Scripture reminds us that when we go out into the world, we must “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Pt 3:15).
It might not be what we expect when we think about mission and evangelization, but the reality is that we are on mission in our day-to-day lives, in our everyday circumstances. We need to be ready to talk about our faith and be a witness to Christ’s love. We must be open to the Holy Spirit and how it urges us to act, live, and speak.
Pope Francis writes in his new encyclical “Dilexit nos”: “Mission, as a radiation of the love of the heart of Christ, requires missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ, feel bound to share this love that has changed their lives.”
So far in this column, we’ve pulled from the four pillars of the Eucharistic Revival’s Year of Mission Playbook. At first glance, it is a little surprising, because three out of the four pillars are focused on the interior life of the individual.
Maybe you’re like me and when you hear the word “mission,” you think of great saints – like St. Francis Xavier. He was called to leave all he knew to travel the world and bring the Good News to people and cultures who had never heard the name of Jesus.
That’s not the case for most of us. Whether we are called to mission abroad or mission at home, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. Each one of us must prepare for the work of evangelization.
The idea of preparing to witness to Christ’s love is why the first three pillars in the Year of Mission were more interior. They focused on our own encounter with Christ, finding our identity in Christ, and building our life around Christ. Only when we do this, when we orient our whole lives around living as a disciple of Jesus, are we ready to go on mission.
Here’s the kicker, though. For almost every single one of us, our lives of mission are not going to look like St. Francis Xavier’s. Instead, they might look more like the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who lived a life of mission right where she was, in the middle of a convent.
St. Thérèse chose to love the people in her life in a radical manner. When a particular person annoyed or frustrated her, she intentionally chose to love them all the more, going out of her way to serve and care for that person. A life of evangelical mission starts with radically loving the people who are already in our lives.
As this column wraps up its first series, I hope readers have had the chance to retain some practical advice to aid in their evangelization efforts. We are each called to evangelize in an authentic and simple manner. It starts with an encounter with Christ – and spending time with him in prayer in the Eucharist is the best way to start that encounter.
Remember that even though our lives are full of change, our identity in Christ never changes. Find the community that you need to help you build your life around a relationship with Christ.
Finally, be ready to go on mission simply by being open to the Holy Spirit as he guides you in your everyday life. This openness will allow us to be witnesses to those people that God has already placed in our lives.
Andrew Waring has worked for the Diocese of Richmond since 2011 and has served as director of the Office for Evangelization since 2020. He is a graduate of James Madison University (B.A. in History) and Fordham University (M.A. in Religious Education). Andrew, his wife and their five kids attend St. Bridget, Richmond.