Lay Evangelist
Till Christ Be Formed in Every Heart
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FOR PROPHETS AND APOSTLES

Posts in Spirituality
apathy, half-way houses, and the revolution of faith

Pope Paul VI ignited the flame of Catholic evangelization with both Vatican II and "On Evangelization in Our Time"A Conversation with My Cousin

Recently I had a conversation with my cousin who runs a pro-life ministry helping unwed pregnant mothers who are in broken situations to find a home and a life. He does amazing work and has helped heal a lot of lives and saved a lot of babies from the abortion mills of Houston, Texas.

He was asking me about the in’s and out’s of being a Catholic lay evangelist and how it was going. “Too often,” I told him, “Catholics are so busy catechizing- which means taking a person deeper into the mystery of Jesus Christ- that we overlooked the fact that they have never, ever been invited to fall in love with Jesus in the first place. That initial proclamation and invitation just never happened.”

“I never heard a Catholic talk like you,” He said to me. “My parents left the Catholic Church because no one mentioned having a personal relationship with Jesus.” The practice of the Faith was just mechanical, mindless, and culture-based.

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Church Life, SpiritualityMichael GormleyLiturgy, Ritual, evangelization, inculturation, pro-life
St. Joseph: man, husband, father

Today I was greatly honored to speak at a St. Joseph's Table celebration where people gather to honor the name and patronage of Saint Joseph (especially over Sicili, where this tradition originated) by sharing a meal together and offering alms to the poor. I was asked to prepare a short talk on the saint, so I poured over some scholarly, theological, and devotional texts in order to offer the best that I could on the man whom I am proud to name one of my closest patrons.

 

Joseph, of the House and Family of David

Little is known about Joseph from Scripture. He is named "a righteous man", living according to the law of God. He is of the tribe of Judah, of the "House and family of David," which means that he stands within the secret and sacred bloodline from King David on down to Jesus. The last Davidic heir who sat on the throne had his sons killed and his eyes blotted out, then was carried off to slavery, never to be heard from again. The last thing he saw was the end of the Davidic lineage.

However, as God is one to do, He preserved a remnant, a worthy lineage that continued on in the humility of permanent de-thronement. They would be born, raise families, work jobs, knowing all the while they were supposed to be kings. But none would ever rule.

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SpiritualityMichael GormleyFeast Day, Son of David, St Joseph
What I learned at Lunch about the Love of Jesus Christ

The protestors were united against a brutal regime, and they achieved solidarity in and through their faith, not in spite of it. Learn that lesson!He even got to speak on contemporary issues, especially what's going on in Egypt right now. He showed us a picture of an Egyptian Coptic Orthodox man holding up a cross next to a Muslim holding up the Koran, and how they are holding each other's hands. It was a gesture of solidarity.

Something fascinating and under-reported: in the midst of the protest, the Muslims cleared a path for the Christians to gather and to celebrate Mass and the Christians made room so that the Muslims could pray.

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Spirituality, TheologyMichael GormleyMuslim-Catholic Relations, enemy, neighbor, radical love
Events, Talks and Discernment

Jesus Christ is utterly humble, preaching his message by washing the disciples' feet. How humble are we, the preachers of his gospel?Whenever we give talks and lead conferences for youth we often approach it with programs centered around talks and framed by our own expectations. The danger lies in two things with this approach that must be re-evaluated in order to keep our talk, event or conference Christo-centric.

First, we all may think that discipleship lies in talking. Speech making is not the essence of living the Christian life. Listening to God in loving contemplation ought to be the center, not listening to me. There are two remedies for this from my perspective. For the speaker, all of our talks have to be drenched in prayer: from the topic, the placement, the outline, rough drafts and the final product to its opening and closing, as well as peppering the talk itself with the always-anointed words of Scripture. For the audience, especially teens, all of our talks have to lead them to better prayer, whether that is within the talk, as a challenge during the talk, or as meditative food-for-thought later on.

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Church Life, SpiritualityMichael GormleyNew Evangelization, discernment