[kcwilliamsj]

I agree about the necklace, I have a necklace with a handful of my favorite Saints on it. I do receive questions about them, which provides an opportunity to share. Sometimes, I honestly forget I’m wearing it but people notice. One interesting time this happened was at a grocery store. The lady checking us out looked at my necklace, I could see that she looked for me than a glance. I then noticed her necklace was satanic in nature (at least stereotypically), we didn’t exchange pleasantries but I told my wife walking away we need to pray immediately. Both for protection, in the chance this cashier was praying against us, but also for the cashier and the intercession of the Saints that was on my necklace.

[kcwilliamsj]

One comment is how you end it with, How are we responding to it?….. That’s a great way to end it and I have to imagine that helps carry the conversation on to the next phase (so to speak). It’s interesting to type these out, in person, with voice tone and what not, I bet most people do a pretty good job. Again, great way to end.

[kcwilliamsj]

Kile,

I like that you mentioned St Therese, her “little way” really is instrumental in just taking steps throughout a day. Also, you mention obedience which I find extremely helpful in the spiritual life. After all, it is obedience that gets us out of bed, right?

Attacks can be tough, know that I am praying for you now.

[kcwilliamsj]

I prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and I feel certainly a love for Scripture, I know this is a life long pursuit, but, really, in just holding a Bible, I sense it’s power which is rooted in love. I think there is a desire to be bold like the disciples for others and just meet them where they are.

I am working on being more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. My 8 year old daughter was having a desire the other night to be creative. I sensed this was an opportunity so I asked her if she understand where such desires come from. I went on to explain to her the Spirit is prompting her and that the natural response should be to pray and have a conversation.

I will be reading “Holy Spirit 101” to better understand the Holy Spirit, I look forward to diving into that book.

[kcwilliamsj]

The Divine Office is great to dive in to. I especially like it because, there are times when prayer life is difficult due to illness or other things, and the Office has been a great source, one that is reliable, where I can forget my issue and really allow the Church to pray using my lips.

[kcwilliamsj]

I have been really blessed with great spiritual director’s over the last several years. Daily meditation is a beautiful thing and, now that I work for a parish as a Director, I’m in a position to really encourage people to develop the practice. I recall getting started though and it was a struggle to build up to developing the habit of daily prayer. It seems so simple a concept, then temptation and distraction kick in. Not to mention, the reorientation of ones life to where it should be. A great opportunity I have is access to a Church as a regular part of my day, so I often pray in the Church throughout the day. Liturgy of the Hours is a great way to structure my day with morning prayer, then daytime prayer, and finally at home, evening prayer. Also, just being able to rest with Our Lord is especially nice and refreshing. I do not sit for an hour and presently in the pandemic, there isn’t an opportunity to go to adoration. The final question is regarding intercessory prayer, which I am a big fan of. I have been praying for my brother for a long time to be interested in the Catholic Church and he is at this time interested in the Church (Praise God). In my family, we offer up prayers for people daily to intercede for them.

[kcwilliamsj]

This activity reminds me of my first week at work this past June (June of 2019). I was new to my job at a parish and I prayed for the Lord to show me why I was there. What direction would I be asked to go in. The second week of work brought to me an individual who was having a bit of a crisis. A 23 year old gentleman that needed to talk. He was not Catholic but he really wanted to talk. I met with him, we chatted, and we prayed. He asked if we could chat again, I agreed and we have been chatting every since. He entered the RCIA process and is awaiting to be received into the Church, baptism and all. This was a divine appointment, I believe that through and through. I prayed and was open and the Lord dropped this guy off on my work door step.

That initial meeting was slow as I asked questions and tried to zero in on why he was there. The questions helped me understand what he was looking for, which was forgiveness. This opportunity also was a lesson in the bigger picture of what God wanted for this parish. There is a lot of initiative but a lack of discipleship. Meaning, events are great, but can be shallow. There is no relationship in simply having a “one off” event and this parish needs to roll up their sleeves and enter into deeper relationships.

Another situation, a gentleman showed up one day just wanting to aks questions about the Catholic faith. We spent an hour in my office and discussed things, he claimed he was a “seeker” he respects aspects of faith but likes to go to Church’s and have conversations. After our hour of time, he thanked me for my time and parted ways. I have not heard from him again, I don’t know if our conversation impacted his life or not.

I think God used both of these appointments to show me that we need to be open to interacting with others. It is easy for a parish to lose sight of that, and these type of interactions is a great reminder for a parish worker that people are not flocking to the Church with questions. We need to get out and meet them where they are at.

Both of these scenarios involved prayer. With the first guy, I have been able to journey with him so I have been able to provide him some books and other things as he journey’s through RCIA. We have talked about the need for a prayer life. I have also related things using sports language so he can better understand what is happening. He has a football background.

[kcwilliamsj]

Brian, how has SPSE impacted your involvement with “Christ Renews His Parish”?

[kcwilliamsj]

I have had the opportunity to share my story with people. The times I have shared it has been positive and I think has created openings since it created a vulnerability on my part. Since I work for a parish, at this point, people presume I’m a cradle Catholic. The testimony has helped break that thought and opened up possibilities for conversations. Also, when people show up with questions or wanting to talk, they more easily are funneled my way. People have stated they see a progression in my story and that is clear. Questions usually come later. I think, being a convert, sometimes can make a cradle Catholic feel “left out” of the conversion experience. I work in that we are all converts since conversion is an on-going process. A woman once said, I don’t have a story, I’ve just always been Catholic. I told her that she does have a story and it is possibly one of great stability in our Lord. In other words, her story is one that others strive for and desire for their children. Those are a few things that have come up in my experience of sharing my stroy.

[kcwilliamsj]

The Kerygma:

God creates: He seeks a relationship with humans.
Man sins: Adam and Eve chose to go against what God desired and this brought Original sin into the world. While it seems odd that God would provide for such a possibility, the reality is, without choice, true love is not possible. God created humans with free will and down to us today, we have the option to use our free will to love God or not.
Jesus Saves: God took flesh, being born of a virgin, and he redeemed us by his very own sacrifice on the cross. That’s how much God love us, he became like us in all ways except sin. He walked with us and redeemed us.
His Grace is available to all of us no matter where we are or what we have done. He desires us to receive His grace and be the men and women he created us to be. The acceptance of His grace means we need to turn away and detach from the things that make us less happy and turn to him, who ultimately will bring more happiness into our lives than we can imagine.
Choice: The question now is, what will you choose? Will you accept the free gift of grace won for you on the cross by Jesus Christ? It won’t be perfect but, if you confess today that you want Jesus in your life then you will have taken an amazing first step to realizing who you are, even, why you are.

My wife thought that my explanation of the Kerygma is pretty clear and flows. A couple others find it to make sense, that it is a good progression. Obviously, there is a lot that could be said about the points but so many people don’t seem to have the opportunity to consent to such a proposal.

[kcwilliamsj]

KP
One way that is helpful for me to pray for someone is to include their name in the Divine Mercy Chaplet. So, for one decade, or for them all, say “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on (insert name) and on the whole world” I have 5 children so this is a great way to pray for them by giving them each a decade. Just food for thought. Kudos to you for making the drive and really putting in a sincere effort, it sounds like your heart moved your feet (which moved your car). God saw you, no good deed goes unnoticed by Our Father. Thank you for sharing!

John (kcwilliamsj)

[kcwilliamsj]

This activity is great, my wife and I have multiple family members not Catholic and seemingly far from consideration. We tend to pray for them and about a month or so ago, my brother texted and asked “why are you Catholic”. This was awesome so I replied and he asked about the Pope, which at this point, seems to be holding him back. He see’s the Pope as being political with climate change comments and what not. He wonders if we have to believe everything the Pope says. We have had some discussions on this since that text message. On the bright side, he acknowledges that he likes how the Catholic Church sticks to belief’s. Things like marriage and contraception and other issues. We have been praying for a long time for something like this to happen. He is still working out his Papal issues, but to be at this point is pretty amazing and we are praying him into the Tiber while we await him and his family on the other side. I currently look for things to post on social media which I know he see’s or I share things with him. He seems more open to tag my in post. For instance, Cardinal Sarah had a post and he commented that he like him.

[Author]

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