[Kile Stevens]

I just want to comment that I’m so glad SPSE included the lesson with partnering with Our Lady for evangelization. I am so glad because she is the Mediatrix of All Graces. Every grace that we receive comes through her to be dispensed on humanity. I am preaching to the choir, but Our Lady is really absolutely essential. If you do not know Our Lady as your Mother then you should! She loves you! She wants to bring you closer to Her Son. Ad Jesum per Mariam.

[Kile Stevens]

I have a weekly holy hour at my parish’s perpetual adoration chapel and I have been praying for anew the gift of the Holy Spirit. I wanted an increase because I want to be holy. I want to be a saint. I do not want to be holy for my own sake but for God’s and the salvation of souls. I want Jesus to shine through me, a miserable instrument that I am.

The Lord told me that I must remain obedient to my spiritual Father. I am again reminded of obedience. The Lord also reminded me how much I really do need Him. He is the sunshine to my tiny little flower. (I am inspired by St. Thérèse’s metaphor of a flower garden.) The Lord also reminded me of His great Mercy, and how much of a miserable instrument I am. I rededicated my ministries to Him through Our Lady and St. Joseph and He reminded me that I shouldn’t be afraid. I am an unworthy man to go out and proclaim the Gospel, but Jesus tells me that He chooses miserable instruments so that His power is emphasized to a greater degree. He delights in using us miserable instruments because He really does love us and stoops down to carry us little souls to Heaven. I am a little soul, but that is okay. I am reminded to fight my battles through prayer and taking care of myself.

I am reminded to listen to the Holy Spirit through Our Lady who is His spouse. I am reminded to pray the rosary for the salvation of souls. Help me, dear Mother, that I may listen to Him in all things as you did and do.

I am being spiritually attacked at the moment, but I have the whole of heaven on my side. It is not a fair fight. I am consecrated to Our Lady and I am her slave of love.

[Kile Stevens]

I have tried this out twice. Once, I was checking out at a restaurant and I was talking to the cashier who was checking me out. We were exchanging small talk and I asked her how things were going and she said that she was struggling with school. I asked her if she went to church and I gave her a Miraculous Medal and to which she replied that she was Catholic and very grateful for the gesture. I pray for her often and wonder how she’s doing.

I tried this out again with another hostess at a different restaurant who was asking me about my medals that I was wearing. I was briefly explaining to her some of the medals that I wear and asked her if she would like a Miraculous Medal and she said yes and put it on herself. I then explained that she could come to St. Joseph my parish which is in the same town as the restaurant where I was eating. I am praying for her as well.

I also once gave my copy of St. Faustina’s Diary “Divine Mercy to My Soul” to a waitress who was watching me read and asking me about it. I told her that Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and gave her messages about God’s Love and unfathomable Mercy. Jesus wanted souls to know of His great love for them and offer those who trust in His mercy no matter how scarlet their sins may be as a hope and avenue of salvation for the last days. She was very interested and accepted my copy. I pray for her too.

This lesson is very helpful because sometimes it can be difficult to know what to say or do, but giving away Miraculous Medals is a great way to share the faith. I have a great devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal as well and know of the great graces that come from wearing her medal.

[Kile Stevens]

Comment about the lesson: I think this is the most important lesson of all. The spiritual life is essential. We could talk about techniques for evangelization all day long (which are not to be jettisoned) but without prayer and maintaining “life on the vine” (which is prayer and keeping close to the Sacraments), evangelization would be impossible. I remember a story of (maybe St. Teresa of Calcutta) which a community of nuns were somewhat ineffective in their mission and their superior doubled their time of Eucharistic Adoration for their mission and they became superabundantly effective. Lord, have mercy on us. I am praying for you all. Please pray for me as I begin this mission of interceding for the salvation of souls as a prayer station in a place where the harvest is great.

[Kile Stevens]

I have started the discipline of praying in the morning and in the evening for some time now. It really helps to make a commitment to the Lord by spending time with Him, especially in the morning as we begin our day and ending with an Examen and trusting in His Merciful Love. I come to really love these times that I spend with Him: In the morning, with His word; in the evening with the Examen of St. Ignatius. The Lord really does reveal Himself to us. I am under obedience to pray Lectio and Examen under the direction of my spiritual Father. Obedience and commitment are so important even when God starts taking away our “spiritual cookies”: consolations, new insights into the divine, etc. God wants us to rely on Him no matter what comes and trust in Him and His Mercy.

I also am a committed adorer at my parish’s Perpetual Adoration Chapel. I have an hour with Jesus all to myself every week! What a grace! What a blessing! I have often asked where the Lord would like me to go in my spiritual life and I am often reminded of obedience to my spiritual Father. I am supposed to “hearken” to his words and obey him as I would obey Christ. I am blessed with a spiritual Father and I would highly recommend finding one if it is at all possible.

I have incorporated the practice of praying for the salvation of souls in my prayers especially when I pray a rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet. Or offering my morning Lectio or Examen or both for particular souls who I know are in need of salvation. This is the life of the evangelist. All for the conversion of sinners and to console the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He thirsts for souls! All to Thee, Lord, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

[Kile Stevens]

i am praying for you and these two people and praying for everyone here and for whom they are praying. It is difficult having conversations with people but keeping close to the Lord in prayer as you already know, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you how to minister to them. I am confident that the Holy Spirit especially during a holy hour of Eucharistic Adoration will reveal to you how to have conversations with them. Also please pray for me, a poor sinner.

[Kile Stevens]

I have been putting this off getting ready to finish my Basic Evangelization Training! The Lord is really convicting me to start again especially with the Gospels at mass recently have been about Our Lord sending out the Twelve.

I have been praying for several people over the years and for their conversion. One in particular I had to love from afar and interceded for him daily. He fell away from his faith after an experience he had with postulancy in religious life which he did not complete. I was very upset when he said that he was now an atheist and didn’t feel anything during Eucharistic adoration and that he was dating a man. I told him when we spoke for the last time before I reached out to him a couple of months ago that I would still love him and I would hope that he would return to his faith. Before I quit social media, I would see his profile and saw that he was living a life of sin and was very far from Our Lord and His Church. Over the next couple of years, I began to be discouraged about him and often wondered about him but never stopped praying for him. I couldn’t reach out for lack of social media and for lack of access to his phone number and access to his email address. I interceded for him often begging the Lord like the persistent widow for his return to the Sacraments. I would ask Our Lady to intercede for him often. I would ask a number of saints to whom I have special devotions to intercede for him. I stormed Heaven for my friend! I would often worry about him, but the Holy Spirit would remind me that He is the one who takes great care of souls and converts them. I recently reached out to him at the end of 2019, and I am pleased to report that the Lord has led him back to the Church and the Sacraments. I still pray for him daily and I also pray for some friends that I knew in college who were far from the Lord and grew up Catholic. I do not know at the moment if Our Lord has brought them back yet, but I know that I will not give up praying and storming heaven for them. I trust in the Lord that He will bring them back carrying them on His shoulders bringing them back into the flock and I will rejoice when I find out! I may not know in this life, but I will know when I am with the Lord in heaven (Lord, have mercy on me, a poor sinner).

[Author]

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